AIM: What Brought the US Into World War I?

Name: __________________________ Date: _____________

Broking USII

AIM: What brought the US into World War I?

War’s Ugly Head

Total war

War expands to civilians and

Supply lines

1915 – Zeppelin raids begin

Over England

Aim at war factories

Unrestricted submarine warfare

* German U-boats sink ships without warning

* Refuse to rescue survivors

* Many targets: merchant (supplies), naval (military) & passenger ships

<May 1915> Sinking of the Lusitania

* British passenger ocean liner

* 1,200 passengers die; 128 were American

* Germany claimed munitions (military supplies) were on board

* Great Britain denied this claim

<March 1916> Sussex Pledge

* French ship is attacked

* Germany promises not to sink

anymore merchant ships without

warning.

Election of 1916

* Woodrow Wilson (D) vs Charles Evans Hughes (R)

* Wilson’s campaign: “He kept us out of war!” Wilson is re-elected

The Last Straw

<January 1917> Zimmerman note

* Germany attempts to create an alliance with Mexico.

<March 1917>Russian Revolution

* Czar Nicholas II & the Royal Family are overthrown

* Karensky takes over and institutes a provisional democracy – Russia leaves the war.

<April 2, 1917> Wilson asks Congress to declare war

* Keep the world

“Safe for Democracy”