on the western front Although Germany could probably stop an invasion of its homeland morale was sinking fast German troops were at the point of mutiny Thousands of men were deserting the front lines and risking a firing squad to return home PRESIDENT WILSON AND THE PEACE Elected president of the United States in 1912 Woodrow Wilson had kept his country out of the conflict when it began in 1914 But the American public followed the war closely in newspapers which featured front page reports of German atrocities in Belgium In 1915 a German submarine sank the RMS Lusitania and 128 American civilians died After Wilson's reelection in 1916 American opinion began to turn In April 1917 Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war Congress agreed and American troops began landing in Europe later that year Wilson believed the end of the war when it came should bring a new era of peace based on several important principles He laid out these ideas known as the Fourteen Points in a speech to Congress in January 1918 That fall German leaders saw the Fourteen Points as the basis for an armistice with the Allies The United Kingdom and France had been fighting for more than four years They had expended huge sums on the war and suffered nearly 10 million military casualties Trench warfare and artillery bombardments had devastated the
Rep Woodrow Wilson reads the Fourteen points to Congress plains of Belgium and northern France British and French leaders wanted no less than an unconditional surrender by Germany Wilson insisted the Allies accept Germany's offer Otherwise he promised the United States would negotiate a separate peace with Germany He also insisted that Wilhelm II the emperor of Germany must abdicate or give up power France and the United Kingdom were not prepared to carry on without American help On November 9 Germany announced that Wilhelm had given up his throne Two days later Germany France and the United Kingdom signed the armistice ending the war in western Europe Germany was to retreat immediately
from France and Belgium allow Allied troops to occupy three cities on Germany's side of the Rhine River and submit to other severe terms HARSH TERMS AT VERSAILLES The Allies threatened to resume the war if Germany should take any hostile actions or break the terms of the armistice The leaders of the United Kingdom France the United States and Italy agreed to meet in Versailles near the French capital of Paris They would draw up an agreement formally ending the war and setting permanent terms of the peace on Germany SUBMARINED INTO WAR The sinking of the Lusitania was only one to believe open submarine warfare was the of many incidents that led to American way to victory After all the United States involvement in World War In the spring of was already supplying arms to Germany's 1916 after a German submarine sank the enemies which made the United States in unarmed French ship Sussex Woodrow effect an enemy combatant A few sinkings Wilson threatened to cut off all diplomatic might even end the war before the Americans ties with Germany The result was the Sussex could send troops across the Atlantic Pledge in May 1916 Germany agreed that In January Germany declared its intention U boats would not attack any passenger ships to resume unrestricted submarine warfare or ships of neutral countries U boat captains and by the end of March 1917 U boats had would also allow crews of enemy merchant sent several American ships to the bottom ships to abandon their vessels before of the Atlantic Ocean For Wilson this was an attack the last straw that would make the president As the war dragged on without result break his own pledge of neutrality in the war however German naval commanders came
WOODROW WILSON 1856 1924 Running on the slogan He kept us out of war Woodrow Wilson was reelected president of the United States in 1916 But within six months he had brought the United States into World War I on the side of the Allies Wilson emerged as the global political hero of World War I But as the Europeans hailed his accomplishment Wilson came to believe he did not need to compromise with Germany with the Allies or with the opposing political party at home Wilson a Democrat appointed no Republicans to the Versailles peace commission He tolerated no opposition to the League of Nations the newly formed international organization dedicated to world peace among the leaders of the United Kingdom and France And he made no concessions to treaty opponents in Congress insisting the document be ratified just as he had negotiated it As a result the treaty was defeated in Congress Opposing politicians believed it would set the United States up for dangerous entanglements in future European troubles Bitter and disappointed Wilson suffered declining health and in the last months of his presidency became bedridden 11
