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