Why did the US want to stay neutral in WWI? Why did they eventually decide to join?

Question

i have reasearched this and found some information but i found a realy good reason for the first question.

Answer 1

Public opinion favored nuetrality.
Wilson wanted to maintian positive relations with other countries and believed that the US should be a "force for good" within the world.

Examine the ideas of progressivism as well as isolationism and the notion of focusing on domestic affairs as opposed to foreign affairs.

Also examine the Zimmerman Telegram. Wilson had been trying to maintain positive relations with Germany, however secret communication was discovered in which Germany tried to recruit Mexico as an ally under the premise of helping them to regain territory lost to the US. This, combined with the fact that the Germans were sinking US ships (i.e. the Lusitania), led to the US entering the war.

Answer 2

The US was practicing isolationism in European affairs as spelled out a century before in the Monroe Doctrine. Besides, the spark that caused the war was racial terrorism in Bosnia. The US had few interests in that region. It is also very hard politically to choose sides in a racial conflict. To make matters worse, all of Europe jumped into the fray because of mutual defense agreements that required their participation and arrogant nationalism and military buildups that made war imminent and just waiting for a good reason to kick it off. So any neutral party, like the US, to join would be to ally with several Eurpean countries with various policies and declare themselves enemies of the other half of Europe and all their policies. That is politically dangerous, very difficult to explain to the people due to conflicting policies, and very dangerous to shipping and thus the economy.

They eventually decided to join the war because Germany was practicing unrestricted submarine warfare sinking neutral ships, including those of the US, sometimes without warning. The straw that broke the camel's back was the sinking of the British passenger liner Lusitania on May 7, 1918, killing hundreds of innocent civilians including 128 of 197 Americans on board. President Woodrow Wilson first lodged 3 complaints to the Germans then (with popular distaste of the Lusitania sinking on his side) convinced Congress that Germany had partaken in acts of war against the US and the US declared war on Germany and thus entered World War I on the side of the Allied Powers against Germany and the other Central Powers.

Answer 3

Easy. The USA typically stay out military conflicts, selling weapons to both groups and making money. ( nothing personal, strictly business, you know )

Finally, they entered when the conditions were appropriate for them to get in without too much cost and grab a piece of the pie.

In the WWII, they entered in the European zone after the Russians had taken the big part of the war, and Germany was going down.

In the pacific, as you know, they HAD to enter because the Japanese attacked them and ruined their reputation of being the biggest, the strongest, the best, etc, etc.
It was a matter of self esteem, you know

As a matter of fact the yank authorities received many warnings about the attack, but they paid no attention.

Even the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs told them in Pearl Harbor, 24 hours before the attack, that he was sure that the Japanese would attack at any moment.
The yank authorities told him that they would be very foolish
if they attacked. Then the Russian said that right, that it would be a total foolishness, but that they would attack.

They did

Answer 4

The US is/was isolationist. Why should they get involved in countries that are so far away and ones that the new US citizens left behind?

Therefore they resisted WW1 until the destruction of I think a US ship by the Germans - The Lusitania - with a tremendous loss of life.- I may be wrong with the name of the ship (you can check this yourself). This was considered an Act of War and hence the US entered WW1 in 1917.

Answer 5

at this moment in time the US was in a state of isolationism. in other words it tried to do their things and stay out of other peoples problems. they decided to join after the SS lusitania (not sure about spelling) was sunk by a german submarine where many americans died.(dont remember how many right now.

Answer 6

Keep in mind that you can make more money trading with both sides of a war. Of course, that may annoy people who would rather have you on their side, or at least not helping their opponents.

Answer 7

they thought it was just a problem in europe and the us favored being isolated from them, the sinking of the luisitania was one of the public factors in throwing our weight behind the allies