Why should the US have joined the Central Powers during World War One?

Question

Why should the US have joined the Central Powers during World War One?

Answer 1

I don't think the US should, the central powers acted against both the word and spirit of the American Constitution and Declaration of Independence.

Answer 2

As far as I am concerned, neither the allies nor the Central Powers had a dime's worth of difference between them. The Germans were not motivated by the hateful ideology that would define the Nazi's, and reports of them commiting war crimes were little more than allied propaganda. Remember that the allies also had Germany blockaded, which was starving thousands.

It was a European problem that exploded from the same tangling military alliances that George Washington warned us to avoid. There was nothing idealogically motivated about the war. In fact, there was one Christmas Eve where English and German soldiers actually got out of their trenches and sung carols and shared rations and played soccar with each other. The next day, the old men running the country ordered them to kill each other. Is that not the greatest example of the senselessness of World War 1? Is that not a perfect fulfillment of the axiom that war is "old men talking and young men dying"?

The United State's entry into WWI was arbitrarily on the Allies side. Woodrow Wilson wanted his war, and eventually got it. The sinking of the Lusitania, if you examine the facts, was because America was shipping war supplies to Britain with civilian passenger ships, and was sending those ships specifically through submarine areas, as if Wilson was taunting the Germans to attack.

So instead of a stalemate, which would have ended the war equitably, the U.S got involved, and now Germany had lost, and all of the war debt was placed on Germany; which paved the way for the economic ruin that befell Germany, which allowed a charismatic new leader and his hateful, nationalistic new ideology to take root. Do I really need to explain further?

I am not saying the U.S is directly responsible (people have free will, the atrocities of WWII are on the hands of the Germans) but there is a certain amount of blowback that comes when we start sticking our nose where it doesn't belong. So to answer your question, perhaps a central powers-allied United States would have not ended the war so one sided, which would have stunted the growth of Nazism in Germany, possibly preventing World War II.

Answer 3

At the beginning of the world war one, America and its leader opted to stay out of the war and stay neutral. It was a fact that most Americans were Germans immigrants and sympathized with Germany then France or England.

Since the British control the seas, Germany had a problem communicating with the United States. England used this to her advantage and declared unrestricted propaganda.

But I can't see the United States joining the central powers. For one thing, there were more allies then centrals. More money to be earned with the allies. Theres also the fact that its nearly impossible to break the British blockade of the North Sea.

Answer 4

I don't see any reason that would have made sense for us to side with the central powers. For one thing: Germany was the strongest member and it couldn't hold it together, their planning and communication was disorganized. These nations were also seen as being about military dictatorships and there was a lot of anti german sentiment because of it. Plus odds are Germany would have tried selling us out. We also had mistrust especially with britain but we had stronger ties with England and France and that's a big reason we sided with them. I can't think of a war where we didn't side with the democracy.
Also, think of the economic impact. Had we been left the sole victor of world ware I, assuming we wound up crippling germany, the depression in europe was coming which meant ours would probably have been worse, we would have more than likely bailed and God knows if we would have wound up the economic power we did.

Vin

Answer 5

if you like alternative history, the what would have happened if school..........Harry Turtledove has an excellent series of about 7 books now, where the South won it's independence in 1865; 50 years of competition and festering hatred draws the Confederacy, tied with its cotton export economy to England's mills, into WW1 against the United States with its hatred of England's critical support of the South during the Civil War and its large German immigrant population. The result is WW1 is not only fought in France and Belgium, but also Virginia and Pennsylvania and Kentucky.......

Answer 6

If the USA had a modern navy in 1914, we would have had a way to enforce our rights on the seas as neutral against both the German u-boats and the British blockade vessels. Expensive as they might be, skimping on a navy is a penny-wise pound-foolish doctrine.