US Entry in 1917

• Why is the US not in the war?
  • The US is isolationist is set by George Washington's Farewell address.
  • There is a large German minority in the US, so Woodrow Wilson getting into the war might endanger his election.
  • He was also a liberal pacifist who thought that going to war needed to have a strong moral cause.
• These objections erode for 3 reasons:
  • The Zimmerman Note (though it may have been planted by the British)
    • The Germans see that a long war with the west has made the US a de facto ally.
    • any of the US economic production helps with war efforts, but only benefits France and Britain.
    • Arthur Zimmerman is the German Foreign minister who makes an offer to Mexico to ally with the Germans. If Mexico allies with the Germans, and the Germans win then Mexico will get back all the territories lost in the Treaty of Guadeloupe-Hidalgo, which includes New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada, but not California.
    • The Americans are outraged by this in conjunction with Pancho Villa and the unofficial border war with the Mexicans.
  • In February 1917 the Russians depose Nicholas II and establish a provisional Government along Classical Liberal Lines. Wilson had objected to aiding the Repressive Regime.
    • The Romanov fall eases Wilson's mind about allying with the Allied powers
  • In July 1917, the Germans change their strategy again and decide to resume unrestricted submarine warfare
    • History of German Strategy
      • 1914: Schlieffen Plan
      • 1915: KO Russia
      • 1916: War of Attrition at Verdun
      • 1917: Unrestricted submarine warfare to starve the British.
    • The Germans know this would bring the US into the war, but they calculated that it would take a year and a half for the US to send significant forces to Europe.
    • They hoped to starve Britain out of the war before the US could arrive.
    • Since Lusitania, the Germans had built up their U-Boat fleet and were increasing their sinkage of British Merchant ships.
    • In the summer of 1917 the British ships are being sunk faster than they can build. By August 1917 Britain has 6 weeks of food left.
    • The US Navy invents the Convoy System
• The War in 1917
  • The US joins the war as an "Associated Power" in April 1917.
  • British
    • In the Western Front the British become desperate because of Unrestricted Submarine Warfare and try several offensives that all fail.
    • Battles include the 2nd Battle of the Somme, the 2nd and 3rd Ypres and Cambrai.
    • The British makes tanks and break through the German lines with 400 Tanks, who get lost, go in circles, and run out of gas, leading to heavy losses and no gains.
  • France
    • In Spring 1917, the French under General Nivelle fail in massive offensives after which the French poilu began to mutiny. The French army barely manages to stay together, Hereafter, Nivelle tells the government that the French Soldiers can only fight in defense.
    • In France, 1.8 million people die.
  • Russia
    • On the Russian Front the Czar and his troops are steadily pushed back. They are starving with no ammunition and poor transportation.
    • The soldiers begin to desert and mutiny, and in February 1917, the Czar is overthrown and replaced by the provisional government who stay in the war due to allied threats and Sykes-Picot
    • The longer Russia stays in the War, the more unstable they become. The Germans employ brain warfare and smuggle Lenin back into Russia, further destabilizing.
    • By October 1917, the Bolsheviks of Lenin and Trotsky overthrow the Provisional Government and immediately sign an armistice with the Central Powers.
    • By January 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk is concluded. Russia cedes the Baltics, Belarus, Poland, and Ukraine to independent status. The Two Front War is No More.
• 1918
  • The German forces rush from Russia