Chapter 6 Section 1: the US Enters WWI

Chapter 6 Section 1: The US enters WWI

Woodrow Wilson’s Diplomacy
The Mexican Revolution
Between 1884 to 1911, Dictator Porfirio Diaz ruled Mexico
Diaz encouraged foreign investment and majority of the wealth of the nation belonged to the landowners.
Majority of Mexico was landless and poor and by 1911 revolution erupted forcing Diaz to flee Mexico
Francisco Madero replaced Diaz and as a reformer he wanted democracy, constitutional government and land reform.
General Victoriano Huerta seized power in Mexico and had Madero murdered.
Huerta and Wilson were enemies and Wilson felt the US had a moral obligation to discriminate between good and bad government and intervene to put good people in power.
Wilson tried to prevent weapons from reaching Huerta and permitted Americans to arm other political faction within Mexico.
“Mexico is starving and without a government…the people and Government of the US cannot stand indifferently by and do nothing…”
Wilson’s desire to lead by moral example and promote Moral Diplomacy found him deeply involved in Mexico’s political affairs.
Wilson sends troops into Mexico
April 1914 American sailors were arrested in the city of Tampico but were quickly released.
Mexico refuse to apologize and Wilson used this refusal as an opportunity to overthrow Huerta.
Wilson sent troops to seize the Mexican port of Veracruz.
Expecting a warm welcome, Mexicans actually conducted anti-American riots.
International mediation took place to settle the dispute.
Venustiano Carranza become Mexico’s President
Mexican upset with the appointment of Carranza began conducting raids into the US hopeing to force Wilson to intervene.
Pancho Villa led a group of guerrillas that burned down the town of Columbus, NM and killed Americans.
Wilson intervened by sending 6k troops under General John Pershing to find and capture Villa.
Pershing was unable to locate Villa and with the conflict in Europe, Wilson called back Pershing in 1917.
Wilson’s Mexican policy damaged US foreign relations abroad.
Britain viewed his action negatively and ridiculed him
Latin Americans regarded his “moral Imperialism” as the same as “big stick diplomacy”
The Outbreak of WWI
Alliance system
Roots of WWI start with the German Unification led by the German Kingdom of Prussia.
By 1871 Prussa had united Germany and started the birth of the German Empire.
This new German nation industrialized and became one of the most powerful nations I the world.
The Franco-Prussian War in 1870 started the hatred between the two nations when France gave up territory along the German territory.
To Protect itself, Germany signed Alliances with Italy and with Austria-Hungary known as the Triple Alliance.
This alarmed Russia leaders fearing Germany intention to expand eastward.
Russia then wanted support Austria Hungary since they controlled areas in which Slavs dominated the area, the same ethnic group as Russians.
In 1894, Russia signed the Franco-Russian Alliance since they both opposed Germany and Austria-Hungary.
The Naval Race
Great Britain remained neutral while European powers were allying themselves to each other.
This changed when Germans began to build a navy challenging Britain’s dominance at sea.
Britain and Germany began racing to build new warships increasing tensions between the two.
Britain, having a closer relationship with France and Russia, set up a informal agreement known as “entente cordiale”
Britain, France, and Russia became known as the Triple Entente.
The Balkan Crisis
Nationalism became a powerful idea in Europe placing primary emphasis on promoting their homeland’s culture and interests above those of other countries.
Nationalism was one of the reasons for the tensions among European powers
Each nation viewed the others as competitors, and many people were willing to go to war to expand their nations at the expense of others.
Self-determination was one of the basic ideas of nationalism
This led a crisis in southeastern Europe known as the Balkans.
Within the Balkans, Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary Empire both ruled this areas with different ethnic nations within. By 1800s, different national groups began to press for independence.
Serbs, Bosnians, Croats, and Slovenes were pushing for independence.
They all spoke similar languages and saw themselves as South Slavs or Yugoslavs.
Serbs were the first to obtain independence forming Serbia.
Russia supported the Serbs and Austria-Hungary did what it could to limit Serbia’s growth.
1908 Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia which belonged to the Ottoman Empire.
This angered Serbs since they wanted Bosnia.
This meant Austria-Hungary had no intention of letting the Slavic people in its empire to become independent.
A Continent Goes to War
Archduke Franz Ferdinand was visiting the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo when a member of a Serbian nationalist group “Black Hand” assassinated the prince and his wife.
This plan was supported by the Serbians who hoped to start a war that would bring down the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia and wanted to crush Serbia to prevent Slavic nationalism from undermining its empire.
Austrians asked their German allies for support knowing Russia would respond to protect Serbia…Germany agreed
Austria issued an ultimatum to Serbia, Serbia counted on Russia for support, and Russia counted on French support.
France did not want to be stuck in a war alone with Germany so they desperately wanted to keep Russia as an ally.
July 28, 1914 Austria declared war on Serbia.
Russia immediately mobilized its army
Aug 1, Germany declared war on Russia, Aug 3, declared war on France…the start of WWI
Germany’s Plan Fails
Germany launched a massive invasion of France hoping to knock the French out of the war and then it could handle the Russian troops in the east.
This plan however required German forces to advance throughout neutral Belgium in order to encircle French troops.
Britain had guaranteed Belgium’s neutrality and as soon as Germany entered Belgium, Britain declared war on Germany.
