7.5

World War I broke out with stunning rapidity after a Serbian nationalist

assassinated Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of

the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife. Within a week, before calm minds

could prevail, Austria-Hungary and Germany were in a full-scale war against

Russia, France, and Great Britain. The assassination of the archduke sparked

the war, but the underlying causes were (1) nationalism, (2) imperialism,

(3) militarism, and (4) a combination of public and secret alliances. It was a

tragedy that haunted generations of future leaders and that motivated President

Woodrow Wilson to search for a lasting peace.

Neutrality

President Wilson’s first response to the outbreak of the European war was a

declaration of U.S. neutrality, in the tradition of noninvolvement started by

Washington and Jefferson. He called upon the American people to support

his policy by not taking sides. However, Wilson found it difficult—if not

impossible—to both steer a neutral course that favored neither the Allied

powers (Great Britain, France, and Russia) nor the Central powers (Germany,

Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire of Turkey) and still protected U.S.

trading rights. During a relatively short period (1914–1919), the United States

and its people rapidly moved through a wide range of roles: first as a contented

neutral country, next as a country waging a war for peace, then as a victorious

world power, and finally as an alienated and isolationist nation.

Freedom of the Seas In World War I (as in the War of 1812), the trouble

for the United States arose as belligerent powers tried to stop supplies from

reaching a foe. Having the stronger navy, Great Britain was the first to declare

Topic 7.5 World war i: military and diplomacy 479

a naval blockade against Germany. Britain mined the North Sea and seized

ships—including U.S. ships—attempting to run the blockade. Wilson protested

British seizure of U.S. ships as violating a neutral nation’s right to freedom of

the seas.

Submarine Warfare Germany’s one hope for challenging British power at

sea lay with a new naval weapon, the submarine. In February 1915, Germany

answered the British blockade by announcing a blockade of its own and warned

that ships attempting to enter the “war zone” (waters near the British Isles)

risked being sunk on sight by German submarines.

Lusitania Crisis The first major crisis challenging U.S. neutrality occurred

on May 7, 1915, when German torpedoes hit and sank a British passenger liner,

the Lusitania. Most of the passengers drowned, including 128 Americans. In

response, Wilson sent Germany a strongly worded diplomatic message warning

that Germany would be held to “strict accountability” if it continued its policy

of sinking unarmed ships. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan objected

to this message as too warlike and resigned from the president’s cabinet.

Other Sinkings In August 1915, two more Americans lost their lives at

sea as the result of a German submarine attack on another passenger ship,

the Arabic. This time, Wilson’s note of protest prevailed upon the German

government to pledge that no unarmed passenger ships would be sunk without

warning, which would allow time for passengers to get into lifeboats.

Germany kept its word until March 1916, when a German torpedo struck

an unarmed merchant ship, the Sussex, injuring several American passengers.

Wilson threatened to cut off U.S. diplomatic relations with Germany—a step

preparatory to war. Once again, rather than risk U.S. entry into the war on

the British side, Germany backed down. Its reply to the president, known as

the Sussex pledge, promised not to sink merchant or passenger ships without

giving due warning. For the remainder of 1916, Germany was true to its word.

Economic Links with Britain and France

Even though the United States was officially a neutral nation, its economy

became closely tied to those of the Allied powers of Great Britain and France.

In early 1914, before the war began, the United States had been in an economic

recession. Soon after the outbreak of war, the economy rebounded in part

because of orders for war supplies from the British and the French. By 1915,

U.S. businesses had never been so prosperous.

In theory, U.S. manufacturers could have shipped supplies to Germany

as well, but the British blockade effectively prevented such trade. Wilson’s

policy did not deliberately favor the Allied powers. Nevertheless, because

the president more or less tolerated the British blockade while restricting

Germany’s submarine blockade, U.S. economic support was going to one side

(Britain and France) and not the other. Between 1914 and 1917, U.S. trade with

the Allies quadrupled while its trade with Germany dwindled to the vanishing

point.

