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America in a world of war
The First World War started with the killing of Archduke Franz Ferdinand who was essentially the heir for the Austrian- Hungary throne on the 28th of June, 1914. This resulted in the Austrians getting agitated and deciding to prove its authority to the Serbians. This was the initiating point of the First World War. The war that initially started between two nations, eventually and very quickly escalated beyond expectations. Apart from this, many economic, political, and ideological differences, all related to one another resulted in this war.
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When the First World War broke out in the year 1914, President Woodrow Wilson promised impartiality for the United States, a stance that a vast majority of Americans favored. Great Britain, however, was one of the closest trading partners of the United States, and pressure soon ascended amid Germany and the United States over the former’s attempted seclusion of the British Isles. A number of U.S. ships that travelled to Britain were destroyed by the German mines, and, in the early months of 1915, Germany announced unrestricted combat against all vessels, irrespective of whose vessel it is, which entered the zone of war around Great Britain.
The First World War whose origins are highly complex to be ascertained was actually termed as a ‘Great War’ which indeed it was. Also the results of the war were very reflective. The human and material costs of World War 1 were massive and military operations of many countries had a radical impact.
Thirty-two nations were ultimately involved out of which twenty-eight nations constituted of the Allied Powers as well as the Associated Powers. The chief belligerents among the Allied Powers comprised of Europe, France, Russia, Serbia, Italy and the current day Global Super Power – The United States of America. The Opposing Nations were Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Germany and Belgium.
The stance of the U.S. getting into the First World War developed to be one that was most favorable after the series of events that followed the sinking of Lusitania, the passenger ship. Every circumstance made the U.S. more and more vulnerable and forced the nation to enter the war and ultimately there was no decent way to stay neutral.
Germany formed a war zone within the waters that surrounded both Great Britain and Ireland in order to ensure that German sub-marines can easily attack and sink the vessels of the enemy on the sea. Lusitania was destroyed by the Germans as they claimed that the ship was carrying weapons. This charge, however, was denied by both Great Britain and the U.S. In this particular issue, the fact that outraged the Americans was that 128 of the passengers who died in Lusitania were Americans.
The U.S. State Department staged strong protests and eventually Germany made a strong promise not to sink any passenger liners without necessary measures being taken for safeguarding the lives of innocent citizens. However, in the year 1916, German sub-marines destroyed a French steamer by name Sussex and there were again two Americans aboard Sussex. President Wilson then threatened to end consular relations with Germany. This was in the month of March and finally two months after this, Germany, yet again, agreed not to sink merchant vessels without prior notice and taking all care to save the lives of the innocent people aboard.
The U.S. became extremely agitated when Germany broke the "Sussex pledge" one more time. They declared unobstructed sub-marine combat in a precinct that is much bigger than the one that was created by them earlier. This caused President Wilson to stop diplomatic relations with Germany on February 3, 1917 and eventually upon his request; a bill was passed by the Congress allowing the U.S. merchant vessels to guard.
The discovery of the Zimmermann Note, a plan made by the German Foreign Office to unite Germany, Mexico, and Japan against the United States if they entered war, led Wilson, on April 2, 1917, to request a declaration of war with Germany. On April 6, 1917, Congress passed this declaration and the United States entered WWI.
The war started in the Balkan cockpit of rival nationalisms and prehistoric racial rivalries. Anticipations that the war could be restricted there proved ineffective. Development of the war was highly rapid. “Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914; Germany declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany declared war on France on 3 August and invaded Belgium. France was invaded on 4 August. German violation of Belgian neutrality provided the British with a convenient excuse to enter the war on the side of France and Russia the same evening. Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia on 6 August. France and Great Britain declared war on Austria-Hungary six days later (Bourne).”
Irrespective of the plethora of measures that the then U.S. government took for enhancing the nation’s military preparedness in the past year, President Wilson was not in a position to provide the Allies great immediate aide, be it in the form of military support or arms etc.; actually, the army was in a position to muster only about 100,000 men at the time U.S. entered the war.
In order to remedy the above situation, President Wilson immediately implemented a conscription policy. By the time the First World War came to an end on the 11th of November, 1918, more than 2 billion American militias had served on the battlegrounds of Western European region, and close to 50,000 of them had even succumbed to the Great War.
Yet, the most significant effect of America’s entry in the First World War was more economic—“by the beginning of April 1917, Britain alone was spending $75 million per week on U.S. arms and supplies, both for itself and for its allies, and had an overdraft of $358 million. The American entry into the war saved Great Britain, and by extension the rest of the Entente, from bankruptcy”.
The First World War finally came to an end on the 11th of November 1918 resulting in the Central Powers getting defeated. There were many boundary changes in the post-War period in both Europe and the Gulf. In fact, the maps of Europe and the Gulf were re-drawing. The impact of the war was enormous and most of the countries landed up paying huge debts for many years after the War. However, the financial losses of the First World War along with the physical destruction and deaths in the battlefield made the European nations weak.
The aftermath of the First World War resulted in drastic political, economic, social, and cultural changes in all the various countries or territories that were involved in the war. Four empires were grounded due to the war. New boundaries being created, formation of new nations and international organizations, abolishment of old regions, new and old ideologies firmly set in the minds of the people, among others were the various consequences of First World War.
The First World War erupted in the midst of the progressive era which valued efficiency and expertise very highly. Thus, the federal government established a horde of temporary entities to assimilate the necessary expertise for redirecting the economy towards production of necessary food and weaponries which would of a great help for the war. It was essentially a systematic mobilization of the entire American population and its economy to aid in all possible ways in the First World War.
During the interwar era, transnational deliberations on global cooperation plunged due to trade negotiators held a strong perception that while tariff reduction and quota elimination might be appropriate, discussion may not be fruitful until a steady monetary system is formed. Without such a stable system in place, the use of trade methods to curtail the trade of malevolent deflation could be vindicated as an appropriate and best secondary alternative.
As part of the mobilization that America underwent for First World War, many Africans worked together with the whites in many ways. They assumed to get a better treatment as a token of gratitude, but things were not as expected after returning back home after the war. Racism increase drastically. Many laws prohibited Africans from attending White schools and all skilled jobs were terminated.
Works Cited
A & E Television Networks, LLC. This day in History - Apr, 6, 1917. 2013. 27 November 2013 <http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/us-enters-world-war-i>.
Barrow, Mandy. World War II. n.d. 05 June 2009 <http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/Britain.html>.
Bourne, John. "Total War I: The Great War." 1997. Modern American Poetry. 27 November 2013 <http://www.english.illinois.edu/Maps/ww1/bourneessay.htm>.
Porter, Glenn. The Rise of Big Business, 1860-1920 (3rd Ed). Wheeling, IL: Harlon Davidson, 2006.
Routledge. "First World War Studies." Journal of the International Society for First World War Studies (vol:4, Issue: 1) (2013).
Terborgh, Andrew G. The Post-War Rise of World Trade: Does the Bretton Woods System Deserve Credit? Working Paper. London School of Economics. London, September 2003.
U.S. Department of State - Office of the Historian. American Entry into World War I, 1917. 2012. 27 November 2013 <http://history.state.gov/milestones/1914-1920/wwi>.
