World War I
It is hard to point out one specific incident that led to World War I but rather it was a culmination of many different events that led to the most catastrophic war of its time. The United States pledged to stay neutral during the war but with great economic investments with the allies the United States found itself involved in exporting billions of dollars worth of provisions to England and France. President Wilson devised a foreign policy to protect America but he could not keep the United States out of the war. By the time the United States entered the war Wilson was already working on his Fourteen Points and League of Nations policies. The events that led to World War I are complex. The origins of the war are still controversial. Germans desire for greater power and influence led to an arms race with Britain. Britain responded by building a more powerful navy. Germany was looking for overseas colonies, which led to clashing with both Britain and France. The Austria-Hungarian Empire had problems with the Balkans especially Serbia. On June 28, 1914 the tensions between Austria-Hungary and Serbia came to a head when a Slavic terrorist group assassinated the heir to the Austria-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferd
The assassination triggered a chain of events that culminated in the world's first global war. The conference issued a clause that stated Germany was responsible for all the damages of war and would have to pay. The mobilization of Russia's troops would take six weeks. But France wanted to cripple Germany and pushed for large amounts of reparations. These events along with the Zimmerman note led the United States to retaliation. The treaty would set the stage for the next world war only a couple of decades later. Germany was issued with a reparations bill of thirty-three million dollars in 1921. The thirty three million dollars of reparations led to the destabilizing of German international relationships for the next decade. Britain, allied to France and committed to Belgium by treaty, declared war on Germany on August 4. Germany wasted no time in executing the Schlieffen Plan, in which they invaded neutral Belgium to get to Paris by the shortest possible route. Exports to England and France would help America pull out of the recession it was facing in 1914. They warned neutral vessels to stay out of the zone because they could be mistaken for enemy ships and could possibly be attacked. The excessive demands of the Treaty of Versailles left Germany crippled and wanting revenge. After the sinking of the Lusitania President Wilson sent Germany a letter demanding them to stop submarine warfare. By 1917 Britain was spending $83 million a week for American copper, steel, wheat, oil and munitions.
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Acceptance Essays
