Today is the anniversary of Britain declaring war on Germany in 1914 and is the date on which the United States declared herself neutral.

It seems a good day to ask why it was that the US ever declared war on Germany at all. There is no obvious financial or political reason for it; America was not in danger of losing any territory and it could hardly have mattered which of the major European powers she traded with or on what basis.

"The neutrality of the United States had been seriously imperiled after the sinking of the Lusitania (1915). At the end of 1916, Germany, whose surface fleet had been bottled up since the indecisive battle of Jutland, announced that it would begin unrestricted submarine warfare in an effort to break British control of the seas. In protest the United States broke off relations with Germany (Feb., 1917), and on Apr. 6 it entered the war."
-- www.infoplease.com

The reasons for the US entry into WWI was mainly economic. Germany submarine attacks could not be controlled and US trading ships were not safe.

Thanks for that, MkStfnz.

It's still a bit of a puzzle though . The Lusitania was a British registered ship, flying the British flag. So sinking her, though perhaps unsporting behaviour by the standards of warfare then , could hardly be a surprise particularly when the Cunard line had advised passengers that, in the circumstances of war between Germany and Britain there was no guarantee of safety from such attack and the Germans had already threatened such assaults and indeed carried some out. Of course she was, as we now know from declassified documents, carrying munitions for British trooops. Even then it took from 1915 to 1917 for the US to respond by declaring war. I assumed that the Germans went further in some way for the action to be precipitated.

It sounds as though President Wilson, like Roosevelt later, proved sympathetic to British interests. Perhaps the Germans didn't play their cards particularly well ?

One day I'll find out why Britain and her allies declared war on Germany ! I've been waiting over 40 years for an explanation that makes sense. I suspect there never was one, but it is easy to see that with hindsight and our knowledge of the consequences.Perception and even panic then under the tension between major powers could produce unfortunate results (Somehow I don't think that the fate of 'plucky little Belgium' had much to do with it!)

The Lusitania had American passengers on board, so it was an American interest. But yes, we were very sympathetic to British interests.

The sinking of the Lusitania did have a major impact on the U.S. entrance into WWI, but thats not the entire story. Diplomatic relations with Germany were very shaky. United States was selling weapons to both sides in the war. This action caused Germany to view America as all but siding with England. To this ends the German Government tried to get the Mexican Government to attack the western part of the United States. In return the Mexico would regain territories lost in an earlier war. This plan fell apart when a coded message was intercepted, outlining the operation in full detail.

The Zimmerman Note

Excellent response Sagus.

I'll second that re Sagus' post It would go to explaining why, if the sinking of a British ship carrying fewer than 200 Americans, was so significant there was no immediate response. War was not declared until 1917 but the sinking was in 1915.

It is extraordinary how these myths survive so long in the public mind whether they be to motive or to notorious 'facts' It's up there with the idea that the White Star Line declared the Titanic unsinkable or that people ruined by the Crash threw themselves from Wall Street buildings in 1929 or that WW1 was largely about saving Belgium and many more.