480 UNITED STATES HISTORY: AP®

EDITION

Loans When the Allies could not purchase everything they needed, the

U.S. government permitted U.S. bankers (particularly the bank of J. Pierpont

Morgan) to extend as much as $3 billion in credit to Britain and France. These

loans promoted U.S. prosperity as they sustained the Allies’ war effort.

OPPOSING SIDES IN WORLD WAR I

Allied Power

Central Power

Neutral Power

0 400 Kilometers

0 400 Miles

PORTUGAL

ITALY

RUSSIA

AFRICA

BULGARIA

GREECE

CYPRUS

CORSICA

S P A I N

FRAN C E

BELGIUM

NETH.

LUX.

DENMAR

GREAT

K

BRITAIN

ROMANIA

SWITZ.

BOSNIA

SERBIA

AUSTRIA-

HUNGARY

GERMANY

NORWAY

SWEDEN

MONTENEGRO

ALBANIA

O T T O M A N EMPIRE

A

T

L

A

N

T I C

O

C

E

A

N

M E D I T E R R A N E A N S E A

NORTH

SEA

BLACK SEA

B ALTIC S E

A

Public Opinion

If Wilson’s policies favored Britain, so did the attitudes of most Americans. In

August 1914, as Americans read in their newspapers about German armies

marching ruthlessly through Belgium, they perceived Germany as a cruel bully

whose armies were commanded by a mean-spirited autocrat, Kaiser Wilhelm.

The sinking of the Lusitania reinforced this negative view of Germany.

Ethnic Influences In 1914, first- and second-generation citizens made up

more than 30 percent of the U.S. population. They were glad to be out of the

fighting and strongly supported neutrality. Even so, their sympathies reflected

their ancestries. For example, German Americans strongly identified with the

struggles of their “homeland.” And many Irish Americans, who hated Britain

because of its oppressive rule of Ireland, openly backed the Central powers. On

the other hand, when Italy joined the Allies in 1915, Italian Americans began

cheering on the Allies in their desperate struggle to fend off German assaults

on the Western Front (entrenched positions in France).

Topic 7.5 World war i: military and diplomacy 481

Overall, though, most native-born Americans supported the Allies. Positive

U.S. relations with France since the Revolutionary War bolstered public support

for the French. Americans also tended to sympathize with Britain and France

because of their democratic governments. President Wilson himself, a person

of Scottish-English descent, had long admired the British political system.

British War Propaganda Not only did Britain command the seas, it

also commanded the war news that was cabled daily to U.S. newspapers and

magazines. Fully recognizing the importance of influencing U.S. public opinion,

the British government made sure the American press was well supplied with

stories of German soldiers committing atrocities in Belgium and the German-

occupied part of eastern France.

The War Debate

After the Lusitania crisis, a small but vocal minority of influential Republicans

from the East—including Theodore Roosevelt—argued for U.S. entry into the

war against Germany. Foreign policy realists believed that a German victory

would change the balance of power and that the United States needed a strong

British navy to protect the status quo. However, the majority of Americans

remained thankful for a booming economy and peace.

Preparedness Eastern Republicans such as Roosevelt were the first to

recognize that the U.S. military was hopelessly unprepared for a major war.

They clamored for “preparedness” (greater defense expenditures) soon after

the European war broke out.

At first, President Wilson opposed the call for preparedness, but in late

1915 he changed his policy. Wilson urged Congress to approve an ambitious

expansion of the armed forces. The president’s proposal provoked a storm

of controversy, especially among Democrats, who until then were largely

opposed to military increases. After a nationwide speaking tour on behalf of

preparedness, Wilson finally convinced Congress to pass the National Defense

Act in June 1916, which increased the regular army to a force of nearly 175,000.

A month later, Congress approved the construction of more than 50 warships

(battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and submarines) in just one year.

Opposition to War Many Americans, especially in the Midwest and

West, were adamantly opposed to preparedness, fearing that it would soon

lead to U.S. involvement in the war. The antiwar activists included Populists,

Progressives, and Socialists. Leaders among the peace-minded Progressives

were William Jennings Bryan, Jane Addams, and Jeannette Rankin—the

latter the first woman to be elected to Congress. Women suffragists actively

campaigned against any military buildup (although after the U.S. declaration

of war in 1917, they supported the war effort).

