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Unlock This CourseWhen war began in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson kept the USA neutral. Most Americans saw the war as Europe's quarrel. In November 1916 Wilson won a second term as president with the slogan 'He kept us out of war'. Five months later he asked Congress, the American parliament, to declare war. Four things changed his mind.
On 2 April 1917 Wilson asked Congress for war, saying, 'The world must be made safe for democracy.' Congress agreed by a huge majority, and the USA declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917.
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The USA was the richest industrial country in the world, with a population of about 100 million. But it was not ready to fight. Its regular army had only about 130,000 men. So its help came in stages: money and ships quickly, soldiers slowly.
By early 1917 Britain was close to running out of the money it needed to pay for American goods. Now the American government itself lent to the Allies, about 7 billion dollars by the end of the fighting. The Allies could keep buying all they needed.
American food, steel, oil and weapons crossed the Atlantic in growing amounts. Britain and France could keep their armies and their people fed while the blockade left Germany hungry.
The first American destroyers reached Ireland in May 1917. They helped to guard the convoys, just as the U-boat campaign was at its most dangerous.
A draft law was passed in May 1917, and about 2.8 million men were called up. The first Americans landed in France in June 1917. There were about 300,000 by March 1918 and about 2 million by November 1918.
The American soldiers, nicknamed 'doughboys', were fresh, fit and confident. Pershing insisted that they should fight as a separate American army, not be shared out among British and French units. They were short of experience and of heavy weapons, so they used mostly French guns and aircraft, and many crossed the Atlantic in British ships. By the summer of 1918 around a quarter of a million were landing in France every month. Their part in the fighting of 1918 comes in the lesson The Hundred Days and Why Germany Lost.
1917 was a dark year for the Allies. French soldiers mutinied, Russia was falling apart and Passchendaele brought heavy losses. Through all this, the promise of American men and money lifted morale. The Allies knew that if they could hold on, they would have more soldiers and supplies than Germany could ever match.
Germany's leaders had gambled that the U-boats would starve Britain before American soldiers could arrive. The gamble failed. Russia left the war in the winter of 1917-18, which freed German troops to move west, but time was now against Germany. It had to win in France in early 1918, before the Americans came in strength. As Germany's own soldiers ran short, its morale fell.
Significance means how much difference something made. Be careful with dates. In 1917 the USA made little difference to the fighting on land, because so few of its soldiers were in France. It could not stop Russia leaving the war. Britain and France still did most of the fighting, even in 1918.
But in the long run the American entry was decisive. It kept the Allies supplied with money and goods. It helped to beat the U-boats. Above all, it gave the Allies a supply of fresh soldiers that would not run out, at the moment when every other army was worn down. Germany could no longer win a long war. That is why Germany staked everything on one last attack, as you will see in the lesson The Ludendorff Spring Offensive, 1918.
Do not write that American soldiers poured into the trenches in April 1917. A large army took more than a year to raise, train and ship. Do not call the USA one of the Allies in a treaty sense either: it was an Associated Power. And do not give the Zimmermann Telegram as the only reason for war. The U-boats mattered more.
Describe TWO features of EITHER the Zimmermann Telegram (1917) OR the help the USA gave to the Allies in the years 1917-18. [6 marks]
I have chosen the help the USA gave to the Allies in the years 1917-18.
One feature was money and supplies. By early 1917 Britain was close to running out of money to pay for American goods. After April 1917 the American government lent the Allies about 7 billion dollars, so food, steel, oil and weapons kept crossing the Atlantic. American destroyers also helped to guard the convoys that carried them.
A second feature was fresh soldiers, who arrived slowly at first. The regular army had only about 130,000 men in 1917, so a draft was used to call up about 2.8 million. Under General Pershing the first troops landed in France in June 1917. There were about 300,000 by March 1918 and about 2 million by November 1918.
What lifts this to the top level: two separate features, each backed by precise facts such as figures, dates and names, with no time spent on a story or an argument.
A features question asks what something was like, not why it happened or how important it was. For the American help, start each paragraph with 'One feature was...' and 'A second feature was...', then add two facts to each. Remember that one feature alone can score no more than 3 marks. For more help, see the Exam Skills lesson Paper 2 Section A Question (a): Describe Two Features.