World War I (1917—18)

The United States Enters the War

World War I began in Europe in August 1914. The European conflict soon turned into a world war as Britain, France, and Germany enlisted help from their far-flung colonial empires. For the next four years the Central Powers (Germany, Austria—Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria) faced off against the Allies (France, Britain, Belgium, Russia, Italy, Serbia). In 1914, Pres. Woodrow Wilson vowed to keep the United States neutral in thought as well as deed, but the nation's economic dependence on international trade made this a hard promise to keep. Initially, Wilson prohibited American banks from making loans to belligerent nations purchasing goods in the United States. By 1915, with the Allies running short of cash to buy American products, Wilson lifted the ban to avoid sending the American economy into recession. American banks took the first step away from neutrality by overwhelmingly loaning money to the Allied side.

A trade war that erupted between Britain and Germany also made the American position of neutrality difficult to maintain. With their armies settled into a war of attrition in the trenches along the Western Front, Britain and Germany turned to the seas to gain the advantage. The British instituted a blockade and mined the North Sea to prevent goods from reaching Germany. The Germans used a new and deadly weapon, the U-Boat, a type of submarine. Wilson expected each nation to recognize the rights of neutral nations to trade with whomever they wished, a position that became untenable as the stakes for each side rose. Wilson accepted the British mining with minimal protest and few American ships ventured into the North Sea to continue trading with Germany. The German strategy of unconditional submarine warfare, however, enraged Wilson. After 128 Americans perished aboard the British passenger ship the Lusitania on May 7, 1915, Wilson demanded that Germany renounce its policy of attacking any ship that entered the European war zone. Germany protested that it had warned American passengers to stay off the Lusitania, which indeed was carrying munitions. After two more controversial ship sinkings involving American passengers, Germany acceded to Wilson's demands in order to keep the United States out of the war. Germany issued the Arabic [Page 945]Pledge on September 1, 1915, agreeing to warn passenger ships before a U-Boat attack. The Sussex Pledge made on May 4, 1916, extended this warning to merchant ships.

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