World War I The following paper gives insights on various issues; Firstly, why the First World War started, its effects and lastly how and why America got involved in the First World War Causes of the First World War The First World War started in 1914 and ended in 1918. The causes of World War I were militarism, alliances between European countries, imperialism, nationalism and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (Keegan, 2014). Primarily, it may be cited, that its cause was a struggle between the Central Powers (Austria-Hungary, Germany and Italy) and the Allied Powers (France, Great Britain and Russia) over the expansion of Serbia into the Balkans. Nature of the First World War The war was fought on the Eastern, …show more content…
Firstly, it was due to German carnage in Belgium. American civic attitude was against the German occupation of neutral Belgium. Secondly, the Americans had economic interests tied to the world war. American businessmen had a good standing with allied forces, and they believed that if the allied forces lost, they would not be able to reimburse the Americans. Thirdly, the sinking of the Lusitania in May 1915 off the Ireland coast by Germans enraged the Americans. It caused the death of 1000 passengers, 128 being civilians. Anti-German opinion, therefore, increased in America. Another reason was the unrestricted submarine warfare by the Germans (Keegan, 2014). The Germans were sinking civilian ships even after the Sussex pledge where they swore to stop this …show more content…
This was done through National Selective Service that set up the Random Lottery Program that registered men within 21-30 years to the military. Secondly, the War Industries Board overlooked the production of raw materials and the Food Administration agency coordinated the conservation of food. Also, the Railroad Administration rationed oil and coal use while the Committee on Public Information fueled propaganda that worked in support of the American troops (Tindall, 2016). Finally, the National Labor Board thwarted any strikes that would interfere with the war. Events after U.S Entry into the War Firstly, the entry of the Americans demoralized the Central Powers since they provided resources regarding manpower, food and ammunition to the British, French and Allied Forces. They also aided the allied forces defeat the Germans at the Second Battle of Mame. The Ludendorff Offensive was thus thwarted (Tindall, 2016). Finally, their entry also snatched victory from the Germans and led them to sign the armistice, making them concede defeat in November 1918. Woodrow’s Fourteen
Though the United States promised to remain neutral in WWI, the US entered anyway in 1917 due to intense propaganda, and strict accountability. Moreover, America’s strong relationship with Britain made the joining of the war almost inevitable. In posters the Germans were depicted as mad brutes, eager to destroy America and democracy. Strict accountability made it so the Germans were responsible for every ship they sunk, if it contained an American. American gave billions of dollars to Britain to help their war effort, whereas the Germans got nowhere near that amount.
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, tension grew between developing countries. Many countries, such as Germany, Italy, and Russia, wanted to expand and become more wealthy and powerful. Tension also grew if one country would start to build up its military strength. This would cause others to do the same. France, Germany, and Russia developed large armies. Germany challenged Great Britain’s naval power causing a rivalry between the two. Several countries began to form alliances.The Allied Powers (Great Britain, France, Russia, and Japan) and The Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman) were the two major alliances that formed. America stayed neutral at this time. However, hostility with Germany caused America to mainly trade with Great Britain. America soon entered the war after Germany attacked several American ships. The war was brutal. Many American soldiers were
When the WWI erupted in Europe in 1914, President Wilson decided not to take part into the war and declared America’s neutrality. As the nation of immigrants, it would have been difficult to pick sides, especially that a lot of immigrants originated either England or Germany and Austria. This would have created separation between Americans. U.S.’s decided to continue trading as before with both Britain and France and also with their opponent, Germany, which was in America’s best interest (U.S. History, 2016). But, due to the British blockade strategy to German supply from the US, the trade with Germany was impossible. As a result, the US continued to provide war supplies to Britain and France but decreased the trade with Germany, which aggravated Germany, which prompted a German submarine to sink the US ship Lusitania. The United States decided to enter the war after two and a half years of isolationism, as Allies with Britain and France.
