WWI: Enter America... Stage Right!

     There was a total of seven reasons in which caused the United States to join in the Great War, World War I. To begin, there was a development of new weapons, such as the German U-Boats, which was like a submarine that changed the rules of naval warfare. These U-Boats provided no defense for passenger and merchant ships and could go undetected almost anywhere, to which many Americans thought of them being uncivilized, seeing that they did not issue an warnings to their targets. Along with the German U-Boats, another reason for the U.S. to enter the World War was because of the Transatlantic Cable Cut, which is where Britain  cut the transatlantic cable to prevent communication between the United States and Germany. 

     Then there was the case of the Lusitania, a British passenger liner, that was sunk because it was supposedly mistaken for being a ship carrying weapons. On the ship, there were 128 Americans that were killed because of the attack. With all of the hype of the German U-Boats and how uncivilized their attacks were, it was then when the Sussex Pledge came into action, after sinking the Allied Ship called the Sussex, in which Germany would have to promise to warn other ships that they were going to attack them. 

     Also, the Zimmerman Telegram played a factor into leading the U.S. to join the Allied forces in WWI. The Zimmerman Telegram is where the German's foreign secretary, Arthur Zimmerman, sent a telegram to Mexico to make a secret offer of Alliance and wanted for Mexico to attack the United States. Mexico declined the offer and made relations between America and Germany worse. Then came the Russian Revolution in which Russia's autocratic leader, Czar Nicholas II, was forced to give up his power which led to a republican government to rise and replace the monarchy, leaving the United States no reason not to join the Allies. Finally, with the sinking of the Vigilancia, Illinois and the City of Memphis, all of which were American ships sunk by the Germans. This sent America over the edge and they declared war on Germany a few days after the attack. These were all contributing factors of what caused Americans to get involved in the Great War... World War I!

In this political cartoon, it demonstrates one of the most predominant reasons in which caused the Great War, World War I. This picture depicts the alliances that were made due to the war, with one side consisting of 7 allies from different nations including the U.S., Great Britain, and Russia, and the other side only consisting of 2 allies, Germany and Austria-Hungary. With the thought of 7 allies against only 2 rivals, it seems like it would be a pretty easy win for this team, yet, as the picture suggests, Germany and Austria-Hungary were large rivals in the War and it was a struggle that lasted four years. It can be seen that the picture depicts these two rivals as being larger, more fit, with feet firm on the ground they stand on, but the other side shows the central allied powers as weaker nations as they struggle to bring their rivals down. This just goes to show that it was a difficult war throughout the years but eventually the Central Allied Powers pulled through and overcame their rivals.