Woodrow Wilson and the

US Entrance to WW1

Causes of WW1: 1914• Germany, Austria-Hungary, and

Italy, against Great Britain, Russia, and France

• Underlying causes:– Imperial competition between

England, France, Germany– Nationalist uprisings in Balkans– Precarious alliance system

• Trigger for war declaration– Assassination of Austrian Arch-

duke Franz Ferdinand– Austria declared war on Serbia– Russia mobilized to defend Serbia– Germany attacked Belgium and

France, trying to avoid war on 2 fronts

Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)• Academic by profession:

President of Princeton University; PhD in Political Science

• As president, worked for idealistic goals

• Anglophile

• Originally promised to keep American neutral

• Hoped to lead the world towards a "just peace"

WW1 Before US Entrance

• German Schlieffen Plan called for pre-emptive invasion of Belgium and capture of Paris

• War stagnated in trenches of “Western Front” in northern France

• Each country’s volunteers quickly killed: drafts required

• Key early technologies: machine guns, barbed wire, poison gas

Naval Warfare and Blockades• Trade with US vital to UK

– Wilson let US trade with Europe (mainly UK)

– Policy of official neutrality– US banks lent billions to

UK and France– Both alliances employed

naval blockades

• German submarine attacks risked involving USA

• Land battle proved inconclusive so blockade crucial

German U-Boat Warfare• German "U-boat" warfare

threatened– American economic interests

and property– American lives– Survival of Britain and France– American "right" to the seas

• Central question for Wilson: did U-boat warfare merit US intervention?

• Central question for Germany: did objectives of U-boat outweigh risk of US entering the war?

HG Wells used U-Boats in his story, The Land that Time Forgot

The Lusitania• 15 May 1915: sinking of

British passenger ship, the “Lusitania”

– 128 Americans killed– Public outcry against

Germany– Later: evidence of

ammunition on board

• Wilson protested to Germany

• German submarine warfare suspended

The Zimmerman Telegram• January 16, 1917: Coded telegram

from German Foreign Secretary, Arthur Zimmermann, to German ambassador in the US

• Note, forwarded to German ambassador in Mexico, suggested that:

– Germany resuming naval warfare– Ally with Mexico– Promise southern US states to

Mexico

• Britain intercepted and decoded note: US outrage when published in March

• 6 April 1917, Wilson declared war; US became factor in late 1917