Evan Study guide - 2.docx

Section 2: America enters the War Reasons U.S. entered the War: Germans resumed Submarine warfare and thus broke Sussex Pledge. (U.S. response- broke off diplomatic relations w/ Germany) U.S. ties with England and France. The Zimmermann note ( the U.S. intercepted a cable between the German ambassa...

Section 2: America enters the War Reasons U.S. entered the War: Germans resumed Submarine warfare and thus broke Sussex Pledge. (U.S. response- broke off diplomatic relations w/ Germany) U.S. ties with England and France. The Zimmermann note ( the U.S. intercepted a cable between the German ambassador to Mexico (Zimmermann) from Germany. The cable instructed Zimmermann to offer an alliance between Germany and Mexico. If the U.S. would enter the war, then Mexico would attack the U.S. and Germany would help. If they would win, Germany promised Mexico that they would regain their lost territory back from U.S.) - this note outraged the American public. - Also 4 more merchant ships were sunk at the same time as the Zimmermann crisis. - On April 2, 1917, this led President Wilson to declare war on Germany. The State of the Allies: at the beginning of the war, the Germans and their allies were winning the war, but the members of the Triple Entente were literally getting killed. Some of the defeats included: the Italians being defeated at Caporetto. The Russian Tsar was defeated by the Communist revolution and they could not contribute much to the war effort. Russia gave huge amounts of land in the Ukraine to Germany. They would use this area to grow crops to feed their army. The Germans were at a stalemate on the western front in France. The State of the U.S. Army: in 1917, there were only about 200,000 American troops. In May of 1917, Congress passed the Selective Service Act which asked all American men age 21 to 30 to enlist for the draft. 10 million men signed up and 2.8 million men were enlisted into the armed forces. 370,000 African Americans were drafted into the Army and 200,000 served overseas. Many African Americans won medals of honor. this large infusion of fresh troops would eventually be the difference in the war. Allied Victories with the Americans: At Chateau-Thierry, the Americans repulsed a last ditch German offensive to end the war. This French town was less than 50 miles from Paris and this victory helped keep the Germans from winning the war. 500,000 American "Doughboys" defeated the Germans at Verdun and St. Mihiel . the Americans were also instrumental in defeating the Germans at Sedan, where they broke through the German lines creating a breach in the Germans security. This was the beginning of the end for the Germans. The invention of the depth charge helped the allies neutralize the German U-Boat fleet. Mines were also used to sink the U-Boats.