The Election of 1916

President Wilson was well aware that, as a Democrat, he had won election to the

presidency in 1912 only because of the split in Republican ranks between Taft

482 UNITED STATES HISTORY: AP®

EDITION

conservatives and Roosevelt Progressives. Despite his own Progressive record,

Wilson’s chances for reelection did not seem strong after Theodore Roosevelt

declined the Progressive Party’s nomination for president in 1916 and rejoined

the Republicans. (Roosevelt’s decision virtually destroyed any chance of the

Progressive Party surviving.) Charles Evans Hughes, a Supreme Court justice

and former governor of New York, became the presidential candidate of a

reunited Republican Party.

“He Kept Us Out of War” The Democrats adopted as their campaign slogan

“He kept us out of war.” The peace sentiment in the country, Wilson’s record of

Progressive leadership, and Hughes’ weakness as a candidate combined to give

the president the victory in an extremely close election. Democratic strength in

the South and West overcame Republican power in the East.

Peace Efforts

Wilson made repeated efforts to fulfill his party’s campaign promise to keep

out of the war. Before the election, in 1915, he had sent his chief foreign policy

adviser, Colonel Edward House of Texas, to London, Paris, and Berlin to

negotiate a peace settlement. This mission, however, had been unsuccessful.

Other efforts at mediation also were turned aside by both the Allies and the

Central powers. Finally, in January 1917, Wilson made a speech to the Senate

declaring U.S. commitment to his idealistic hope for “peace without victory.”

Decision for War

In April 1917, only one month after being sworn into office a second time,

President Wilson went before Congress to ask for a declaration of war against

Germany. What had happened to change his policy from neutrality to war?

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

Most important in the U.S. decision for war was a sudden change in German

military strategy. The German high command had decided in early January

1917 to resume unrestricted submarine warfare. Germany recognized the risk

of the United States entering the war but believed that, by cutting off supplies

to the Allies, they could win the war before Americans could react. Germany

communicated its decision to the U.S. government on January 31. A few days

later, Wilson broke off U.S. diplomatic relations with Germany.

Immediate Causes

Wilson still hesitated, but a series of events in March 1917, as well as the

president’s hopes for arranging a permanent peace in Europe, convinced him

that U.S. participation in the war was now unavoidable.

Zimmermann Telegram On March 1, U.S. newspapers carried the

shocking news of a secret offer made by Germany to Mexico. Intercepted by

British intelligence, a telegram to Mexico from the German foreign minister,

Arthur Zimmermann, proposed that Mexico ally itself with Germany in

Topic 7.5 World war i: military and diplomacy 483

return for Germany’s pledge to help Mexico recover lost territories: Texas, New

Mexico, and Arizona. Mexico never considered accepting the offer. However,

the Zimmermann Telegram aroused the nationalist anger of the American

people and convinced Wilson that Germany fully expected a war with the

United States.

Russian Revolution Applying the principle of moral diplomacy, Wilson

wanted the war to be fought for a worthy purpose: the triumph of democracy.

It bothered him that one of the Allies was Russia, a nation governed by an

autocratic czar. This barrier to U.S. participation was suddenly removed on

March 15, when Russian revolutionaries overthrew the czar’s government

and proclaimed a republic. (Only later, in November, would the revolutionary

government be taken over by Communists.)

Renewed Submarine Attacks In the first weeks of March, German

submarines sank five unarmed U.S. merchant ships. Wilson was ready for war.

Declaration of War

On April 2, 1917, President Wilson stood before a special session of senators and

representatives and called upon them to defend humanitarian and democratic

principles. Wilson solemnly asked Congress to recognize that a state of war

existed between Germany and the United States. His speech condemned

Germany’s submarine policy as “warfare against mankind” and declared that

“The world must be made safe for democracy.” On April 6, an overwhelming

majority in Congress voted for a declaration of war, although a few pacifists,

including Robert La Follette and Jeanette Rankin, defiantly voted no.

