Why Did The Us Become Innocent Bystanders To Ww1

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Up until April 6th, 1917, the US had remained innocent bystanders to WWI. The government had deemed it best to remain on the sidelines of this destructive war; civil and isolated. Upon hearing of the terrible things that were going on in this war they believed they had made the right decision. On April 2nd, 1917, Woodrow Wilson presented congress with a idea, to declare war on Germany. Four days later, after some debate, the US had officially declared war on Germany. From the beginning of WWI Germany had done many things that outraged the US and led to them declaring war on Germany. The British ocean liner Lusitania was sunk by Germans on May 7th, 1915, killing nearly 2,000 people, over 120 of which were Americans, provoking outrage. …show more content…
The telegram was sent to the German Ambassador to Mexico proposing an alliance if war were to break out between the US and Germany. Germany offered Mexico a large sum of money if they would agree to be allies with Germany. If they were to win this war Germany offered to give Mexico back Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. This telegram was published in newspapers all over the US, once again, provoking outrage in the US. The US sent over a million troops to Europe and met war unlike they had ever seen before. In trenches and in air, with new warfare that they had never fought against. There were tanks, field telephones, and poison gas. The US military was not properly equipped to fight against these new weapons of mass destruction. Unfortunately those fighting against these weapons were slow to adapt and lost millions of lives to them. The US would not have survived this war if it were not for their allies. Britain, France, Italy, and Russia were allies with the US in this dark time of war and destruction. They fought against the Central Powers which consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, and

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