Lesson 3: Wilson and American Entry into World War I

Americans welcomed their President's statement of neutrality in August 1914, believing that the European conflict was none of their business. However, neutrality quickly proved easier to declare than practice. With an economic recession underway, American manufacturers, munitions makers, and agricultural producers were eager to capitalize on the belligerents' need for their goods. Such trade was, of course, an internationally recognized right of a neutral nation, but U.S. trade practices already favored the Allied nations. While exports to the Central Powers totaled $169 million in 1914, the United States shipped goods worth $825 million to their opponents. Britain's expansive definition of contraband-prohibited items-provided an excuse to interdict American merchant vessels and seize almost anything headed to Germany. Although Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan declared loans from U.S. banks to warring nations to be a violation of neutrality, such lending was legal, and, in 1915, loans and credits began flowing to Europe, with most of the money going to the Allied side.

Wilson and the Department of State strongly protested British infractions of American neutrality but did not retaliate. German sinking of passenger ships, most notably the Lusitania in May 1915, further strained the U.S. position. In May 1916, Wilson secured a German promise, known as the Sussex pledge, to not attack merchant ships without warning. In return, Germany expected the United States to pressure Britain to end its naval blockade. Not only did Britain refuse, it also began blacklisting American companies trading with Germany. Wilson now faced an acute dilemma: the more he tried to preserve neutrality, the closer the nation came to war. In November, Wilson won re-election, but the margin of victory was slim.

In January 1917, Wilson delivered his "Peace without Victory" speech, which called for an end to the war and the creation of an international organization that would ensure peace through arms reductions, freedom on the seas, and the promotion of democratic rule. Embroiled in a conflict that had inflicted horrifying casualties, the belligerents ignored the proposal. Desperate to cut off Britain's access to food and munitions, Germany rescinded the Sussex pledge and commenced unrestricted submarine warfare in February. Revelation the next month that Germany had sought a military alliance with Mexico (the infamous Zimmermann telegram) added to American outrage. On April 2, Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany. The President duly noted German provocations, yet, as he stated in eloquent if abstract language, this was no mere retaliation against an aggressor. By entering the conflict, predicted Wilson, the United States could use its share of victory to spread democracy, eradicate authoritarian rule, and sweep away the entangling, selfish military alliances that had engulfed Europe in war. Most of all, the United States could "bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at least free." For almost three years, Wilson had struggled to safeguard American neutrality, but now the mission was far greater. Even as the nation grappled with the enormous challenge of mobilizing for war and sending troops to the Western Front, Wilson began articulating the specific points of his ambitious vision to mold this conflict into "the war to end all wars."

NCSS.D1.2.9-12. Explain points of agreement and disagreement experts have about interpretations and applications of disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a compelling question.

NCSS.D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.

NCSS.D2.His.2.9-12. Analyze change and continuity in historical eras.

NCSS.D2.His.3.9-12. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.

NCSS.D2.His.4.9-12. Analyze complex and interacting factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.

NCSS.D2.His.5.9-12. Analyze how historical contexts shaped and continue to shape people’s perspectives.

NCSS.D2.His.12.9-12. Use questions generated about multiple historical sources to pursue further inquiry and investigate additional sources.

NCSS.D2.His.14.9-12. Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past.

NCSS.D2.His.15.9-12. Distinguish between long-term causes and triggering events in developing a historical argument.

NCSS.D2.His.16.9-12. Integrate evidence from multiple relevant historical sources and interpretations into a reasoned argument about the past.

