The The entry of America into World War I occurred in April 1917, after more than two and a half years of efforts by President Woodrow Wilson to prevent the United States out of war. Regardless of the Anglophile element that urges initial support for British public opinion, America reflects that the president: the sentiment for neutrality is very strong among Irish Americans, German Americans and Scandinavian Americans, as well as among church leaders and among women in general. On the other hand, even before World War I broke out, American opinions were more negative to Germany than to other countries in Europe. Over time, especially after reports of cruelty in Belgium in 1914 and after the sinking of the RMS Lusitania passenger ship in 1915, Americans increasingly came to see Germany as an aggressor in Europe.
As US president, it is Wilson who makes major policy decisions on foreign affairs: while the country is peaceful, the domestic economy runs on a laissez-faire basis, with American banks lending big to Britain. and France - funds mostly used to buy ammunition, raw materials and food from across the Atlantic. Until 1917, Wilson made minimal preparations for ground warfare and defended the United States Army on a small peacetime footing, despite increased demand for improved readiness. But he expands the United States Navy.
In 1917, with Russia experiencing political upheaval after disappointment expanded there during the war, and with Britain and France low on credit, Germany seemed to have the upper hand in Europe, while German allies, the Ottoman Empire, stubbornly stuck to its holdings in the Middle East. In the same year, Germany decided to resume the infinite submarine warfare against any ship that approached British waters; this attempt to make Britain surrendered was surrendered by the knowledge that would almost certainly bring the United States into war. Germany also made a secret bid to help Mexico recapture lost territory in the Mexican-American War in a coded telegram known as Telegram Zimmermann, which was confronted by British Intelligence. The publication of the communique angered Americans just as the German U Boats began to sink American merchant vessels in the North Atlantic. Wilson then asked Congress for a "war to end all wars" that would "make the world safe for democracy", and Congress voted to declare war on Germany on April 6, 1917.
On December 7, 1917, the United States declared war on Austria-Hungary.
US troops began to arrive in the West Front in large numbers in 1918.
Video American entry into World War I
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Britain used its large navy to prevent cargo ships entering German ports, especially by intercepting them in the North Sea between the Scottish coast and Norway. The wider sea approaches England and France, their distance from the German port and the smaller size of the German surface fleet all make it more difficult for Germany to reciprocate. Instead, the Germans use submarines to wait, and then sink, merchant vessels heading to enemy ports.
The United States insisted on maintaining the traditional rights of registered vessels in neutral countries and strongly protesting against American ships being intercepted or drowned: Britain seized American ships for alleged offenses while Germany drowned them - often without warning, international law. laws that say seafarers should be given the opportunity to reach their lifeboats. After several violations, Germany halted this practice but in early 1917 he decided to continue an unlimited submarine war, in the hope that this would infuriate Britain before America could perform effective military retaliation.
The strategy behind the blockade
The Royal Navy managed to stop sending most of the war and food supplies to Germany. Neutral American vessels attempting to trade with the Germans were captured or returned by the Royal Navy which viewed the trade as a direct conflict with Allied war efforts. Strangulation is very slow, as Germany and its allies control large farms and raw materials. Finally successful because Germany and Austria-Hungary have destroyed their agricultural production by taking so many peasants into their troops. In 1918, German cities were on the brink of starvation; front-line troopers are in short rations and are out of stock.
Germany is also considered a blockade. "Britain wants to starve us," says Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the man who built the German fleet and who remains the main adviser of Kaiser Wilhelm II. "We can play the same game.We can share it and destroy every ship that seeks to destroy the blockade". Unable to challenge the more powerful Royal Navy on the surface, Tirpitz wanted to frighten merchants and passenger ships on their way to England. He reasoned that since the British island relies on food imports, raw materials, and manufactured goods, scaring a large number of ships will effectively undermine its long-term ability to defend troops on the Western Front. While Germany only had nine U-boats remotely at the start of the war, it had enough shipyard capacity to build the hundreds needed. However, the United States demands that Germany respect the international treaty on "sea freedom", which protects American neutral vessels in the open seas from attacks or drownings by belligerents. Furthermore, Americans insist that drowning innocent civilians is barbaric and the reason for the declaration of war. The British often violate the American neutral right by seizing the ship. Wilson's top adviser, Colonel Edward M. House commented that, "Britain has gone as far as possible in violating the neutral right, even though they do it in the most polite manner". When Wilson protested against England's violation of American neutrality, the British withdrew.
German submarines menorpedo the ship without warning, causing sailors and passengers to drown. Berlin explains that submarines are so vulnerable that they dare not appear near merchant ships that may carry weapons and that are too small to save submariners. Britain armed most of its merchant ships with medium-sized rifles that could drown the submarine, making attacks on the water too risky. In February 1915, the United States warned Germany about submarine misuse. On April 22, the German Embassy warned US citizens against ships traveling to Britain, which had to deal with German attacks. On May 7, Germany torpedoed the British passenger ship RMS Lusitania , drowning it. This act of aggression led to the loss of 1,198 civil lives, including 128 Americans. The sinking of large, unarmed passenger vessels, combined with previous stories of Belgian cruelty, shocked Americans and changed public opinion hostile to Germany, though not yet at the point of war. Wilson issued a warning to Germany that it would face "strict accountability" if the US passenger vessel was more neutral. Berlin agreed, ordering his submarine to avoid passenger ships.
