American entry into World War I

The <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a> entered into <a href="/facts/World_War_I/vITTUanQ">World War I</a> on 6 April 1917, more than two and a half years after the war began in Europe. Apart from an <a href="/facts/Anglophile/BoEAPdfq">Anglophile</a> element urging early support for the <a href="/facts/United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Ireland/yw0GUkge">British</a> and an anti-Tsarist element sympathizing with <a href="/facts/German_Empire/lwQutJyN">Germany</a>'s war against <a href="/facts/Russian_Empire/hg1g5SpV">Russia</a>, American public opinion had generally reflected a desire to stay out of the war. The sentiment for <a href="/facts/Neutral_country/Ig022QPh">neutrality</a> was particularly strong among <a href="/facts/Irish_Americans/zs4XIVfN">Irish</a>, <a href="/facts/German_Americans/KoI8oW3Y">German</a>, and <a href="/facts/Scandinavian_Americans/cNd3FnUn">Scandinavian Americans</a>, as well as among church leaders and women in general. On the other hand, even before <a href="/facts/World_War_I/vITTUanQ">World War I</a> had broken out, American opinion had been overall more negative toward the German Empire than toward any other country in Europe. Over time, especially after reports of <a href="/facts/The_Rape_of_Belgium/8JPpmgl1">German atrocities in Belgium</a> in 1914 and after the <a href="/facts/Sinking_of_the_RMS_Lusitania/1X6WSNBU">sinking</a> attack by the <a href="/facts/Imperial_German_Navy/wNhU6Hlo">Imperial German Navy</a> <a href="/facts/Submarine/6fhcAKHV">submarine</a> (<a href="/facts/U-boat/GgjbMzMT">U-boat</a>) <a href="/facts/Torpedo/RLLPpktk">torpedoing</a> of the trans-Atlantic ocean liner <a href="/facts/RMS_Lusitania/cfIL9RHl">RMS Lusitania</a> off the southern coast of <a href="/facts/Ireland/35vYxXdP">Ireland</a> in May 1915, Americans increasingly came to see Imperial Germany as the aggressor in Europe.
While the country was at peace, American banks made huge loans to the <a href="/facts/Allies_of_World_War_I/HBo9sw1M">Entente powers (Allies)</a>, which were used mainly to buy munitions, raw materials, and food from across the Atlantic in <a href="/facts/North_America/djNjCQIl">North America</a> from the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a> and <a href="/facts/Canada/cWWFM8oc">Canada</a>. Although 28th American President <a href="/facts/Woodrow_Wilson/zE4yxK2X">Woodrow Wilson</a> (served 1913–1921), made minimal preparations for a land war before 1917, he did authorize a shipbuilding program for the <a href="/facts/United_States_Navy/xYK0fUou">United States Navy</a>. Wilson was <a href="/facts/1916_United_States_presidential_election/9FnLr8W6">narrowly re-elected</a> in 1916 on an anti-war platform.
By 1917, with Belgium and Northern France occupied by German troops, the <a href="/facts/Russian_Empire/hg1g5SpV">Russian Empire</a> experiencing turmoil and upheaval in the <a href="/facts/February_revolution/erTxrbYX">February revolution</a> overthrowing the <a href="/facts/Czar_of_Russia/323GmbSt">Czar</a> on the <a href="/facts/Eastern_Front_of_World_War_I/jEzn7l88">Eastern Front</a>, and with the remaining Entente Allied nations low on credit, the German Empire appeared to have the upper hand in Europe. However, a British economic embargo and naval blockade were causing severe shortages of fuel and food in Germany. Berlin then decided to resume <a href="/facts/Unrestricted_submarine_warfare_(February_1917)/2Ifsfslj">unrestricted submarine warfare</a>. The aim was to break the trans-atlantic supply chain to Britain from other nations to the West, although the German high command realized that sinking American-flagged ships would almost certainly bring the United States into the war.
Imperial Germany also made a secret offer to help Mexico <a href="/facts/Reconquista_(Mexico)/48n8aoD7">regain territories</a> of the <a href="/facts/Mexican_Cession/CfRUs8oX">Mexican Cession</a> of 1849, lost seven decades before in the <a href="/facts/Mexican%E2%80%93American_War/7ttRIwah">Mexican–American War</a> of 1846–1848, (now incorporated in the <a href="/facts/Southwestern_United_States/LjLFs9fC">Southwestern United States</a>) in an encoded diplomatic secret telegram known as the <a href="/facts/Zimmermann_Telegram/NTTfbN2p">Zimmermann Telegram</a>, which was intercepted by <a href="/facts/British_intelligence/Ck1JfrR2">British intelligence</a>. Publication in the media of that communique outraged Americans just as German <a href="/facts/U-boat/GgjbMzMT">submarines</a> started sinking American <a href="/facts/Merchant_ship/Pg3Pa3EY">merchant ships</a> in the <a href="/facts/North_Atlantic/EI4uChIb">North Atlantic</a> in their <a href="/facts/U-boat_campaign/2Ifsfslj">U-boat campaign</a>. President Wilson then asked <a href="/facts/United_States_Congress/mJlU46K7">Congress</a> for "a <a href="/facts/The_war_to_end_war/ld4AjSky">war to end all wars</a>" that would "make the world safe for democracy", and Congress voted to <a href="/facts/United_States_declaration_of_war_on_Germany_(1917)/4NdJ4Pvk">declare war on Germany on April 6, 1917</a>. US troops <a href="/facts/United_States_in_World_War_I/Ahg8pR2j">began to arrive</a> in Europe later that year, and served in major combat operations on the <a href="/facts/Western_Front_(World_War_I)/RrhMPVQP">Western Front</a> under the command of General <a href="/facts/John_J._Pershing/d9q2cEHM">John J. Pershing</a>, particularly during the final <a href="/facts/Hundred_Days_Offensive/gvDHsm3R">Hundred Days Offensive</a>.

American entry into World War I open-in-new

American entry into World War I