President Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat, is elected in 1913 under the “New Freedom” platform. He won reelection in 1917 by touting his efforts to keep the USA out of the First World War.
The USA maintained an official stance of neutrality.
Public opinion is strongly opposed to American participation in the conflict. American banks however loaned however great amounts of money to finance the Entente war efforts.
German naval war intensifies and targets cargo ships through submarines.
The sinking of the Lusitania and the Zimmerman telegram
Two events precipitate the entry of the USA into the war. The civilian ship carried a number of American citizens when it was sunk by a German submarine in 1915. The Zimmerman telegram is a document between the German and Mexican embassies. The document suggests an alliance between Germany and Mexico against the USA.
The USA formally declares war on the German Empire on April 6th 1916 and reinstates military draft for the first time since the Civil War.
The sizable German-American population is opposed to the war and face accusations of divided loyalty.
The war brings a boom to the American economy.
The first American troops arrive in Europe in June 1917
Two famous battles where the American Expeditionary Force illustrated itself are Belleau Wood and Ypres in 1918.
War ends with an armistice on November 11th, 1918.
“Spanish Flu” outbreak kills between 25 and 50 million people worldwide and around 300,000 in the USA out of a population of 103 million between 1918 and 1920.
Treaty of Versailles and Wilson’s “14 points”
Wilson wants to promote democratic values around the world. The treaty of Versailles imposes punishing conditions on the losers of the war. The treaty is not ratified by the Senate, keeping the USA out of the League of Nations.
Aftermath of the war
The USA suffered around 117,000 casualties. Public opinion supports isolationist policies. The end of the war provokes an agricultural crisis of overproduction in the following years.
