Why did the United States declare war on Germany in 1917?
The U.S. declared war on Germany officially in 1917 because the British-French Alliance was losing the war that the Americans were so far financing. The Lusitania and the Zimmerman note, along with the Wilsonian slogan of expanding democracy and self-rule through out the world were the feeding points to the public. In fact, the French-British were not disposed to democracy let alone self rule for their vast empires and out of the 2000 people on the Lusitania, 90% were Britons. America had loaned enough money to France and Britain to cover their entire war effort for all 4 years. The British got their guns and explosives from America. The turning point was when the Germans unrestrcited submarine warfare started to impact the trading business America had with the former two. As it became clear that American boots on the ground were going to be needed to defeat Germany, Wilson already privately biased towards the English, made the move to ask congress to declare war. Unfortunately it was
