United States of America joined World War 1 on April 6th, 1917 joining other countries like France, Russia and Britain. The U.S. troops of more than two million fought on the battlefield and were commanded by Major General J.P. Pershing, and the president was Woodrow Wilson. On April 4th, 1917 two days before joining the war, there were 88 U.S. senate where ninety-three percent voted in support of the World War 1 against Germany. The first WW decision was endorsed by the House of Representatives by 88 percent votes in support of the war where the U.S. formally joined the war. At first, president W. Wilson was in the America to stay neutral and even tried to broker a peace deal with the fighting countries, although the same countries gave the conditions to end the war. The Germans pushed the America into a corner that the peaceful president could not tolerate anymore and requested the congress to vote in support of the war against Germany.
World War 1 was necessary because the president tried to protect the American citizens' even though he wanted American to remain neutral. First, the Americans and the British were close allies and trading partners. The German's tension rose because the latter tried to quarantine the British island. The former resisted and could not allow the Germans to claim the island as it would have spoiled America-British relationship that can lead to poor economic tie between the two. Thus, forced the U.S. to join the war so as to protect its’ ally with the British. Secondly, several ships belonging to the U.S. were traveling from Britain were completely sunk or destroyed by German mines. On February 1915, Germany declared unrestricted warfare against any ship either neutral or not, which joined the war zone around Britain. After one month, the Germans announced that they had destroyed W.P Frye, which is an American private ship or vessel. The destroying of this ship angered the president, even though the government of Germany apologized and termed it as an unfortunate mistake.
Third is Lusitania; on May 7th, 1915 on the coast of Ireland. Lusitania an ocean liner British owned, with more than two thousand passengers on board, was sunk by Germans without any warning (Trommler, 2009). The vessel killed approximately one thousand, two hundred of whom 128 were American citizens. The Germans claimed that they sunk the ship because it was carrying munitions, but this was and excuse or propaganda to escape retaliation from Britain and America. For this case, the U.S. had to join the war to prevent any further attacks on innocent passengers and also to protect any further killing of unarmed civilians and merchant ships. Even though on August, the Germans claimed that they will never sink a vessel without considering the safety of passengers. It was too late to Germany since the inflictions and loss done to others was so much. If the Germans would have thought of this before and could have saved themselves from war with America.
Even after claiming to consider safe first, on November the same Germans’ U-boat sank an Italian liner with no warning, killing more than two hundred and seventy passengers. Out of these, 28 were Americans. However, another reason it was right for America to join World War 1. Fourth, is Housatonic; It was in February when the Germans were optimistic to win the war of attrition from the allies, when it resumed its’ strategy of uncontrolled submarine warfare in the war zone water. After three days, the United States broke any diplomatic tie or relations with Germany, and this was the same day Housatonic an America liner was destroyed by the U-boat from Germany. These twists of events lead the congress to pass and sign $250 million to use in equipment American troops and ensure that America was ready for war as it could not tolerate the German's attacks. Fifth, Germany destroyed four more United States merchant ships and thus, prompting other reasons why it was necessary for the U.S. to join WW1. Lastly, the coded Zimmerman telegram sends to the German ambassador in Mexico contributed to the necessity of American involvement in World War 1 (Beckett, 2014). The intelligence from British naval intercepted the encoded telegram that was sent to the Foreign Minister and ambassador Arthur of German.
Several effects still exist up to date, out of the two million American soldiers on the battlefield, 50,000 lost their lives and those affected the families of the bereaved. Many orphans and widows suffered a significant blow after losing their loved one to war. The unexpected cost of bringing up an orphaned was too much for the widows (Hughes, 2014). The amount of money in millions used in war was too much that it pulled the American economy backwards. In addition, U.S. involvement in the war has helped to where it is to date. It proved to the other world of the superiority in terms of warfare because it fought for a short time, and impacts felt. In conclusion, it was necessary for America to enter into war because if it was not so, then the Germans and the allies would have killed a lot of innocent civilians. The relationship between America and its’ allies would have deteriorated had they not gone to war.
Reference
Beckett, Ian F. W. "The Zimmermann Telegram: Intelligence, Diplomacy, and America's entry into World War I." Historian 76.2 (2014): 436-438. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Dec. 2014.
Hughes, Annmarie, and Jeff Meek. "State regulation, family breakdown, and lone motherhood: The hidden costs of World War I in Scotland." Journal Of Family History 39.4(2014): 364-387. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Dec. 2014.
Trommler, Frank. "The Lusitania effect: America's mobilization against Germany in World War I." German Studies Review 32.2 (2009): 241-266. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Dec. 2014.