Fighting the War

By the time the first U.S. troops shipped overseas in late 1917, millions of

European soldiers on both sides had already died in three years of fighting. The

Allies hoped that fresh troops would be enough to bring victory. The conflict’s

trench warfare was made more deadly in the industrial age by heavy artillery,

machine guns, poison gas, tanks, and airplanes. A second revolution in Russia

by Bolsheviks (or Communists) took that nation out of the war. With no

Eastern Front to divide its forces, Germany concentrated on one all-out push

to break through Allied lines in France.

Naval Operations

Germany’s policy of unrestricted submarine warfare was having its intended

effect. Merchant ships bound for Britain were being sunk at a staggering rate:

900,000 tons of shipping were lost in just one month (April 1917). U.S. response

to this Allied emergency was to undertake a record-setting program of ship

construction. The U.S. Navy also implemented a convoy system of armed escorts

for groups of merchant ships. By the end of 1917, the system was working well

enough to ensure that Britain and France would not be starved into submission.

484 UNITED STATES HISTORY: AP®

EDITION

American Expeditionary Force

Unable to imagine the grim realities of trench warfare, U.S. troops were eager

for action. The idealism of both the troops and the public is reflected in the

popular song of George M. Cohan that many were singing:

Over there, over there,

Send the word, send the word over there

That the Yanks are coming,

The Yanks are coming,

The drums rum-tumming ev’ry where—

The American Expeditionary Force (AEF) was commanded by General

John J. Pershing. The first U.S. troops to see action were used to plug weaknesses

in the French and British lines. But by the summer of 1918, as American

forces arrived by the hundreds of thousands, the AEF assumed independent

responsibility for one segment of the Western Front.

Last German Offensive Enough U.S. troops were in place in spring 1918

to hold the line against the last ferocious assault by German forces. At Château-

Thierry on the Marne River, Americans stopped the German advance (June

1918) and struck back with a successful counterattack at Belleau Wood.

Drive to Victory In August, September, and October, an Allied offensive

along the Meuse River and through the Argonne Forest (the Meuse–Argonne

offensive) succeeded in driving an exhausted German army backward toward

the German border. U.S. troops participated in this drive at St. Mihiel—the

southern sector of the Allied line. On November 11, 1918, the Germans signed

an armistice in which they agreed to surrender their arms, give up much of

their navy, and evacuate occupied territory.

U.S. Casualties After only a few months of fighting, U.S. combat deaths

totaled nearly 49,000. Many more thousands died of disease, including a flu

epidemic in the training camps, bringing total U.S. fatalities in World War I to

112,432. Total deaths in the war were around 20 million people, most of whom

were civilians.

Making the Peace

During the war, Woodrow Wilson never lost sight of his ambition to shape the

peace settlement when the war ended. In January 1917, he had said that the

United States would insist on “peace without victory.” A year later he presented

to Congress a detailed list of war aims, known as the Fourteen Points, designed

to address the causes of World War I and prevent another world war.

The Fourteen Points

Several of the president’s Fourteen Points related to specific territorial

questions. For example, Wilson called on Germany to return the regions of

Alsace and Lorraine to France and to evacuate Belgium in the west and Romania

Topic 7.5 World war i: military and diplomacy 485

and Serbia in the east. Of greater significance were the broad principles for

securing a lasting peace:

• Recognition of freedom of the seas

• An end to the practice of making secret treaties

• Reduction of national armaments

• An “impartial adjustment of all colonial claims”

• Self-determination for the various nationalities

• Removal of trade barriers

• “A general association of nations . . . for the purpose of affording

mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to

great and small states alike”

The last point was the one that Wilson valued the most. The international peace

association that he envisioned would soon be named the League of Nations.

The Treaty of Versailles

The peace conference following the armistice took place in the Palace of

Versailles outside Paris, beginning in January 1919. Every nation that had

fought on the Allied side in the war was represented. No U.S. president had

ever traveled abroad to attend a diplomatic conference, but President Wilson

decided that his personal participation at Versailles was vital to defending his

Fourteen Points. Republicans criticized him for being accompanied to Paris by

several Democrats but only one Republican, whose advice was never sought.

