Reasons For U.S. Entry Into World War I

Major reasons for U.S. entry into World War I

• Although the United States declared its neutrality at the start of the war, our sympathies continually moved towards the Triple Entente.
• The British supplied most of our news about the war. The American public read about German soldiers who had tortured the civilians of occupied Belgium.
• The Germans used unrestricted submarine warfare. On May 7^th, 1915 a German submarine         (u-boat) sank the British cruise ship Lusitania.  1,198 people were killed, including 128 Americans. It would take several other submarine attacks over a 2-year period including the sinking of 4 unarmed American merchant ships in 1917 to push the United States into the war.
• In an effort to protect American merchant ships, the United States set up convoys (U.S. naval ships guarding U.S. merchant ships).
• The Zimmerman Telegram- Alfred Zimmerman was the German foreign secretary. He sent a telegram, which was intercepted by the British, to the German ambassador in Mexico informing Mexico that Germany could help Mexico "regain lost territory in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona" once war broke out between the United States and Germany if Mexico attacked the United States.

Impact of the Russian Revolution

• Russia suffered greatly during World War I. There was not enough food or war supplies for the soldiers to fight effectively. The lack of supplies severely hurt morale in the army.
• During March 1917, the first Russian Revolution occurred. The Czar, Nicholas II, had continued the war for three long years and support from the public diminished greatly.  A group of western thinking, upper class revolutionaries created a provisional democratic government.
• In spite of the lack of supplies and the low morale in the Russian army, the provisional government decided to continue the war effort.
• With a democratic government replacing the dictatorial Czar, the last obstacle to U.S. entry into the war was removed.

The Declaration of War and U.S. Preparation

• On April 2^nd, 1917 President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany in order to "make the world safe for democracy".
• Prior to U.S. entry into the war, our armed forces numbered 130,00. By the end of the war, over 4 million Americans had joined the military.
• All males between the ages of 18 and 44 registered for the draft.
• The U.S. government loaned their new allies $10 billion in cash and supplies.
• Between April and October, American troops trained for the war. Beginning in October 1917, 50,000 American troops a month began arriving in Europe.
• During November 1917, a small group of Russian communists known as the Bolsheviks, overthrew the provisional government and established the U.S.S.R. Led by Vladimir Ilyich Lennin, the new government negotiated the treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended Russian involvement in the war and made the Eastern front no longer necessary. Russia also lost 25% of its land and population.

The End of the War 

• The war in terms of human suffering had been great. Neither side had been able to gain much territory with most of the fighting on the Western front taking place on battlefields in France.
• By the start of 1918, the United States began sending 250,000 troops a month to join the war.
• Realizing their chances for victory were decreasing every month, Germany launched a final offensive in March of 1918 along the Marne River in France.
• By July, with the support of the United States, the German offensive was stopped and a counter-offensive begun.
• Knowing that the end of the war was near, the German High Command notified its government that it could not win the war.
• On November 11^th, 1918 an armistice was arranged ending the war. Germany was never invaded.      

  Final Statistics

• Over 10 million men were killed and another 20 million were wounded. Germany lost 1.8 million people, Russia lost 1.7 million, France lost 1.4 million, Austria–Hungary lost 1.1 million, and Great Britain lost 1 million.
• 115,000 Americans died and another 215,00 were wounded during WWI. Of those that died, 50,000 died in battle. The rest died as a result of the Great Influenza Epidemic of 1918.