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German-Austro-Hungarian alliance
Russia had entered into an alliance with France--angry over German annexation of their lands in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71--and Great Britain, whose legendary naval dominance was threatened by Germany's growing navy. This Triple Entente, squared off against the German-Austro-Hungarian alliance, meant that any regional conflict had the potential to turn into a general European war. -
Ferdinand
The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist and member of the Serbian Nationalist group "The Black Hand" -
Europe
At the same time that European nations committed each other to defense pacts, they jockeyed for power over empires overseas and invested heavily in large, modern militaries. -
Serbia delivered an ultimatum
On July 23, the Austro-Hungarian ambassador to Serbia delivered an ultimatum: The Serbian government must take steps to wipe out terrorist organizations within its borders, suppress anti-Austrian propaganda and accept an independent investigation by the Austro-Hungarian government into Franz Ferdinand's assassination, or face military action -
Immigration issues
Another key factor in the decision to go to war were the deep ethnic divisions between native-born Americans and more recent immigrants. -
Pancho Villa
Pancho Villa turned against Wilson, and on March 9, 1916, led a fifteen-hundred-man force across the border into New Mexico, where they attacked and burned the town of Columbus. Over one hundred people died in the attack, seventeen of them American. -
National Defense Act of 1916
This campaign included the passage of the National Defense Act of 1916, which more than doubled the size of the army to nearly 225,000, and the Naval Appropriations Act of 1916, which called for the expansion of the U.S. fleet, including battleships, destroyers, submarines, and other ships. -
President Woodrow Wilson
Wilson’s most noted foreign policy foray prior to World War I focused on Mexico, where rebel general Victoriano Huerta had seized control from a previous rebel government just weeks before Wilson’s inauguration -
Zimmermann telegram
The final element that led to American involvement in World War I was the so-called Zimmermann telegram. British intelligence intercepted and decoded a top-secret telegram from German foreign minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German ambassador to Mexico, instructing the latter to invite Mexico to join the war effort on the German side, should the United States declare war on Germany. -
WILSON’S PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY SPEECH
Wilson’s last-ditch effort to avoid bringing the United States into World War I is captured in a speech he gave before the U.S. Senate on January 22, 1917. This speech, known as the “Peace without Victory” speech, extolled the country to be patient, as the countries involved in the war were nearing a peace -
American ships were sank
In February 1917, a German U-boat sank the American merchant ship, the Laconia, killing two passengers, and, in late March, quickly sunk four more American ships. These attacks increased pressure on Wilson from all sides, as government officials, the general public, and both Democrats and Republicans urged him to declare war. -
Return of the Useless
In 1918, artist George Bellows created a series of paintings intended to strengthen public support for the war effort
