On April 6th, 1917, the United States Congress voted overwhelmingly to declare war on the German Empire. This vote came four days after President Woodrow Wilson had gone to Capitol Hill to ask for the declaration of war. Wilson had idealized the war, stating it was an opportunity to "make the world safe for democracy" and that it was the moral obligation of the United States to fight in the war.
It should be noted that it had been nearly three years since the war had started at this point. At the beginning, Americans were strictly neutral, although American businesses and banks began to profit from loans of money and materials to the belligerent nations. Most of these materials ended up in Allied hands because of Britain's blockade of Germany.
Even as America's economic output was starting to turn to the Allies, public opinion generally did not. That began to change in May 1915 when a German submarine torpedoed and sank the Lusitania, an act that killed 128 Americans. Germany promised to stop using unrestricted submarine warfare after the incident and a full blown diplomatic crisis was averted, but Americans were beginning to turn on Germany. It did not help that reports were leaking out of occupied Belgium of German atrocities in that country.
President Wilson was reelected in 1916 running on a campaign slogan of "He kept us out of war." However, as the calendar turned and 1917 started, events began that forced Wilson's hand. Germany decided early in 1917 that they would resume unrestricted submarine warfare, which included attacking neutral merchant vessels. Several American ships were sunk in March, outraging Americans and turning public opinion heavily against Germany.
Germany knew that they would provoke the United States into war when they resumed unrestricted submarine warfare. They sought another ally with which they could distract the United States long enough to win the war in Europe. Mexico was the easy choice, as American troops had entered Mexico twice during the Wilson Presidency. Germany sent a message to Mexico, promising to aid them in the recapture of lands lost in the Mexican Cession for Mexico's help against the United States.
There were two problems with that plan. One was that Mexico was in no shape to conduct a war against the United States while the Mexican Revolution was going on. In essence, Mexico had been dealing with a multi-sided civil war since 1910 that the United States at times had gotten directly involved in. Second, the message was intercepted by Great Britain and sent to the United States. Wilson let media outlets publish the Zimmerman Telegram at the end of February 1917, furthering outrage against Germany.
The majority of World War I happened before the United States got involved. The American Expeditionary Force took some time to develop and only saw a few months of fighting, just long enough to blunt the last German offensive of the war and turn the tide. The United States was not even a true part of the Allies, acting independently of French and British troops on the Western Front. But it was enough to beat Germany and force an armistice.
The United States' involvement can be viewed as another step along the road to being the world's only superpower. That road started when the United States routed Spain in 1898 and would be fully realized in 1945 with the end of World War II. But American involvement in the First World War is important for the simple reason that it was the first time the United States had been drawn into a European conflict, something Americans had avoided since the advent of the nation.
The United States did not fully commit to the world stage following World War I, however. The most glaring example of this was the rejection of the League of Nations, a precursor of sorts to the United Nations. The United States still meddled in European affairs in the 1920s though, most notably with a series of disarmament treaties. With the advent of the Great Depression, the United States left Europe to its own devices, which was decisive in the rise of totalitarian states in the 1930s.
It's tough to say what would be the right choice to make in the post war world. Clearly the United States had to go to war; American merchants were being attacked repeatedly by Germany and the United States has the right to protect their national interests. But the same question that can be asked today should be applied to the 1920s world must be asked: To what extent should, if at all, the United States get involved in international affairs?
If the United States had maintained the same level of involvement in the 30s as they had in the 20s, it is probably that Adolf Hitler would not have been as belligerent as he ended up being. Knowing an immediate retaliation by the United States would have probably dissuaded the German Chancellor from reoccupying the Rhineland, annexing Austria, annexing the Sudetenland, the rest of Czechoslovakia, and then finally just invading Poland.
At what point do the interests of the world at large circumvent the interests of the United States? Do they at all? This is a question not only for the past, but for the present, and the future as well, as long as the United States is the preeminent global power.
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