Lusitania is what moved public opinion. USA was basically neutral leanings before this event.
IIRC, Barbara Tuchman and Hew Strachan's the "First World War" suggest it was already tilting away from Germany for said reasons.
Lusitania is what moved public opinion. USA was basically neutral leanings before this event.
IIRC, Barbara Tuchman and Hew Strachan's the "First World War" suggest it was already tilting away from Germany for said reasons.
Look for Neiberg's video on this.Well, take if for what its worth. But I read all the NY Times articles for the war in chronological order. We can argue which way the USA leaned in WW1 before the Lusitania, but there is a night and day break on the before and after. It went basically from 'European War that we should stay out of but side X is better' to 'The Germans are evil, and we should stay out'. I also large sections of a mid-west paper. Kansas City comes to mind.
It only reinforced my view that vague feeling of moral condemnation does not equal desire for intervention.Primary sources trump secondary sources.
It only reinforced my view that vague feeling of moral condemnation does not equal desire for intervention.
Well, take if for what its worth. But I read all the NY Times articles for the war in chronological order. We can argue which way the USA leaned in WW1 before the Lusitania, but there is a night and day break on the before and after. It went basically from 'European War that we should stay out of but side X is better' to 'The Germans are evil, and we should stay out'. I also large sections of a mid-west paper. Kansas City comes to mind.
When the Zimmerman telegram was released to the U.S public a section of the American newspapers stated that Colombia was involved in the scheme, with the role of destroying the Panama canal if the U.S and Germany went to war. Colombia mobilized its troops near its border due to this accusation. It's a long stretch yes but the mobilization as well as Anti-American riots in Colombia after this could have made the U.S invade Colombia to "protect American interests".
The Zimmerman telegram gets a lot of shit, but the US had invaded Mexico in 1914 and again in 1916, a situation so bad that the entire US National Guard of 12 divisions was mobilised and deployed on the US-Mexican borer while the Regular Army division of the Punitive Expedition was roaming around Mexico. In addition the US invaded Haiti in 1915 as part of the 1st Cacao War and the Dominican Republic in 1916 to supress a coup.
I don't know how, maybe by covert meddling before the war, but perhaps these interventions could result in some larger scale fighting.
Perhaps it might be possible that the USNG goes onto the offensive into Mexico, to occupy large parts of Mexico, and this causes some serious fighting.
This would make for an interesting wargame, but the US does not have the army to pull it off. Navy yes but limited amground forces.
The US can raise the army fairly quickly.
Have the Germans successfully drag the Mexicans in the war with outlandish promises of land in the US Southwest.