Wilson’s Stance During Ww1
Cem Anil Kenar
HIST104A-B02 Spg12
Wilson’s Stance during WW1:
From “He kept us out of the War” to “Make the World Safe for Democracy”
As it is well-known the World War I was primarily of a war fought due to imperialist aims, stemming from the need to satisfy the demand for raw material in the Europe. With the industrial revolution urge for raw material became of crucial importance for the European states. This was followed by the aggressive colonization projects that eventually led to a harsh competition between different parties around Europe, who want to hold control over the economic resources. The United States was not a super-power, as it is now, at the time of the War. Being aware of this Wilson opted to remain as a neutral observer during the initial phase of the war. It was the third year of the war, when the British intelligence intercepted the coded telegram dispatched by the Foreign Secretary of the German Empire, Arthur Zimmermann, on 16 January 1917.
While the two blocs, The Entente Powers (France, The British Empire and Russia) vs. The Central Powers, (Austria-Hungary, Germany and the Ottoman Empire), were fairly evenly balanced between 1914 and 1917, with the year 1917 the Central Powers started to be weakened due to several reasons. The Americans were convinced that the Central Powers were doomed to lose the war, when the Zimmermann telegram was revealed. Therefore, Wilson aspired to take advantage of these circumstances and use the telegram as a pretext for convincing the American public opinion to join to the War and side with the Entente Powers. Given that all the parties involved in the war was motivated with the aim to gain competitive advantage over others, Wilson’s decision can be understood as an attempt on the side of the U.S. to pursue its own interest. In fact, Americans has succeeded in their endeavor to take advantage of the situation. Though the American causalities were around 100,000 with the end of the war, the American
HIST104A-B02 Spg12
Wilson’s Stance during WW1:
From “He kept us out of the War” to “Make the World Safe for Democracy”
As it is well-known the World War I was primarily of a war fought due to imperialist aims, stemming from the need to satisfy the demand for raw material in the Europe. With the industrial revolution urge for raw material became of crucial importance for the European states. This was followed by the aggressive colonization projects that eventually led to a harsh competition between different parties around Europe, who want to hold control over the economic resources. The United States was not a super-power, as it is now, at the time of the War. Being aware of this Wilson opted to remain as a neutral observer during the initial phase of the war. It was the third year of the war, when the British intelligence intercepted the coded telegram dispatched by the Foreign Secretary of the German Empire, Arthur Zimmermann, on 16 January 1917.
While the two blocs, The Entente Powers (France, The British Empire and Russia) vs. The Central Powers, (Austria-Hungary, Germany and the Ottoman Empire), were fairly evenly balanced between 1914 and 1917, with the year 1917 the Central Powers started to be weakened due to several reasons. The Americans were convinced that the Central Powers were doomed to lose the war, when the Zimmermann telegram was revealed. Therefore, Wilson aspired to take advantage of these circumstances and use the telegram as a pretext for convincing the American public opinion to join to the War and side with the Entente Powers. Given that all the parties involved in the war was motivated with the aim to gain competitive advantage over others, Wilson’s decision can be understood as an attempt on the side of the U.S. to pursue its own interest. In fact, Americans has succeeded in their endeavor to take advantage of the situation. Though the American causalities were around 100,000 with the end of the war, the American