The United States had tried to keep out of the European conflict. America did not become officially involved in the war until April 1917

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The United States had tried to keep out of the European conflict. America did not become officially involved in the war until April 1917. Up until that point, America was officially neutral because most Americans did not want to get involved in the war. In the end, however, neutrality was impossible.
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After February 1915, the German government said that their U-boats would sink any ship carrying supplies between USA and Europe. At first they tried not to attack U.S ships for fear of angering America to join the war. But German submarines sank a British passenger liner (the Lusitania), with the loss of Americans lives.

In 1917, merchant ships from neutral countries (including the USA) were regularly being attacked by German U-boats in a desperate attempt to stop supplies reaching the Allies. All this made Americans very angry with the Germans.

By 1917, the German ...

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