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Three Leading Causes To Join World War I

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World War I was one of the very first wars that had a global effect on the whole world. According to the book about WWI, The Guns of August, A shocking 32 countries took part in it. In the very first stages of WWI, the U.S stayed neutral, and had good reasons for doing so, too. However, the U.S eventually became entangled in the conflict anyway. Three leading causes forced the U.S to join WWI. The first reason was the sinking of the ship Lusitania. The second conflict was the sending of the Zimmerman Telegram. The final cause was that German U-Boats sank several merchant ships. Due to these three leading causes, the U.S was no longer neutral in World War I. By 1915, World War 1 had already taken many lives in Europe. Germany was being …show more content…

This telegram stated that if the U.S had declared war on Germany, Mexico was encouraged to declare war on the U.S. This proposal had sparked an interest in Mexico due to the possibility of regaining lands lost to the United States during Mexican-American War. These lands included Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. According to another book by Tuchman, called The Zimmermann Telegram, before Mexico had a chance to realize that dream, the Zimmermann Telegram had been intercepted by the British. Britain, being an ally of the U.S, sent them the message that they blocked. When the U.S heard of Germany’s plan to turn Mexico against them, their hate for Germany grew stronger. However, Wilson still refused to join the war due to a fear of the economy and his people. Wilson was starting to accept the possibility of war and even began to prepare ships in case of battle. At that point, the United States remained …show more content…

After the sinking of Lusitania, Wilson made a pact with Germany for them to stop sinking civilian ships using their U-boats. Germany agreed with this proposal, and the conflict seemed to die down for a time. However, the Germans broke this agreement and violated the trust of the Americans yet again. German U-boats had started to sink several American merchant ships. These attacks took place all over the North Atlantic and Mediterranean oceans. The attacks were the last straw for Woodrow Wilson. As a result of these incidents, he officially declared war on Germany in April 1917. Directly following this announcement, the United States had to do a lot of preparation to get ready for a battle of this magnitude. This war cost the U.S, as well as many other countries, a lot of lives and millions of dollars. Germany acted as the warmonger in this war. Due to their stubbornness, millions of people had to pay the price with their lives. In conclusion, three main reasons caused the United States to join the horrifying effects of World War I. These three events were the sinking of the merchant ship Lusitania, the Zimmermann Telegram, and the sinking of several U.S ships. All of these events were caused by Germany to further anger the United States. The war lasted about four years and proved to be fatal. According to Britannica, 37 million lives were lost during this conflict, making it one of

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