• This lesson may be used in sequence with the other plans in this unit on Wilsonian foreign policy, or it may be used in conjunction with the EDSITEment curriculum unit, United States Entry into World War I: A Documentary Chronology, especially lesson 2, Some Hypotheses About U.S. Entry.
• The preceding lesson introduces students to seven distinct reasons explaining American entry into World War I, then asks them to support one or a combination of the reasons, using historical evidence. The plan below focuses on President Wilson's specific justifications and guides the students to an understanding of how Wilson's request for war reflected both his existing foreign policy principles and his bold, ambitious vision for the postwar international future. It can thus also be used with the EDSITEment curriculum unit The Debate in the United States over the League of Nations.
• To teach this lesson, bookmark or print out the referenced websites. You should also bookmark or print the Text Document that accompanies this lesson and distribute the relevant pages to your students as handouts. The Text Document provides excerpts of the online documents used in this lesson, thus allowing your students to read only the pertinent portions of the source.

Analyzing primary sources—To provide your students with the skills needed to examine primary sources, you may find it helpful to visit this site from the Library of Congress. In particular, students may find the Mindwalk activity useful in preparing to work with primary sources. At the National Archives website, the Digital Classroom provides worksheets to practice analysis of various primary sources, including photographs and cartoons. Another exercise involving interpretation of primary sources can be found at History Matters.

Activity 1. The Difficulty of American Neutrality

To begin the first exercise, read or have a student read to the class Wilson's statement of neutrality, which is available at the EDSITEment-reviewed Great War Primary Documents Archive (You may prefer to read just an excerpt, available on pages 1-2 of the Text Document.) Either orally or in writing have the students answer the following questions about Wilson's statement:

• According to Wilson, how will people who love America react to the war in Europe?
• Why does the variety of the national origins of Americans present a challenge to neutrality?
• Why would differing views toward the war be dangerous for America?

Next, divide the students into five small groups and assign each group one of the documents below, all from the EDSITEment-reviewed Great War Primary Documents Archive or the American Memory Project. Each group will use the assigned primary source to prepare a presentation answering this question: why was it so difficult for the U.S. to remain neutral? (See Text Document for further guidance. In order to complete this exercise in one class period, you will probably want to assign just two or three documents; six documents total are provided. If you have not used this curriculum unit's first lesson, "The Origins of Wilsonianism," it is recommended that you add a sixth group and assign it Wilson's "Peace without Victory" speech.)

Group 1: Excerpts from September 19, 1914 instructions from the U.S. Department of State regarding the arming of merchant ships registered to nations at war (pages 3-4 of the Text Document)

Group 2: November 13, 1914 letter from Sir Cecil Spring-Rice to Sir Arthur Nicolson [both were British officials] describing U.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan's thoughts on the war (pages 5-6 of the Text Document)

Group 3: Excerpts from a letter from Secretary of State Bryan to Walter Hines Page, U.S. Ambassador in Great Britain, December 26, 1914 (pages 7-8 of the Text Document)

Group 4: The Lusitania Incident (pages 9-10 of the Text Document):

• Photograph of the Lusitania (from Library of Congress, American Memory Project, Panoramic Photographs)
• The Lusitania Disaster
• Excerpts from official American over the sinking of the Lusitania

Group 5: Wilson's April 19, 1916 remarks to Congress regarding Germany's attack on the Sussex, an unarmed French passenger ship traveling in the English Channel (pages 11-12 of the Text Document)

Group 6 (optional, see above): Wilson's "Peace without Victory" address to the U.S. Senate, January 22, 1917 (pages 13-14 of the Text Document)

Activity 2. On the Brink of War, January–March 1917

For the second activity, the class will remain in small groups, this time adopting the role of political cartoonists, circa March 1917. Each group must prepare a cartoon that comments on the difficult position of the United States and President Wilson now that Germany has declared unlimited submarine warfare in the Atlantic Ocean and has attempted to ally with Mexico (as the intercepted Zimmermann telegram revealed). Students will use the primary sources and sample cartoon below to create their cartoon. (Further instructions are provided on pages 15–17 of the Text Document.)

