66 min listen
132: The US Enters WWI (RMS Lusitania, Black Tom Island, & The Zimmermann Telegram)
132: The US Enters WWI (RMS Lusitania, Black Tom Island, & The Zimmermann Telegram)
ratings:
Length:
59 minutes
Released:
Apr 24, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
“I still think I see the struggling of poor passengers in the water.”
This is the story of the United States’ path into the Great War.
The United States wishes to stay out of the Great War. Woodrow Wilson wins reelection (barely) on that very basis. But as Germany contends with Britain’s blockade, its submarines, or “u-boats,” are attacking merchant and passenger ships (like the RMS Lusitania) without warning. This policy is touch and go, but worse still, the US learns in Februarly 1917 that Germany sent a secret telegram to Mexico offering to ally against the US! After more than two years of clinging to peace, President Woodrow Wilson can’t turn a blind eye to this and Germany’s other atrocities. In the name of protecting democracy, he calls for war.
But what about Britain’s unethical if not illegal “hunger blockade” of German ports? Do starving German children justify unrestricted submarine warfare? What about the billions of dollars in loans and goods the “neutral” US has sent to Britain and France over the years? Does that tip the scales on why the US is going to war? These complications and questions of right and wrong are for Congress to decide.
___
4 Ways to dive deeper into History That Doesn’t Suck
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Get our weekly newsletter, The Revolution
Become part of the HTDS Patreon family
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This is the story of the United States’ path into the Great War.
The United States wishes to stay out of the Great War. Woodrow Wilson wins reelection (barely) on that very basis. But as Germany contends with Britain’s blockade, its submarines, or “u-boats,” are attacking merchant and passenger ships (like the RMS Lusitania) without warning. This policy is touch and go, but worse still, the US learns in Februarly 1917 that Germany sent a secret telegram to Mexico offering to ally against the US! After more than two years of clinging to peace, President Woodrow Wilson can’t turn a blind eye to this and Germany’s other atrocities. In the name of protecting democracy, he calls for war.
But what about Britain’s unethical if not illegal “hunger blockade” of German ports? Do starving German children justify unrestricted submarine warfare? What about the billions of dollars in loans and goods the “neutral” US has sent to Britain and France over the years? Does that tip the scales on why the US is going to war? These complications and questions of right and wrong are for Congress to decide.
___
4 Ways to dive deeper into History That Doesn’t Suck
Join our growing facebook community
Get our weekly newsletter, The Revolution
Become part of the HTDS Patreon family
Subscribe to Greg’s monthly newsletter, Connected History
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Released:
Apr 24, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
27: The Last of the Founding Fathers by History That Doesn't Suck