In January 1917, however, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff decided that an infinite submarine blockade was the only way to achieve a decisive victory. They demanded that Kaiser Wilhelm order the infinite submarine warfare resumed. Germany knows that this decision means war with the United States, but they are betting that they can win before the potential power of America can be mobilized. However, they exaggerate how many boats they can drown and thus the extent to which Britain will be weakened. Finally, they do not expect that convoys can and will be used to defeat their efforts. They believe that the United States is so militarily weak that it can not be a factor on the Western Front for more than a year. The civil government in Berlin objected, but Kaiser sided with his military.
Business considerations
The beginning of the war in Europe coincided with the end of Recession 1913-1914 in America. Exports to warring countries increased rapidly during the first four years of War from $ 824.8 million in 1913 to $ 2.25 billion in 1917. Loans from American financial institutions to Allied countries in Europe also increased dramatically over the period the same one. Economic activity towards the end of this period is booming as government resources help private sector production. Between 1914 and 1917, industrial production increased 32% and GNP increased by almost 20%. The improvement of industrial production in the United States outperformed the war. The formation of capital that allowed American companies to supply warring parties and American troops resulted in greater long-term production levels even after the war ended in 1918.
In 1913, J. P. Morgan, Jr. took over House of Morgan, an American-based investment bank consisting of separate banking operations in New York, London and Paris, following the death of his father, J. Pierpont Morgan. House of Morgan offered assistance in financing wartime Britain and France from the early stages of the war in 1914 through the American entrance in 1917. J.P. Morgan & amp; Co., the bank of the House of Morgan in New York, was designated a major financial agent to the British government in 1914 after a successful lobbying by British ambassador Sir Cecil Spring Rice. The same bank will take on a similar role in France and will offer extensive financial assistance to the two warring countries. J.P. Morgan & amp; Co. became the main issuer of loans to the French government by raising money from American investors. Morgan, Harjes, the House of Morgan's affiliated bank, controlled most of wartime financial transactions between the House of Morgan and the French government after the major debt issuance in the American market. The relationship between the House of Morgan and the French government became tense as the war raged without end in sight. France's ability to borrow from other sources was reduced, leading to greater lending rates and pressing the value of the franc. After the war, in 1918, J.P. Morgan & amp; Co. continues to help the French government financially through monetary stabilization and debt relief.
Because America is still declared a neutral country, the financial transactions of American banks in Europe led to many disputes between Wall Street and the US government. Foreign Secretary William Jennings Bryan firmly opposed the financial support of the warring states and wanted to ban loans to the warring parties in August 1914. He told President Wilson that "the refusal to lend to warring parties would naturally tend to speed up the settlement war." Wilson initially agreed, but later reversed himself when France argued that if it were legal to buy American goods then it was legitimate to take credit on purchases.
J.P. Morgan made loans to France including one in March 1915 and, after negotiations with the Anglo-French Financial Commission, other joint loans to England and France in October 1915, the latter amounted to US $ 500,000,000. Despite the US government's stance that stopping such financial aid could speed the end of the war and therefore save lives, little is done to ensure compliance with the loan ban, in part because of pressure from Allied governments and American business interests.
The American steel industry has faced difficulties and profit declines during the Recession of 1913-1914. However, when the war began in Europe, the increasing demand for war tools began a period of increased productivity that alleviated many US industrial companies from the low growth environment of the recession. Bethlehem Steel takes special advantage of growing demand for armaments abroad. Prior to America's entry into the War, these companies benefited from unlimited trade with overseas customers. After President Wilson issued his war declaration, the companies were subject to price controls created by the U.S. Trade Commission. to ensure that the US military will have access to the necessary weaponry.
At the end of the 1918 war, Bethlehem Steel has produced 65,000 pounds of wrought military products and 70 million pounds of steel plate, 1.1 billion pounds of steel for shells, and 20.1 million grains of artillery ammunition for Britain and France. Bethlehem Steel takes advantage of the domestic arms market and generates 60% of American arms and 40% of artillery shells used in the War. Even with lower price controls and lower profit margins on manufactured goods, the profits generated from wartime sales extend the company to the country's third largest manufacturing company. Bethlehem Steel became a major weapon supplier to the United States and other allied forces again in 1939.
The elite look
Historians share the views of American political and social leaders into four distinct groups - the camps are mostly informal:
The first was the Non-Interventionists, a loose and politically diverse political anti-war movement that tried to prevent the United States from waging war altogether. Members of this group tend to view war as a clash between British imperialism and German militarism, both considered equally corrupt. Others are pacifist, who objected on moral grounds. Prominent leaders including Democrats such as former Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, industrialist Henry Ford and publisher William Randolph Hearst; Republic of Robert M. La Follette, Senator from Wisconsin and George W. Norris, Senator from Nebraska; and Progressive Party activist Jane Addams.
At the far left end of the socialist spectrum of the Socialists, led by their eternal candidates for President Eugene V. Debs and veteran movements such as Victor L. Berger and Morris Hillquit, are staunchly anti-militists and opposed to US intervention, the brand of conflict as "capitalist war "to be avoided by American workers. However, after the US joined the war in April, 1917 the division developed between the anti-war majority party and the pro-war faction of Socialist, journalist and intellectual writers led by John Spargo, William English Walling and E. Haldeman-Julius. The group founded the rival American Social-Democratic League to promote the war effort among their Socialists.
Next is the more moderate Liberal-Internationalists. This bipartisan group reluctantly supports the declaration of war against Germany with the postwar goal of building a collective international security institution designed to resolve the peaceful future conflict between countries and to promote the liberal values ​​of liberal democracy more broadly. This group's view is supported by interest groups such as the League for the Promotion of Peace. Its adherents include US President Woodrow Wilson, his influential adviser Edward M. House, former President William Howard Taft, renowned inventor Alexander Graham Bell, Wall Street financier Bernard Baruch and Harvard Abbott President Lawrence Lowell.
