what were the causes for u.s involvment in world war 1 (pros and cons?

Answer 1

its george bushes fault

Answer 2

Please disregard Comrade Joe B's asenine answer.

President Woodrow Wilson desperately wanted to avoid war, having campaigned in 1916 under the slogan "He Kept Us Out of War".

At the same time, there was growing agitation from a sizable minority of people who wanted the US to enter the war on the side of the Allies. "Preparedness" was the watchword of the day. Military drill (marching, maneuvring, etc...) was a popular pastime. This came about in no small measure to the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915. Many Americans were among the dead when a Germasn u-boat (submarine) torpedoed and sank the ocean liner Lusitania with no warning or chance to abandon ship.

After Wilson secured a promise from the Germans to refrain from unrestricted submarine warfare, relations got somewhat warmer for awhile. Soon thereafter, the British intercepted a telegram which was sent from Berlin to the German embassy in Mexico, instructing the ambassador to seek Mexico's entry into the war in exchange for the return of Texas, California, Arizona, and New Mexico when they won the war.

The Germans were losing the war and needed to do somehting quickly in order to avoid defeat, so they decided to return to unrestricted submarine warfare, betting the sucess of their u-boat campaign would be such that even if it drew the US into the war, the Americans would make it to Europe too late to be of any use to the Allied cause.

On April 4, 1917, President Wilson asked Congress for a Declaration of War against Germany in order to "make the world safe for democracy". They presented him with that declaration two days later.

Answer 3

The initial cause was Zimmermann's telegramm. It was a telegram by the German government to the german embassy in Mexico.It had a msg to the mexican government that if they joined the german side , the germans would help them regain some of the States.The msg got decrypted.That is how it started.

If you need deeper reasons though, Joe B's answer might cover you.This book by Zinn is a really good source

Answer 4

Corporate barons wanted us in the war. Read Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the U.S.'

Answer 5

Germany started to blow up our cargo ships that we were sending to supply Britian and France with weapons. That pissed us off, so we joined the fight. If we were going to get shot at, we might as well be shooting back.

Answer 6

Germany started blowing up our cargo and passenger vessels, or at least they were blamed.