The Great War
By: Aaron Aguilar
The Great War, one of the bloodiest wars, its beginning stared on July 28, and ended on November 11, 1918. The cause for this war was an assassination and Germany using U-boats sinking a boat. Austria hungry, Germany and Italy being the central powers, and the United Kingdom, France and Russian being the allies, the united states was also a part of the allies but did not join the blood bath right away it took the United States three years to join the war.
The main reason the United States didn’t join this war right away is because they wanted to stay neutral, they made money buy shipped supplies to the countries in need, in this case Britain. The U.S. didn’t plan on going to an unnecessary war and President Wilson wanted to make a peace treaty but the other countries where to busy fighting.
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Germany set up war zones around Britain to keep the United States from bringing war supplies to them. Germany said if there was any non-German ships in these war zones they will sink them and that’s exactly what they did to a United States ship shipping supplies to Britain, a torpedo was shot from a u boat sinking a United States boat not only did it have supplies but it was carrying 1,200 people and 128 of them where United States citizens. Soon after this event a letter was caught from Germany asking Mexico for help and promising them the land they have lost during the Spanish American war, this letter was called the Zimmermann note. After these thing had happen America had no other choice but to join the
When the war began, it was being fought by the Americans to address their grievances toward the British. This seemed like a justifiable cause for a war, however not all of the citizens shared the same sense of unity about the political issues the war was being fought over. The US was quite upset about the continuing impressment of American sailors into the British Navy and the seizures of American merchant trading vessels by the British. Another reason the United States wished to go to war with Britain was because of their dealings with the Indians in the West. The British were not only trading with the Indians, but they were also giving them weapons and encouraging them to attack American settlements. Along with these reasons, the Americans, now becoming hungry for land, dreamed of capturing British Canada and possibly Florida for the union. Also, the Americans still contained a certain degree of resentment from the Revolutionary War, which they were eager to take out on the British. Even though these were the causes the nation was supposedly fighting for, the entire nation lacked a major driving force to gain restitution for them. The nation was not really united for the cause, as backcountry farmers didn't care about what was happening to coastal shipping businesses, as coastal shipping businesses didn't care about what was happening to the backcountry farmers. Everyone was only concerned with their own problems, and not concerned with the problems facing the nation regarding the situations its citizens were enduring.
The German’s unrestricted submarine warfare was the main reason for the U.S. to enter war. Wilson had tremendous support from Americans. The Germans had to be stopped. The attacks came without warning killing many innocent people (Winter and Baggett, 1996). The Germans sank numerous ships including our own. The most famous ship sunk was the Lusitiania. Aboard that ship 128 Americans were killed (http://www.angelfire.com/in3/wilson/wilson.html). The Lusitania was torpedoed without any notice. The Lusitania sunk in 18 minutes killing a total of 1198 people (http://www.poltechnic.org/faculty/gfeldmeth/chart.ww1.html).
The Spanish-American war cannot be directly sourced to one cause. Rather it was the result of the combination of events pre-dating the war and the spark that ignited our intervention into this conflict. This paper will trace the reasons behind the United States involvement in this war. The United States partaking in this war, was a signal to the rest of the world that the United States was ready to emerged as a world power. By having one of the best Naval Fleets, by the beginning of the war, the United States sent a messaged to the rest of the world that the US is ready and capable to become more involved in foreign affairs. However, it is important to question the importance of each cause that led up to the United States declaring war with Spain and putting itself between them and Cuba.
Great Britain controlled a big portion of the sea during this time and was the first to set up a blockade between the United States and Germany. The United States protested but Britain continued to force American ships to be searched for food, medical supplies, and steel before reaching Germany. Although the United States was against the blockade, it had very little impact on the U.S. economy. With Great Britain going to war, the United States produced enough war-related exports to pull them out of its prewar recession. Although Wilson claimed neutrality, he held sympathetic feelings toward Great Britain. After all, the Americans shared language and culture to the English in contrast to Germany who ruled their nation in a more militaristic manner. Because Wilson did nothing in response to Great Britain’s violation of American neutrality, Germany saw this as an indication of siding with the English.
The Zimmerman telegram clearly stated that Germany would help Mexico get back their lost lands from the American Southwest if they waged war against America. In the document “Germany Must Not Be Allowed to Win the War, it is explained that, “German agents have undoubtedly been at work in Mexico arousing anti-American feeling...Germans also appear to be operating in Haiti and San Domingo and are probably doing so in other Latin American republics” (D). Germany had tried to persuade Latin American nations to fight against America because of their proximity to this country. Interventionists believed that to stop the risks of Latin American countries waging war on us, we should get involved first to display our strength and not be threatened. American interests were best sheltered by interventionists because our lands would be protected and defended by joining the
America joining World War 1 is a huge decision that can affect the lives of millions of people and our country as a whole. There are many things that could happen that we need to consider. Some pros to joining the war could be a better economy, more jobs, and stopping Germany. Some cons of joining the war could be losing money, losing lives, and possible losing the war. Deciding whether to enter the war or not is a difficult decision and the pros and cons must be considered to make a decision.
