![]() It was eventually successful because Germany and Austria-Hungary had decimated their agricultural production by taking so many farmers into their armies. The impact from the blockade became apparent very slowly because Germany and its allies controlled extensive farmlands and raw materials. Neutral American ships that tried to trade with Germany were seized or turned back by the Royal Navy who viewed such trade as in direct conflict with the Allies' war efforts. The Royal Navy successfully stopped the shipment of most war supplies and food to Germany. Instead, Germany used submarines to sink merchant ships heading for Entente ports. The wider sea approaches to Britain and France, their distance from German harbors and the significantly smaller size of the German surface fleet all made it effectively impossible for Germany to proportionally reciprocate using conventional naval methods. Pershing in the summer of 1918.īritain used its large navy to prevent cargo vessels entering German ports, mainly by intercepting them in the North Sea between the coasts of Scotland and Norway. troops began major combat operations on the Western Front under General John J. Wilson then asked Congress for "a war to end all wars" that would "make the world safe for democracy", and Congress voted to declare war on Germany on April 6, 1917. Publication of that communique outraged Americans just as German submarines started sinking American merchant ships in the North Atlantic. Germany also made a secret offer to help Mexico regain territories lost in the Mexican–American War in an encoded telegram known as the Zimmermann Telegram, which was intercepted by British intelligence. The aim was to break the transatlantic supply chain to Britain from other nations, although the German high command realized that sinking American-flagged ships would almost certainly bring the United States into the war. Berlin then decided to resume unrestricted submarine warfare. However, a British economic embargo and naval blockade were causing severe shortages of fuel and food in Germany. Wilson was narrowly re-elected in 1916 on an anti-war platform.īy 1917, with Belgium and Northern France occupied, with Russia experiencing political upheaval, and with the remaining Entente nations low on credit, Germany appeared to have the upper hand in Europe. Although US President Woodrow Wilson made minimal preparations for a land war before 1917, he did authorize a shipbuilding program for the United States Navy. While the country was at peace, American banks made huge loans to the Entente powers, which were used mainly to buy munitions, raw materials, and food from across the Atlantic. Over time, especially after reports of German atrocities in Belgium in 1914 and following the sinking of the passenger liner RMS Lusitania in 1915, Americans increasingly came to see Germany as the aggressor in Europe. On the other hand, even before World War I had broken out, American opinion had been overall more negative toward the German Empire than toward any other country in Europe. The sentiment for neutrality was particularly strong among Irish Americans, German Americans, and Scandinavian Americans, as well as among church leaders and women in general. The United States entered into World War I in April 1917, more than two and a half years after the war began in Europe.Īpart from an Anglophile element urging early support for the British and an anti-tsarist element sympathizing with Germany's war against Russia, American public opinion had generally reflected a desire to stay out of the war. President Woodrow Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany on February 3, 1917
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