MILESTONES: 19141920

U.S. Entry into World War I, 1917

On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson went before a joint session of
Congress to request a declaration of war against Germany. Wilson cited
Germanys violation of its pledge to suspend unrestricted submarine
warfare in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean, as well as its
attempts to entice Mexico into an alliance against the United States, as
his reasons for declaring war. On April 4, 1917, the U.S. Senate voted in
support of the measure to declare war on Germany. The House concurred
two days later. The United States later declared war on German ally
Austria-Hungary on December 7, 1917.

World War I Trenches in France

Germanys resumption of submarine attacks on passenger and merchant
ships in 1917 became the primary motivation behind Wilsons decision to
lead the United States into World War I. Following the sinking of an
unarmed French boat, the Sussex, in the English Channel in March 1916,
Wilson threatened to sever diplomatic relations with Germany unless the
German Government refrained from attacking all passenger ships and
allowed the crews of enemy merchant vessels to abandon their ships
prior to any attack. On May 4, 1916, the German Government accepted
these terms and conditions in what came to be known as the
Sussexpledge.
By January 1917, however, the situation in Germany had changed. During
a wartime conference that month, representatives from the German Navy
convinced the military leadership and Kaiser Wilhelm II that a resumption
of unrestricted submarine warfare could help defeat Great Britain within
five months. German policymakers argued that they could violate the
Sussex pledge since the United States could no longer be considered a
neutral party after supplying munitions and financial assistance to the
Allies. Germany also believed that the United States had jeopardized its
neutrality by acquiescing to the Allied blockade of Germany.

German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg protested this

decision, believing that resuming submarine warfare would draw the
United States into the war on behalf of the Allies. This, he argued, would
lead to the defeat of Germany. Despite these warnings, the German
Government decided to resume unrestricted submarine attacks on all
Allied and neutral shipping within prescribed war zones, reckoning that
German submarines would end the war long before the first U.S.
troopships landed in Europe. Accordingly, on January 31, 1917, German
Ambassador to the United States Count Johann von Bernstorff presented
U.S. Secretary of State Robert Lansing a note declaring Germanys
intention to restart unrestricted submarine warfare the following day.

German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg

Stunned by the news, President Wilson went before Congress on February
3 to announce that he had severed diplomatic relations with Germany.
However, he refrained from asking for a declaration of war because he
doubted that the U.S. public would support him unless he provided ample
proof that Germany intended to attack U.S. ships without warning. Wilson
left open the possibility of negotiating with Germany if its submarines
refrained from attacking U.S. shipping. Nevertheless, throughout February
and March 1917, German submarines targeted and sank several U.S.
ships, resulting in the deaths of numerous U.S. seamen and citizens.
On February 26, Wilson asked Congress for the authority to arm U.S.
merchant ships with U.S. naval personnel and equipment. While the
measure would probably have passed in a vote, several anti-war Senators
led a successful filibuster that consumed the remainder of the
congressional session. As a result of this setback, President Wilson
decided to arm U.S. merchant ships by executive order, citing an old antipiracy law that gave him the authority to do so.
While Wilson weighed his options regarding the submarine issue, he also
had to address the question of Germanys attempts to cement a secret

alliance with Mexico. On January 19, 1917, British naval intelligence

intercepted and decrypted a telegram sent by German Foreign Minister
Arthur Zimmerman to the German Ambassador in Mexico City. The
Zimmerman Telegram promised the Mexican Government that Germany
would help Mexico recover the territory it had ceded to the United States
following the Mexican-American War. In return for this assistance,
Germany asked for Mexican support in the war.

