The Road to War

It was the World War – “the war to end all wars” -- and yet America came onto the scene late. Americans perceived the growing conflict as a local fight, far off in a different hemisphere. They had no treaty obligations to come to the aid of any country in Europe, and no reason to get involved

The desire to remain neutral had its roots back in 1823 under the Monroe Doctrine. This American policy stated that it would not interfere in European affairs, and in return would not allow European nations to interfere in affairs in the Americas. As long as the European countries stayed out of North and South American matters, America would remain neutral. It should be remembered that a little over one hundred years before Britain had invaded America in the War of 1812.  The two nations had almost gone to war again in 1895 over a Venezuelan boundary dispute, and Britain had come close to supporting the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Many American families in 1914 would have had parents and grandparents who had seen the British as their enemy, even though they spoke the same language. In fact, only in 1915 did the last veteran of the Civil War retire from active service in the Army.

For the first few years of the war propaganda flew back and forth between the Allies (France England, Russia, Italy, and Belgium) and the Central Powers (Germany and Austria, and later Turkey and Bulgaria). The story of German atrocities in Belgium roused many to take an anti-German stance. Over a third of Americans were immigrants, many from the countries engaged in the war. The smart thing to do, felt President Wilson (as well as many Americans), was to stay neutral. The war would soon end and everything would go back to normal.

Not that America could have done much in 1914. The American military was tiny compared to the massive standing European forces. What troops America had were better suited for patrolling the Philippine jungles, or the Native American reservations. Regular Army units were scattered in small details from China, Alaska, and Hawaii to Panama. From 1902 to 1911 the Regular Army averaged 75,000 officers and men. The American Navy and merchant marine had only enough transport ships to maintain the supply of the small overseas deployments.

Army regiments were such units in name only. Most often the individual companies or battalions were scattered across a wide area with little contact or combined unit training. There was only one camp in the entire USA that could hold an entire division, and such a large unit was formed only rarely, on an experimental basis, to try out different forms of organization and operations. 

Unlike most European nations, there was no formal system of military reserves at the time. Service was voluntary, and soldiers were generally considered the bottom of the social scale. When they had finished their enrollment they were out -- not placed on a reserve list in case of a national emergency. America did not have a national mobilization policy like the other major nations.

The federal government controlled the small Regular Army. Each state could call upon its own independent National Guard units; they were under the control of their state governor unless officially called to federal control. This meant that each state’s training, equipment, and discipline varied widely. On one hand, the men in the Guard units had served with each other for so long there was great esprit de corps, but on the other hand senior positions were often allocated on a political basis rather than aptitude, and lower ranking officers and NCO’s were voted on by the men. Some Guard units were drilled to perfection for the parade ground, others were little more than a men’s club. 

But the war grew worse, and as the losses grew the stakes grew higher. Massive financial and manufacturing support was provided by American companies to the Allied nations. America claimed this was not a violation of their neutrality, as the country would sell material to anyone who wanted it. Germany, however, was bottled up by the British naval blockade and could not send ships to America. On only two occasions was the German commercial transport submarine Deutchesland able to make trips to American ports to bring German cargo to trade for American products.

Alongside the many German immigrants in America were large numbers of Irish immigrants and their families. They were quite anti-British due to the way they had been treated in their ancestral homeland, and most were pro-German only because the English were their mutual enemy. These German and Irish immigrants were a large voting block and did not want to see America go into the war on the side of Great Britain

President Wilson was a firm believer in a rational peace where diplomats could work out all problems. He saw himself as the great peacemaker and, right up to the end of the war, attempted to bring about a peaceful settlement of the war by offering what felt were reasonable terms to the Germans.  

As the war sucked money out of the combatants’ treasuries, enormous loans were made by American banks to the Allies. If Germany won, these loans would become forfeit and many powerful American men would lose a great deal of money. Massive propaganda campaigns in the media (supported by pro-Allied businessmen) pushed public opinion in favor of supporting the Allies against “the beastly Hun.”  Germany had begun a campaign of submarine warfare to stop the flow of supplies crossing the Atlantic. In May 1915 the Lusitania was sunk with the loss of many Americans aboard. This incident was used to push America closer to the Allied cause. It was not until April 1917, however, that the country would formally declare war.