Thursday, March 3, 2016
WW1 and the U.S. Isolaionism
The United States seemed to want to keep its involvement in ww1 to a bare minimum, but the actions that were coming didn't want that. Upon the outbreak of the war the united states immediately took action by attempting to get all Americans out of Europe. After the German invasion of France, Wilson made sure to not get involved by proclaiming the United States as neutral, and urging citizens to not take actions in favor of a European nation. However as the war went on the United States kept on trading with European nations such as England, while not trading with Germany due to their supply chain being blocked by the British navy. If the United States was truly neutral they would have stopped trade with other nations to, but the profits were too good to give up. The United States received 400 million from countries for war supplies, 200 million coming from France and Britain going to the steel industries for war supplies. With Germany using submarines to sink ships frequently the United States warned people not to go on the British liner the Lusitania and anybody going on it was doing it at their own risk. After the sinking of the Lusitania and other ships, the United States announced that it planned to arm all merchant ships, hoping to prevent them from being sunk, but also taking a step closer to war. After Wilson declared that, germany announced that all armed ships will be sunk without warning. With the United States and german tension rising even more the one action that finally sparked war was the interception of the German message to Japan and Mexico. The message was a proposal by Germany to get Mexico and Japan to attack the United States if they dont remain neutral. The plan promised Mexico financial support and land such as Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico. Following all the actions, President Wilson won support by almost all of the senate to declare war on Germany, ending Americans kind of neutral position.
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