Summary:
Examines four primary reasons that America entered into World War I: unrestricted U boat warfare, the Zimmerman Note,
American business interests, and German dictatorship. The Zimmerman note played the most important role.
Why did America Join WWI
America joined the First World War on 6th April 1917 3 years after war had been waged, this was due to the American view that Isolation was the best way for America to succeed therefore they took the view that the war was a European problem and did not need American intervention, also since America was a multi-national party if the American Government took sides with the Allies many people would be unhappy [the Irish immigrants hated the British due to their ruling of Ireland and could riot, also the German immigrants wanted Germany to win and could riot], but eventually America was drawn into the war, the reasons for their involvement were:
Unrestricted U boat warfare.
Zimmerman Note.
American Business Interests.
German Dictatorship.
In 1915 U boats were ordered to attack any ship even passenger ships that carried the British Flag for they believed that the British were smuggling ammunition and supplies in, as a result the American Public were outraged when the Lusitania was sunk by a U boat off the Irish Coast killing 120 American passengers the ship went down after being hit by 1 torpedo but it was reported that there were 2 explosions, which the Germans claimed was caused by ammunitions onboard but it has been proven that the cause of the 2nd explosion was due to the coal dust. But this was a minor reason but when the Kaiser ordered U boats to destroy any boat that was heading to Britain regardless of the flag it was flying. As a result lots of ships were wrongly sunk. This was a very important reason to explain why America went to war for they felt threatened by the increased activity by the U boats and the fact that many American boats had been sunk and many American civilians had been killed.
The Zimmerman note was probably the most important reason for the Americans to join the war for it told Mexico that if they attacked America for the land that they had claimed belonged to them Germany would support them with arms and help. This gave a very real threat to America therefore they decided that it would be within their interests to join the war.
America had large business interests in the Allies for the Allies were buying lots of arms and ammunition, thus they were supporting many American businesses and causing an upsurge in the American economy, the trade between the Allies and America had risen from $825 million in 1914 to $3.6 billion in 1916. Also the Allies had taken out very large loans with America and if the Allies were taken over America would not have a chance to regain the money that they had loaned out.
The German 'Dictatorship' was a minor reason for the Americans going to war, due to the American peoples belief that all people should have justice, therefore they believed that since the German people did not have control over who was in power and they saw the propaganda that was being distributed about how cruel the Kaiser was and how barbaric the German army was they believed that the German people needed to be released from the oppression.
In summary the main reason America joined in with the First World War was the finding of the Zimmerman note, but the business interests and the Unrestricted U boat warfare were still key reasons and the German dictatorship reason was not very important but it still had some relevance.
This is the complete article, containing 576 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
