US pushed to war in 1916 - political consequences?

Assume that the developments which pushed the US to declare war on Germany in early 1917 are moved up into fall or even summer 1916.

How would these developments affect the US Presidential election that year?

Also, how would the election affect US actions?
 

CaliGuy

Banned
In terms of U.S. actions, we obviously see an earlier U.S. troop presence in Europe.

As for the 1916 election itself, I suspect that Wilson would get a boost due to the surge in patriotism--similar to what George W. Bush experienced after 9/11 in our TL.
 
In terms of U.S. actions, we obviously see an earlier U.S. troop presence in Europe.

As for the 1916 election itself, I suspect that Wilson would get a boost due to the surge in patriotism--similar to what George W. Bush experienced after 9/11 in our TL.

First, though - WIlson campaigned on "He kept us out of war", and by pointing to Roosevelt as a warmongering influence in the Republican Party. If the US is at war, both of those themes disappear.

Second, one must examine whether the DoW would become a partisan issue. Would Wilson decide on it? Would Republicans then oppose it?

OTL, Republicans straddled the issue. Hughes called for greater preparedness, but criticized US intervention in Mexico, and Roosevelt was kept under wraps to a degree.

A third point - if there is a push for war, would this boost the vote of the antiwar Socialist Party? Would anti-war Progressive Republicans (such as Jeannette Rankin of Montana, or Robert LaFollette of Wisconsin) bolt to the Socialists, or launch a last-minute anti-war candidacy? The OTL Republican straddle would be impossible.
 
In terms of U.S. actions, we obviously see an earlier U.S. troop presence in Europe.

Yabbut one easy way to move the US war decision into 1916 is to move the war up six months. In which case US troops arrive at the same stage of the fighting.

But I am not interested in the military consequences, so much as the political effects back and forth.
 
Yabbut one easy way to move the US war decision into 1916 is to move the war up six months. In which case US troops arrive at the same stage of the fighting.

But I am not interested in the military consequences, so much as the political effects back and forth.
That changes enough about the war that US entry would not be in near the same circumstances. Germany has to suffer 6 more months before Haber process shows up en masse and may lack that windfall of Nitrates from the Netherlands, Italy is closer to the central powers, the military facts on the ground are slightly different, winter snows and spring mud is going to slow down early offensives. Late 1916 in a war moved up may see the Entente either on the cusp of total victory or on the brink of total defeat. Political consequences would be rather different between "US suffers over half a million dead to hold the line and turn the tide" and "US loses twenty thousand men in mopping up operations"
 
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