PART I - Preliminary Discussions January to April 1917

Summary

INTRODUCTION

On 31 January 1917 the German Ambassador in Washington, Count Johann von Bernstorff, informed President Wilson that on 1 February Germany would resume unrestricted submarine warfare against all shipping, neutral and Allied. The German high command recognised that this presented Wilson with a casus belli but did so in the firm belief that Britain would have been starved into surrender within six months and that her defeat would precipitate the collapse of the other Entente powers, long before the United States could mobilise her enormous resources, a process estimated accurately at eighteen months. For his part, the pacific Wilson moved slowly and reluctantly towards hostilities, hoping against hope that the Germans did not mean what they said and that it was still possible to shore up the fragile modus vivendi which had endured virtually since the Lusitania Notes of 1915. Wilson, who was determined to carry a united nation with him, waited for 'overt acts' of war, that is for American ships to be sunk without warning. In the meantime, he adopted means short of war to express his disgust at the German policy and to protect American shipping. Diplomatic relations with Germany were broken off on 3 February [1] and on 26 February Congress was asked for authority to arm merchant vessels. When eleven non-interventionist senators filibustered the bill to death, Wilson exercised his executive powers and ordered the arming of merchantmen on 9 March. From then until 20 March Wilson underwent what Arthur Link has called his own Gethsemane, waiting for news of sinkings and noting the public's overwhelming clamour for peace. On 18 March, three American steamers were sunk without warning and with heavy casualties; their twisted plates formed Wilson's cross. With as heavy a heart as history can have known, the man who had for two years pursued peace with unexampled zeal now decided that the nation could no longer avoid war and on 21 March he called Congress into special session for 2 April. Following Wilson's call for a crusade not only against German militarism but also to 'make the world safe for democracy', prominent figures in both houses rejected belligerency but the President's confidence that events had united the nation behind him was borne out. By 82 votes to six the Senate supported him on 4 April and the House of Representatives, by 373 votes to 50, followed on 6 April.