Finally, there is what is called the Atlantic. With great enthusiasm for the pro-Entente, they have strongly championed American intervention in war since 1915. Their main political motivation is to prepare the United States to wage war with Germany and establish an eternal military alliance with Great Britain. The group is actively supporting the Ready and Strong Ready movement among Anglophile's northern political establishment, boasting such figures as former President Theodore Roosevelt, Major General Leonard Wood, prominent lawyer and diplomat Joseph Hodges Choate, former War Secretary Henry Stimson, journalist Walter Lippman and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Sr. Massachusetts and Elihu Root from New York.
Maps American entry into World War I
Public opinion
A cosmopolitan group of upper and middle-class businessmen based in the largest cities leads in promoting military readiness and in defining how far America can be pushed before they will fight. Many public figures hate war - Foreign Minister William Jennings Bryan is the most prominent, and he resigns when he thinks Wilson has become too noisy. Grassroots opposition to American income comes primarily from German and Irish elements.
Parties
A surprising factor in the development of American public opinion is how few political parties are involved. Wilson and the Democrats in 1916 campaigned about the slogan "He made us out of war!", Saying the victory of the Republic would mean a war with Mexico and Germany. His position may be very important in winning Western countries. Charles Evans Hughes, Republican candidate, insists on downplaying the issue of war.
The Socialist Party speaks peacefully. Socialist rhetoric denotes the European conflict as an "imperialist war". It won 2% of the 1916 vote for Eugene V. Debs, blaming the war on capitalism and promising total opposition. "Bayonet", the propaganda says, "is a weapon with a worker at each end". However, when the war began, about half of the Socialists, symbolized by Congressman Meyer London, supported the decision and favored the pro-Allied effort. The rest, led by Debs, remain ideological and dead-hard. Many socialists were investigated from the Espionage Act of 1917 and many suspected of treason were arrested, including Debs. This will only increase the Socialist anti-war group in hatred against the American government.
Workers, farmers, and African Americans
The working class is relatively quiet, and tends to divide ethnic lines. At the beginning of the war, neither working men nor peasants paid much interest in the debate over war preparations. Samuel Gompers, head of the AFL labor movement, denounced the 1914 war as "unfair, unfair and unholy," but in 1916 he supported Wilson's limited program of preparedness, against the objection of socialist union activists. In 1916 the union supported Wilson for domestic problems and ignored the question of war.
War initially disrupted the cotton market; England blocked shipments to Germany, and prices fell from 11 cents per pound to just 4 cents. However, in 1916, Britain decided to raise the price to 10 cents to avoid losing the South's support. Cotton farmers seem to have shifted from neutrality to intervention at a rate similar to that of other parts of the country. Midwestern farmers generally oppose war, especially those of German and Scandinavian descent. The Midwest became a bastion of isolationism; Other remote rural areas also do not see the need for war.
The African-American community does not take a strong position in one way or another. A month after the congress declared war, W. E. B. Du Bois called on African-Americans to "fight shoulder to shoulder with the world to gain a world where war will not exist". Once the war starts and the blacks are recruited, they work to achieve equality. Many are hoping that public assistance in the war effort abroad will gain civil rights at home. When such civil liberties have not yet been granted, many African-Americans become tired of waiting for the recognition of their rights as American citizens.
South
There are strong anti-war elements in the Southern states and white borders. In rural Missouri for example, mistrust of strong Eastern influences is focused on the risk that Wall Street will bring America into war. Across the poor white South farmers remind each other that "the war of the rich means the struggle of the poor," and they want nothing from it. Congressman James Hay, Virginia Democrat is the strong chairman of the Council of Military Affairs Committee. He repeatedly blocked prewar attempts to modernize and enlarge the army. Preparedness is not necessary because Americans are safe, he insisted in January 1915:
- Isolated like us, safe in our vastness, protected by a great navy, and have enough troops for emergencies that may arise, we can ignore the laments and predictions of the militia.
German Americans
The Germans of America at this time usually had only weak ties with Germany; However, they are afraid of the negative treatment they might receive if the United States enters war (the persecution has already happened to German citizens in Canada and Australia). Almost no one called for intervention on the part of Germany, instead called for neutrality and spoke of the superiority of German culture. As more countries are drawn into the conflict, the English press is increasingly supporting Britain, while German-American media are calling for temporary neutrality as well as defending German positions. Chicago Germany is working to secure a complete embargo on all weapons shipments to Europe. In 1916, a large crowd in Germania Chicago celebrated Kaiser's birthday, something they had never done before the war. German Americans in early 1917 still called for neutrality, but declared that if war came they would be loyal to the United States. At this point, they have been excluded almost entirely from the national discourse on this issue. After the war began, they were harassed in a variety of ways that historian Carl Wittke recalled in 1936, it was "one of the most difficult and embarrassing experiences suffered by ethnic groups in American history." German-American socialists in Milwaukee, Wisconsin are actively campaigning against the war.
Christian and pacifist churches
Leaders of most religious groups (except Episcopal) tend to be pacifist, just as leaders of the women's movement. The Methodists and Quakers are, among others, opponents of war vocals. President Wilson, who was a devout Presbyterian, often framed the war in good and evil in a call for religious support from war.