The Zimmerman Telegram

Initially, the British had not shared the news of the Zimmerman Telegram
with U.S. officials because they did not want the Germans to discover that
British code breakers had cracked the German code. However, following
Germanys resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare in February, the
British decided to use the note to help sway U.S. official and public
opinion in favor of joining the war. The British finally forwarded the
intercepted telegram to President Wilson on February 24. The U.S. press
carried the story the following week.
Despite the shocking news of the Zimmerman Telegram, Wilson still
hesitated asking for a declaration of war. He waited until March 20 before
convening a Cabinet meeting to broach the matteralmost a month after
he had first seen the telegram. The precise reasons for Wilsons decision
to choose war in 1917 remain the subject of debate among historians,
especially in light of his efforts to avoid war in 1915 after the sinking of
the British passenger liners Lusitania and Arabic, which had led to the
deaths of 131 U.S. citizens.
However, by 1917, the continued submarine attacks on U.S. merchant
and passenger ships, and the Zimmerman Telegrams implied threat of
a German attack on the United States, swayed U.S. public opinion in
support of a declaration of war. Furthermore, international law stipulated
that the placing of U.S. naval personnel on civilian ships to protect them
from German submarines already constituted an act of war against
Germany. Finally, the Germans, by their actions, had demonstrated that

they had no interest in seeking a peaceful end to the conflict. These

reasons all contributed to President Wilsons decision to ask Congress for
a declaration of war against Germany. They also encouraged Congress to
grant Wilsons request and formally declare war on Germany.

MILESTONES: 19141920
Wilsons Fourteen Points, 1918
The immediate cause of the United States entry into World War I in April
1917 was the German announcement of unrestricted submarine warfare
and the subsequent sinking of ships with U.S. citizens on board. But
President Woodrow Wilsons war aims went beyond the defense of U.S.
maritime interests. In his War Message to Congress, President Wilson
declared that the U.S. objective was to vindicate the principles of peace
and justice in the life of the world.

President Woodrow Wilson delivering his Fourteen Points to

Congress
In several speeches earlier in the year, President Wilson sketched out his
vision of an end to the war that would bring a just and secure peace,
not merely a new balance of power. He then appointed a committee of
experts known as The Inquiry to help him refine his ideas for peace. In
December 1917, he asked The Inquiry to draw up specific
recommendations for a comprehensive peace settlement. Using these
recommendations, Wilson presented a program of fourteen points to a

joint session of Congress on January 8, 1918. Eight of the fourteen points

treated specific territorial issues among the combatant nations. Five of
the other six concerned general principles for a peaceful world: open
covenants (i.e. treaties or agreements) openly arrived at; freedom of the
seas; free trade; reduction of armaments; and adjustment of colonial
claims based on the principles of self-determination. The fourteenth point
proposed what was to become the League of Nations to guarantee the
political independence and territorial integrity [of] great and small states
alike.
Though Wilsons idealism pervades the Fourteen Points, he also had more
practical objectives in mind. He hoped to keep Russia in the war by
convincing the Bolsheviks that they would receive a better peace from
the Allies, to bolster Allied morale, and to undermine German war
support. The address was immediately hailed in the United States and
Allied nations, and even by Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, as a
landmark of enlightenment in international relations. Wilson subsequently
used the Fourteen Points as the basis for negotiating the Treaty of
Versailles that ended the war. Although the Treaty did not fully realize
Wilsons unselfish vision, the Fourteen Points still stand as the most
powerful expression of the idealist strain in United States diplomacy.
MILESTONES: 19141920
The Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles
The Paris Peace Conference convened in January 1919 at Versailles just
outside Paris. The conference was called to establish the terms of the
peace after World War I. Though nearly thirty nations participated, the
representatives of the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and
Italy became known as the Big Four. The Big Four dominated the
proceedings that led to the formulation of the Treaty of Versailles, a treaty
that ended World War I.
The Treaty of Versailles articulated the compromises reached at the
conference. It included the planned formation of the League of Nations,
which would serve both as an international forum and an international
collective security arrangement. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was a
strong advocate of the League as he believed it would prevent future
wars.

