what were the reasons for the U.S.'s entry into world war 1?

Answer 1

WWI was not a popular war in the United States. President Woodrow Wilson really wanted us in badly. On May 7th 1915 the British cruise ship Lusitania was sunk off the coast of England. Over 1,198 passengers including 128 Americans were killed. America was furious at the brutality.

Even with that event, many American men chose to go to prison rather than to honor the draft call up. Most Americans of the time felt that it was not fair to imprison Americans over European affairs.

Also, Germany attempted to engage Mexico as an ally and tried to get Mexico to agree to attack the U.S. Germany would help Mexico reclaim Texas, New Mexico and Arizona in return. Their communication was intercepted by the British and that was yet another factor.

Answer 2

Most Americans favored staying out of the conflict and President Wilson publicly and formally stated that the United States would follow a policy of neutrality.
The Germans did not limit their attacks to military vessels. Any ship sailing in the war zone was considered an enemy. This became known as unrestricted submarine warfare.
On May 7th 1915 the British cruise ship Lusitania was sunk off the coast of England.
Over 1,198 passengers including 128 Americans were killed.
America was furious at the brutality and demanded a stop to this type of attack.
As America became increasingly less neutral, the British government intercepted a message from the German ambassador Zimmerman to the Mexican government.
This message termed the "Zimmerman Note" asked Mexico to attack the United States if war broke out between the U.S. and Germany.
The note was turned over to American government a short time later and eventually published in the newspapers. Americans were outraged.
Then the Kaiser announced that Germany was going to re initiate the practice of unrestricted submarine warfare.
On April 6, 1917, by a vote of 82 to 6 in the Senate and 373 to 50 in the House of Representatives, the United States of America declared war on Germany.

Answer 3

The first answer was right in saying that there were many reasons for entry into WWI.
That said however, the sinking of the Lusitania was just an excuse, and an icon to wave around.
The primary reason the US entered into the war is money. Nobody wants to admit it, and it certainly isn't noble or heroic, but even though the US was OFFICIALLY neutral, it was providing war materials to the English, French and Poles from very early on.
There was quite a bit of money tied up in lend lease materials, that the US govt and business interests were not going to see unless the Western nations came out on top.
Now, if the other nations had listed to President Wilson, WWII might have been avoided altogether, or at least the European theater could have.

Answer 4

In the beginning, the US remain neutral, refusing to join the war. At the meantime, the US is trying to broker peace. However, this change when a German U-Boat sank Lusitania, a liner with128 Americans onboard. That was the start of a chain of events that eventually led to the entrance of US in WW1.

Answer 5

Zimmerman Telegram, sinking of Lusitania, and got along better with England and France at the time.