US Declares War

U.S. DECLARES WAR

DQ: Why do you think the US finally caved in and declared war?
Background Info: After years of reluctance, the U.S. was finally at war. Why? In the
United States people believed that Germany’s refusal to respect American claims to neutrality had forced the U.S. to retaliate.
From Germany’s perspective, America’s
claim of neutrality was far from that. The U.S. was providing money and ammunition to the Allies long before the troops ever left for Europe.

REASONS FOR ENTERING THE WAR

1) German Submarine Warfare
• German U-boat: submarine
• changed the rules of naval warfare
• element of surprise - give no warning to their targets
• Americans felt like this was unfair and unjust
Irony: Britain had set up a blockade of the seas trying to lead to the starvation of the
German people (America felt like this was justifiable in wartime) HOWEVER the use
of U-boats to destroy these blockades were uncivilized in the American eye.
2) British influence
• Britain had destroyed the transatlantic cable connecting Germany and US so
all communication came through Britain.
• Information biased - but helped shape the attitudes of US in favor of Britain
• Exaggerate stories to try and create a stir. Common story in newspapers was
that German troops would chop off the hands of Belgian babies. Of course
after the war this proved to be untrue.
3) Sinking of the Lusitania: British passenger liner
• Germany spotted the Lusitania in the Irish Sea and suspected correctly that it
was carrying weapons for the allies.
• fired on the line and within 18 minutes the ship sunk with its 1,198 passengers
• 128 of the dead were Americans
• sparks start flying at home
Germany had issued a warning reminding all potential travelers that there was a war
going on and to do so at your own risk. They took no blame for the incident.
Wilson demanded that Germany renounce unrestricted submarine warfare and make
payments to the victims survivors. Germany laughed.
Wilson ordered a second stronger note - Germany says they will stop sinking ships
without warning but of course they continued to do so.
Wilson had just been re-elected on the promise to “keep us out of war”.
Q: What would you do?
4) Zimmerman Telegram
A telegram from Germany was intercepted on its way to Mexico by Britain and they
release it to the U.S. - basically it was an agreement that if the U.S. decided to
declare war Germany would form an immediate alliance to Mexico promising them
that if they would fight Germany would recover their lost lands for them of Texas, New
Mexico and Arizona.
5) Russian Revolution
By 1917 Russian had suffered enormous casualties:
1.8 million killed
2.4 million taken prisoner
2.8 million sick or wounded
In the middle of this Russia had its own revolution and the czar was overthrown. U.S.
did not like the czar but once he was gone it was one less stumbling block.
Finally Wilson declares war “The world must be made safe for democracy”

Battle of WWI

Battles of WWI

Battles of the Marne
1914- German army advancing through Belgium and northern France. Caused panic among the French. The army was rushed from Paris to halt attack.
Germans were stopped.
1918- Germans pushing again. The four years in between had cost hundreds of thousands of lives and the armies were still exactly where they had started.

Battles of Ypres
1914- Attempt by the British to stop the advances of Germans
1915- First use of poison gas
1917- Over-ambitious aims, bad weather, and bad judgments’ led to horrific losses. Total casualties for this one battle reached over 250,000.

Battle of Somme
“Big Push” attack across river Somme by British. Soldiers did not follow orders,
Artillery bombardment did not dislodge German wire or destroy machine-gun posts, becoming one of the biggest slaughters in military history.


Battle of Cambrai
British launched the first full-scale offensive with the tank. 476 tanks charged towards German lines.
Success surprised both sides and British were not prepared for the victory.

Casualties
Great Britain 1,000,000
France 1,300,000
Russia 1,700,000
Germany and allies 3,500,000
America 50,000
At least 5,500 people died per day during the War