alternatehistory.com

…It is possible that no president elected in 1917 could have prevented war given the circumstances that prevailed in early 1917. The outrage generated by the Zimmerman note certainly made Americans furious with Germany. The resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, with the sinking of five American ships in a week during March, was a further provocation that could not be ignored. Combined with earlier provocations this would have made most presidents declare war.

Wilson did go above and beyond in convincing the American public to enter the war. This can be explained by his sense of moral outrage at what the Germans were doing, that it seemed to personally offend him that the Germans had ignored his offers to mediate a peace and escalated provocations despite warnings. Wilson was able to convince an increasingly moralist public to share his moral outrage. The same public that would soon be convinced to ban “the demon drink” for the betterment of the United States was convinced to declare war on Germany to “make the world safe for democracy”. As with Prohibition Americans would soon come to regret their decision when it turned to do the opposite of what the wanted.

Whatever they would later believe in March of 1917 the American public was convinced that they needed to join WWI. On April 4th Congress voted to declare war on Germany, passing in the Senate by 80 to 8 and in the house by 348 to 75 in the House of Representatives. America had entered the war and one of the greatest tragedies in American, and indeed World, History had begun…


-Excerpt from Why did they do THAT!?! Historical Madness in Context: Volume III, Harper & Brothers, New York, 2015


…American Entry had come none too soon for the Entente. The British, acting as purchasing agents for the rest of the Entente had run out of ability to raise dollars using their current approaches and were overdrawing their accounts with J.P. Morgan by tens of millions a week. Only J.P. Morgan’s unwavering personal commitment to the Entente kept the money flowing. Yet even his vast personal reserves could not last forever and the Entente was looking at some very hard choices.

It was clear that they could not continue purchasing at their previous rates, so purchases would have to be scaled down to the most essential items. Furthermore, Italy and Russia would be cut off in order to maximize the amount going to Britain and France. It was clear that this would have a deleterious effect on the war effort, and especially the commitment of Italy and Russia, but such could not be helped. Further desperate measures would likely have to be taken in the future, mortgaging of assets previously untouchable, greater currency manipulation, possibly sale of colonies.

American entry changed all that. While the American treasury was at first extremely skeptical of Entente needs, they were convinced to start giving unsecured loans to the Entente by the end of May. This not only kept the Entente solvent and buying American goods but allowed a massive increase in borrowing, to date the Entente had borrowed two billion dollars from the United States, by the end of the war that was almost fourteen billion dollars.

Furthermore, US entry into the war allowed for greater government control over the economy. This proved important in 1917 as the wheat harvest proved bad, without government intervention it was unlikely that the US would have exported significant quantities of grain that year…

…Morally American entry in the war proved key to keeping morale up after the various disasters the Entente suffered. Most critically it let the French deal with the mutinies as quickly as they did…


-Excerpt from European Wars for Americans, Harper & Brothers, New York, 2004


…Functional POD: The point where reality in a Counterfactual Timeline noticeably differs from the Original Timeline. This is invoked when an author wants to explore the consequences of changing a particular event, but that event is not one which easily lends itself to being changed by a single directly related point…


-Excerpt from Dictionary of Science Fiction Terms, Gate Publishing, Atlanta, 2013



…American entry into WWI itself as a functional POD is relatively rare compared to earlier functional PODs that prevent the possibility of American entry in the first place, or PODs that make America better prepared when it does enter, or even POD’s that make it enter earlier.

The logical reasons for America not to enter are of course an absence of provocations from the Zimmerman note and the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, which involves changing the state of mind of German High Command and foreign ministry in 1916. While it is commonly assumed simply not having Wilson as president in 1917 is enough, analysis of probable alternatives indicate most would have reacted to those provocations much as Wilson had, though said provocations occurring can arguably be laid at Wilson’s feet.

Assuming those provocations are avoided we can state the most probable course of action as thus. Without America in the war the British are forced to cut off supplies to Russia and Italy due to a lack of dollars to buy them. This probably means that the Russian provisional government leaves the war in early summer, and the Italian front collapses in fall of 1917 and is forced to leave the war. Without the US the Spring offensive then knocks France from the war by the end of the summer of 1918. Britain will bow to the inevitable within a few months as the blockade can no longer be enforced and any chance of victory is nill. Probable result is a modest gain by Germany in the west, in order to procure a status quo ante bellum in the colonies and substantial gains in the East.

It is hard to see how this would not lead to a better world. The United States would avoid its six digits of dead and the more troublesome social aspects of the war. All powers would have less debt and fewer dead and wounded soldiers. Fewer neutral and Central Powers civilians would have been starved by the British Blockade. Germany as a victor would prevent a future General European War that could spiral into a world war, a defeated France and Italy are too weak to challenge the status quo, Austria-Hungary is bound at the hip to Germany, Russia is shorn of her western territories and Britain will not act without a continental ally. Without a Second World War…

…In all a much better world was lost due to Wilson’s folly…


-Excerpt from Sideways: An Examination of Common Divergences in Counterfactual History, Gate Publishing, Atlanta, 2016



This Concludes Part I of Ghastly Victories: The United States in the World Wars


Part II: Wilson’s Folly will begin next week


That last part is assuming nothing untoward happens