USA's Involvement in The First World War

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USA's Involvement in The First World War

There were two main events that led to the USA entering the First

World War. They are:

· The German decision to wage war on any form of shipping near Britain

and the mistake of attacking American vessels with American civilians

on board.

· The 'Zimmermann Telegram'.

The Germans declared the sea around Britain a 'War Zone' and made the

excuse that anything within this zone was fair game and they had the

right to attack and destroy it. This included merchant ships shipping

urgent supplies to Britain and also normal liners shipping people to

and from Britain. The mistake was the sinking of vessels containing

American civilians, which the USA made clear, it would not stand for.

Despite the warnings, German submarines continued to strike at

anything in the area. The most influential of these was the sinking of

the 'Listuania', a British ship sunk with 128 American losses. This

was unacceptable for the Americans and they declared war on the

Germans.

The Zimmermann Tele...

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