Foreign Relations To World War I

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[ History and Anthropology]

[August 1, 2019]

Foreign Relations to World War I

The world has witnessed two world wars in the past centuries. Both wars were equally tragic and deplorable, however, it is the World War I which is most notorious in its effects as its Treaty of Versailles planted the seeds of the next World War two. Both wars originated in the European continent, but US participation remained a consistent affair. When the war erupted in 1914, the then US president Woodrow Wilson opted for neutrality and impartiality in the war of European nations. This neutrality by the president Wilson in the war was supported by everyone in the country and people remained supportive of his nonintervention policy. As a matter of fact, American nation did not favour getting involved in any foreign war. As ill-luck would have it, this pragmatic neutrality of the American nation was dramatically and drastically changed when Germany started expanding its outreach across the Atlantic ocean. Germany became an aggressive state for Americans with the sinking of British liner Lousitania by a german u-boat which killed around 128 American nationals. After this tragedy, the US severed diplomatic relations with Germany in 1917 after two years of the war on February 3, 1917. Besides, the news of Zimmerman telegram also aggravated the negative perception of an alliance was proposed with Mexico against the US. After this news, the US officially entered the war on April 6, 1917 ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"EAD96IN7","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Gilbert)","plainCitation":"(Gilbert)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":833,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/97SZNLNI"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/97SZNLNI"],"itemData":{"id":833,"type":"book","title":"American Financing of World War I","publisher":"Greenwood Publishing Corporation","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Gilbert","given":"Charles"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1970"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Gilbert). Americans felt that Central powers were revisionist powers and they were bent upon disturbing the peace of the world. On the other side, Amerians held Allies in esteem as they were fighting to restore peace and harmony.

It is no blinking the fact that this World War I began as the conflict to protect the rights of the people and safeguarding the legitimate concerns of the victim nations. However, it became a menace in coming years when different governments imposed different kinds of censorship on American people. Sedition Act of 1918 extended the Espionage Act of 1917 and paved for more governmental intervention in personal life and liberty of individuals. Woodrow Wilson was an idealist who wanted to implement his liberal view of the world. People called Woodrow Wilson an unrealistic idealist who was ignoring the realist pattern of the anarchic world. He gave his famous Fourteen points on January 1918 ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"AeeEcJgb","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Throntveit)","plainCitation":"(Throntveit)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":834,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/PI8BI9VZ"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/PI8BI9VZ"],"itemData":{"id":834,"type":"article-journal","title":"The fable of the Fourteen Points: Woodrow Wilson and national self-determination","container-title":"Diplomatic History","page":"445–481","volume":"35","issue":"3","source":"Google Scholar","title-short":"The fable of the Fourteen Points","author":[{"family":"Throntveit","given":"Trygve"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2011"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Throntveit) to peacefully conclude the war and perpetuate peace by accommodating the concerns of both allies and central powers. Certainly, the plan of 14 points was all-comprehensive as it gave the vision of self-determination for all nations alike. He was a strict adherent of non-interventionists politics and this was the reason for his erstwhile neutrality. His peaceful overture continued even when he got involved in this brutal and illogical conflict. His fourteen points were more aligned with the conflicting interests of the belligerent nations such as Serbia, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Germany, and Great Britain. Wilson wanted to use World War one in a way to end “ all wars” as he did not like fighting wars with anyone. He wanted open diplomacy, open seas and open life for everyone in this world. The prime focus or the essential philosophy of Woodrow Wilson was such that it attempted to implement a liberal order in the world.

Nevertheless, when war comes, one has to mobilize all the resources for the victory ad economic resources to play an important role in the successful completion of the war. New federal agencies were created to regulate the funds to main war bodies and it brought the defeat of central powers eventually. As Wilson gave his own 14 points, he was not favouring the notorious Treaty of Versailles by the Allies ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"jD4E6Glt","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Cline)","plainCitation":"(Cline)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":831,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/43XFMJPB"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/43XFMJPB"],"itemData":{"id":831,"type":"article-journal","title":"British historians and the treaty of Versailles","container-title":"Albion","page":"43–58","volume":"20","issue":"1","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Cline","given":"Catherine Ann"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1988"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Cline). Allies had their idea of concluding the war and they went for the Treaty of Versailles. Americans did not participate in it and remained neutral as congress had already rejected the 14 points. Hence, Americans had no participation in the Treaty of Versailles.

Works Cited :

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Cline, Catherine Ann. “British Historians and the Treaty of Versailles.” Albion, vol. 20, no. 1, 1988, pp. 43–58.

Gilbert, Charles. American Financing of World War I. Greenwood Publishing Corporation, 1970.

Throntveit, Trygve. “The Fable of the Fourteen Points: Woodrow Wilson and National Self-Determination.” Diplomatic History, vol. 35, no. 3, 2011, pp. 445–481.