The time between 1914 and 1918 was a very difficult time for the American government. It had to cope with the war in Europe and the divided sympathies in the American society. This split was caused by the American history. Since America was a country of immigrants its society consisted of all different kinds of nationalities. At 1914 30 million British, French and Russian immigrants lived in the United States. At the same time about 15 million Americans traced their roots back to Germany or Austria-Hungary. Also the 4.5 million Irish Americans were supportive for the Central Powers’ side since the British had harshly surppressed the Easter Rebellion in Dublin in the spring of 1916.
That uncertainty among the Americans caused President Wilson to stay out of the war. His proclamation of neutrality on August 4,1914 was highly supported by every single American. Days after that proclamation Woodrow Wilson asked Americans to be “neutral in fact as well as in action”. But that was more easily proclaimed than practiced. Due to the different heritages, Americans favored either the Allies or the Central Powers.
Since there were double as many Americans from the allied nations than from the Central nations, sentiments slowly shifted in favor of the Triple Entente.
Moreover the English-speaking Americans could not help but favor the British because of the language familiarity. The language established a kind of bond between the Americans and the British although they had just fought a war of independence,            years ago.
But the most important reason for the Americans to favor the Triple Entente rather than the Triple Alliance was the German monarchy. Germany was the only country in Europe, which had still a monarchy and in addition glorified war and the military under Kaiser Wilhelm.
British diplomats in Washington were extremely successful in their Anti-German propaganda campaign. Caused by that campaign, people increasingly called Germans “the Huns” referring to the barbaric tribe of the fifth century, AD.
One of German’s biggest loses in the 1. World War was not a military but an image one. When they passed through neutral Belgium (Schliffen Plan) they had to fight against armed civilians. That also helped to fortify the image of the barbaric Germans.
Caused by that shift in sentiments Wilson began to prepare the United States for the case of war. As early as December 1915, he asked Congress to build up the tiny American army to 175,000 soldiers and to allow the construction of dozens of new warships.
Although the public opinion had changed, many Americans still opposed war. One of the most radical antiwar politics was Congressman Claude Kitchen of North Carolina. He and other politics like Progressives Robert La Folette and George Norris protested that the only protection the United States needed was the broad ocean. In their opinion being prepared only increased the chances of going to war.
However, the majority of Americans supported Wilson, as the elections of 1916 showed. His major appeal during these elections was support for preparedness while staying out of war at the same time. The slogan used by his supporters was: “He kept us out of the war” – which would later proof untrue when the Americans eventually entered the war.
The elections were very close but at the end Wilson won against his Republican opponent, Charles Evan Hughes, who was unable to establish a clear difference between him and Wilson.
Although Wilson supported preparedness, he still wanted peace and America to stay neutral. In January 1917 he presented a peace plan to Congress in which every nation was to accept the absolute freedom of the seas. In addition an international organization was to be installed to prevent future wars.
While the proposal was under discussion in the Congress, two actions brought the USA into the war.
Firstly, on February 1917, Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare, sinking all ships within its warzone. Since Germany’s ground offensive had been stopped and no change seemed possible Germany decided its only way of winning the war was to cut England of its supplies. With a bigger than ever U-boat fleet, Germany thought it possible to “starve” Britain out of the war before America could even react. The plan actually got England to the point, where it only had food supplies for 3 more weeks left. At that point The German U-boats had sunk a quarter of the British merchant fleet, totaling 900,000 tons of shipping bond (in April). Then in March, the United States started sending food to Britain. Since the American ships always sailed in convoys, guarded by destroyers, specially designed for antisubmarine warfare, none of the American ships was ever sunk.

2 days after the Germans had resumed their unrestricted submarine warfare, Wilson severed relationships with Germany. The final spark to the American declaration of war was a German message to Mexico, intercepted by the British. In it, the German foreign minister, Arthur Zimmermann, promised the Mexicans its “lost provinces” of Arizona and New Mexico if it declared war on the USA.
Although the Mexicans ignored the note, it was enough to drive the United States into the war.
At this point Wilson had completely changed his foreign policies. He no longer wanted American neutrality but the US fighting against the German aggressors.
On April 2 Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war. After four days of debating, the Senate voted overwhelmingly for war and the House concurred finally on April 6.
On very important reason for Americas intervention on England’s side was the involvement of American bankers in England. In case of a German victory these bankers would have lost all of the $2 billion they had loaned the British. Therefore American bankers strongly lobbied politicians to intervene on Britain’s side.
To conclude, one has to realize that Wilson’s move to war was not an overnight decision. It was caused by the steady increase of anti-German sentiments among Americans. In addition the preparedness of the US Army and Navy put a lot of pressure on the government to go to war. So at the end the preparedness was one reason for war – the same reason which led to war between the European nations, to which the Americans had felt so superior before.