The following documents are available at or via the EDSITEment-reviewed sites FirstWorldWar.com and Digital Classroom:

• Germany's declaration of unlimited submarine warfare, effective February 1, 1917
• Zimmermann Telegram (March 1917)
• Political cartoon showing Wilson drafting his war message

(Suggestion: students could be asked to consider why Mexico might find the German offer attractive, given the intervention of the United States in the Mexican Revolution in 1916. Students should draw upon their work in Activity 2 of Lesson 2 of this unit.)

Activity 3. The U.S. Declaration of War on Germany, April 1917

The third exercise asks the students to review primary sources so that they can write a brief essay answering this question: Was Wilson's policy of neutrality impossible to maintain during World War I?

The following documents are available at the EDSITEment-reviewed sites the Great War Primary Documents Archive and History Matters. Excerpts may be found on pages 18-19 of the Text Document.

• Excerpt of Wilson's request to Congress for a declaration of war, April 2, 1917
• War is a "Blessing, Not a Curse" (March 30, 1917)
• The video below from the BBC looks at why the United States declared war on Germany.

After completing this lesson, students should be able to write brief (1-2 paragraph) essays answering the following questions:

• Why did Wilson want the United States to remain neutral in World War I?
• Why was neutrality so difficult to maintain?
• What did Wilson hope to accomplish by bringing the United States into the war in 1917?
• Do you think that U.S. entry into World War I was justified? Why or why not?

Students should be able to identify and explain the significance of the following:

• Lusitania
• "peace without victory"
• "unlimited submarine warfare"
• William Jennings Bryan
• Robert Lansing

Some of the lesson's activities, especially those pertaining to the difficulty of American neutrality could be adapted and extended. Students could research the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915, for example, or Wilson's sending of his trusted adviser Colonel Edward M. House to Europe several times to mediate an end to the war. For more on the latter topic, see the text of the 1916 House-Grey memorandum on the EDSITEment-reviewed web site First World War.com

• Once the United States was in the war, Congress and the Wilson administration faced the dual challenge of expunging lingering support for neutrality and mobilizing an ethnically diverse nation to join the fight in Europe. The American Memory project at the Library of Congress offers an online collection of recordings of pro-war speeches that could be played in class.
• Likewise, students could be shown posters produced by the U.S. Food Administration, which encouraged civilians to conserve food and plant gardens
• The negative consequences of mobilization included the repression of dissent and sporadic attacks on or harassment of German-Americans. For the latter, see 'We Had to Be So Careful': A German Farmer's Recollections of Anti-German Sentiment in World War I, at History Matters

There are numerous films about the American experience in World War I, though most relate to the fighting on the Western Front. The 2001 television movie "The Lost Battalion" dramatizes the plight of some 500 American soldiers pinned down by a German unit late in the war. A portion of the PBS/American Experience biography "Woodrow Wilson" details Wilson's struggle to keep the United States neutral.

Selected EDSITEment Websites

• American Memory
  • Newspaper coverage of Lusitania sinking
  • Photograph of the Lusitania
• Avalon Project at Yale Law School
  • Wilson's 14 Points (January 1918)
• Digital Classroom (National Archives)
  • Zimmermann Telegram
• Great War Primary Documents Archive
  • U.S. statement on the arming of merchant vessels (September 1914)
  • British reaction to Bryan's opinion of the war (November 1914)
  • Secretary of State Bryan to the U.S. Ambassador in Britain (December 1914)
  • Wilson's warning to Germany (February 1915)
  • Wilson's statement about the Sussex (April 1916)
  • Wilson's "Peace without Victory" speech (January 1917)
  • Wilson's request for a declaration of war (April 1917)
• History Matters
  • Bryan's protest of the Lusitania sinking
  • War is a "Blessing, Not a Curse"
  • "We Had to Be So Careful": A German Farmer's Recollections of Anti-German Sentiment in World War I
• First World War.com
  • Wilson's 2nd Inaugural Address (March 1917)
  • Germany's declaration of unlimited submarine warfare (February 1917)
  • The House-Grey Memorandum (1916)