By: Cora Davis. Aug. 1914 Wilson’s call pleased Americans Most wished to avoid war Nation of...
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Transcript of By: Cora Davis. Aug. 1914 Wilson’s call pleased Americans Most wished to avoid war Nation of...
By:
Cora Davis
US Reactions to WWI Prior to Involvement
Aug. 1914Wilson’s call pleased AmericansMost wished to avoid war
Nation of immigrantsWar could inflame conflicting sympathies
with Old World countries Could cause social tension and unrestPacifists disapproved war no matter what
the causeLasted 3 years
Neutrality
Americans not as emotionally removed from European concerns as thought
Citizens born in fighting countries still believed in the ideas and religion of their heritage
Arrivals from England, Scotland, and Wales still kept their affection for Britain
German-American population- Central PowersImmigrants from Austria- Hungary & Russia Majority of Americans were pro-ally
Americans Take Sides
British Propaganda
Propaganda War
Wanted US intervention
Controlled transatlantic cables- news to US press
Most effective effort to win American approval reprinting German hate
propaganda against Britain & France
Wanted US neutralGerman war propaganda
emphasized hate & destruction
Opened military campaign on Western Front by invading Belgium Violated international
agreement Belgians challenged Germans executed 5000
civilians & burned Louvain
Allied Powers Central Powers
Propaganda cont.1915 gov’t issued an
official report Signed by James
BryceDescribed in
gruesome detail the murder of Belgian civilians
Many atrocity stories unfounded
Bryce report convinced that Germans were savage “Huns”
Allies strongest supporter in America was the president
Anglophile- person fond of English culture Told British ambassador that everything he loved
most in the world depended on Allied victoryTo secretary, “England is fighting our fight…I will
not take any action to embarrass England when she is fighting for her life and the life of the world.”
Wilson and advisors Colonel Edward House & Lansing Took seriously German expansionism Checked on emperor’s ambitions with Britain & France
Administration's Partisanship
US major neutral power in a world divided by 2 warring countries
Expected European belligerents to observe the traditional rights owed to neutral nationsVessels owned by neutrals had rights to carry
goods except contrabandRight to trade freely with all belligerents
Wilson thought by staying neutral, Americans might:Exert a strong moral force End fighting quicklyHelp establish new relations
Neutral Rights
British & German didn’t care what Americans thought were their rights on the seas and international trade
British stopped vessels & searched them at ports Planted mines in North Sea Set up blacklists of American firms thought to be trading with
Germany US had power to retaliate and make them resent
Allies requested loans from American bankers Secretary of State Bryan thought this could be breaking neutrality October 1914, Wilson said he wouldn’t oppose bankers’ credits to
finance Allied war orders 1917 lent Great Britain over $1 billion & France $300 million England avoided injuring too many American interests Allied policies hurt pocketbooks; German policies took lives
Allied Violations
German U-Boat
•Unterseeboot
•Tiny submarine
armed with
torpedoes & one
small deck gun
•Couldn’t risk
surfacing to warn
of their intentions
to search for
contraband or to
care for civilians
aboard vessels
they sank
German U-boats could strangle EuropeOnly by attacking all boats engaged in trade with British Isles
February 1915- German gov’t authorized submarines to ships found within a large war zone around the British Isles sank British passenger liner Falaba, killing an American sank British luxury lines Lusitania, killing 1,198, 128 of which
were Americans
Wilson sent note to German gov’t demanding apologyExpressed regret but said the sinking was an act of self-
defense- boat had carried arms2nd note- insisted Germans give up sub warfare
entirely3rd note- threatened to sever diplomatic relations
Submarine Warfare
By:
Cora Davis
Wilson’s 14 Points
Introboth houses of US
Congress Jan 8, 1918Intended to assure
war was being fought for moral cause and peace in Europe
Took many principles of progressivism & changed into foreign policy
1. An end to secret treaties2. Freedom of the seas3. Free trade for all countries4. Disarmament5. End to colonial claims6. Self-determination for all countries7. Restoration of Belgium
Points
8. Restoration of France9. Readjustment of Italy’s boundaries10. Austria- Hungary would be given
opportunity for autonomous development11. Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be
evacuated and restored12. Turkey should be sovereign13. Poland would be given their independence14. The “League of Nations” would be
developed
More Points
Unger Irwin, These United States: The Questions of Our Past Fourth Edition
McDougal Littell, The Americans Reconstruction to the 21st Century
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteen_Pointshttp://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/woodrow
_wilson1.htmhttp://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/doc31.
htm
Sources