Should America Have Been Involved in World War 1
Yusef Lyons
U.S. History
6/6/2012
Should America Have Been Involved in World War I
Several factors played a key role as to why America entered the war. Some of the most common reasons were the sinking of the Lusitania, the Zimmerman Telegram, America’s economic ties with the European powers, and the Russian Revolution. I personally feel that the U.S. should have gotten involved in WWI. America was trying to remain neutral and promote peace, but they couldn’t stand by and continue to let their civilians die. In my opinion America lost more lives then what they needed to.
First of all, the sinking of the Lusitania caused America to lose innocent civilians and the supplies and weapons it was carrying for Great Britain. The Lusitania was sunk without warning, killing over 12o American civilians. With America wanting to promote peace, they ignored it an accepted it as a loss. In addition to that incident, submarines sank seven U.S. merchant ships which pushed the U.S. to become involved. As much as I believe in peace and tranquility, America couldn’t just stand by and continue to lose innocent lives. America was nowhere near ready to join in the war.
Secondly, the Zimmerman Telegram was created. It was an encoded telegram sent from Germany to Mexico stating that if Mexico invaded the U.S. they would get back some of their land that was lost during the Mexican-American war. Fortunately the British cracked the code in time to warn the U.S. The revelation of its contents in the American press on March 1st caused public outrage which contributed to the United States declaration of war against Germany and its allies on April 6th.
Thirdly, America had strong economic ties with the European powers. We needed to help defend the Allies, in a way they were our partners. I felt that America has invested too much money. They would have been dumb to just sit back and let it go to waste. America had invested $2.6 billion in the war to be exact. If the allied
U.S. History
6/6/2012
Should America Have Been Involved in World War I
Several factors played a key role as to why America entered the war. Some of the most common reasons were the sinking of the Lusitania, the Zimmerman Telegram, America’s economic ties with the European powers, and the Russian Revolution. I personally feel that the U.S. should have gotten involved in WWI. America was trying to remain neutral and promote peace, but they couldn’t stand by and continue to let their civilians die. In my opinion America lost more lives then what they needed to.
First of all, the sinking of the Lusitania caused America to lose innocent civilians and the supplies and weapons it was carrying for Great Britain. The Lusitania was sunk without warning, killing over 12o American civilians. With America wanting to promote peace, they ignored it an accepted it as a loss. In addition to that incident, submarines sank seven U.S. merchant ships which pushed the U.S. to become involved. As much as I believe in peace and tranquility, America couldn’t just stand by and continue to lose innocent lives. America was nowhere near ready to join in the war.
Secondly, the Zimmerman Telegram was created. It was an encoded telegram sent from Germany to Mexico stating that if Mexico invaded the U.S. they would get back some of their land that was lost during the Mexican-American war. Fortunately the British cracked the code in time to warn the U.S. The revelation of its contents in the American press on March 1st caused public outrage which contributed to the United States declaration of war against Germany and its allies on April 6th.
Thirdly, America had strong economic ties with the European powers. We needed to help defend the Allies, in a way they were our partners. I felt that America has invested too much money. They would have been dumb to just sit back and let it go to waste. America had invested $2.6 billion in the war to be exact. If the allied