The Big Four Other heads of state at Versailles made it clear that their

nations wanted both revenge against Germany and compensation in the form

of indemnities and territory. They did not share Wilson’s idealism, which

called for peace without victory. David Lloyd George of Great Britain, Georges

Clemenceau of France, and Vittorio Orlando of Italy met with Wilson almost

daily as the Big Four. After months of argument, the president reluctantly

agreed to compromise on most of his Fourteen Points. He insisted, however,

that the other delegations accept his plan for a League of Nations.

Peace Terms When the peace conference adjourned in June 1919, the

Treaty of Versailles included the following terms:

1. To punish Germany, Germany was disarmed and stripped of its

colonies in Asia and Africa. It was also forced to admit guilt for the

war, accept French occupation of the Rhineland for 15 years, and pay a

huge sum of money in reparations to Great Britain and France.

2. To apply the principle of self-determination, territories once

controlled by Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia were taken by

the Allies; independence was granted to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,

Finland, and Poland; and the new nations of Czechoslovakia and

Yugoslavia were established.

486 UNITED STATES HISTORY: AP®

EDITION

3. To maintain peace, signers of the treaty joined an international

peacekeeping organization, the League of Nations. Article X of the

covenant (charter) of the League called on each member nation to

stand ready to protect the independence and territorial integrity of

other nations.

EUROPE AFTER WORLD WAR I (1919)

A

T

L

A

N

T I C

O C E A N

M E D I T E R R A N E A N S E A

PORTUGAL

I T A L Y

F INLAND

SOVIET

UNION

(1921)

NORTH

SEA

BLACK SEA

B ALTIC S E A

AFRICA

BULGARIA

GREECE

CYPRUS

CORSICA

SPAIN

FRANCE

BELGIUM

NETH.

DENMARK

T

U

R K E Y

(1923)

IRISH

FREE

STATE

(1922)

GREAT

BRITAIN

ROMANIA

ALBANIA

SWITZ.

ESTONIA

LATVIA

LITHUANIA

POLAND

YUGOS LAVIA

ig nz Da

AUS TRIA

HUNGARY

New Nations After

the War

0 400 Kilometers

0 400 Miles

The Battle for Ratification

Returning to the United States, President Wilson had to win approval of two-

thirds of the Senate for all parts of the Treaty of Versailles, including the League

of Nations covenant. Republican senators raised objections to the League,

especially to Article X. They argued that U.S. membership in such a body

might interfere with U.S. sovereignty and might also cause European nations

to interfere in the Western Hemisphere (a violation of the Monroe Doctrine).

Increased Partisanship After the War Wilson made winning Senate

ratification difficult. In October 1918, he had asked voters to support Democrats

in the midterm elections as an act of patriotism. This appeal had backfired

badly. In the 1918 election, Republicans had won a solid majority in the House

and a majority of two in the Senate. In 1919, Wilson needed Republican votes

in the Senate to ratify the Treaty of Versailles. Instead, he faced the determined

hostility of a leading Senate Republican, Henry Cabot Lodge.

Topic 7.5 World war i: military and diplomacy 487

Opponents: Irreconcilables and Reservationists Senators opposed to

the Treaty of Versailles formed two groups. The Irreconcilable faction could

not accept U.S. membership in the League, no matter how the covenant was

worded. The Reservationist faction, a larger group led by Senator Lodge, said

it could accept the League if certain reservations were added to the covenant.

Wilson had the option of either accepting Lodge’s reservations or fighting for

the treaty as it stood. He chose to fight.

Wilson’s Western Tour and Breakdown Wilson believed he could

personally rally enough public support to prevail and push ratification of the

League through Congress. With confidence, he undertook an arduous speaking

tour by train of the West. On September 25, 1919, he collapsed after a speech in

Colorado. He returned to Washington. A few days later he suffered a massive

stroke from which he never fully recovered.

Rejection of the Treaty The Senate defeated the treaty without reservations.

When it came up with reservations, the ailing Wilson directed his Senate allies

to reject the compromise, and they joined with the Irreconcilables in defeating

the treaty a second time. After Wilson left office in 1921, the United States

officially made peace with Germany. However, it never ratified the Versailles

Treaty nor joined the League of Nations.