15.5.1

Reasons for the Entry of the USA

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Reasons for the Entry of the USA

For most of the First World War, the USA resisted entering the conflict. It eventually became invested in victory and joined the war because it was funding allies.

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Background

  • The USA had been traditionally isolationist (stayed out of the affairs of other nations).
  • In 1823 AD, US president James Monroe said, in what is now called the Monroe Doctrine:
    • 'In the wars of the European powers… we have never taken part, nor does it comport [fit] with our policy, so to do.'
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Reasons for entering

  • As the Allies came to owe America billions of dollars, the USA became invested in an Allied victory.
  • But as the USA began to hear of German atrocities in Europe and their deliberate attack on the Lusitania (a British passenger ship) in 1915 AD, public opinion was increasingly hostile to Germany.
  • In 1916 AD, another passenger ship, the Sussex was sunk. Woodrow Wilson, the US President, then issued an ultimatum to Germany.
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Trigger for entering

  • Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare directly affected American merchants.
  • The Zimmermann Telegram was the final straw for the US.
  • The telegram was sent in 1917 AD by the German Foreign Minister.
  • It promised Mexico territory lost in the Mexican-American War if it joined the German cause.
    • The British intercepted the telegram.

Jump to other topics

1The Medieval World: 450-1450 AD

1.1Anglo-Saxon England

1.2The Contest for the English Throne

1.3Conquering the Holy Land, 10-96-1396 AD

1.4King John

1.5The Magna Carta & Parliament

1.6The Black Death

2Worldviews

3The Empire of Mali

4The Renaissance & Reformations, 1500-1598 AD

5The British Empire, 1583-1960 AD

6The Peasants' Revolt

7Religion in the Middle Ages

8Slavery, 1619-1833 AD

9The English Civil War, 1642-1660

10The Industrial Revolution, 1750-1840

11US Independence, 1775-1783

12The French Revolution, 1789-1815

13The British Empire, 1857–1930

14Suffrage

15World War 1, 1914-1918

16The Inter-War Years, 1919-1939

17World War 2, 1939-1945

18The Cold War, 1947-1962

19Civil Rights in the USA, 1954-1975

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