The United States and World War I

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Describe the events that brought the U.S. into World War I. Explain the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles. What mistakes were made? There were many reasons that the U.S. was brought into World War I. With the assassination sparking the start of World War I, the U.S. didn’t enter the war right away. In fact, the U.S. waited about 3 years to enter the war. They wanted to stay neutral and thought that the war was none of their concern. Shortly after the start of the war, Woodrow Wilson declared a policy of neutrality. They wouldn’t be involved on any side in the war, but would offer loans, trades, and sell weapons to both sides. The U.S. stayed neutral up until 1917. They entered the war for many reasons, but some events were the real causing factor of the U.S. entering the war. The main reason was because of the Germans. Britain set up a blockade to turn back any vital supplies heading to Germany. President Wilson wasn’t happy about this, but didn’t take any major actions. In 1915, the Germans had a way to stop the blockade and destroy vital supplies heading the the Allies. The Germans used U-boats to make all this happen. In 1915, Germany declared the sea around Britain a war zone. The Germans were allowed to sink the ships but had to spare the lives of all people on board. On May 7th, 1915, German U-boats sank the Lusitania without any warning. It killed 128 Americans. President Wilson sent notes to germany demanding that they stop unrestricted submarine warfare. In August 1915, Germany again sank a ship. It was called the Arabic and two americans were killed. Germany said they would spare lives from then on. In march 1916, they went against what they said and destroyed yet another ship called the Sussex. It left many Americ... ... middle of paper ... ...successfully. The German forces retreated away from Verdun. The Germans were put into defensive and French took the offensive. Into December 1916, the forts were rebuilt and there were no major advantages gained by either side. Works Cited http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/ikidd/14%20Points.pdf http://mentalfloss.com/article/31882/12-technological-advancements-world-war-i http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/causes_world_war_one.htm http://historylists.org/events/10-events-that-led-to-world-war-i.html http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/archduke-ferdinand-assassinated http://www.is.wayne.edu/MNISSANI/WWI/Encarta.htm http://www.history.com/topics/russian-revolution http://www.gov.ph/2014/02/25/edsa-elsewhere-the-1986-people-power-revolution/ http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-war-i/first-battle-of-marne.html http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battle_of_verdun.htm

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