Explain the causes of World War I, the reasons the United States abandoned neutrality and entered the war, and the American military contribution (Tennessee Academic Standards for Social Studies, United States History and Geography, US.13).

What this topic is asking

Standard US.13 asks why World War I began, why the United States moved from neutrality to war, and how the American military helped win it. For the EOC that means knowing the M-A-I-N causes, the reasons for U.S. entry (submarine warfare, the Zimmermann Telegram), and the impact of fresh American forces, including the Tennessee hero Alvin York.

The causes of World War I (M-A-I-N)

These tensions made Europe a powder keg. The immediate spark was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary by a Serbian nationalist in 1914, which triggered the alliance system and dragged the great powers into war: the Allies (Britain, France, Russia, later the United States and others) against the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire).

From neutrality to war

The United States declared neutrality in 1914, and most Americans wanted to stay out. But several developments pulled the country toward the Allies:

• Unrestricted submarine warfare. German U-boats sank ships without warning. The sinking of the British liner Lusitania (1915), which killed 128 Americans, outraged the public. After a pause, Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917, sinking American ships.
• The Zimmermann Telegram (1917). Britain intercepted a secret German message proposing that Mexico attack the United States in return for help regaining lost territory. Its publication inflamed American opinion.
• Economic and cultural ties to Britain and France (trade and loans) also tilted the United States toward the Allies.

Building and sending an army

The U.S. army was small in 1917, so Congress passed the Selective Service Act to raise troops through a draft. The American Expeditionary Force (AEF), commanded by General John J. Pershing, was shipped to France. Although it took time to train and transport, the AEF arrived in large numbers in 1918.

The American contribution

Fresh American troops, along with American supplies, food, and loans, made a decisive difference to the exhausted Allies, who had been fighting since 1914. The Americans helped halt German offensives and push the Central Powers back. Germany, facing defeat and revolution at home, agreed to an armistice that ended the fighting on November 11, 1918 (now Veterans Day).

A Tennessee connection: Alvin York

Why this matters for the EOC

This topic is a reliable source of multiple-choice and cause-and-effect items (the M-A-I-N causes, the triggers for U.S. entry) and a likely Tennessee-connection item about Alvin York. It also links forward to the home front and the troubled peace (the Fourteen Points and the rejected League of Nations).

Try this

Q1. State what each letter of M-A-I-N stands for. [2]

• Cue. Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism.

Q2. Name two events that pushed the United States to enter World War I. [2]

• Cue. Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare (the Lusitania) and the Zimmermann Telegram.