The joint efforts were made by pacifists including Jane Addams, Oswald Garrison Villard, David Starr Jordan, Henry Ford, Lillian Wald, and Carrie Chapman Catt. Their goal was to encourage Wilson's efforts to mediate the end of the war by bringing the warring parties to the conference table. Finally in 1917 Wilson convinced some of them that to be truly anti-war, they needed to support what he promised as a "war to end all wars".
After the war was declared, a more liberal denomination, which had supported the Social Gospel, called for a war for truth that would help lift the whole of mankind. The theme - an aspect of American exceptionalism - is that God has chosen America as a means to bring redemption to the world.
American Catholic bishops maintain a general silence on the issue of intervention. Millions of Catholics live in both sides of the conflict, and American Catholics tend to part with ethnic lines in their opinion of American involvement in war. At the time, Catholic cities and towns in the East and Midwest often contained several parishes, each serving an ethnic group, such as Ireland, Germany, Italy, Poland or England. The Catholic Americans of Irish and German descent are opposed to the most powerful intervention. Pope Benedict XV made several attempts to negotiate peace. All his efforts were rejected by the Allies and Germany, and throughout the Vatican war maintained a strict neutrality policy.
American Jew
American Jewish sympathy also broke along ethnic lines, with newly arrived Yiddish Jews tending to Zionism, and the established German-American Jewish community opposed it. In 1914-1916, there were several Jewish powers supporting the American entry into war. Many consider Britain to be hostile to Jewish interests. The city of New York, with its neatly organized elements totaling 1.5 million Jews, is the epicenter of anti-war activism.
Different Jewish communities worked together during the war years to provide assistance to the Jewish community in Eastern Europe.
The biggest concern for Jews is the tsarist regime in Russia because it is famous for tolerating pogroms and following anti-Semitic policies. As historian Joseph Rappaport reported in his study of the Yiddish press during the war, "Pro-German Jewish American Jews are an inevitable consequence of their Russophobia". The fall of the tsarist regime in March 1917 eliminated major obstacles to many Jews who refused to support Tsarism. The draft went well in New York City, and left-wing opposition to the war largely collapsed when the Zionists saw the possibility of using war to sue the state of Israel.
Irish-Americans
The most effective domestic opponent of the war is the Irish-American Catholic. They had little interest in the continent, but were neutral about helping the United Kingdom because it recently enacted the Irish Government Regulation of 1914, which allowed the Irish House Rules. However, the Act was suspended until the war ended. John Redmond and the Irish Parliament Party (IPP) stated that the Irish Volunteers should support the pro-Allied war effort first; his political opponents argued that it was not time to support Britain in its efforts to "strengthen and expand its empire". Attacks on the IPP and the pro-Allied press showed strong conviction that Germany's victory would accelerate Ireland's independence achievement. But instead of proposing intervention on behalf of Germany, Irish leaders and organizations focus on the demands of American neutrality. But the growing contact between militant Irish nationalists and German agents in the United States only sparked concerns over where the loyalty of the Irish Americans lies. Nevertheless, nearly 1,000 Irish-born Americans died fighting with the US armed forces in World War I.
Easter Rising in Dublin in April 1916 was destroyed within a week and its leaders executed by firing squads. The mainstream of the American press treats rebellion as foolish and misdirected, and theorizes that it is largely inspired by Germany. Overall, public opinion remains loyal to pro-British.
Irish-Americans dominated the Democrats in many major cities so Wilson should consider their views. They did not prevent him from being hostile to Germany, but they forced him to keep his distance from England. Indeed, Irish-American pressures have influenced the United States not to accept the purpose of the British war as its own and set its own goals, especially self-determination. The Irish-American community thought they had Wilson's promise to promote Irish independence in exchange for their support of his war policy, but after the war they were deeply disappointed by his refusal to support them in 1919. Wilson saw the pure Irish situation as engaging internal England and did not see any disagreements and unrest in Ireland comparable to the suffering of various nationalities in Europe as the fall of World War I. Progress from the Irish Racing Convention gave a sense of difference and change of opinion during the War.
Pro-allies immigrants
Some British immigrants work actively for intervention. Samuel Insull, born in London, a leading Chicago industrialist, for example, enthusiastically gave money, propaganda, and a means for volunteers to enter British or Canadian troops. After the entry of the United States, Insull directs the Illinois State Defense Council, with responsibility for regulating the mobilization of the state.
Immigrants from Eastern Europe are usually more concerned about politics in their homeland than in politics in the United States. A spokesman for Slavic immigrants hopes that the Allied victory will bring freedom to their homeland. A large number of Hungarian immigrants are liberal and nationalist in sentiment, and searching for an independent Hungarian, apart from the Austro-Hungarian Empire lobbied in favor of war and allied with the Atlantic or Anglophile parts of the population. This community is largely pro-British and anti-German sentiment. The Albanian-Americans in communities such as Boston are also campaigning for entry into war and are very pro-British and anti-German, and hope the war will lead to independent Albanians who will be free from the Ottoman Empire. The Polish, Slovak, and Czech immigrants are very pro-war and generally pro-British.
Popular pacifism
Henry Ford supported pacifist action by sponsoring a large-scale peace mission, with a number of activists and intellectuals on the "Peace Ship" (Oscar II ships). Ford chartered the ship in 1915 and invited prominent peace activists to join him. meet with leaders on both sides of Europe. He hopes to create enough publicity to encourage warring states to hold peace and mediation conferences. The mission was widely ridiculed by the press, writing about "Ship of Fools" "Disputes between activists, ridicule by press contingents, and influenza outbreaks destroyed the voyage.after four days after the ship arrived in neutral Norway, the beleaguered and physically defective Ford abandoned the mission and returned to the United States, has shown that independent small businesses have not produced anything.
