learning targets 1.be able to explain why tensions increased between germany and the united states...

Learning Targets

1. Be able to explain why

tensions increased between

Germany and the United States

2. Decide which reasons

would be most important for each.

3. Analyze and evaluate the Lusitania sinking and decide if it could be avoided.

U.S. Neutral Until 1917 U.S. had no real stake at first, followed isolationism

President Wilson urged ”Be impartial in thought as well as action.”

Wilson was re-electedIn 1916 with the campaign slogan,

“He kept us out of the war!”

8 % of Americans (8 million)had one or more parents born in Germany or Austria

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare (USW)

Submarines (u-boats) attack ships with arms & suppliesGermany did in response to British blockade of neutral ports

German U-boat resumes USW

750,000 German deaths due to famine

Germans printed warnings in newspapers

Which is more immoral- USW or a blockade of civilian goods? Explain.

NOTICES IN THE NEWSPAPER

Would you buy tickets on the Lusitania?

May 7, 1915: Sinking of the Lusitania

128 Americans died; 1,198 killed total

Sinking of the Lusitania. in 18 minutes

MEDIA REACTIONS

The New York Times called the Germans “savages drunk with blood.”

The German press "applauded the attack as an 'extraordinary success,'"

The English Daily Mail referred to it as "The Hun's Most Ghastly Crime."

1916: Sussex pledgeGermany promises to stop USW A mistake?

Kaiser Wilhelm II

Stronger political & economic ties w/ Allies

more trade and loans to Alliestraditional political links

1917: Value of U.S. Loans/Investments• $2.7 billion with Allies• $27 million with Central Powers

1914 United States Trade$ 824.8 million to Allies$ 169.3 million to Central Powers

1916 United States Trade$ 3.2 billion to Allies $ 1.2 million to Central Powers

February 1, 1917: USW resumes• done to try to end stalemate• Wilson cuts off relations w/ Germany

After sinking of the U.S.S. Memphis ordered merchant ships to arm.

March, 1917: Zimmermann Note leaked to press

secret telegram of possible alliance b/t Germany& Mexico with G. promise of NM, TX, and AZ•Americans outraged

Found out Feb. 24th, butPrinted in papers in March