USA in WWI

« II) The United States’ entrance in WWI as decisive fact of the Allies’ victory A] The US in war: role of the US power Woodrow Wilson was re-elected president in 1917 by promising peace, but he supported the need for American military engagement in Europe.

The United States had already invested materially and financially with the Triple Entente, and its defeat would have cost them dearly.

The president was also very attached to democracy, and that is why he opposes the Central powers alongside the allies.

Their role was therefore initially material (weapons, vehicles, etc.), and also economic, notably by funding operations. Then their role focused on military support.

The "Sammy’s" arrived in Europe in June 1917, numbering 20,000, or 10% of the entire active American army.

With the volunteers, the expeditionary force will reach 2 million men (including 1 million combatants) during the armistice of November 11, 1918, but their role would have been more important if they had not lacked weapons and training, a task that will fall to the French and the British, their importance must therefore be put into perspective. In addition, from an agricultural and industrial point of view, there is no doubt that the United States has been of primary help.

They allowed the Allies not to know the privations undergone by the members of the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire).

Aid in hydrocarbons as well as in metals enabled the Triple Entente to support an effective war economy. B] The US in war: impacts on the US power But the war also had some impacts on the US power.

That’s what we are going to see.

The US emerged after WW1 as an ambitious world power, freeing Europe from the Central powers and therefore proving its strength on a global level.

The US tried to shape and enhance their power, all of it started with Wilson’s 14 points for peace but challenged by the Versailles Treaty.

President Woodrow Wilson made the fourteen points in January 1918.

The fourteen points presented a comprehensive vision of the transformation of world politics.

Wilson believed that business between nations should be conducted outdoors, on the basis of sovereignty, self-determination (the idea that all nations have the right to choose their own political identity without outside interference) and disavowal military force to settle disputes.

Wilson's vision for the post-war world had a huge influence on the founding of the League of Nations, which therefore strengthened American power from a political point of view. The 14 Points have set US goals which were to gain influence and control worldwide.

These aimed at increasing economic power with opening up free-trade practices, linked with the internationalization of the waters and the political power given by the disarmament of the nations post war and the establishment of the League of Nations.

The 14 Points aimed as well to emphasize the US soft power with the expansion of the influence in Europe (especially destroyed and weak after the war). About the Versailles Treaty: Although powerful after the war, the US aspirations were stopped and limited by the Europeans when The Great Powers rejected parts of Wilson’s 14 points to protect their interests.

The US did not gain from WW1 the way it should, with FR/GB more powerful than before and the US left out of the interests.

Altogether, WW1 was a chance for the US to impose itself as a. »