What if the United States joined World War I in 1914?

Threat for who and what ? ... esp without hindsight.
What time/era you're talking about, when you say "are" ?
iIRC The volume of foreign trade from Germany was poised to over take the USAs in 1916 and exceed that of GB by 1926 if keeping to pre-war trends. This is why you had navies!
 

NoMommsen

Donor
iIRC The volume of foreign trade from Germany was poised to over take the USAs in 1916 and exceed that of GB by 1926 if keeping to pre-war trends. This is why you had navies!
Ahhh, the "threat" to Wall Street (and City-of-London ... ? Why should TR care about them ?) profits.

Yep, very popular point of going to war abroad for the US in that era ...
 

SsgtC

Banned
iIRC The volume of foreign trade from Germany was poised to over take the USAs in 1916 and exceed that of GB by 1926 if keeping to pre-war trends. This is why you had navies!
Ahhh, the "threat" to Wall Street (and City-of-London ... ? Why should TR care about them ?) profits.

Yep, very popular point of going to war abroad for the US in that era ...
Well, obviously that wouldn't have been the public reason for going to war. But it would definitely have been one of the reasons privately
 
Query suppose Germany Manages to stay in the war until 1916. Suppose also LOTS of young Americans die on the Western front.

Is there any way that the USA could vote itself out of such a war in the Fall of 1916? Maybe electing Bryan as a Peace Demorcrat
 
Ahhh, the "threat" to Wall Street (and City-of-London ... ? Why should TR care about them ?) profits.

Yep, very popular point of going to war abroad for the US in that era ...
Well, the response to the economic instability in the late 1800's was that the US had to find export markets in order to ensure domestic stability. This was the reason for things like the Open Door policy on China. To underpin this you needed Naval Power so the US built up its fleet. The British supported open trade but not everyone else to the same extent. For example, India purchased only 1/3rd of its steel needs from GB, the other 2/3rds came from Belgium and Germany.

GB directly related naval spending to trade volume. When Admiral Henderson offered his report on the Australian Navy in 1911 his 'business case' drew on trade value and population proportions to justify levels of spending and force levels that that spending would cover down to the number of band members you needed. All the Naval missions of the time would have drawn on the same figures. The USN was no different, German economic rivalry and naval power were a threat. The USN fixed its ultimate force size as being able to meet a German/Japanese combination, this was the beginning of the USN '2nd to none' drive prior to WW1.
 
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