Treaty of Versailles
Negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference were complicated. The United
Kingdom, France, and Italy fought together as the Allied Powers during
the First World War. The United States, entered the war in April 1917 as an
Associated Power. While it fought alongside the Allies, the United States
was not bound to honor pre-existing agreements among the Allied
Powers. These agreements focused on postwar redistribution of
territories. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson strongly opposed many of
these arrangements, including Italian demands on the Adriatic. This often
led to significant disagreements among the Big Four.
Treaty negotiations were also weakened by the absence of other
important nations. Russia had fought as one of the Allies until December
1917, when its new Bolshevik Government withdrew from the war. The
Bolshevik decision to repudiate Russias outstanding financial debts to the
Allies and to publish the texts of secret agreements between the Allies
concerning the postwar period angered the Allies. The Allied Powers
refused to recognize the new Bolshevik Government and thus did not
invite its representatives to the Peace Conference. The Allies also
excluded the defeated Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary,
Turkey, and Bulgaria).
According to French and British wishes, the Treaty of Versailles subjected
Germany to strict punitive measures. The Treaty required the new
German Government to surrender approximately 10 percent of its prewar
territory in Europe and all of its overseas possessions. It placed the harbor
city of Danzig (now Gdansk) and the coal-rich Saarland under the
administration of the League of Nations, and allowed France to exploit the
economic resources of the Saarland until 1935. It limited the German
Army and Navy in size, and allowed for the trial of Kaiser Wilhelm II and a
number of other high-ranking German officials as war criminals. Under the
terms of Article 231 of the Treaty, the Germans accepted responsibility for
the war and the liability to pay financial reparations to the Allies. The

Inter-Allied Commission determined the amount and presented its

findings in 1921. The amount they determined was 132 billion gold
Reichmarks, or 32 billion U.S. dollars, on top of the initial $5 billion
payment demanded by the Treaty. Germans grew to resent the harsh
conditions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles.

Henry Cabot Lodge

While the Treaty of Versailles did not satisfy all parties concerned, by the
time President Woodrow Wilson returned to the United States in July 1919,
U.S. public opinion overwhelmingly favored ratification of the Treaty,
including the Covenant of the League of Nations. However, in spite of the
fact that 32 state legislatures passed resolutions in favor of the Treaty,
the U.S. Senate strongly opposed it.
Senate opposition cited Article 10 of the Treaty, which dealt with
collective security and the League of Nations. This article, opponents
argued, ceded the war powers of the U.S. Government to the Leagues
Council. The opposition came from two groups: the Irreconcilables, who
refused to join the League of Nations under any circumstances, and
Reservationists, led by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman,
Henry Cabot Lodge, who wanted amendments made before they would
ratify the Treaty. While Chairman Lodge's attempt to pass amendments to
the Treaty was unsuccessful in September, he did manage to attach 14
reservations to it in November. In a final vote on March 19, 1920, the
Treaty of Versailles fell short of ratification by seven votes. Consequently,
the U.S. Government signed the Treaty of Berlin on August 25, 1921. This
separate peace treaty with Germany stipulated that the United States
would enjoy all rights, privileges, indemnities, reparations or
advantages conferred to it by the Treaty of Versailles, but left out any
mention of the League of Nations, which the United States never joined.
MILESTONES: 19141920

The League of Nations, 1920

The League of Nations was an international organization, headquartered
in Geneva, Switzerland, created after the First World War to provide a
forum for resolving international disputes. Though first proposed by
President Woodrow Wilson as part of his Fourteen Points plan for an
equitable peace in Europe, the United States never became a member.

Cartoon critizing U.S. lack of participation in the League of

Nations
Speaking before the U.S. Congress on January 8, 1918, President
Woodrow Wilson enumerated the last of hisFourteen Points, which called
for a general association of nationsformed under specific covenants for
the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and
territorial integrity to great and small states alike. Many of Wilsons
previous points would require regulation or enforcement. In calling for the
formation of a "general association of nations," Wilson voiced the wartime
opinions of many diplomats and intellectuals on both sides of the Atlantic
who believed there was a need for a new type of standing international
organization dedicated to fostering international cooperation, providing
security for its members, and ensuring a lasting peace. With Europes
population exhausted by four years of total war, and with many in the
United States optimistic that a new organization would be able to solve
the international disputes that had led to war in 1914, Wilsons
articulation of a League of Nations was wildly popular. However, it proved
exceptionally difficult to create, and Wilson left office never having
convinced the United States to join it.

