US Reactions to WWI Prior to Involvement

1. US Reactions to WWI Prior to Involvement By: Cora Davis

2. Neutrality • Aug. 1914 • Wilson’s call pleased Americans • Most wished to avoid war • Nation of immigrants • War could inflame conflicting sympathies with Old World countries • Could cause social tension and unrest • Pacifists disapproved war no matter what thecause • Lasted 3 years

3. Americans Take Sides • Americans not as emotionally removed from European concerns as thought • Citizens born in fighting countries still believed in the ideas and religion of their heritage • Arrivals from England, Scotland, and Wales still kept their affection for Britain • German-American population- Central Powers • Immigrants from Austria- Hungary & Russia • Majority of Americans were pro-ally

4. British Propaganda

5. Propaganda War • Allied Powers • Central Powers • Wanted US intervention • Controlled transatlantic cables- news to US press • Most effective effort to win American approval • reprinting German hate propaganda against Britain & France • Wanted US neutral • German war propaganda emphasized hate & destruction • Opened military campaign on Western Front by invading Belgium • Violated international agreement • Belgians challenged • Germans executed 5000 civilians & burned Louvain

6. Propaganda cont. • 1915 gov’t issued an official report • Signed by James Bryce • Described in gruesome detail the murder of Belgian civilians • Many atrocity stories unfounded • Bryce report convinced that Germans were savage “Huns”

7. Administration's Partisanship • Allies strongest supporter in America was the president • Anglophile- person fond of English culture • Told British ambassador that everything he loved most in the world depended on Allied victory • To secretary, “England is fighting our fight…I will not take any action to embarrass England when she is fighting for her life and the life of the world.” • Wilson and advisors Colonel Edward House & Lansing • Took seriously German expansionism • Checked on emperor’s ambitions with Britain & France

8. Neutral Rights • US major neutral power in a world divided by 2 warring countries • Expected European belligerents to observe the traditional rights owed to neutral nations • Vessels owned by neutrals had rights to carry goods except contraband • Right to trade freely with all belligerents • Wilson thought by staying neutral, Americans might: • Exert a strong moral force • End fighting quickly • Help establish new relations

9. Allied Violations • British & German didn’t care what Americans thought were their rights on the seas and international trade • British stopped vessels & searched them at ports • Planted mines in North Sea • Set up blacklists of American firms thought to be trading with Germany • US had power to retaliate and make them resent • Allies requested loans from American bankers • Secretary of State Bryan thought this could be breaking neutrality • October 1914, Wilson said he wouldn’t oppose bankers’ credits to finance Allied war orders • 1917 lent Great Britain over $1 billion & France $300 million • England avoided injuring too many American interests • Allied policies hurt pocketbooks; German policies took lives

10. German U-Boat Unterseeboot Tiny submarine armed with torpedoes & one small deck gun Couldn’t risk surfacing to warn of their intentions to search for contraband or to care for civilians aboard vessels they sank

11. Submarine Warfare • German U-boats could strangle Europe • Only by attacking all boats engaged in trade with British Isles • February 1915- German gov’t authorized submarines to ships found within a large war zone around the British Isles • sank British passenger liner Falaba, killing an American • sank British luxury lines Lusitania, killing 1,198, 128 of which were Americans • Wilson sent note to German gov’t demanding apology • Expressed regret but said the sinking was an act of self-defense- boat had carried arms • 2nd note- insisted Germans give up sub warfare entirely • 3rd note- threatened to sever diplomatic relations

12. Wilson’s 14 Points By: Cora Davis

13. Intro • both houses of US Congress • Jan 8, 1918 • Intended to assure war was being fought for moral cause and peace in Europe • Took many principles of progressivism & changed into foreign policy

15. Points • An end to secret treaties • Freedom of the seas • Free trade for all countries • Disarmament • End to colonial claims • Self-determination for all countries • Restoration of Belgium

16. More Points • Restoration of France • Readjustment of Italy’s boundaries • Austria- Hungary would be given opportunity for autonomous development • Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be evacuated and restored • Turkey should be sovereign • Poland would be given their independence • The “League of Nations” would be developed

17. Sources •  Unger Irwin, These United States: The Questions of Our Past Fourth Edition • McDougal Littell, The Americans Reconstruction to the 21st Century • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteen_Points • http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/woodrow_wilson1.htm • http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/doc31.htm