American History

In 1914, President Wilsons declaration on neutrality said that the result of war was dependent on what the US citizens would do and say. He said that all Americans were expected to speak and act in the spirit of neutrality. They were required to have a spirit of friendliness, fairness and impartiality to all the people who were concerned. He said that the nations spirit would be determined by the societies and individuals words and actions, the content in the magazines and newspapers, ministers word on the pulpit as well as peoples opinions expressed on the street. However, even after this declaration of 1914, the president later asked congress to declare war on Germany in 1917.

This paper will analyze the causes of this kind of turnaround in American policy toward world war one.

Rationale for the declaration on neutrality
The major reason as to why the president called for neutrality among the Americans was because the people of US came from many nations amongst the ones at war. This made people to have different reactions regarding the conflicts. While some wished that certain nations would win, others wished otherwise. It was simple to stimulate passion yet allaying it would be difficult. The president therefore declared that the people who would excite others would cause divisions which he considered to be fatal to the Americans peace of mind. It would as well prevent them from performing their duties as they are supposed to.

Reasons for the declaration of war
Although America had kept out of war for a long time, things to prompt her to take part in the war started happening. In 1915, a British ship was sunk by the German U-boats. The ships had several Americans inside and they died with the other passengers. President Wilson made a demand that Germany should not attack passenger ships anymore. He also made a declaration that US did not want to be involved in the fight. He as well interceded for a compromise settlement in vain. He continued warning that US would not stand the submarine warfare since it violated the of human rights US idea.

The former president had denounced Wilson cowardice and German piracy and therefore put a lot pressure on Wilson to take action. In 1917, Germany went ahead to sink US ships. At the same time, a telegram which contained a message of Zimmermans authorization to the ambassador who was required to offer Mexico the parts it had lost to America if it united with the central powers was intercepted. The critics of the Presidents actions feel that he should acted instead of giving warnings. They feel that Germany was ruthless and did not deserve to be pardoned. If America had gone to war immediately when Germany started interfering with US, fewer lives would be lost. The British are felt to be less harsh since they only interfered with trade in the US, however, even trade might not have been severely affected had America gone to war at the right time.

The events affected even the American trade as the British were determined to interfere with commerce in US. Germany on the other hand concentrated on submarines business. Since they sunk the British ships and killed the US citizens, Wilson stated taking Germans policies more seriously since he felt that they were destroying many lives. When Germany declared the U-boat war, there was a declaration by the president that they be strictly accountable for the loss of any Americans life. All these things made the president declare war against Germany. He had helped America to stay out of war during his first term of his presidency.

However, despite going into war and feeling the necessity to defeat Germany, Wilson continued to hope that when the war ended, there would be established a league of nations which would prevent another struggle from occurring. Some war analysts felt that America waited for too long before going into war. America should not have waited until its trade was affected or lives lost in order to counter attack. The Presidents stand against retaliating against Germany can only be said to be cowardice. The time which was lost before counter attacking gave Germany time to strengthen their armies such that by the time America was joining the war, Germany was way ahead in terms of the necessary skills. Had the president declared war earlier, the war would have ended earlier and the repercussions would have been less.

Conclusion
President Wilson can be said to be among the strong leaders. He maintained what he believed would be good for America peace. His declaration on neutrality shows clearly that he was not ready to go to war. He felt that since the war was not in America, there was no need of getting involved. However, when he saw that America was losing lives in a war that was no even American, he had to do something to save the other Americans lives. He however warned the Germans to stop the attacks on American citizens and since Germany did not stop, he either had to go to war with them or continue suffering as the American lives continued to be lost.