America Enters World War I

By oboise18

  • Declaration of Neutrality

    America decided to declare neutrality, instead of entering World War I, so that they didn't have to enter the conflict. America also decided not join the war so that they could continue trading with both the Allies and the Central Powers for as long as possible.

  • Lusitania

    The English passenger boat the "Lusitania" was sunk by German u-boats with several Americans on board. The Germans decided to sink this ship because there were in fact weapons that Great Britain was trying to transport on the ship.

  • Sussex Pledge Made

    The Sussex Pledge was formed in an attempt to get Germany's u-boats to stop sinking other countries' boats. The pledge said that boats could only be sunk after they were search and weapons were confirmed to be on the ship. It was only honored for a short amount of time before Germany went back to sinking all of the boats of its enemies.

  • Sussex Pledge Ended

    Germany announced that they would once again begin the unrestricted sinking of ships. This angered America and caused them to break off all diplomatic relations with Germany, and ultimately drew America closer to war.

  • Zimmerman Note

    A note was intercepted that was from Germany to Mexico which tried to get Mexico to go to war with the United States. If Mexico were to go to war with America and win, Germany would have rewareded Mexico with all of the land in the American south, that they had previously lost. Mexico was not able to go to war with the United States though because they were already in the middle of their own civil war.

  • 3 American ships targeted

    German u-boats continued to target and sink American passenger and merchant boats. The United States began to arm their boats with weapons and such in order to defend themselves which was later recongnized as an act of war.

  • Declaration of War

    After all of the things leading up to the American invovlement in World War I, the United States finally decided to declare war against Germany and the other Central Powers. They entered on the Allies side with Great Britain, France, and Italy.