World War I

Why U.S. entry?

Woodrow Wilson - pictures -->

1. Americans unneutral in "thought & deed" (Aug. 19 speech)

• hyphenates = relief committees, 1914 Czech lobby of Edward Benes, Thomas Masaryk
  
• pro-British = propaganda, blockade, no Declaration of London, loans
  
• "merchants of death" = Remington, DuPont, Hog Island
  
• Dacia case - Grey opp'd McAdoo plan to buy German ships
  

2. U-boat

• Sep. 5, 1914 - Brit cruiser Pathfinder first to be sunk by Ger. submarine - the U-boat fleet grows from 21 in 1914 to 127 in 1917, but only 1/3 at sea at any one time.
• Feb. 4, 1915 - Ger. proclaims "war Zone" around Brit. - also begin Zeppelin attacks on London by air.
• Feb. 10 - Wilson protest - declares Ger would be held to "strict accountability" but ambiguous on passenger ships. Protest also made to Brit - no use of U.S. flag allowed.
• Mar. 28 - Brit steamship Falaba sunk - 104 dead include 1 American, Leon Thrasher
• May 7 - Brit passenger liner Lusitania sunk by one torpedo from Ger. Capt. Walter Schwieger's U-20; 1198 dead, including 128 Americans.
• Lusitania notes: 1st U.S. note on May 13 demanded right to travel, disavowal, reparations - Ger. reply strong: claimed that the Brit. ship carried munitions, that sinking it was "just self-defense" - however, on June 6 Ger. issued order to U-boats to spare passengers; 2nd U.S. note on June 9 was strong, demanded "specific pledge" - WJB resigns; 3rd U.S. note on July 21 was an ultimatum: any more sinkings by Ger. subs would be "deliberately unfriendly"
  

  "Standing Back of Him" from the New York Tribune, Feb. 1917

  Jeanette Rankin in U.S. Capitol

• Arabic Aug. 19 - 2 Amer killed - Bernsdorff pays indemnity and makes pledge (for 9 mos)
  

3. domestic frustration

• Mexican revolution worsens in 1915 - Pershing expedition begins March 1916
  
• intervention in Haiti July 1915 & Santo Domingo 1916
  
• spy expose Aug 15, 1915 - Franz von Rintelen arrested in Atlanta - over von Papen and Boy Ed - plotted with Huerta - Brit "Purchasing Comm" in NY - Wm Wiseman of Kuhn-Loeb - gave info to Col. House - Eman. Voska & Bohemian Alliance - worked for Brit SIS - McAdoo tapped tel of Ger & AH ministers - Brit Room 40 made decrypts - Ralph Van Deman is the "father of Am. military intelligence" due to his 1916 report that led to the reestablishment of MID
  
• Peace Movement - Am. Peace Society 1907 - Cosmopolitian Club at Univ of Wisconsin - Nicholas Murray Butler pres of Columbia - J.B. Moore's 8-volume Digest of International Law - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace - Edwin Ginn World Peace Foundation - Henry Ford Peace ship to conference of Neutrals in Europe Dec. 1915 with Rosa Schwimmer - Jeanette Rankin was 1st woman elected to House of Representatives, represented pacifist Montana 1880-1973
  
• Preparedness campaign - both WW and HC Lodge claimed it was their idea - due to Lusitania, growing domestic pressures, esp Republican Party - Wilson speech Nov. 4, 1915 - expand Navy, Army - new volunteer reserve "Continental Army" - opp'd by 50 Dem in Congress, esp S & W, led by House Majority Leader Claude Kitchin - Wilson national speaking tour Jan and Feb 1916, but Congress deadlocked
  
• Feb. 8, 1916 - Ger to sink all armed merchant ships (Sussex Mr 24 mistake)
  
• March 7 - McLemore-Gore defeated - would have prohibited all passengers on belligerent ships
  
• March 9 - Columbus raid by Pancho Villa caused western states to support defense bills
  
• March 23 - House approves compromise bill - National Guard to be under feds (reversed 140 yrs of state militia) and volunteer summer training camps created (Plattsburg)
  
• paid by Revenue Act of 1916 - taxes on the rich and on munition makers, new fed estate tax
  

4. mediation

House and Wilson

• House-Grey memo of Feb. 22, 1916 during Col. House's 2nd trip to Europe - Wilson to summon peace conference if requested by Brit, Fr - if Ger refused, U.S. to war - but Grey refused to set date for conference, Wilson added "probably" - rejected Mr. 8
  
• McLemore-Gore is defeated that would have prohibited all passengers on belligerent ships - a Wilosn victory
• Sussex incident Mr. 24 - Wilson wanted to be decisive, to assure Brit, Fr that he was determined to get peace, and to allow Ger alternative to war - must follow cruiser rules or U.S. will "sever diplomatic relations" (Wilson's speech of April 19)
  
• Wilson opp'd to both Ger and Allies - both still seeking military victory in 1916 - Battle of Jutland May 31-June is a tactical victory of Ger. Admiral Reinhard Scheer whose 99 ships sank 117,025 tons of Brit Adm. John Jellicoe's 149 ships that sank only 61,180 tons. But the battle was a Brit. strategic victory keeping the Ger. navy bottled up, tightening the blockade, causing 750,000 Germans to starve to death, and leaving the U-boat as Germany's only alternative.
• May 27 speech - Wilson advocates U.S. join postwar League - goal of collective security w/ guarantees
  
• 1916 - Wilson wins Dem Party nomination because "he kept us out of war"- gets strong League plank in party platform, but is attacked as pro-British - Chas "Evasive" Hughes nominated by Repub Party seeking Ger-Amer votes, but Hughes said he would be tougher on Mexico, Ger
  
• Nov. election was close - Hughes (46%, 254, won east) vs Wilson (49%, 277, won south and west) - no mandate for peace or war but Wilson continued diplomacy to end the war.
  
• Dec. 18 note to Ger offering peace, but was refused - Wilson rejected by both Allies, Ger
  
• late 1916 - new young Emperor Karl of AH supported by Wilson - but press campaign of Alice Masaryk, d. of Thos, released 1916 from AH prison
  
• Jan 22, 1917, speech "Peace Without Victory" meant for Ger, but was rejected
  

5. unrestricted sub warfare Feb. 1, 1917

• decline of Bethman-Hollweg, rise of military - violated Sussex pledge
  
• Feb. 3 - U.S. breaks diplomatic relations - endorsed by Senate Feb. 7 - Wilson policy of patience replaced by decisive action
  
• Feb. 25 - Brit Laconia liner sunk - 3 Am. killed
  
• Feb. 26 - WW asks Congress to arm merchant ships - passed by House but not Senate - Wilson goes ahead March 12 by executive order
  

6. Zimmermann telegram Mar. 1

• pub'd by State Dept, based on decryption by British Room 40 in New York of Ger. Foreign Secy note to Eckhardt in Mexico of Jan 16
• Mar. 12 - sinking of unarmed U.S. ship Algonquin, then March 16 City of Memphis, Illinois, Vigilancia
  

7. Democracy

• April 2 - Wilson delivers war message to Congress
  
• April 4 - passed by Senate 82-6
  
• April 6 - passed by House 373-50 and signed by Wilson
  
• "the U.S. was going to war to establish a new world order, to establish the principles of democracy." (The Great War, Episode 6)

U.S. Over There 1917-1919
The League of Nations Fight 1919-1920
Versailles Treaty
Revolutionary Cyclone

Resources:

• U-boat War in WWI from Uboat.net
• U-Boat war 1914-1918
• The Great War PBS series, Episode 6 "Collapse"
• World War I: Trenches on the Web

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