At the beginning of World War I, the US traded with Britsh and French because these countries allowed the US to trade with them. The British stopped any ship that was headed toward Germany because they didn't want to let Germany access any trade. The US supported democracies like GB and France which meant that the US was happy trading with them. Americans didn't like the way that submarines affected neutral rights and said the Germans couldn't sink their boats. After the US said this, the Germans blew up the British cruise liner the Lusitania. 1,198 people and also 128 Americans died. This event enraged the US because it harmed Americans. Woodrow Wilson wanted to follow the Unrestricted Submarine Warfare (USW) because of these events.
During the middle of WWI, Great Britain and France, or the Allies, needed more troops for their war effort. The US was considering entering the war to help. One main factor that led to the US people that wanted to fight was the advertising that America was receiving about the war. The US only received information that portrayed Great Britain and France as the "good guys." Also, Great Britain and France portrayed war as heroic and fun which led Americans to think that it would be fulfilling to fight in the war. When the war started, the US claimed to be neutral but they sent materials to the Allies. Because of this, the Germans didn't see the US as neutral. The Germans resorted to going into USW. Germans said they would sink all ships around Great Britain which made Great Britain and countries that traded with Great Britain very unhappy and unsettled. In the end, was the decision of the US to go into war smart for the result of the war and for the well-being of the US.
This is a good description on how the US got into the war from the Americans point of view. I agree with your explanation of why the Americans should go to war to support their allies with France and Great Britain because they agreed to defend each other. Even though the only info they were getting about the war was from their biased views, I still believe it was smart for the US to join them. Once the Germans killed the 128 Americans, this gave the American soldiers a greater urge to battle. Although many Americans died, it was for the greater strength of the Americans.
ReplyDeleteFrom the beginning, the US had decided who they were going to defend, even if they had not yet joined the war. The US had an economic reason to enter the war and they used the fact that a German submarine had killed Americans to gather public support and sympathy for the cause of joining the war. The main reason that the US was against Germany, was because it did not give them any economic benefits to help them at the time.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the US was more willing to trade with Great Britain and France because they too were democracies and had a greater shared past, mores similar cultures, and closer geographical positioning that facilitated this more. In order to really have been neutral, should the US have made a greater effort to show their nonpartisanship by purposefully go out of their way economically as well as formally through communication? Instead of asking whether or not the US should or should not have joined the war, consider if the US was destined and almost obligated to go to war based on the social and political climate of the day as well as because of past ties and America's desire to have a greater world presence.
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