David Lloyd George of the United Kingdom

The idea of the League was grounded in the broad, international revulsion
against the unprecedented destruction of the First World War and the
contemporary understanding of its origins. This was reflected in all of
Wilsons Fourteen Points, which were themselves based on theories of
collective security and international organization debated amongst
academics, jurists, socialists and utopians before and during the war.
After adopting many of these ideas, Wilson took up the cause with
evangelical fervor, whipping up mass enthusiasm for the organization as
he traveled to the Paris Peace Conference in January 1919, the first
President to travel abroad in an official capacity.
Wilson used his tremendous influence to attach the Covenant of the
League, its charter, to the Treaty of Versailles. An effective League, he
believed, would mitigate any inequities in the peace terms. He and the
other members of the Big Three, Georges Clemenceau of France and
David Lloyd George of the United Kingdom, drafted the Covenant as Part I
of the Treaty of Versailles. The Leagues main organs were an Assembly of
all members, a Council made up of five permanent members and four
rotating members, and an International Court of Justice. Most important
for Wilson, the League would guarantee the territorial integrity and
political independence of member states, authorize the League to take
any actionto safeguard the peace, establish procedures for
arbitration, and create the mechanisms for economic and military
sanctions.

Georges Clemenceau of France

The struggle to ratify the Treaty of Versailles and the Covenant in the U.S.
Congress helped define the most important political division over the role
of the United States in the world for a generation. A triumphant Wilson
returned to the United States in February 1919 to submit the Treaty and
Covenant to Congress for its consent and ratification. Unfortunately for
the President, while popular support for the League was still strong,
opposition within Congress and the press had begun building even before
he had left for Paris. Spearheading the challenge was the Senate majority
leader and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Henry Cabot
Lodge.
Motivated by Republican concerns that the League would commit the
United States to an expensive organization that would reduce the United
States ability to defend its own interests, Lodge led the opposition to
joining the League. Where Wilson and the Leagues supporters saw merit
in an international body that would work for peace and collective security
for its members, Lodge and his supporters feared the consequences of
involvement in Europes tangled politics, now even more complex
because of the 1919 peace settlement. They adhered to a vision of the
United States returning to its traditional aversion to commitments outside
the Western Hemisphere. Wilson and Lodges personal dislike of each
other poisoned any hopes for a compromise, and in March 1920, the
Treaty and Covenant were defeated by a 49-35 Senate vote. Nine months
later, Warren Harding was elected President on a platform opposing the
League.

Henry Cabot Lodge

The United States never joined the League. Most historians hold that the
League operated much less effectively without U.S. participation than it
would have otherwise. However, even while rejecting membership, the
Republican Presidents of the period, and their foreign policy architects,
agreed with many of its goals. To the extent that Congress allowed, the
Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover administrations associated the United
States with League efforts on several issues. Constant suspicion in
Congress, however, that steady U.S. cooperation with the League would
lead to de facto membership prevented a close relationship between
Washington and Geneva. Additionally, growing disillusionment with the
Treaty of Versailles diminished support for the League in the United States
and the international community. Wilsons insistence that the Covenant
be linked to the Treaty was a blunder; over time, the Treaty was
discredited as unenforceable, short-sighted, or too extreme in its
provisions, and the Leagues failure either to enforce or revise it only
reinforced U.S. congressional opposition to working with the League under
any circumstances. However, the coming of World War II once again
demonstrated the need for an effective international organization to
mediate disputes, and the United States public and the Roosevelt
administration supported and became founding members of the
new United Nations.