7.5 World War I: Military and Diplomacy

War broke out in Europe in August 1914 between the Allies (Britain, France, Russia) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire). President Woodrow Wilson declared neutrality and asked Americans to be neutral in thought as well as action. Many Americans had family ties to both sides.

In practice, trade tilted toward the Allies. Britain's naval blockade cut off most trade with Germany, so American exports and loans flowed to Britain and France, and American bankers lent the Allies billions of dollars. Britain also cut Germany's transatlantic cables and shaped much of the war news Americans read.

• Submarines: Germany used U-boats to strike back at Britain's blockade. In May 1915 a U-boat sank the British liner Lusitania, killing nearly 1,200 people, including 128 Americans. After more sinkings, Germany promised in the Sussex Pledge (1916) not to sink merchant ships without warning.
• Wilson won reelection in 1916 partly on the slogan 'He kept us out of war.'
• In February 1917 Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare, gambling it could starve Britain before the U.S. made a difference.
• The Zimmermann Telegram, intercepted by British codebreakers and published in March 1917, proposed that Mexico ally with Germany in exchange for regaining Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
• The Russian Revolution in March 1917 overthrew the tsar, making it easier to describe the Allies as democracies.
• Wilson asked Congress for war, saying 'the world must be made safe for democracy.' Congress declared war on April 6, 1917.

The Selective Service Act (1917) created a draft, and about 4 million Americans served, with about 2 million sent to France as the American Expeditionary Forces under General John J. Pershing. Black soldiers served in segregated units; the 369th Infantry, the 'Harlem Hellfighters', fought under French command with distinction.

Fresh American troops arrived as Russia left the war in 1918 and Germany launched a final offensive. Americans fought at Château-Thierry and Belleau Wood and in the huge Meuse-Argonne offensive. The armistice came on November 11, 1918. About 116,000 Americans died, roughly half from disease, including the 1918 influenza pandemic.

In January 1918 Wilson announced his Fourteen Points: open diplomacy, freedom of the seas, lower trade barriers, arms reduction, self-determination (the right of national groups to govern themselves) and a League of Nations to keep peace.

At the Paris Peace Conference, Britain and France wanted to punish Germany. The Treaty of Versailles (1919) blamed Germany for the war, imposed heavy reparations and took territory, but it did include the League.

In the Senate, 'irreconcilables' opposed the League completely, while 'reservationists' led by Henry Cabot Lodge wanted changes, especially to Article X, which they feared could commit the U.S. to war without Congress's approval. Wilson refused to compromise, went on a national speaking tour and suffered a severe stroke in October 1919. The Senate rejected the treaty in November 1919 and again in March 1920. The U.S. never joined the League and made a separate peace with Germany in 1921.