![]() ![]() While Wilson weighed his options regarding the submarine issue, he also had to address the question of Germany's attempts to cement a secret alliance with Mexico. Despite the rebuff from Congress, Wilson decided to arm American merchant ships by executive order, claiming that an old anti-piracy law gave him the authority to do so. While the measure would probably have passed in a vote, several anti-war Senators led a successful filibuster that consumed the remainder of the Congressional session. On February 26, Wilson asked Congress for authority to arm American merchant ships with U.S. Nevertheless, throughout February and March 1917, German submarines targeted and sunk several American ships, and many American passengers and seamen died. Wilson left open the possibility of negotiating with Germany if its submarines refrained from attacking American shipping. However, he refrained from asking for a declaration of war because he doubted that the American public would support him unless there was ample proof that Germany intended to attack U.S. Stunned by the news, President Wilson went before Congress on February 3 to announce that he had severed diplomatic relations with Germany. Secretary of State Robert Lansing with a note declaring Germany's intention to restart unrestricted submarine warfare the following day. Accordingly, on January 31, 1917, the German Ambassador to the United States, Count Johann von Bernstorff, presented U.S. ![]() Despite these warnings, the German Government decided to resume unrestricted submarine attacks on all Allied and neutral shipping within prescribed war zones, reckoning that German submarines would end the war long before the first American troopship arrived in Europe. This, he argued, would lead to the defeat of Germany. Germany's Chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, protested this decision, as he believed that resuming submarine warfare would draw the United States into the war on behalf of the Allies. Germany also believed that the United States had jeopardized its neutrality by acquiescing to the Allied blockade of Germany. German policymakers argued that they could violate the "Sussex pledge," because the United States could no longer be considered a neutral party after supplying munitions and financial assistance to the Allies. During a wartime conference that month, representatives from the German navy convinced the military leadership and Kaiser Wilhelm II that a resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare could help defeat Great Britain within five months. On May 4, 1916, the German Government had accepted these terms and conditions in what came to be known as the " Sussex pledge."īy January 1917, however, the situation in Germany had changed. Following the sinking of an unarmed French boat, the Sussex, in the English Channel in March 1916, Wilson had threatened to sever diplomatic relations with Germany, unless the German Government refrained from attacking all passenger ships, and allowed the crews of enemy merchant vessels to escape from their ships prior to any attack. Germany's resumption of submarine attacks on passenger and merchant ships in 1917 was the primary motivation behind Wilson's decision to lead the United States into World War I. The United States later declared war on Austria-Hungary on December 7, 1917. Senate voted in support of the measure to declare war on Germany. Wilson cited Germany's violation of its pledge to suspend unrestricted submarine warfare in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and its attempts to entice Mexico into an alliance against the United States, as his reasons for declaring war. On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson went before a joint session of Congress to request a declaration of war against Germany.
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