#604 WWI: "A War to End All Wars"

President Woodrow Wilson's war message to joint session of Congress, 2 April 1917. The New York Times.

Background on Wilson:

• From 1860 to 1912, only one Democrat had been elected president (Grover Cleveland in 1884 and 1892).
• Woodrow Wilson elected 1912 with less than 50% of vote after Republicans split between the Progressive Party (Theodore Roosevelt) and the Republican Party (William Taft).
• Wilson was a Democrat from New Jersey, but he won the support of many Progressives because he opposed political machines.
• As President, he signed some progressive reforms, like the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, and the creation of the Federal Trade Commission.
• However, he invited controversy because of his views on race. He supported segregation, and even had a screening of “Birth of a Nation” (a film that celebrated the KKK) in the White House.
• In 1914, President Wilson faced the greatest foreign policy challenge of his administration: the outbreak of the Great War in Europe.

Today we will spend some time with primary and secondary sources aimed at examining the outbreak of the war and the U.S. decision to participate in the war.

How did WWI begin?

Read the selection below from this article in The Week (external link).

As you read the passage, consider:

• How and why could a teenage assassin operating on the margins of Europe spark a "World War"?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of the United States involving itself in this conflict?

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The simplest answer is that the immediate cause was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the archduke of Austria-Hungary. His death at the hands of Gavrilo Princip – a Serbian nationalist with ties to the secretive military group known as the Black Hand – propelled the major European military powers towards war.

The events that led up to the assassination are significantly more complicated, but most scholars agree that the gradual emergence of a group of alliances between major powers was partly to blame for the descent into war.

By 1914, those alliances resulted in the six major powers of Europe coalescing into two broad groups: Britain, France and Russia formed the Triple Entente, while Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy comprised the Triple Alliance. 

As these countries came to each other's aid after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, their declarations of war produced a domino effect. These are some  key developments:

• June 28, 1914 - Gavrilo Princip assassinates Franz Ferdinand.
• July 28, 1914 - Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
• August 2, 1914 - Ottoman Empire (Turkey) and Germany sign a secret treaty of alliance.
• August 3, 1914 - Germany declares war on France.
• August 4, 1914 - Germany invades Belgium, leading Britain to declare war on Germany.
• August 10, 1914 - Austria-Hungary invades Russia.

Sheffield adds: "At best, Germany and Austria-Hungary launched a reckless gamble that went badly wrong. At worst, 1914 saw a premeditated war of aggression and conquest, a conflict that proved to be far removed from the swift and decisive venture that some had envisaged".

​As the war progressed, further acts of aggression drew other countries, including the United States, into the conflict. Many others, including Australia, India and most African colonies, fought at the behest of their imperial rulers.

But even the alliance theory is now considered overly simplistic by many historians. War came to Europe not by accident, but by design, argues military historian Gary Sheffield.

According to Sheffield, the First World War began for two fundamental reasons: "First, decision-makers in Berlin and Vienna chose to pursue a course that they hoped would bring about significant political advantages even if it brought about general war. Second, the governments in the entente states rose to the challenge."
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Above: The Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophia moments before their assassination in 1914.

Wilson: For and Against Entry

As you read each passage, consider:

• What does President Wilson suggest has changed between the first and second documents?
• What does Wilson accuse Germany of doing? Do you think this is a good reason to go to war? What additional information would you need to have before making a decision?
• Re-read the last two paragraphs of the 1917 speech. Why do you think Wilson added these paragraphs? How do you think these words made Americans feel?
• How might you imagine a historian would interpret this change?
• Review the Constitutional process for declaring war. What role does the president play in that process?

Document A: President Woodrow Wilson, in a speech before Congress, August 19, 1914.

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 some will wish one nation, others another, to succeed in the momentous struggle.

Such divisions among us would be fatal to our peace of mind and might seriously stand in the way of our duty as the one great nation at peace, the one nation ready to play a part of mediator and counselor of peace.

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.

Document B: President Woodrow Wilson, in a speech before Congress, April 2, 1917.

Property can be paid for; the lives of peaceful and innocent people cannot be. The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind.

The German policy has swept every restriction aside. Ships of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom of the ocean without warning. American ships have been sunk, American lives taken.

I advise that the Congress declare the recent actions of the Imperial German Government to be, in fact, nothing less than war against the Government and people of the United States.

Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the world is involved.

The world must be made safe for democracy. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek not material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind.

It is a fearful, but right thing to lead this great peaceful people to war. We shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts – for democracy, for the right of [people] to have a voice in their own government, for the rights and liberties of small nations.

Homework: Assignment #605