America in WWI

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America in World War One

On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian-Serbian Student who was furious at Austria-Hungary’s interference in Serbian affairs, shot the heir to the Austrian throne, Franz Ferdinand, and his wife. With this one act, he set off an explosion that would rage through Europe and rip it apart for the next four years. The impact would be felt all over the world. It took only a month for a war to break out between Austria-Hungary and Serbia that at first was thought only to be a local conflict. Two powerful military alliances were the created; on one side was the central powers consisting of Germany and Austria-Hungary, on the other were the allies, with France, Italy, Britain (and its empire), Canada, Russia, and eventually the United States. There was four years of slaughter and destruction across Europe and more than 120 000 U.S servicemen dead.

America entered the Great War on April 6, 1917. Up to that then, The U.S had tried to keep out of World War One – though they had traded with nations involved in the war – but unrestricted submarine warfare, introduced by the Germans on January 9th, 1917, was the primary issue that caused Wilson, who was president at the time, to ask Congress to declare war on Germany on April 2nd. Four days later, America joined World War One on Allie side.

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Germany's use of U-boats pushed America into a corner and ultimately to their declaration of war. On February 4th, 1915, Germany announced that merchant shipping in a specified zone around Britain would be legitimate targets. They also added that this would include neutral ships because many Allied ships had been flying the flag of a neutral nation to assist in their safety. Wilson warned the Germans that he would hold them responsible if any American ships were sunk. This threat was tested when on May 7th, 1915 when the Lusitania was sunk. The Lusitania was a luxury ship that was carrying ...

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