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Three Leading Causes To Join World War I

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World War I was one of the very first wars that had a global effect on the whole world. According to the book about WWI, The Guns of August, A shocking 32 countries took part in it. In the very first stages of WWI, the U.S stayed neutral, and had good reasons for doing so, too. However, the U.S eventually became entangled in the conflict anyway. Three leading causes forced the U.S to join WWI. The first reason was the sinking of the ship Lusitania. The second conflict was the sending of the Zimmerman Telegram. The final cause was that German U-Boats sank several merchant ships. Due to these three leading causes, the U.S was no longer neutral in World War I. By 1915, World War 1 had already taken many lives in Europe. Germany was being …show more content…

This telegram stated that if the U.S had declared war on Germany, Mexico was encouraged to declare war on the U.S. This proposal had sparked an interest in Mexico due to the possibility of regaining lands lost to the United States during Mexican-American War. These lands included Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. According to another book by Tuchman, called The Zimmermann Telegram, before Mexico had a chance to realize that dream, the Zimmermann Telegram had been intercepted by the British. Britain, being an ally of the U.S, sent them the message that they blocked. When the U.S heard of Germany’s plan to turn Mexico against them, their hate for Germany grew stronger. However, Wilson still refused to join the war due to a fear of the economy and his people. Wilson was starting to accept the possibility of war and even began to prepare ships in case of battle. At that point, the United States remained …show more content…

After the sinking of Lusitania, Wilson made a pact with Germany for them to stop sinking civilian ships using their U-boats. Germany agreed with this proposal, and the conflict seemed to die down for a time. However, the Germans broke this agreement and violated the trust of the Americans yet again. German U-boats had started to sink several American merchant ships. These attacks took place all over the North Atlantic and Mediterranean oceans. The attacks were the last straw for Woodrow Wilson. As a result of these incidents, he officially declared war on Germany in April 1917. Directly following this announcement, the United States had to do a lot of preparation to get ready for a battle of this magnitude. This war cost the U.S, as well as many other countries, a lot of lives and millions of dollars. Germany acted as the warmonger in this war. Due to their stubbornness, millions of people had to pay the price with their lives. In conclusion, three main reasons caused the United States to join the horrifying effects of World War I. These three events were the sinking of the merchant ship Lusitania, the Zimmermann Telegram, and the sinking of several U.S ships. All of these events were caused by Germany to further anger the United States. The war lasted about four years and proved to be fatal. According to Britannica, 37 million lives were lost during this conflict, making it one of

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There were two major events that took place that sent the United States into WWI. Before these events took place, America wanted to stay neutral with thoughts and action. On May 7, 1915, a German submarine, called U-boats, torpedoed and sank a British passenger liner Lusitania. About 1,198 lives were lost including 128 Americans. Many Americans were shocked and anger about this act and called it “mass murder and piracy”(671).

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Wilson viewed America as a nation of peace and he wanted to preserve this view. However, as time went on, the little things the U.S did while claiming its neutrality started to matter. Germans retaliated to the U.S trade with the Allies. One thing led to another and the U.S joined the war under the Allies’

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This unknown fact of American being neutral or not, ultimately lead to the United States needing to enter World War I. Although the United States President at the time, Woodrow Wilson, explained the reasoning for the U.S. entering WWI was because of Germany’s submarine warfare, the violence toll that Germany took on America relates back to the concealed matter of the nation of the United States actually being neutral throughout the time before war

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There were a variety of underlying causes in World War I. They were militarism, alliances, nationalism, and a mix of imperialism. Before the war Nations started to build up their arms (DBQ: What Were the Underlying Causes of World War 1, 2010, Doc 7) making a competition for dominance, and alliances are formed making powerful armies. Nations produced propaganda infuriating the citizens and giving the pride in their nation which led to nationalism. Nationalism is a patriotic feeling for your nation, causing new literature relating to the war, for example this poem “When Britain first at Heaven's command Arose from out the azure Main; This was the charter of the land, And guardian angels sand this strain;...

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The main reason the U.S. entered the war was the sinking of the lusitania. It was sunk by a german u boat in 1915. Almost 2000 people died including 128 americans.

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The long-term cause that contributed to the U.S. involvement consisted of this industrial rivalry between European Great Powers and an arms race between the Great Powers. Submarine warfare arose in February of 1915 when Germany retaliated by declaring a submarine blockade of the British Isles. In May of 1915, a U-boat sank the British liner Lusitania off the Irish coast. Even though the Lusitania was unarmed, it was carrying munitions to the English. The killing of hundreds of defenseless citizens caused an uproar in the U.S. Americans were to avoid traveling on belligerent ships.

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The sinking of the Lusitania was a major part of W.W.1. It left 761 survivors out of 1,959 people on board. What caused the ship to sink was a German submarine that shot a torpedo at it. The U.S was mad about this because before Germany made a promise about if any ship had U.S citizens in it, a warning would be given before the boat was shot. This evidence proves that this is one of the reasons why the U.S joined W.W.1, and also why U.S turned against Germany.

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