German Agent
On July 24, 1915, the German embassy commercial attaché, Heinrich Albert, left his trunk on a train in New York City, where Secret Service agent Frank Burke grabbed him. Wilson let the newspaper publish its contents, indicating a systematic attempt by Berlin to subsidize friendly newspapers and block the purchase of British war material. Berlin's top espionage agent, debonnaire Franz Rintelen von Kleist spent millions to finance sabotage in Canada, causing trouble between the United States and Mexico and to instigate a workers strike. Britain is also involved in propaganda, though not illegal espionage. But they are not caught. Germany is blamed for Americans increasingly concerned about the vulnerability of free society to subversion. Indeed, one of the main fears of Americans from all stations in 1916-1919 was that spies and saboteurs were everywhere. This sentiment played a major role in arousing fear of Germany, and suspicion about all those of German descent who could not "prove" 100% loyalty.
Preparedness movement
In 1915, Americans paid more attention to war. The sinking of Lusitania has a strong influence on public opinion due to the death of American civilians. That year, a powerful "Alert" movement emerged. Proponents argue that the United States needs to immediately build strong naval and land forces for defense purposes; the unspoken assumption is that America will fight sooner or later. General Leonard Wood (still active on duty after serving as Army Chief of Staff), former president Theodore Roosevelt, and former war secretary Elihu Root and Henry Stimson are the driving forces behind Preparedness, along with many of the world's most prominent bankers, industrialists, lawyers and descendants of prominent families. Indeed, there emerged the formation of the "Atlantic" foreign policy, a group of influential Americans, especially those from upper-class lawyers, bankers, academics and politicians from the Northeast, committed to a series of Anglophile internationalism. His representative was Paul D. Cravath, one of New York's leading corporate attorneys. For Cravath, in the mid-fifties when the war began, the conflict served as enlightenment, sparking interest in international affairs that dominated the rest of his career. Anglophile is ferocious, he strongly supports American intervention in the war and hopes that close Anglo-American cooperation will become a key principle of postwar international organization.
The Preparedness Movement has a "realistic" philosophy of world affairs - they believe that economic power and military muscle are more decisive than idealist struggles that focus on causes such as democracy and national self-determination. Emphasizing repeatedly the defenses of a weak state, they show that 100,000 American soldiers added by 112,000 National Guards, lost 20 to one by German troops, drawn from a smaller population. Similarly, in 1915, the British armed forces and the British empire (the world's most powerful military and economic power at the time), France, Russia, Austro-Hungarian empire, Ottoman Empire, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Belgium, Japan and Greece are all larger and more experienced than the United States military, in many cases significantly so.
Reform to them means UMT or "universal military training". They propose a national service program in which 600,000 people aged 18 years each year will be required to spend six months in military training, and then assigned to a reserve unit. Small regular soldiers will primarily be training agents.
Antimilitarists complain about his plans to make America resemble Germany (which requires two years of active duty). Lawyers argue that military "service" is an important civic duty, and that without the similarity provided by such services, the nation will split into an antagonistic ethnic group. A spokesman promised that UMT would be "a real fusion container, where the fire is hot enough to blend elements into a common mass of Americanism". Furthermore, they promise, discipline and training will make the paid workforce better. The hostility to the military service was very strong at the time, and the program failed to win approval. In World War II, when Stimson as Secretary of War proposed a similar program of universal peace service, he was defeated.
Underlining its commitment, the Preparedness movement prepared and funded its own summer training camp in Plattsburgh, New York, and other sites, where 40,000 college alumni became physically fit, learned to line up and shoot, and ultimately provide cadres of wartime officer corps.. Suggestions by the unions that gifted youth working class are invited to Plattsburgh are ignored. The Ready Movement does not only come from the working class but also from middle-class leadership in most small towns in America. It was of no use to the National Guard, which he saw as politically, locally, less armed, poorly trained, too inclined to an idealistic crusade (such as against Spain in 1898), and less in the understanding of world affairs. The National Guard on the other hand is safely rooted in state and local politics, with representation of a vast portion of American society. The Guard is one of several national institutions that (in some northern states) accept blacks on the same footing.
The Democratic Party sees the Preparedness movement as a threat. Roosevelt, Root and Wood is a Republican presidential candidate. Finer, the Democrat Party is rooted in localism that respects the National Guard, and voters are hostile to the rich and powerful in the first place. Working with the Democrats who control Congress, Wilson was able to shift the power of Preparedness. Army and Navy leaders were forced to testify before a Congress stating that the country's military is in excellent condition.
In fact, neither the Army nor the Navy had any form of war. The Navy has a nice ship but Wilson has used it to threaten Mexico, and fleet readiness has suffered. The crew of the Texas and New York , the two newest and largest warships, never fired the rifle, and the morale of the sailors was low. In addition, the numbers were lost and lost by the British, German, French and Italian navy. The Army's air force and the Navy are very small in size. Despite the flood of new weapon systems inaugurated by Britain, Germany, France, Austro-Hungary, Italy, and others in the war in Europe, the Army paid little attention. For example, there is no research on trench warfare, poison gas, heavy artillery, or tanks and is totally unfamiliar with the rapid evolution of air warfare. The Democratic Party in Congress tried to cut its military budget in 1915. The Readiness Movement effectively exploited a wave of anger over Lusitania in May 1915, forcing the Democrats to promise some improvements to the military and navy. Wilson, less fearful of the Navy, embraced a long-term development program designed to create a fleet equivalent to the Royal Navy in the mid-1920s, though this would not be achieved until World War II. "Realism" is working here; admirals are Mahanian people and therefore they want a fleet of heavy warships that are second to none - the same as England. The facts of submarine warfare (which requires destroyers, not warships) and the possibility of an imminent war with Germany (or with England, for that matter), are simply ignored.