Now France, Russia, and Great Britain (Allies) were at war.
later Italy (1915) would join after being promised Austria-Hungarian land after the war in Italy.
When Italy broke from the Triple Alliance, Germany and Austria-Hungary jointed the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria to form the Central Powers.
The plan was going well for Germany as they invaded France and drove back the French and British forces but then Russia invaded Germany and was not prepared for the front of the east.
When Germany pulled troops to the east, it weakened the western front allowing the Allies to stop the German advance.
The Battle of Marne stopped Germany within 30 miles of Paris
This triggered the stalemate and created hundreds of miles of trenches that barely changed position for the next 3 years.
On the eastern front, German and Austria stopped the Russia offensive and then attack Russia killing 2 million Russians by 1915…but Russia kept fighting.
American Neutrality
America Takes Sides
Wilson’s plea declared the US as Neutral but natives and immigrants quickly took sides within the US.
8 million German Americans supported their homeland while 4.5 million Irish Americans sympathized with the Central Powers from enduring centuries of British rule.
In general, American public opinion favored the Allied cause since they valued the heritage, language, and political ideals they shared with Britain and the historical links with France from the American revolution.
Pro-British Sentiment
President Wilson’s cabinet was decidedly pro-British and only Secretary William Jennings Bryan favored neutrality.
Robert Lasing and Walter Page argued forcefully on behalf o Britain while American military leaders backed the British.
Allied victory was the only way to preserve the international balance of power according to his cabinet.
British officials and other nations used propaganda to appeal to America to support their cause.
German Propaganda was mostly anti-Russian and did not appeal to Americans
British propaganda was skillful done and Britain then cut the transatlantic telegraph cable from Europe to the US limiting news about the war mainly to British reports.
Stories arrived depicting numerous German war atrocities which were questionable but convinced Americans to favor Allies
Business Links
American Business interest leaned toward the Allies since east coast companies had strong ties with businesses in the Allied counties.
Banks began to invest heavily in allied victory
Loans to the cash hungry Allies skyrocked
By 1917 these loans totaled 2 billion
Midwest banks lent some 27 million to Germany.
This was rare since most foreign loans required the secretary of Treasury William McAdoo’s signature and since he was pro-British, this was limited.
As a result from these interactions, the country’s prosperity was intertwined with the military fortunes of Britain, France, and Russia.
If the Allies won, the money would be paid back, if the allies lost, the money might be lost forever.
Moving Towards War
The British Blockade
Britain deployed their navy to blockade Germany and keep Germany from obtaining supplies, they planted mines in the North Sea and forced neutral ships into port for inspection in case they were transporting goods to Germany or its allies.
This contraband would include food being shipped to Germany.
To get around Britain’s blockade, Germany deployed submarines known as U-boats to attempt to sink without warning any ship they found in the waters surrounding Britain.
This strategy was focused on the idea of strangling British trade and since Britain relied on trade, they would starve Britain leaving France alone.
This announcement triggered outrage in the US and throughout the world.
Attacking civilian vessels without warning violated international treaty stipulating that military vessels must reveal their intentions to merchant ships and make provisions for the safety of the targeted ship’s crew and passengers.
Germans justified this policy under the basis that merchant ships were actually warships in disguise and that their U-boats were at great risk if they revealed themselves.
On May 7, 1915, British passenger liner Lusitania entered the war zone and a U-boatfired including 1200 passengers including 128 Americans.
Americans viewed this as an act of terrorism, not war while other argued that the passengers of foreign nations do so at own risk.
Wilson refused to take extreme measures against Germany but did send several diplomatic notes to Germany insisting that its government safeguard the lives of noncombatants in the war zones.
March 1916, French passenger liner Sussex was hit injuring several Americans.
Wilson, concerned with the Mexican raids, issued one last warning to Germany demanding that they abandon this U-boat policy or risk war with the US.
In response to Wilson’s last warning, Germany issued the Sussex Pledge, stating they would no longer sink merchant ships without warning which met the foreign-policy goals of both nations
Wilson was up for re-election and referred to as the “peace candidate” who campaigned on the slogan “he kept us out of the war” led to a victory over Charles Evans Hughes.
The US Declares War
Following Wilson’s reelection, in January 1917, German official named Arthur Zimmermann cabled the German ambassador in Mexico, instructing him to make an offer to the Mexican government.
Zimmermann proposed that Mexico ally itself with Germany in the event of war between Germany and the US and in return Mexico would regain its “lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona” after the war.
Germany hoped this would tie down American forces and prevent them from being sent to Europe.
This Zimmermann telegraph was leaked to American newspapers and made many Americans now concluded war with Germany as necessary.
February 1, 1917, Germany resumed unrestricted Submarine warfare.
Germany leaders believed that they could starve Britain into submission in four to six months if their U-boats could return to a more aggressive approach of sinking all ships.
Germany did not believe the US could raise an army and transport it to Europe in time to prevent the Allies from collapsing.
Between February 3 and March 21, Germany sank 6 American merchant ships without warning forcing Wilson to appear before Congress on April 2, 1917 to declare war against Germany.
After a spirited debate, Senate passed the resolution on April 4 by a vote of 82 to 6, the House concurred 373 to 50 on April 6, and Wilson signed the resolution, starting the war for the US.