Objectives: 1.  Describe German submarine tactics during WWI. 2.  Identify events that moved the U.S. toward war. Main Idea: German submarine warfare helped push the U.S. into WWI.

• The U.S. was very upset at the German use of submarine warfare. • Germany warned Americans to stay off British

ships. On May 7,1915, a German U-Boat sank the British passenger ship Lusitania killing 128 Americans, because the Lusitania carried weapons for the Allies. • The Germans also sank U.S. cargo ships carrying

supplies to France and Great Britain. • The U.S. press called the submarine warfare

“barbarism.” Submarine warfare will be the main reason the U.S. enters World War I.

• The British wanted and needed U.S. help in World War I and they tried to persuade the U.S. to enter the war. • Britain encouraged an anti-German feeling in

the United States. • The British cut the cable between the U.S. and

Germany during the war. •  During the war we received our war

information from Britain and only heard their side of the story.

• The final piece of British propaganda was the Zimmermann Note. • The British intercepted a telegram from

Germany to Mexico from German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmerman. •  Asking Mexico to start a war with the U.S. to

keep the U.S. out of World War I. Germany would help Mexico defeat the U.S. after winning the war in Europe. Mexico would be given Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico.

• The final reason the U.S. entered World War I was Russia dropping out of the war. •  Russia had an absolute monarch for a leader,

just like Germany and it was hard to justify helping Russia instead of Germany. • Russia dropped out during the Russian

Revolution; the monarchy was overthrown only to see the new government overthrown after a civil war by Vladimir Lenin making Russia the Soviet Union the world’s first communist country.

• The unrestricted submarine warfare, along with Russia dropping out of the war, and France and Britain needing our help made President Wilson’s decision easy, it was time for the U.S. to enter World War I. • Wilson told Congress, “the world must be

made safe for democracy.” • The Congress declared war on Germany April

6, 1917.