Wilson's program for the Army touched the storm of fire. War Secretary Lindley Garrison adopted many of the Readiness leaders' proposals, especially their emphasis on large federal reserves and National Guard abandonment. Garrison's proposal not only angered local politicians from both sides, they also allude to the belief held firmly by the liberal wing of the Progressive movement. They feel that war always has hidden economic motivation. In particular, they warn key agitators are New York bankers (such as JP Morgan) with millions of risky, profit-making munitions (such as Bethlehem Steel, who made armor, and DuPont, who make powder) and industrialists who unspecified search for global markets to control. Anti-war critics criticize them. This particular interest is too strong, especially, Senator La Follette noted, on the conservative wing of the Republican Party. The only way to peace is disarmament, Bryan repeated.
Garrison's plan sparked a fierce battle in the history of peace over the relationship of military planning to national goals. In peacetime, the Defense Department's arsenal and naval base produced almost all ammunition with no civilian uses, including warships, artillery, naval weapons, and shells. The items available in the civil market, such as food, horses, saddles, carts, and uniforms are always purchased from civilian contractors. The armor plates (and after 1918, the airplanes) were the exception that had caused an unrelenting controversy over a century. After World War II, arsenal and naval bases were less important than giant civilian aircraft and electronics companies, which became the second part of the "military industrial complex." Peace leaders such as Jane Addams of Hull House and David Starr Jordan of Stanford redoubled their efforts, and now divert their voices against the president because he "sows the seeds of militarism, raises the military and navy caste". Many ministers, professors, agricultural spokesmen and union leaders join forces, with the strong support of a group of four dozen southern Democrats in Congress who take over the Military Affairs Committee in the House. Wilson, in big trouble, took his aim to the people on a major talk tour in early 1916, a warm-up for a fallout reelection campaign. Wilson appears to have won the middle class, but has had little impact on the largely ethnic and farmer-dominated working class. Congress still refused to budge, so Wilson replaced Garrison as Secretary of War with Newton Baker, the Democrat Mayor in Cleveland and an outspoken opponent of preparedness (Garrison remained silent, but felt Wilson was "a man of high ideals but no principle" ). The result was a compromise passed in May 1916, when the war raged and Berlin debated whether America was so weak that it could be ignored. The Army doubled to 11,300 officers and 208,000 men, without reserves, and the National Guard will be enlarged in five years to 440,000. The summer camp on the Plattsburg model was authorized for new officers, and the government was given $ 20 million to build its own nitrate plant. Supporters of preparedness are bowed, the antiwar people cheering. America will now be too weak to fight. Colonel Robert L. Bullard personally complained that "Both the [British and Germans] treat us with derision and humiliation; ignorance, our arrogant superiority arrogance has exploded on our faces and deserved." The House destroyed the naval plans as well, defeating the "big naval" plan by 189-194, and rushed warships. The Battle of Jutland (31 May/1 June 1916) was used by the navy to argue for the oceans' advantage; they then took control of the Senate, destroyed the DPR coalition, and gave the authorities a rapid buildup of three classes of all warships classes. The new armaments system, naval aviation, received $ 3.5 million, and the government was authorized to build its own steel plate factory. The very weak US military power prompted Berlin to launch an infinite submarine attack in 1917. He knew it meant a war with the Americans, but he could discount the immediate risks because the US Army could be ignored and the new warship would not be at sea until 1919. at the end of the war, with Germany winning. The idea that armaments led to war turned his head: the refusal to arm in 1916 caused the war in 1917.
Military size
Americans feel an increasing need for the military that can command respect. As an editor says, "The best thing about big troops and strong navies is that they make it much easier to say what we want to say in our diplomatic correspondence." Berlin has so far retreated and apologized when Washington was angry, thereby boosting American confidence. American rights and American honor are increasingly becoming the focus. The "Peace" slogan gives way to "Peace with Honor". However, the Army remains unpopular. A recruiter in Indianapolis noted that, "People here do not take the right attitude toward military life as a career, and if a man joins from here, he often tries to come out in peace". The Preparedness Movement uses its easy access to the mass media to show that the War Department has no plans, no equipment, little training, no reserves, no ridiculous National Guard, and an entirely inadequate organization for war. Motion pictures such as The Battle Cry of Peace (1915) illustrate an American invasion of land demanding action.
