Download Causes of World War I

America Enters the War
United States Neutrality
• By 1914, the U.S. was a world power with
overseas territories and influence
in Latin America and Asia
• However, Americans wanted to remain
neutral and avoid involvement in Europe’s
“Great War”
– Isolationist foreign policy
“The people of the United States are drawn from
many nations, and chiefly from the nations now at
war. It is natural and inevitable that there should be
sympathy with regard to the circumstances of the
conflict…
Every man who really loves America will act and
speak in the true spirit of neutrality…The United
States must be neutral in fact, as well as in name,
during these days that are to try men's souls.”
—Woodrow Wilson, 1914
The Lusitania
• Germany decided to attack all foreign shipping to
limit supplies reaching Britain
– Employed unrestricted submarine warfare and attacked
passenger ships
• The SS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat for
allegedly carrying military supplies
• About 1200 people died in the attack including 128
Americans
Zimmerman Telegram
• Germany tried to distract the United States from the war in
Europe
– They hoped to win the war before the U.S. joined
• German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmerman sent a
SECRET telegram urging Mexico to invade the U.S.
– In exchange, Germany would help Mexico gain back Texas, New
Mexico, and Arizona
• After the British intercepted and decoded the message,
Americans were outraged
Joining the War
• The USA remained neutral from 1914 to 1917, but
Germany continued to sink U.S. ships
• April 2, 1917 - Congress declared war on the Central
Powers
• President Woodrow Wilson famously promised to
“make the world safe for democracy”