Part II america in world war I
I
n
August 1914 World War I started in Europe. It was the beginning of a
struggle that lasted for more than 4 years, brought death to millions
of people and changed the history of the world. The main countries
fighting in World War I were, on one side, France, Great Britain and
Russia, known as the Allies. On the other side the main countries
were Germany and Austria, who were called the Central powers.
At first the war was fought only in Europe, but it soon spread all over the world. The United States found it had to decide whether or not to join the fighting. When President Wilson said that they should be “impartial in thought as well as in action”, that was hard for many people to do. In the first days of the war the German government sent its armies marching into neutral Belgium. Americans were shocked when newspapers printed reports (often false or exaggerated) of German cruelty towards Belgian civilians. There was much support in the United States for the Allies. Many Americans of British background sided with Great Britain. Other Americans reminded the people of the close ties between the United States and France since the American Revolution. At the same time, many Americans of German heritage sided with Germany. They felt it had been forced into the war by Russia and France. Still other Americans of Irish background did not like the British and were against American aid to Great Britain. And those Americans who had come from Austria-Hungary and the Balkan countries most often supported their former homelands.
As the war went on, the countries fighting in it found they needed more food and clothing than they could make. They turned to the United States for these and other goods. This led to a sharp rise in American production of wheat, cotton, minerals, food, and munitions, or war materials. Because the United States was neutral, it had the right under international law to trade everything but weapons and other munitions with whomever it wanted. But the British navy blockaded the Central Powers, which cut off much of the American trade with them. As a result, most of the American trade was with the Allies. War loans were another link between the United States and the Allies. In September 1915 President Wilson agreed to allow Americans to make private loans to the countries at war. By April 1917 $2.3 billion had been loaned to the Allies and only $20 million to the Central Powers.
German leaders were determined to stop the flow of armaments to their enemies. They announced in February 1915, that the water around the British Isles was a war zone. All enemy ships that entered the area would be sunk on sight. On May 7, 1915, a big British passenger ship called the Lusitania was hit by a torpedo from a German submarine. As the ship sank, nearly 1,200 people died, 128 of them were Americans. People in the United States were shocked and angered by the sinking. They paid no attention to the German charge that the Lusitania was carrying arms and munitions. President Wilson reacted by sending a strong protest. For a time the Germans stopped the submarine attacks.
In autumn 1916 American voters reelected Wilson as president, mainly because he had kept them out of the war. After the election, Wilson tried to get the Allied Powers and the Central Powers to talk about peace. He appealed to the fighting nations to settle their differences and to make “a peace without victory”. But his efforts failed because each side was sure it was going to win the war before long.
As pressure in the United States grew, Wilson and the Congress tried to keep the country neutral. Then in March 1917, the Germans sank five American merchant ships. This again violated international law. On April 2, 1917, President Wilson asked the Congress for a declaration of war on Germany. On December 7, 1917 the United States also declared a war on Austria-Hungary. Wilson’s aim was not simply to defeat the enemies. He saw the war as a great crusade to ensure the future peace of the world.
The war that the US entered in 1917 was different from any war in which Americans had fought in the past. Such weapons as machine guns, huge cannons, poison gas, and airplanes that carried bombs were being used in greater numbers than ever before. Battles were fought by thousands of soldiers at one time. People and industries had to organize to supply American soldiers fighting in Europe.
Thousands of Americans left their jobs to join the military. Large numbers of people began to leave their homes in one part of the country to seek better jobs. When the war was declared, the American army was a small force of 200,000 soldiers. Millions of men had to be drafted, trained, equipped and shipped across the ocean to Europe. In June 1917, the first American soldiers arrived in France. Called the American Expeditionary Force, they were led by General John Pershing. At first, Americans were used only in small units and as replacements for some French and British soldiers. In the spring of 1918, the Germans launched a last desperate offensive, hoping to reach Paris before the American army was ready to fight. But a few American divisions were available to assist the French and the British in repelling the attack. By autumn, Germany’s position was hopeless. The German armies were driven back towards their own frontiers. In October the German government asked for peace. On November 11, 1918, Germans and Allied leaders signed an armistice, an agreement to stop fighting.
President Wilson always insisted that the United States was fighting World War I not against the German people but against their warlike leaders. In January 1918, long before the war was over, he outlined his ideas for a just and lasting peace in a speech to the US Senate. These ideas were called the Fourteen Points. Among other things, the Fourteen Points called for open diplomacy, freedom of the seas, free international trade, disarmament and a just settlement of colonial disputes. The map of Europe would be redrawn to establish independent states for every national group, and the League of Nations would be organized to protect the peace. A great many Americans believed Wilson's plan was a good one. The German government agreed with them. The Germans thought the Fourteen Points would serve as the base for the final peace treaty.
On November 18, 1918, President Wilson announced that he and his advisors planned to go to Paris. There they would take part in the conference that would prepare the treaty ending the war. In Paris, Wilson met the leaders of the three major Allied powers. They made it clear that they had come to punish Germany. They refused to accept Wilson's Fourteen Points as the base for peace. Despite Wilson’s protests, the Allies imposed crushing reparations on Germany and divided its colonies among themselves. After much talk, however, they agreed to make Wilson's League of Nations a part of the final treaty. The Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919.
Though Wilson succeeded in establishing the League of Nations, many Americans feared that such a world organization might drag the US into another foreign war. They thought this would upset American foreign policy. Many Senators were angry because President Wilson had not talked to Senate leaders before the treaty was drawn up. They wanted some changes made in the treaty. President Wilson refused. After another trip to Europe he returned to America, tired and ill. But he boarded a special train and set off on a speaking tour of the western US to plead for the League. The tour was never completed. On September 25, 1919, the exhausted Wilson suffered a severe stroke from which he never fully recovered. In March 1920 the Senate voted against the United States joining the League of Nations, and the idea was dropped. As a result, the League of Nations, without the presence of the United States or Russia, remained a weak organization.
World War I marked the end of the United States staying out of affairs in Europe. But the final results of the war upset many Americans. They had gone to war with high ideals, hoping to make the world a better place in which to live. But the peace treaty showed them that the warring nations had not changed their ways. Because of this, Americans wanted to turn again toward a policy of noninvolvement.
DISCUSSION
What were the main countries fighting in World War I?
Why was it difficult for Americans to remain neutral during the war?
What helped the US increase its production of wheat, cotton, food, etc. during the war period?
Why did the US enter World War I on the side of the Allies?
How did World War I differ from all the wars Americans had fought before?
When did first American troops arrive in Europe?
When was the armistice between Germany and the Allies signed?
What were the ideas expressed by President Wilson in the Fourteen Points?
Why did the leaders of the Allied powers refuse to take Wilson’s Fourteen points as the base for the Treaty of Versailles?
Did Americans support Wilson’s idea of establishing the League of Nations?