Document #5
The Zimmerman Telegram
“The message came in the form of a coded telegram dispatched by
the Foreign Secretary of the German Empire, Arthur Zimmermann, on
11 January 1917. The message was sent to the German ambassador
to Mexico, Heinrich von Eckardt.”
The decoded message is as follows
"We intend to begin on the first of February unrestricted submarine
warfare. We shall endeavor in spite of this to keep the United States
of America neutral. In the event of this not succeeding, we make
Mexico a proposal of alliance on the following basis: make war
together, make peace together, generous financial support and an
understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost
territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The settlement in detail
is left to you. You will inform the President of the above most secretly
as soon as the outbreak of war with the United States of America is
certain and add the suggestion that he should, on his own initiative,
invite Japan to immediate adherence and at the same time mediate
between Japan and ourselves. Please call the President's attention to
the fact that the ruthless employment of our submarines now offers
the prospect of compelling England in a few months to make peace."
Signed, ZIMMERMANN
Document #4 Propaganda
Document #3
Quote from Labor Union Leader, 1915
“Whereas, the appalling loss of life which will inevitably result…will fall with
crushing force on the working class alone, while the kings, capitalists, and
aristocrats remain in safety, and
Whereas, no possible outcome of such an international war can benefit to any
extent whatever the workers, whose enemies are not the workers of other nations,
but the exploiting class of every nation…
Therefore, as representatives of the
organized working class, we declare the European war to be an international
crime and a horror for which there is no parallel in savagery… To all those
workers of Europe who have resisted the war craze we extend our sympathy and
respect, and we pledge our efforts against any attempt to draw our own country
into a foreign war.”
Document #2
PRELUDE TO LUSITANIA: GERMANY ANNOUNCES UNRESTRICTED
SUBMARINE WARFARE
When World War I erupted in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) pledged
neutrality for the United States, a position that the vast majority of Americans favored.
Britain, however, was one of America’s closest trading partners, and tension soon arose
between the United States and Germany over the latter’s attempted quarantine of the
British Isles. Several U.S. ships traveling to Britain were damaged or sunk by German
mines, and in February 1915 Germany announced unrestricted submarine warfare in the
waters around Britain.
In early May 1915, several New York newspapers published a warning by the German
Embassy in Washington, D.C., that Americans traveling on British or Allied ships in war
zones did so at their own risk. The announcement was placed on the same page as an
advertisement of the imminent sailing of the Lusitania liner from New York back to
Liverpool. The sinkings of merchant ships off the south coast of Ireland prompted the
British Admiralty to warn the Lusitania to avoid the area or take simple evasive action,
such as zigzagging to confuse U-boats plotting the vessel’s course.
THE LUSITANIA SINKS: MAY 7, 1915
The captain of the Lusitania ignored the British Admiralty’s recommendations, and at
2:12 p.m. on May 7 the 32,000-ton ship was hit by an exploding torpedo on its starboard
side. The torpedo blast was followed by a larger explosion, probably of the ship’s boilers,
and the ship sank off the south coast of Ireland in less than 20 minutes.
It was revealed that the Lusitania was carrying about 173 tons of war munitions for
Britain, which the Germans cited as further justification for the attack. The United States
eventually protested the action, and Germany apologized and pledged to end unrestricted
submarine warfare. However, in November of that same year a U-boat sunk an Italian
liner without warning, killing more than 270 people, including more than 25 Americans.
Document #1
President Woodrow Wilson Neutrality Speech, August 1914
The effect of the war upon the United States will depend upon what American
citizens say and do. Every man who really loves America will act and speak in
the true spirit of neutrality, which is the spirit of impartiality and fairness and
friendliness to all concerned. The spirit of the nation in this critical matter will be
determined largely by what individuals and society and those gathered in public
meetings do and say, upon what newspapers and magazines contain, upon what
ministers utter in their pulpits, and men proclaim as their opinions upon the
street.
The people of the United States are drawn from many nations, and chiefly from
the nations now at war. It is natural and inevitable that there should be the utmost
variety of sympathy and desire among them with regard to the issues and
circumstances of the conflict. Some will wish one nation, others another, to
succeed in the momentous struggle. It will be easy to excite passion and difficult
to allay it. Those responsible for exciting it will assume a heavy responsibility,
responsibility for no less a thing than that the people of the United States, whose
love of their country and whose loyalty to its government should unite them as
Americans all, bound in honor and affection to think first of her and her interests,
may be divided in camps of hostile opinion, hot against each other, involved in
the war itself in impulse and opinion if not in action.
Such divisions amongst us would be fatal to our peace of mind and might
seriously stand in the way of the proper performance of our duty as the one great
nation at peace, the one people holding itself ready to play a part of impartial
mediation and speak the counsels of peace and accommodation, not as a
partisan, but as a friend.
I venture, therefore, my fellow countrymen, to speak a solemn word of warning to
you against that deepest, most subtle, most essential breach of neutrality which
may spring out of partisanship, out of passionately taking sides. The United
States must be neutral in fact, as well as in name, during these days that are to
try men's souls. We must be impartial in thought, as well as action, must put a
curb upon our sentiments, as well as upon every transaction that might be
construed as a preference of one party to the struggle before another.