History of the United States II / Unit 8 USH2 1066 review, 2 to 3 minutes
Why America Entered
The idea
Why the United States entered the war is a question the evidence answers two ways, and the anchor carries both. The first answer is German action. The Yawp says the Lusitania's sinking had already raised public anger and the desire for war; unrestricted submarine warfare, resumed in nineteen seventeen, sank the Laconia and four more American ships; and the Zimmermann telegram offered Mexico American territory in exchange for war. The National Archives says the telegram's threats inflamed opinion and helped convince Congress. The second answer is economic. In two years American exports to the Allies had quadrupled to three billion dollars while exports to Germany fell to thirty million, and members of Congress voiced fears that economic interests, rather than strategy or democratic ideals, were driving the country to war.
In practice
A torpedoed ship and a decoded telegram, set beside a ledger of Allied orders.
Where people slip
Two misreadings sit on either side. The first treats entry as a simple response to German aggression, which cannot account for the lopsided trade that already tied the country to one side. The second treats it as a war for profits, which cannot account for the timing: the country entered only after Germany resumed unrestricted attacks and offered Mexico its territory. The two explanations are layers rather than rivals. Trade shaped which side the country leaned toward; submarines and the telegram decided when it went to war. Wilson himself spoke of neither; he asked the country to make the world safe for democracy. The anchor's own chapter carries both explanations, and so does this entry. The course states both and leaves the weighting to the student.
Your place on the trail
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