Britain had been the most powerful empire up until this point in history, but hemorrhaged much of its wealth through the extreme cost of World War I. Initially the United States was left out of Europe’s conflict. Materials began running low for the combatants, as it requires much in the way of food and steel among other things. The US started off contributing materially to the British, not out of favoritism, but due to the British blockade they were unable to reach Germany with supplies. When Germany found out negotiations were set up with the United States. It is often debated President Truman’s true intentions for entering the War but during negotiations he had many stipulations for the peace treaties with the Germans. One being Germany was not allowed to fire upon any ship American citizens were aboard. This was not only specific to civilian transports but also ships carrying weapons. One can see how this may be problematic. Americans kept
The Americans were beginning to realize that being neutral during the war was rapidly killing their economy. This was aggravating the United States along with the British backing the Native Americans while the
Money also got America into the war. Money always gets people involved, and America had put huge investments in England and France. If the allied powers (England, France, and other various nations) were to lose, how would America get their money back? They had invested over two billion dollars in them. They did put money in Germany, but nowhere near that amount of money. America’s economy would fall. England and France were also America’s top trading partners, after the war, if Germany and the axis powers were to win, America’s trading would be disrupted.
The causes of World War I were six. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on 28 June 1914, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary was the trigger for the war. He was killed by Serbian nationalists. Austria-Hungary invaded Serbia. At same time Germany invaded Belgium, Luxembourg and France. Russia attacked Germany. Several alliances formed over the past decades were invoked, so within weeks the major powers were at war; as all had colonies, the conflict soon spread around the world.
Soldiers, alive after the war, had a hard time to recover mentally. Veterans from the war are usually emotional when talking about this modern warfare. They have a hard time talking about this event that marked their lives. Unfortunately, we are losing the people that witness this horrible battle. A really good example of a person
One of the major reason why America did end up getting involved in the war was due to trade. Our biggest trading partner at the time was Great Britain, who was at war with Germany. As you can guess, Germany did not like the fact that America was providing goods and weapons that could help Great Britain win the war. America became frustrated over time due to Germany trying to blockade American ships from going
The United Stated decided to stay neutral at the beginning of WWI. They will gain a relationship with Grate Britain and France. A lot of Americans wanted to stay isolated from Europe. Isolated means far away from other places. American compiles sold war supplies to their allies:
World War I began in July of 1914 and concluded with killing seventeen million people on November 11, 1918. Up until today it is arguable about the cause of World War I. A direct cause of World War I would be the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. Africa and part of Asia had raw materials that other areas could not provide, so the growing competition and the want for a better empire
World War 1(The Great War) began in 1914 and lasted until 1918. The Great War began after Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip. The war ended with the Allied Powers claiming victory over the Central Powers, and the war led to many technologies and inventions. During the war, the United States used multiple reasons to help keep the national security of the United States.
(just for fun WWI was also called: the War to end all wars, The war of the Nations, and The Great war)
The First World War is a war that is well known by the human population as it had a very significant impact in history and involved many world powers. It began in 1914 and ended four years later in 1918. The two main opposing sides were The Triple Alliance or Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy) and The Triple Entente or the Allied Powers (Great Britain, France, Russia). Later, Italy moved to the Allies (secret treaty), and the United States joined in as Allies as well. While there are common causes for the war between countries, they are different from each other in a slight way or apply to each country differently. The more general causes of the war were the country’s increase in militarism, imperialism, nationalism, and the many defensive alliances made between powers. The “spark” for the war was the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The effects of the war, for the most part, were different for each country as well, especially between the winning side and the losing side. The causes and effects of World War I were not the same in all countries.
In 1917 the German had used unrestricted submarine warfare to starve Britain out. This involved sinking American ships. One ship that was sunk by the Germans had passengers in it. Then German sent a secret telegram suggesting allying with Mexico against America. This made it likely for the Americans to finally to enter the war. USA declared war on Germany in April 1917 but it took them over a year before they could get ready. They got to the western front in May 1918. The American had a population 90 million which gave the military the potential to have a huge army. America's industrial might was very different in the world. In steel production alone, America produced three times as much as Germany and Austria did. However, America did not have an economy that had been put on a war footing and such a transformation would take time - and the Allies did not have time on their side.