Great War, also known as The First World War, lasted for four year (1914 to 1918). It brought a huge development of war technics and weapons. More number of countries had been involved in the Great War than any previous war. It involved the mobilization of the whole nations, not just an enormous army that turned the war into a “total war”. (Clare 6) However, historians are still arguing about the major cause of the World War I. The major cause will be one of the four long-term causes of WWI, which are Militarism, Alliance, Imperialism, and Nationalism. In my opinion, the two major causes would be Alliance and Nationalism. Alliance is an association between two or more countries for mutual benefits that formed with different treaties, while Nationalism is feeling and principles of patriotic.
The United States was not fighting in World War I until April 1917. Prior to the US entering the war, President Woodrow Wilson ordered a proclamation of “strict and impartial neutrality” because he was horrified by the amount of casualties the war brought. This proclamation allowed Americans to sell goods to countries in war, but seemingly they favored the Allies and America eventually declared war on Germany in 1917 for many reasons. One reason Wilson requested a Declaration of War, was because of the economy. American banks were giving huge loans of money to the Allies, and if they did not win, America would not get their money back. Putting this into consideration, bankers were influenced to start a war with Germany, the other side of
To begin, America decided to hold out of the Great War for so long because of economic reasons. At this time, America was still growing as a country and expanding its culture in order to become a world power. Also, they were trading with many countries and this was a major part of the economy. If they decided to go to war with a country, it was certain that they were going to lose all connections and trade possibilities with the countries that they were fighting against. During this era, America was more interested in making money than fighting for a cause that they did not have much involvement in. Specifically, The United States chose both sides and decided to sell ammunition and other supplies to all countries involved in the ...
The U.S.’ involvement in World Wars I and II did not occur immediately following the beginning of the wars. Rather, in WWI, President Wilson, who had built his re-election campaign around the slogan, “he kept us out of war,'; entered the U.S. into WWI shortly after his re-election. Although Wilson had not specifically promised to keep the country out of war, he declared that only a negotiated “peace without victory'; would prove durable (Bailey, 722). Unfortun...
World War I, also referred to as the Great War, was global conflict among the greatest Western powers and beyond. From 1914-1918, this turf war swept across rivaling nations, intensifying oppositions and battling until victory was declared. World War I was immediately triggered by the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, however several long-term causes also contributed. The growing development of militarism, the eruption of powerful alliances, as well as the spread of imperialism, and a deepening sense of nationalism, significantly promoted to the outbreak of the Great War.
“War is unorganized murder, and nothing else” (Harry Patch). In World War 1, which was first called the Great War, there were many causes of the war breaking out. The Great War started August 1st 1914, days after the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophia, when they visited Bosnia. Many soldiers went to war for no reason but to fight for their country. The Great War was not only affected by the soldiers, but also by the civilians as well.
On April 2nd 1917, President Woodrow Wilson of the United States of America, ??went before Congress and called for a declaration of war. Both the House and the Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of going to war with Germany.?# This was an act that led to much resistance among the American people. Not four months earlier the American people re-elected President Wilson, partly because of his success in keeping the United States out of this European war. However, a series of events, such as the Germans continuing submarine warfare and the attacks on five American ships, led President Wilson to sever diplomatic relations with Germany and send the United States into what would be labeled as World War I. As a result of the war the
Britain had an advantage over Germany in gaining the U.S. as an ally. Although the U.S. had as many as eleven million immigrants with blood ties to the Germans and Austro-Hungarians, they shared close culture, language, and economic ties with the British. The British were also in control of most of the transatlantic cables. Therefore, they had the ability to censor war stories, which hurt the British cause in the eyes of the U.S. They instead sent only the tales of German bestiality. Also, most Americans were anti-German from the beginning because it seemed as if their government was the embodiment of autocracy. Another disadvantage to the Germans was the British interception of a secretly coded message intended for Mexico. This message, when decoded by the British, asked Mexico to join the war on the Central side if the U.S. declared war on Germany. These actions all compiled into a list of reasons why the U.S. should enter the war in Ally support.
When the United States got involved in the first war, President Woodrow Wilson wanted the United States to be neutral and a position that the vast majority of Americans favored. Britain was one of America’s closest trading partners. Tension arose between the United States and Germany when Several