BigBlueBox
Banned
Could the USA have decided to send its navy to protect shipping in the Atlantic without committing to a full war against Germany? Would this decision actually require Congress to declare war on Germany, or authorize it through other means, or could the president do it unilaterally? What could be a good POD for this? A more hawkish U.S. president like Theodore Roosevelt gets elected instead of Woodrow Wilson and immediately sends in the navy after Germany begins unrestricted submarine warfare? Germany never makes the Sussex Pledge but the Zimmerman Telegram incident never happens either, leading Woodrow Wilson to take a more limited action against Germany? If this had happened, would it have lead to Germany abandoning unrestricted submarine warfare and a de-escalation of US-German tensions or further escalation and total war?