Woodrow Wilson and World War I

the beginning of WWI

• causes → assassination of heir to the throne of austria-hungary by a serb patriot

• nations + objectives → germany supports austria-hungary against serbia, who sides with russia, france, and britain after germany went a bit trigger-happy and decided to attack belgium.

• 2 "alliances" → eventually, Turkey and Bulgaria would join Germany and austria-hungary while Japan and Italy would join Russia, France, and britain. america initially felt lucky (and a bit smug) that they didn't need to get involved since there was an ocean between them and the action

• immediate cause → assassination of archduke franz ferdinand

president Wilson's declaration of neutrality

• reasons → grieving wife's death, wanted US to remain neutral "in thought and deed" so as to uphold the neutrality the US had practiced essentially since the Monroe Doctrine

• differing views → both sides proved attractive to US interests - britain had many economic + cultural connections to the US, but many americans had recently come from germany and austria-hungary, giving them significant cultural ties to the countries; most still want to remain neutral

• violations of US neutrality → british + french war orders led to war-born prosperity funded by american bankers such as jp morgan and co. (advanced allies by $2.3 billion during neutral times)

German actions

• submarine warfare → could get around existing international law stating that warships had to stop and board, as it was easy for submarines to be rammed or sunk if they rose to the surface

• sinking of the lusitania → 1,198 people (128 americans) were killed when germans torpedoed and sank the british passenger ship, the lusitania. this loss of American life is one of the major reasons the US ended up joining WWI, and sparked outcry in the country at the time.

• sussex pledge → after germans sunk the arabic, germany pledged not to sink unarmed and unresisting passenger ships without warning. this pledge was soon violated when the Germans torpedoed a French passenger ship, the sussex, in the next year (1916). following this, Germans once again agreed to the pledge but added a caveat for the US: they'd have to make the allies change their "illegal" blockade, which the US could not do. Wilson accepted the pledge without the caveat.

president Wilson's reelection (1916)

• platform → progressive, anti-war (gained traction in the midwest/west despite unpopularity in the east); not as progressive as teddy roosevelt

• slogan → "he kept us out of war"

• reasons for reelection → supported by working class, bull moosers, liked his progressive views and anti-war rhetoric

US entry into WWI

• "peace without victory" → inaugural address' message of american neutrality, negotiated peace without victory would be sufficient

• unrestricted submarine warfare → german response to peace without victory: could now sink all ships (including american ships) in war zone without constraint; believed that war had already gone on for too long + were done with formalities + distinctions between combatants and noncombatants; called upon caveat in original sussex pledge (see above)

• zimmermann note → captured and published on march 1, 1917: led to public outrage in US (especially in west), contained promises of winning texas, new mexico + arizona back to mexico should they assist the germans against the US. led to more overt acts in atlantic; germans sunk several american ships within the first two weeks of march 1917.

Wilson's declaration of war

• april 2, 1917 - april 6, 1917 → Wilson asked for a declaration of war, admitting that he was wrong in his belief that trade could be pursued while America stayed neutral in wwi. Philadelphia newspaper quote: "the difference between war and what we have now is that now we aren’t fighting back.”

• Wilson's twin goals → 1. a war to end war 2. making the world safe for democracy (essentially, both with the aims to partake in war in pursuit of neutrality and democracy)

• wilson's 14 points

• proposal to abolish secret treaties (appealed to liberals internationally)

• freedom of the seas (appealed to germans, americans distrustful of british)

• removal of economic barriers among nations (appealed to germans → didn't want post-war animosity/vengeance)

• reduction of armament burdens (appealed to taxpayers internationally)

• adjustment of colonial claims in the interest of both Indigenous peoples and colonizers (appealed to anti-imperialists)

• others: encouraged independence (self-determination) to minority + historically oppressed groups (eg. the poles); #14 foreshadowed the league of nations, etc.