The United States of America had been at the verge of war with the Central Powers - in particularly Germany - since fairly early in the commencement of hostilities, when President Woodrow Wilson had secretly agreed to supplied the British with war materials in their efforts against the Germans.
Strangely enough, this was not indicative of a large bias against the Germans on the part of the American people, nor does it seem to have been based upon any intelligence that the Germans or their allies had any intent of attacking the United States. Instead, Wilson's decision, which drew heavy criticism from Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan and former president Theodore Roosevelt (among others), seems to have been based upon Wilson's own private conviction that British victory in the First World War was absolutely essential for the preservation of "democracy" at large.
Ironically, the American relationship with Germany had been rather positive prior to the First World War. Aside from isolated incidents clashing over the spoils of the Spanish Empire in 1898-99, the Germans had always maintained a friendly relationship with the Americans. Otto Von Bismarck was an admirer of the United States, and Frederick the Great of Prussia had played a large role in securing the neutrality of many of the German states during the American Revolution. German immigrants, too, had long been an important part of the American cultural landscape - Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, for example, both credited the German immigrant communities for bringing them important electoral victories.
But Woodrow Wilson was neither particularly pro-immigrant, nor was he comfortable with the idea of German power expanding in Europe or beyond the confines of the North Sea. For whatever reasons he might have had (there's some debate on this, so I won't dwell on it), Wilson believed that the Allies were fighting against a growing tide of darkness and barbarism, 'fighting a war for Democracy', as it were, and he intended to help them in any way he could, even if the vast majority of Americans were neutral isolationists with a slight bias toward the Central Powers.
As such, Wilson continued to ship increasingly larger amounts of war materials to the British and the French, at first covertly, and later with the blessings of Congress, in clear defiance of the international statutes on neutrality. Time and time again, German protests were met with promises that the American practice of arming their enemies would 'cease and desist', and that shipments of a merely humanitarian nature would be the basis of any further commerce with the Allies for the duration of hostilities. Occasionally, shipments were briefly stopped. In some instances, American ships were permitted through the Allied blockade to deliver such supplies to the Germans (and, to a lesser extent, the Austrians) - however, Wilson made it quite clear to the British that he intended to continue the inflammatory shipments.
Between 1915 and 1917, the number of German U-Boat attacks on neutral shipping stepped up dramatically. This was partly as a response to the growing Allied practice of using ships with neutral flags to ship munitions, partly an attempt to continue the German "submarine blockade" of continental Europe in an effort to force the British to withdraw from the fighting.
The most notorious incident was the sinking of the merchant liner "Lusitania" on May 7, 1915. The Lusitania, bound for Britain from the United States, carried with it a very heavy number of American travellers, most of whom were killed when a German U-Boat sank the Lusitania. Although the ship was being publicly supplied with medical and humanitarian supplies, it was also secretly loaded down with munitions for the British war effort. The Germans knew about this, tracked down the Lusitania, and sank her with considerable loss of life in the Irish Sea - a loss only exceeded by those aboard the Titanic in 1912.
The incident enraged America, turning a great deal of public sympathy against the Central Powers. Germany protested that the ship had been carrying weapons, but the German claims were dismissed as "preposterous" and "without base", and the Germans were forced to publicly apologize and pay reparations. The Germans then announced that they would agree to pursuing "limited" submarine warfare against neutral shipping from that point - requiring the warning of any target ships and the evacuation of civilians aboard - though this was only partly followed through with against non-American targets.
Because of this, war was not actually provoked until 1917. In January of that year, the British intercepted telegraph exchanges between German Foreign Minister Zimmerman and Germany's Ambassador to Mexico, Von Eckhardt. The exchanges discussed the plans to increase the U-Boat effort against American shipping, and to press the offensive against the British and French given the recent string of successes against Russia. Part of the exchange, however, considered the matter of possible American involvement in the war in retaliation for these actions.
Zimmerman suggested to Von Eckhardt that the best check on American power would be to play upon relations with Mexico and to offer Mexico an inducement to invade the United States. The telegram read as follows:
"We intend to begin on the first of February unrestricted submarine warfare. We shall endeavor in spite of this to keep the United States of America neutral. In the event of this not succeeding, we make Mexico a proposal or alliance on the following basis: make war together, make peace together, generous financial support and an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The settlement in detail is left to you. You will inform the President of the above most secretly as soon as the outbreak of war with the United States of America is certain and add the suggestion that he should, on his own initiative, invite Japan to immediate adherence and at the same time mediate between Japan and ourselves. Please call the President's attention to the fact that the ruthless employment of our submarines now offers the prospect of compelling England in a few months to make peace." Signed, ZIMMERMANN.
Britain forwarded this information to Wilson, who released the information to Congress in April of 1917 with a request for a formal declaration of war against the Central Powers and their allies. He used as his two primary cassus belli:
1)The resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare against neutral targets.
2)The inducement of a foreign power (Mexico) to invade the United States, with the possible collusion of another (Japan) in the execution of said attack.
Congress promptly voted for war - over strong objections from many corners of the country, where the American involvement in the First World War was never very popular - and the rest, as they say, is history.
Theodore Roosevelt once said of the First World War that "it all began with an ego". Perhaps the same could be said of American involvement in the conflict.
Comments
Roosevelt & ego? That ain't good, but your rating is, congrats & have a cookie, too!
by Answers101 on March 18th, 2006