today we're looking at the united states entry into world war one
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you'll find more resources that go with many of the bellringer videos as world war 1 began
in the summer of 1914 after years of military build up and a complicated web of alliances
thrust european nations into conflict the united states remained neutral and stayed out of the war
yet by april of 1917 the united states felt compelled to enter the conflict president
woodrow wilson who was president from 1913-1921 had maintained a stance of neutrality as world war
1 raged in europe from 1914-1917 wilson preferred to address the issue through negotiation and
diplomacy in fact wilson's campaign slogan for re-election was he kept us out of war but as the
conflict in europe grew wilson and the united states were running out of options much of the
tensions focused on the naval war taking place primarily between britain and germany in february
of 1915 germany declared that the waters around great britain were a war zone and that german
battleships and submarines would sink any ship whether it be a military vessel or civilian ship
in that area without warning in response the british established a blockade of german ports
not allowing supplies to reach germany then in may of 1915 a german u-boat sunk the lusitania
a british passenger ship close to 1200 civilians were killed including over 100 american passengers
the british were outraged and expected the united states to soon enter the war on their side but
president wilson instead called on germany to stop its policy of sinking ships without warning
and also told germany that any further attacks would be considered quote deliberately unfriendly
the british were not happy with the response but the u.s did stay out of the war then in april
of 1916 a german u-boat sunk a passenger vessel the sussex killing 80 and injuring two americans
president woodrow wilson threatened to cut off diplomatic ties with germany and germany
then signed the sussex pledge promising to give warning to passenger vessels before firing on them
but then shortly after in january of 1917 germany announced that it would sink any sea vessel
sailing to allied ports with this announcement wilson officially broke off diplomatic relations
with germany interestingly germany knew that this announcement would very likely bring
the united states into the war but german leaders believed they could defeat britain before the u.s
was able to fully mobilize and enter the war president wilson and americans were now on the
brink of entering world war one but a few more events would push them over the edge a few weeks
after the german announcement of unrestricted naval warfare british agents intercepted a
message sent from arthur zimmerman the foreign minister of germany to the mexican government
in the zimmerman telegram germany offered to make an alliance with mexico against the united states
if the united states entered the war american newspapers published the telegram and americans
were outraged shortly thereafter a revolution began in russia in february of 1917 in which the
ruling family of russia was removed from power and russia promised to have more democratic elections
wilson now saw joining the allies in the war as also being a war to expand democracy
then in march of 1917 four american merchant ships were sunk by german u-boats president wilson now
decided that the only course for america was to enter the war on april 2 1917 two and a half years
after world war one had begun president wilson officially asked congress to declare war against
germany although congress did vote in favor of declaring war the vote was by no means unanimous
56 members of the house of representatives and senate voted against going to war on april 6
1917 woodrow wilson signed the resolution and the united states was now officially part of
world war one although the u.s had declared war the military itself was not necessarily
fully prepared to enter such a major conflict when the war was declared the united states
military had a force of approximately 130 000 soldiers very quickly though an additional 2
million americans volunteered to fight and then close to 3 million more americans were drafted
to join the military through the selective service act which was passed by congress in may of 1917.
the american expeditionary force was placed under the command of general john j pershing
and would first arrive in europe in june of 1917 but would not see full action on the western front
until october of that year america's entrance into the war in 1917 on the side of the allies
would turn the tide of the war and by november of 1918 an armistice would be signed bringing
the fighting to an end so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching