Introduction
The history of World War 1(WWI) has posed significant misunderstanding. Experts believe that WWI could not have erupted if every nation involved had maintained neutrality. The concept of WWI can best be interpreted and understood by tracing its origin and its inevitability in 1914, the maintenance of neutrality by the U.S. in the war, and the understanding of the Treaty of Versailles.
The Origins of World War I
Tracing the origin of the Great War of 1914 between Britain and Germany has posed significant findings. The War was commenced when Archduke Ferdinand, the successor to the Austro-Hungarian kingdom, was murdered (Blakemore, 2019). Initially, Germany and its allies worked together resulting in Serbia obtaining a stern proposition to withdraw its national sovereignty. In the ultimatum, Serbia was mandated to ensure that all the sovereign powers were within its boundaries, a move that was vehemently rejected by Austria, hence the outbreak of the war. The formation of the alliances created the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance of the European countries (Blakemore, 2019). Consequently, more European countries became superior with sophisticated weapons, making the army generals believe that the situation could only be solved through a war, where the most superior nation would govern others and impose peace. In this regard, high resource allocation coupled with the view that Germany’s war soldiers were unbeatable resulted in the emergence of WWI. Thus, European countries could have succeeded in avoiding WWI if the advancement of military superiority, self-government, and coalitions had been averted.
The Possibility for the United States to Maintain Neutrality
The then U.S. President Woodrow Wilson tried to preserve U.S. impartiality but was eventually incapable to retain the country from entering WWI because of German aggression’s escalation towards the U.S. natives. Blakemore (2019) notes that the RMS Lusitania cruise ship was destroyed by the Germans when it was sailing to Britain leading to more anger from The U.S. Wilson consequently cautioned that the U.S. would no longer permit unregulated submarine warfare or other international law violations. The Germans revived submarine warfare in January 1917 (Blakemore, 2019). The Wilson administration received the Zimmermann, which encouraged Mexico to enter the war effort with Germany’s support. Apart from the intensified anti-isolationist prevalence and the U.S emotional state, the ships were repeatedly under attack, and many people died from the attack. Therefore, the reasons enumerated above overtly validate that the U.S. could not afford to maintain neutrality. The need to guard its boundaries and ships, as well as its associations with other European nations forced it to enter into a battleground against Germany and its allies.
The Reason for the United States to Enter WWI
Although some Americans opposed the United States’ entrance into the war, many felt that they had a civic responsibility to support the war effort. The US government through President Wilson appeared before Congress in 1917 to formally approve the war against Germany by using propaganda to unite the American citizens by appealing to patriotism and public responsibility and by comparing US democracy with support for Western European democracies. The 1917 Selective Service Act (SSA) approved the recruitment of armed forces for WWI. The president assumed that Germany was becoming too domineering and there was a need to make the world safe for democracy (“A War to End All Wars: Part 2 (6:56)”, n.d). However, the U.S. did not support the idea of war from the beginning. It was only hauled into the war as a result of Germany’s frequent attacks on its ships.
The Treaty of Versailles
The Versailles Treaty was a fair and effective settlement. Germany had been aggressive during the war, resulting in many casualties. Therefore, the ‘Big Three’, the motivating powers on the Treaty, Lloyd George, Clemenceau, and the U.S. Wilson needed not to be empathetic in return for another war. Concerning World War I, the Versailles Treaty seems equitable to Germany. In fact, the subjugation that occasioned the enactment of the treaty was detrimental. Precisely, Hitler and the Nazis became very powerful as a result of the unjust persecution of the Germans, thus triggering another war (Farmer, 2018). The war devastated the economy of the world and a wide region of German land. However, Germany was still a major threat to the world after the war. Hence, the main objective of the Treaty of Versailles was to ensure that the possibility of Germany’s aggression on other nations was kept at the lowest minimal possibility. In this regard, the Versailles treaty was just to strip away Germany’s military services and allies.
The United States Senate Approval of the Treaty of Versailles
The U.S Senate suspended the consent from the Versailles Treaty in 1919, which was followed by the evasion of endorsement or support of the League of Nations. While President Wilson was deeply involved in drafting the Treaty, which represented his vision for the post-war world, approval by isolationists in the U.S Congress proved to be a major stumbling block (Desai & Desai., 2020). The so-called ‘Irreconcilables,’ mainly Republicans and some Democrats, rejected the Treaty, which, in the event of an unprovoked act of violence, pledged League of Nations member states to go to war on behalf of each other. This was seen as a breach of the U.S. supremacy by the Irreconcilables, and others thought it would bind the U.S to a coalition arrangement that might lead to another war. Owing to the Irreconcilables’ opposition, Congress never approved the Treaty of Versailles, and the U.S. never became an associate of the League of Nations.
In conclusion, the concept of WWI can only be traced through understanding the involvement of the U.S. in the war. Based on the above findings, it is evident that WWI could have been hauled had all the nations stayed neutral in an effort to safeguard their boundaries. Therefore, each fighting nation in WWI played a key role in the outbreak of the war.
References
A War to End All Wars: Part 2 (6:56). (n.d.). Web.
Blakemore, E. (2019). What caused World War I and what were its effects? Culture. Web.
Desai, B. H., & Desai, J. B. (2020). On the century of peace-making at the 1919 Treaty of Versailles: Looking back to look ahead. International Studies, 57(3), 201-222. Web.
Farmer, B. (2018). The Treaty of Versailles and the rise of Nazism. New American, 34(21), 33–38. Web.