The United States in World War I (part 1)

On April 6, 1917, after fierce debates, the US Senate and House of Representatives voted to declare war on Germany by an overwhelming majority.

In this new episode of the Europe 1 Studio podcast "At the heart of history", Jean des Cars details the events leading up to the late entry of the United States into World War I alongside the Allies.  

A tragic enigma 

On May 7, 1915, the British liner Lusitania, of the Cunard company, left New York for Liverpool.

Off Ireland, she was torpedoed, without warning, by a German U20 submarine.

It sank in 18 minutes.

1,198 passengers perished, including 128 US citizens.

This act of war against a civilian ship, and a neutral country, causes indignation and emotion in the United States. 

The news spread early on the east coast.

Local radio stations interrupted their programs to broadcast funeral marches.

The tragedy takes the proportions of a state affair.

Former President Theodore Roosevelt, who had advocated US intervention alongside the allies, considers the event an act of piracy and a violation of international maritime law.

The German government assures us, on the one hand, that the Lusitania was transporting ammunition intended for the Allies and that, on the other hand, it was sailing in a declared war zone and that its commander had been warned.

The controversy swells between Washington and Berlin.

It should be remembered, even if this has nothing to do with, that international opinion remains traumatized by the accidental and spectacular sinking of the Titanic three years earlier, a disaster in which many Americans had perished. 

Americans are wondering: what will President Wilson's attitude be?

From the outset of hostilities, he warned that the German navy would be placed under surveillance if it caused damage to ships of neutral countries.

By imposing submarine warfare, Kaiser William II seeks to strangle British trade, with no regard for the lives of civilians.

According to experts, the torpedoing of the liner was premeditated.

As proof of this, the warning sent by the authorities in Berlin to American passengers not to borrow foreign ships sailing on behalf of a country at war with Germany.

President Wilson orders his Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, William Jennings Bryan, to send Kaiser Wilhelm II a letter of vehement protest. 

American opinion believes that the United States cannot stop at this diplomatic initiative and the condolences of Kaiser's Ambassador Johann von Bernstorff are hardly convincing.

A month later, on June 9, Secretary of State Bryan resigned: he was hostile to the war and did not appreciate that President Wilson had ordered him to send William II a second note of protest.

Between the torpedoing of the "Lusitania" and the entry into the war of the United States, nearly two years will pass.

Suspicion, on one side, as on the other, was met with impossible answers.

Had the liner been torpedoed by mistake?

Or had it become a ship armed or carrying military equipment under cover of commercial goods?

But for the Americans, the drama of "Lusitania" had been experienced as an inadmissible attack.

It was not until fifty-seven years, that is to say the year 1972, for the archives of Washington, the British Admiralty and the Cunard Line to finally reveal the truth: not only, this civilian liner contained 4,200 cases of ammunition smuggled by the English under the name of "hunting cartridges", and tons of military equipment, but the liner had been discreetly armed with twelve guns and inscribed, just as discreetly, on the roles of the British Royal Navy , under the name of "armed auxiliary cruiser".

President Wilson forced to declare war

Weeks passed and the German threat became clearer.

On November 17, 1915, an Italian merchant ship, the Acona, was sunk.

Twenty-seven American passengers were on board.

Three submarine attacks prove that this is indeed an unofficial naval war.   

The easy re-election of President Wilson on November 7, 1916 is explained by the fact that this democrat has so far been able to prevent the United States from going to war.

It almost became an effective campaign slogan ...

At the beginning of 1917, the naivety of the tenant of the White House no longer reassured Americans.

On February 3, a German U-Boat sank an American liner off Sicily.

Diplomatic relations are then broken between Washington and Berlin.

The American intelligence services, informed by their British counterparts, know that Germany will intensify its submarine warfare. 

There are 120 German attack submarines, two-thirds of which are constantly operational.

The British had intercepted and decrypted a coded message addressed to the German ambassador in Mexico.

According to this so-called "Zimmermann" dispatch, it was not only about submarine warfare but also about a German alliance project with Mexico.

It would be likely to embarrass the Americans if they decided to intervene in Europe.

On April 6, 1917, the pacifist convictions of President Wilson and his fellow citizens gave way to growing hostility from Germany.

At 1:18 p.m., the Senate voted to declare war on Germany by 90 votes to 6, and the House of Representatives did the same by 373 votes to 50, after thirteen hours of fierce debate.

In his speech, the US president said: "The world must be made clean for the victory of democracy. It is a terrible thing to lead a peaceful people to participate in the most horrible of wars. But the defense of the law is even more precious than peace. We must fight to save what we have always carried in the depths of our hearts: democracy, the freedom of small nations, the universal reign of law in the concert of peoples in order to restore peace between nations and freedom all over the world. "

Since the torpedoing of the Lusitania, the intensification of the submarine warfare and the threat of an alliance between Germany and Mexico have finally convinced the government in Washington.

