Writing Assignment 2 In Woodrow Wilson's “War Message” to Congress on April 2nd 1917, he conveys to Congress the situation with Germany at that time and how he felt that America should step in and correct the wrong doings of Germany. At that time, Germany had declared that any ship coming into port with any of Germany's enemies would be taken out by submarines. This would include ports in Great Britain, Ireland, and western Europe. Living up to their own claim, innocent American lives, as well as innocent men and women on other ships coming to port, were taken out by these submarines. Wilson claims that this was in direct violation of the International Laws and he goes on to say that Germany's action are a declaration of war against the
More specifically, while any number of aggressive acts could have triggered war, following public disclosure of German efforts to lure Mexico into war with the United States, American for the first time felt both threatened and hostile toward the European aggressors. Finally, the continued presence of German u-boats in the North Atlantic and the threat of unrestricted submarine warfare against our economic interest hit close to home, drawing the United States into war with hopes of breaking growing stalemate. (Faragher et al.,
Germany established a submarine war zone around the British Isles and said they would sink any enemy war ships that entered that proximity. Innocent American trading and merchant ships were being shot down and sunk by ruthless German warfare at sea. Germany refused to let the neutral America trade goods with their enemy countries. This dramatically impacted America because much of the American economy was controlled by trade with Britain and France, and moving forward America knew it would be impossible to keep an expanding economy without GB and France. America, despite its efforts, could not remain neutral and was forced to enter World War 1.
German U-boats sank British passenger liners killing Americans. This was condemned by the U. S. but remained neutral after Germany apologized and vowed to not attack anymore ships without warning first. The British then intercepted the Zimmerman telegram which made Germany more of a threat since it said if Mexico declared war on the U. S. then Germany would return U. S. land back to Mexico. This convinced the president that, “the war was, indeed, a defense of democracy against German aggression.” (Roark, 692) The final incident that led us to enter the war was when German subs sank five American ships off Britain. No longer could the U. S. stand by and watch as Germany attacked and killed our people.
World War Two began in September 1939 when Britain and France declared war on Germany following Germany's invasion of Poland. Although the outbreak of war was triggered by Germany's invasion of Poland, the causes of the war are more complex. Treaty of Versailles In 1919, Lloyd George of England, Orlando of Italy, Clemenceau of France and Woodrow Wilson from the US met to discuss how Germany was to be made to pay for the damage world war one had caused. Woodrow Wilson wanted a treaty based on his 14-point plan which he believed would bring peace to Europe. Georges Clemenceau wanted revenge.
Before America entered World War I in April, 1917, they acted as suppliers for Europe. At the time America wanted to remain neutral until Germany became responsible for destroying several United States ships. President Woodrow Wilson warned Germany of retaliation if they continued to sink their vessels. In February, 1915 German announced unrestricted warfare against all ships, neutral or otherwise, that entered the war zones around Britain. Germany continued to violate the United States demands and continued to sink vessels and kill the innocent Americans onboard.
In 1898 the Spanish- American war began when America decided to liberate the Spanish colonies Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. The US won and gained control of the colonies, although instead of liberating the colonies they had fought to free and continue the fight against imperialism they became what they had been telling the world that they resented, an empire. This was the first step the US took towards becoming the world’s toughest police officer. After the First World War was won, President Wilson proposed 14 points at the meeting in Versailles that the rest of the world should follow to gain stability and peace in the world. This was the second step.
Considering that Realpolitik focused on preventing a war within Europe and Weltpolitik aggressively asserted German dominance, it can be validly argued that this direct change in German foreign policy played a major role in bringing about the First World War. Another reason that German foreign policy was so greatly scrutinized was because of the Anglo-German naval rivalry which was creating tension within Europe. As long as Germany built, Britain would be a German enemy. The German government dramatically increased the development of German Ships. [i] This arms race and change in German foreign policy, believing they needed to control the seas was seen as a definite and direct cause
A cargo ship disguised as a cruise ship sunk because the Germans torpedoed it. It carried weapons and the passengers had access to one or more warnings by the Germans concerning sea travel around Great Britain. The British wanted America to join the war to support the Allies. Though this event did not immediately trigger the reaction the British wanted, the Lusitania event, in combination with others, caused the Americans to join the war, allowing the Allies to win. They needed the Americans, and they used an ingenious tactic to cause the Americans to join the war: the death of its own civilians.
The U.S. Navy was already attacking German boats. Hitler despised President Roosevelt because he had attacked his Nazi ideology in the past. Hitler believed that Japan was a strong power and that once they took over the United States, it would help Germany take over Russia. Because of these ideas from Hitler, Germany declared war against the United States. Hitler argued that the failure of the New Deal was the cause of the war.