World War 1 Dbq

“In Britain and Europe, no event, is less forgotten than World War 1, or ‘The Great War,’ as it was called until 1939” stated by Michael Korda. World War 1 or also known as ‘The Great War’, was an worldwide conflict from 1914 to 1918. A big cause for the war was imperialism. The war was fought between the Central powers ( Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey) and the Allied cause (France, Great Britain, and later U.S.) U.S. remained neutral and sold goods to both sides until 1917, U.S. then later declared war on Germany for many reasons. The contributions from U.S. to the Allied Cause helped turn the course of the war. Entering WW1 for many reasons, U.S. mobilized and contributed to the Allied Cause before and during the war.
United States entered

Lusitania was an unarmed British passenger ship carrying 128 American citizens that was sunk by German submarines on May 8, 1915. This incident was before U.S. entered the war. The death of American Citizens fueled the American public opinion to get involved. The sinking of Lusitania was not enough to push America in war but the Black Tom Explosion got U.S.to consider going to war. This is shown in document 8, a photo of the aftermath of the Black Tom Explosion. (Primary source) On July 30, 1916, German spies blew up a New Jersey munitions factory because it held tons of ammunition awaiting shipment to France. This was more fuel to America’s decision to declare war on Germany. By this point, America was getting tensed to go to war. The Zimmermann telegram,

mobilized in many ways for this conflict. U.S. citizens were a big factor in mobilization. Immigrants and Americans were asked to save food from the U.S. Food Administration as shown on a 1917 poster, by document 3, a secondary source. Farmers grew more crops and there were days like “Meatless Tuesdays.” The food that was saved was donated to the men in the trenches. There was a very low food supply for the army and many men ate rats out of starvation. By getting more food for the men, they would be prepared in the war. However, the cost of the weapons and supplies for the war was still very high. U.S. solves this by asking citizens to buy liberty bonds so U.S. can gain more money for war. For example, document 6, a secondary source is an ad for liberty bonds. This shows, by buying bonds, Americans were lending money for the government to mobilize for war. In addition, document 7, a secondary source was a poster about factory workers putting their conflicts aside. The poster states, “Industrial peace will prove more profitable than strife.’ This means that workers will have to work more hours to prepare weapons to mobilize for war instead of complaining about low wages. A new government agency, the War Industries Board also told factories to produce weapons for war. It also divided up limited resources and settled disputes over working hours and wages to prevent strikes from workers. Thus, the U.S. mobilized for the war with support from