The preparedness and ability of the US Navy is a matter of controversy. The press at the time reported that the only military ready was the enemy fleet attempting to seize the New York port - when the German fleet was controlled by the Royal Navy. Naval Secretary Josephus Daniels is a journalist with a pacifist tendency. He has built Naval education resources and made Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island an important experience for aspiring admirals. However, he alienated the officer corps with his moral reforms, including no wine in officer mess, no hazing at the Naval Academy, and more pastors and YMCAs. Daniels, as a journalist, knows the value of publicity. In 1915 he founded the Naval Consulting Board headed by Thomas Edison to get advice and expertise from leading scientists, engineers and industrialists. It popularized technology, naval expansion, and military readiness, and was well covered in the media. But according to Coletta he ignored the nation's strategic needs, and underestimated the advice of his experts, Daniels suspended the joint Army and Navy Council meeting for two years therefore gave unwanted advice, cut the half of the General Council's recommendation for a new ship, reducing the authority of the officers at the base The Navy where ships were built and repaired, and ignored the administrative turmoil in his department. Bradley Fiske, one of the most innovative admirals in the history of the American navy, in 1914 was Daniels' primary aide; he recommended a reorganization that would prepare for war, but Daniels refused. Instead he replaced Fiske in 1915 and was brought in for the new post of Chief of Naval Operations of an unknown captain, William Benson. Chosen for his obedience, Benson proved an ingenious bureaucrat who was more interested in preparing for his eventual confrontation with England than directly with Germany. Benson told Sims that he "will soon fight Britain as Germany". The proposal to send observers to Europe was blocked, leaving the Navy in the dark about the success of the German submarine campaign. Admiral William Sims alleged after the war that in April 1917, only ten percent of the Naval warships were fully manned; the rest do not have 43% of their seafarers. Lightweight antisubmarine ships are few in number, as if Daniels is unaware of the German submarine threat that has been the focus of foreign policy for two years. The only Navy war plan, the "Black Plan" assumes the Royal Navy does not exist and that German warships move freely about the Atlantic and Caribbean and threaten the Panama Canal. Daniels' term of office will be even less successful than the energetic efforts of Assistant Secretary Franklin D. Roosevelt, who effectively runs the Department. His most recent biographer concludes that, "it is true that Daniels is not preparing the navy for the war to be fought against."
Decision for war
In 1916, a new factor emerged - a sense of national interest and American nationalism. The extraordinary casualty figures in Europe are serious - two major battles led to over one million casualties each. Obviously this war will be a decisive episode in the history of the world. Any American attempt to find a peaceful solution becomes frustrated.
Decision making
Kendrick Clements claims bureaucratic decision-making is one of the main sources that prompted the United States to declare war on Germany and align itself with the Allies. He cited the State Department's request that German submarines adhere to the outdated 18th century sailing laws as one of the first mistakes by the US bureaucracy on the war. Thus, the United States basically gives Germany the choice of whether the US will enter the war. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan spent most of the 1914 fall from contact with the State Department, leaving Robert Lansing more conservative with the ability to shape American foreign policy at the time. One of these decisions was made in response to British protests that Germany used US radio towers to send messages to their warships. Immediately before the war began in 1914, the British had cut off all the cable communications that led out of Germany, including trans-Atlantic cables. The US government allowed the German embassy to use US cable lines for "proper" diplomatic business. Germany argues that tower use is necessary to enable efficient contact between the US and Germany. Lansing responded by asking both sides to give a copy of the Navy from the message they sent through the tower. France and Britain were still able to use the cable, forcing Germany to be the only belligerent party needed to deliver the US with their messages. This and other seemingly small decisions made by Lansing during this time will ultimately pile up, shifting US support to the Allies.
Zimmermann Telegram
Once Germany decided not to commit an infinite submarine war in January 1917, and knowing that it would attack all American ships in the North Atlantic, he tried to form a new ally, especially Mexico. Arthur Zimmermann, the foreign minister of Germany, sent Zimmermann Telegram to Mexico on January 16, 1917. Zimmermann invited Mexico (knowing their hatred against America since 1848 Ciment Mexico) to join the war against the United States. Germany promised to pay Mexico's fees and to help restore the territory annexed by the United States in 1848. This region includes the states of California, Nevada, Utah, mostly Arizona, about half of New Mexico and a quarter of Colorado. British intelligence intercepted and broke the telegram code and handed it over to the Wilson administration. The White House will release it to the press on March 1st. Anger grew as Germany began to sink American ships, even as the isolationists in the Senate launched a filibuster to block laws to arm American merchant vessels in self-defense.
Drowning of American merchant ship
In early 1917 Berlin imposed a problem. His decision was announced on January 31, 1917 to target a neutral voyage in the designated war zone to be the direct cause of the United States's entry into the war. Five American merchant ships descended in March. Angry public opinion now strongly supported Wilson when he asked Congress to declare war on April 2, 1917.
Public opinion, moralism, and national interests
Historians like Ernest R. May have approached the American entry into the war as a study of how public opinion radically changes within three years. In 1914 most Americans called for impartiality, seeing war as a terrible mistake and determined not to interfere. In 1917 the same public felt as strongly that warring was important and wise. Military leaders did not talk much during this debate, and military considerations were rarely raised. The decisive question is related to morality and vision of the future. The prevailing attitude is that America has a higher moral position as the only major state devoted to the principles of freedom and democracy. By distancing himself from the reactionary royal quarrels, he can defend those ideals - sooner or later the whole world will appreciate and adopt them. In 1917 this very long program faced a grave danger that in the short term powerful forces that harm democracy and freedom will prevail. Strong support for moralism came from religious leaders, women (led by Jane Addams), and from public figures such as Democratic leader William Jennings Bryan, Secretary of State from 1913 to 1916. The most important morale of all was President Woodrow Wilson. - people who dominate decision making so fully that the war has been labeled, from an American perspective, "Wilson War".
In 1917, Wilson won the support of most moralists by proclaiming "war to make the world safe for democracy." If they really believe in their ideals, he explains, now is the time to fight. The question then becomes whether Americans will fight for what they believe deeply, and the answer is "Yes".
