World War I

greatwar.ku.edu 

The four causes of World War I are nationalism, imperialism, alliances, and militarism. Nationalism is when people have devotion, loyalty to their country. Imperialism is the policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries. Alliance is a formal agreement or treaty between two or more nations to cooperate for specific purposes. Militarism is the principle or policy of maintaining a large military establishment. The event that sparked WWI was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria.

The two events that dragged the U.S into WWI was the sinking of the Lusitania. The Lusitania was traveling from New York to England when it was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland. It caused 128 Americans on board of the Lusitania to drown. The second event that dragged the U.S into WWI was the Zimmerman Telegram, it was sent from the German foreign secretary to the German Ambassador to Mexico. It stated that the U.S had to stay neutral and that if the U.S goes to war, Mexico must fight on the home front in an financially supported alliance with Germany then if Mexico agrees to fight, they will reconquer New Mexico, Texas and Arizona.

  Soon after the U.S. entered the war President Wilson announced America's war in a famous speech. Wilson referred the war as Fourteen Points. One of the major points was that each nationality should have its own country. The fourteen points reduced armaments and an end to secret dealings between countries. Wilson then created a League of Nations to peacefully settle disputes between countries. The Treaty of Versailles is the treaty that ended the war. The Treaty of Versailles left Germany with lost territory to France and Poland and all of its colonies. Germany lost its navy and its powerful army, Germany had to accept blame for starting the war and a huge reparation to the Allies and Austria-Hungary's empire was divided, but the treaty adopted Wilson's idea of a League of Nations. The United States refused to join the League of Nations and since they refused, it marked the return of the American policy of isolationism. The U.S. favored the policy because they were unhappy with the huge costs of the war. I think the peace settlement caused people to loose parts of their countries and also to start another war. I think what happened in the 1920s and 1930s is that the U.S probably wanted to go into another war.