The United States' Entry into World War I: A Detailed Analysis

This essay examines the United States' involvement in World War I, analyzing both the factors that pushed the country towards war and those that initially kept it neutral. The paper highlights key events like the sinking of the Lusitania and the Zimmerman Telegram, which influenced President Woodrow Wilson's decision to declare war on Germany. It also explores the pull factors, including ethnic divisions and economic concerns among American workers and rural populations, who were hesitant about joining the conflict. The essay concludes by emphasizing the complex interplay of pro and anti-war sentiments that ultimately shaped the United States' entry into World War I and its impact on the international political landscape. The paper references the historical context and explores the motivations behind the US's decision-making process during the war.

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Author Note

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The role of the United States in both the World Wars has gone through close analysis
over the years. United States always wanted to prove itself as the most powerful and influential
nation state all over the world (Olmsted: 27). There are some major factors that pushed the
country to enter into First World War. On the contrary, there are some factors that pulled them
back from entering.
The contemporary President of the United States during the First World War was
Woodrow Wilson. His initial opinion was United States wanted to stay neutral in the war
because they did not want to create new enemies in the international sphere (Gonzales: 39). Most
people of the country had supported the policy of non-intervention into these matters. During the
year `1915, Lusitania, the British ocean liner had sunk down by the efforts of a U boat from
Germany. Due to this incident, around 2000 people had lost their lives along with 128 Americans
(Olmsted: 27).
An alliance was slowly developing between Mexico and Germany. The Zimmerman had
threatened USA about this growing alliance between the two countries. This is probably one of
the major push factors that let the United States to enter into the First World War. Woodrow
Wilson, the President of USA, consulted with the Congress that he wanted to declare war on
Germany (Brock: 30). This is how United States entered into the scenario of the World War I.
President Wilson had even declared regarding the participation of USA into the war that “must
be neutral in fact as well as in name during these days that are to try men’s souls.” (Gonzales:
39).
Apart from these push factors, there were some pull factors that prevented United States
to enter the First World War. These pull factors also included the ethnic divisions within the

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American society. Basically, the workers and labors did not want the country to join the war
since they knew it would cost huge financial loss for the country. Samuel Gompers, the chief of
the labor movement of AFL declared this participation of the United States to be unholy,
unnatural and unjustified. Therefore, all these events were not at all helpful for the development
and progress of the country.
In the southern sections of the United States, the views were completely against the war.
In the rural regions of Missouri, people did not trust the influences of the Eastern European
countries on USA (Brock: 30). They thought these evil influences will cause financial distress
within the country’s economy through the activities of the Wall Street. The rural white people of
the Southern states feared this entrance into the war. They thought their jobs would be gone as
the government would not be able to control such financial distress. These were the possible pull
factors for USA to not join WWI (Goldfield and Goldfield: 49).
In the concluding section of the paper, it should be said that the participation of the
United States in the WWI was full of pro and anti thoughts. These push and pull factors define
the contemporary international political scenario. however, it was inevitable for United States to
join the war.

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References
Brock, Peter. Pacifism in the United States: From the Colonial Era to the First World War.
Princeton University Press, 2015.
Goldfield, David R., and David R. Goldfield. The American journey: A history of the United
States. Pearson, 2014.
Gonzales, Manuel G. Mexicanos: A history of Mexicans in the United States. Indiana University
Press, 2019.
Olmsted, Kathryn S. Real enemies: Conspiracy theories and American democracy, World War I
to 9/11. Oxford University Press, 2019.