Reasons For US Involvement In World War I

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World war one began with the United States as neutral. However, some Americans favored the Germans and some Americans favored the Allies. British Propagandists used skillfully exaggerated German atrocities and which strengthened the Americans ill will towards the Germans. Economically the US had to favor the British. The British blockaded German ports and the US did not want to defy the blockade. To be neutral the US would have to stop trade with the British, but the US economy could not easily afford to stop trading with the British and French. This was especially true after British and French war orders created a great economic boom. The Germans turned to submarine warfare to try and slow the flow of supplies to Britain. Germany then sank several ships, including the Lusitania which contained American civilians. This outraged Americans as they saw submarine warfare as barbaric. When the Germans began unrestricted submarine warfare on American (and allied) ships the US was bound for war. …show more content…
This justification, The Zimmermann Telegram and the collapse of the Czarist Russia cleared the way for US involvement in the first world war. Wilson justified intervention by stating that the US had no material aims for fighting and that the nation was committed to using the war as a vehicle to create a new world order based on the same progressive ideals as what the United States had experienced. The Zimmermann Telegram urged Mexico to join the Germans in fighting the Americans if war broke out. Also, Russia stopped fighting Germany. This meant that the United States would not have to ally with what many deemed a despotic monarchy. On April 2, 1917 President Wilson asked for a declaration of