Anti-war activists at the time and in the 1930s, alleged that behind the layers of moralism and idealism there must be ulterior motives. Some suggest a conspiracy on the part of New York City bankers who hold $ 3 billion in war loans to the Allies, or steel and chemical companies that sell ammunition to the Allies. The interpretation was popular among left-wing Progressives (led by Senator Robert La Follette of Wisconsin) and between the "agrarian" wing of the Democrats - including the chief of the tax writes Cara and Means Committee of the House. He was very much against the war, and when he arrived he rewrote the tax laws to make sure the rich paid the most. (In the 1930s neutrality laws were passed to prevent financial involvement from dragging the nation into war.) In 1915, Bryan thought that Wilson's pro-British sentiment had changed his policy, so he became the first Secretary of State to resign in protest.
However, historian Harold C. Syrett argues that business supports neutrality. Other historians claim that the pro-war element is not driven by profit but by disgust with what Germany actually does, especially in Belgium, and the threat it represents for American ideals. Belgium holds public sympathy as Germany executes civilians, and English nurse Edith Cavell. American engineer Herbert Hoover leads a broad-based support effort. Forcing Belgian cruelty is a new weapon that Americans say is disgusting, like poison gas and air bombardment of innocent civilians when Zeppelin drops a bomb in London. Even anti-war spokesmen do not claim that Germany is innocent, and pro-German scripts are less welcome.
Randolph Bourne criticized the moralist philosophy that claimed it was a justification by the intellectual elite and American power, such as President Wilson, because warring is not necessary. He argues that the impetus for the war starts with the Preparedness movement, driven by big business. While big business will not push beyond Preparedness, which benefits most from neutrality, it will eventually develop into a war of war, led by war-hawk intellectuals under the guise of moralism. Bourne believes that the elite know very well what will happen in the war and the price in American life will cost. If American elites can describe the role of the United States in war as nobles, they can assure that a generally insulated American public war will be acceptable.
Above all, America's attitude toward Germany focused on U-ships (submarines), which drowned Lusitania in 1915 and other passenger ships "without warning". It appears to Americans as an unacceptable challenge to American rights as a neutral state, and as an unforgivable insult to humanity. After repeated diplomatic protests, Germany agreed to stop. But in 1917 the German military leadership ruled that "military necessity" dictated the use of their submarines indefinitely. Kaiser's adviser feels America is very economically strong but too militarily weak to make a difference.
Declaration of war
German
On April 2, 1917, Wilson requested a special joint session of Congress to declare war on the German Empire, stating, "We have no selfish purpose to serve". To make the conflict seem like a better idea, he painted the conflict ideally, declaring that the war would "make the world safe for democracy" and then that it would be a "war to end the war". The United States has a moral responsibility to enter the war, Wilson said. The future of the world is being determined on the battlefield, and American national interests demand a vote. Wilson's definition of the situation has gained widespread recognition, and has indeed shaped America's role in world and military affairs ever since. Wilson believes that if the Central Bloc won, the consequences would be bad for the United States. Germany will dominate the continent and will probably control the oceans as well. Latin America could have fallen under the control of Berlin. Dreams of spreading democracy, liberalism, and independence will be ruined. On the other hand, if the Allies win without help, there is a danger they will carve out the world regardless of American commercial interests. They are already planning to use government subsidies, tariff walls, and controlled markets to counter competition proposed by American businessmen. The solution is the third route, "peace without victory", according to Wilson.
On April 6, 1917, Congress declared war. In the Senate, the resolution passed 82 to 6, with Senator Harry Lane, William J. Stone, James Vardaman, Asle Gronna, Robert M. La Follette, Sr., and George W. Norris voted against it. In the House, the declaration went through 373 to 50, with Claude Kitchin, a senior Democrat, especially against it. Another opponent is Jeannette Rankin, who himself voted against going into both World War I and World War II. Almost all opposition came from the West and Midwest.
Austria-Hungary
The US Senate, in elections 74 to 0, declared war on Austria-Hungary on December 7, 1917, citing the dismissal of Austria-Hungary diplomatic relations with the United States, the use of unlimited submarine warfare and its alliance with Germany. The Declaration was adopted in the United States House of Representatives by a vote of 365 to 1.
President Wilson also came under pressure from Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, and from former President Theodore Roosevelt, who demanded a declaration of war against the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, as a German ally. President Wilson drafted a statement to Congress in December 1917 saying "I... recommend that Congress immediately declare the United States in a state of war with Austria-Hungary, with Turkey and with Bulgaria". But after further consultation decisions about the war against other German allies were postponed.
See also
- Cause of World War I
- Diplomatic history of World War I
- United States in World War I
- Home of the United States home during World War I
Footnote
Bibliography
Primary source
- Paper from Woodrow Wilson edited by Arthur S. Link completed in 69 volumes, in the main academic library. An annotated edition of all WW letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him
- Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) sent six war messages to Congress, Jan-April 1917
External links
- Keene, Jennifer D.: United States of America, at: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
- Ford, Nancy Gentile: Civil and Military (USA), in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
- Strauss, Lon: Conflict and Social Control, Protest, and Repression (USA), at: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
- Little, Branden: Making Sense of the War (USA), on: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
- Miller, Alisa: Press/Journalism (USA), on: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
- Wells, Robert A.: Propaganda at Home (USA), at: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
- NY Times main title, April 2, 1917, President calls for war declaration, stronger navy, new army of 500,000 men, full cooperation with enemies of Germany
- President Wilson War Address
- Map of Europe at the time of US war declaration in Germany at omniatlas.com
- World War I: Declaration of War from Worldwide - How America Entered the Great War
- Today in History: U.S. Entering the War
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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