What events and what aims brought the USA into the First World War?

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What events and what aims brought the USA into the First World War?

There were two main events that led to the USA entering the First World War. They are:

  • The German decision to wage war on any form of shipping near Britain and the mistake of attacking American vessels with American civilians on board.
  • The ‘Zimmermann Telegram’.

The Germans declared the sea around Britain a ‘War Zone’ and made the excuse that anything within this zone was fair game and they had the right to attack and destroy it. This included merchant ships shipping urgent supplies to Britain and also normal liners shipping people to and from Britain. The mistake was the sinking of vessels containing American civilians, which the USA made clear, it would not stand for. Despite the warnings, German submarines continued to strike at anything in the area. The most influential of these was the sinking of the ‘Listuania’, a British ship sunk with 128 American losses. This was unacceptable for the Americans and they declared war on the Germans.

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  The Zimmermann Telegram was sent form the German secretary of state in March 1917 to his minister in Mexico. It stated that the Germans would give their support to the Mexicans in an assault on the USA. It was beneficial to both countries because Mexico could regain territories it lost to America in the 19th century. But it is questionable if Germany would have been able to give very much ‘support’. It was fighting a war on two fronts, although the Russian front looked like it was close to collapse and also, it was under a tight naval blockade and ...

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