It should also be noted that despite their protest of neutrality, the United States had become, so to speak, the main suppliers of the Allies in food, raw materials and ammunition.

President Wilson authorized American banks to lend $ 2 billion to England and France to finance their war effort.

At the same time, the American head of state rejected the request of his very many fellow citizens of German origin to impose an embargo on the supply of arms to the Allies.

The neutrality of the United States was becoming lip service.

British Prime Minister David Lloyd George hails the United States' entry into the war by declaring: "America has just taken a big step towards becoming a world power."

On May 18, Congress ordered the conscription of all American males between the ages of 21 and 30.

They will be ten million men to be listed in this way.

Quickly, the war loans were successful.

In six months, they will bring in 4.6 billion dollars.

To ensure proper promotion of these loans, Treasury Secretary William McAdoo enlists the help of celebrities.

Artists as popular as Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks bring their contribution under the crackle of photographers' flashes.

Pershing vs.

MacArthur: Two Methods for the American Army at War 

A month after the United States entered the war, President Wilson announced that General Pershing would command the American expeditionary force in Europe.

He is 57 years old.

This francophone is a cavalry officer and he became a brigadier general at only 41 years old.

He participated in several engagements against the Indians (notably against Chief Geronimo), he served in Cuba during the Spanish-American War and in the Philippines.

Then, he became Military Attaché to the American Embassy in Japan during the 1905 war against Russia. 

In 1915 he participated in the raid against the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa.

His appointment as head of American troops on the French front is a challenge.

He had only taken part in occasional counter-guerilla or pacification operations.

Pershing will be forced to take part in a conflict of unprecedented scale.  

The most experienced European military leaders have already had to question everything they thought they knew about war.

The American general will have to create from scratch a mass army capable of facing the conditions of a total conflict and of an unprecedented dimension. 

He knows that he will have to reckon with administrative delays.

It will be impossible for him to engage the American forces quickly and in a meaningful way.

But he is determined to take the time necessary to build the army he wants, capable of playing his autonomous role within the allied coalition.

As Pershing prepares his troops, a 36-year-old commander, Douglas MacArthur, is called upon to organize the national campaign for conscription.

MacArthur came out as a major at West-Point.

He, too, was sent on a mission to Mexico in 1915 before being assigned to the US Army staff.

Unlike Pershing, he thinks that the army being formed should also be made up of divisions of the National Guard, ie the reserve troops.

After having convinced President Wilson, he obtains to unite the strength of the guards of several states in a single unit.

26 states are involved.

Macarthur explains: "The participation will therefore extend over the whole country like a rainbow."

He was promoted colonel and second in command of this division, called Rainbow, "Arc en ciel" in French.

He will train his men and will not arrive in France until four months after Pershing's troops. 

"La Fayette, here we are!"

For the first time in their history, the Americans are intervening militarily in Europe.

On June 13, 1917, Pershing landed at Boulogne-sur-mer with a modest Expeditionary Force of 177 men.

Among them, the future General Patton.

To welcome them, the streets of Paris are so crowded that the newly arrived Americans find it difficult to move forward.

The crowd shouts "Long live America!"

and throws roses at them.

The US Army Major General accompanying Pershing will say: "May I live a thousand years, I will never forget this hour of jubilation in the midst of the crowd."

On July 4, American National Day, Americans were driven to Picpus cemetery, in the 12th arrondissement, where La Fayette's grave is located.

Pershing and his troops come to pay homage to the first Frenchman who supported the rebellious Insurgents in the American colonies of England, under the reign of Louis XVI.

Let him speak: "In the cemetery of Picpus, I had been asked to deliver a speech; but I had appointed, to speak in my place, Colonel Stanton, from my staff, an old comrade in arms who was a bit of an orator… It was on this occasion, and in front of this tomb, that the memorable words were pronounced which could only be found under the influence of a deep emotion, words which will live on for a long time in History: " La Fayette, here we are! "It is to me that many have attributed this concise phrase, and I have often regretted not having the authorship ..."

Bibliographic resources:

Jean-Christophe Buisson,

(Perrin, 2016)

Under the direction of Jean-Pierre Turbergue,

(Italics, 2008)

André Baeyens,

(Xenia, 2014)

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"At the heart of history" is a Europe 1 Studio podcast

Author and presentation: Jean des Cars

Production: Timothée Magot

Director: Matthieu Blaise

Distribution and editing: Clémence Olivier

Graphics: Karelle Villais