USA HISTORY

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM(1890 1919)

THE UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR I

[SOURCES]
True or False:The United States did not join the war until 1917 because they wanted to remain neutral.

(A) ** True

(B) False

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -Under President Woodrow Wilson, the United States remained neutral until 1917 and then entered the war on the side of the Allied powers (the United Kingdom, France, and Russia).

Concept note-2: -When WWI began in Europe in 1914, many Americans wanted the United States to stay out of the conflict, supporting President Woodrow Wilson’s policy of strict and impartial neutrality. “The United States must be neutral in fact as well as in name during these days that are to try men’s souls.

Concept note-3: -Along with news of the Zimmermann telegram threatening an alliance between Germany and Mexico against America, Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany. The United States officially entered the conflict on April 6, 1917.

Concept note-4: -The US entered World War I because Germany embarked on a deadly gamble. Germany sank many American merchant ships around the British Isles which prompted the American entry into the war.

Concept note-5: -Isolationists believed that World War II was ultimately a dispute between foreign nations and that the United States had no good reason to get involved. The best policy, they claimed, was for the United States to build up its own defenses and avoid antagonizing either side.