America Enters World War I in April 1917
Dec 29, 2010 Michael Streich
On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson appeared before the U.S. House and Senate, stating reasons why it was necessary to enter the European war against Imperial Germany. Historians have debated U.S. motivations ever since.
Much of Wilson’s address is devoted to the German practice of unrestricted submarine warfare and he barely mentioned the Zimmermann note. Wilson never spoke of the enormous debt owed to American firms by the Allies. Rather, the war message reflects on Wilson’s own idealism, his deep rooted desire to, “make the world safe for democracy.”
Unrestricted Naval Warfare Resumed by Imperial Germany in 1917
Imperial Germany resumed its policy of unrestricted submarine warfare February 1, 1917. The U.S. government was informed only hours before the effective date. Although the German ambassador Count Bernstorff had warned his government that such action would bring the U.S. into the war, Kaiser Wilhelm II sided with the militarists over the diplomatic fears.
German military strategists gambled that if one million tons of shipping bound for the Allies could be sunk each month, the war would end by mid-summer. In the weeks leading up to Wilson’s congressional address, several American ships had been sunk without warning. During his message, Wilson declared, “The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind.” But Wilson made clear that his concerns were for the loss of innocent civilian life.
The Zimmermann Note Promises Mexico Lost Territory
On March 1, 1917 the contents of the Zimmermann note were published in the United States after British intelligence officers intercepted and deciphered the telegram. The note, sent by the German Foreign Minister to the German ambassador in Mexico City, promised Mexico the return of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona in return for an alliance with Germany if war should break out with the United States.
Historian Leon H. Canfield, referring to the telegram, states that, “No other development contributed so much to the crystallization of sentiment in America in favor of war with Germany…” While this was true in terms of American public opinion, Wilson spent relatively little time on the note in his war message.
The Role of the March Russian Revolution in 1917
Tsar Nicholas II abdicated on March 15, 1917. The Romanov dynasty, an autocracy for centuries, was replaced by a popularly elected Provisional Government. Wilson highlighted this in his war message, commenting that, “Russia was known by those who knew it best to have been always in fact democratic at heart.”
Additionally, Wilson alluded to the theory that the earliest Russian dynasties were really of German origin: “The autocracy…long as it had stood…was not in fact Russian in origin, character, or purpose…” Wilson cleverly separated the autocracy, identifying it with Prussian authoritarianism, from the democracy that could be found in the hearts of Russians.
The fall of the Russian autocracy was also a sign that the war would bring dramatic changes to the world. These changes aligned perfectly with Wilson’s Utopian League of Nations, an idea he had fostered long before the outbreak of World War I, according to Canfield.
Wilson’s Idealism and the Realities of Pro-British Support
Wilson agonized several weeks over the decision to seek a declaration of war. Historian Kendrick A. Clements suggests that Wilson was finally motivated by his Secretary of State, Robert Lansing, who suggested that any delay might hinder U.S. opportunities to help shape a post-war world based on Wilson’s ideals.
Barbara Tuchman also alludes to other motivations, writing that, “nothing that Wilson said about the danger to democracy could not have been said all along. For that cause we could have gone to war six months or a year or two earlier, with incalculable effect on history.”
Others have argued that the huge debt owed by the Allies to U.S. firms played a decisive role in entering the war, pointing to the 1934 conclusions of the Special Committee on Investigation of the Munitions Industry, chaired by Senator Gerald Nye. The Nye Committee documented $2.3 billion in U.S. loans to the Allies in World War I, a figure not including debts owed to private industries.
Congress Votes to Enter World War One
At the close of his address, President Wilson stated, “It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war…” Wilson, the son of a Presbyterian minister and a follower of Calvinism, may have been alluding to Hebrews 10:31: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
After several days of debate, notably by those senators opposing war like Wisconsin’s Bob La Follette, the Senate voted 82-6 in favor of war. The House vote was 373-50. American resolve ultimately ended the war, but Wilson’s ideals were never realized. World War I resulted in the rise of terrible dictators and paved the way to an even more devastating war.
Sources:
- Leon H. Canfield, The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson: Prelude to a World in Crisis (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1966)
- Kenrick A. Clements, The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (University Press of Kansas, 1992)
- Barbara Tuchman, “How We Entered World War I,” Practicing History (Ballantine Books, 1981)
- Woodrow Wilson, War Message April 2, 1917, 65 Congress, I Session, Senate Document No. 5
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