Professional Custom Accounting: Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare against their 19155 agreement with the U.S.

Professional Custom Accounting: Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare against their 19155 agreement with the U.S.

· After World War I began in 1914, the United States proclaimed a policy of strict neutrality, with President Wilson trying to broker peace.

· American public opinion was strongly divided, with most Americans until early 1917 supporting the United States staying out of the war.

· When the German U-boat U-20 sank the British liner Lusitania on May 7, 1915, with 128 U.S. citizens aboard, Wilson demanded an end to attacks on passenger ships as they were in violation of international law and of human rights; Germany complied.

· Wilson came under pressure from war hawks led by former president Theodore Roosevelt, who denounced German acts as “piracy.” Public opinion, angry over the sinking of the Lusitania, began to sway in favor of entering the war.

· In January 1917, Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare against their 19155 agreement with the U.S.

· The German Foreign minister, Arthur Zimmermann, invited revolution-torn Mexico to join the war as Germany’s ally against the United States in the Zimmermann Telegram. This was intercepted by the British and given to the Americans, who saw it as a cause for war.

· The United States declared war on the German Empire on April 6, 1917, and immediately began sending troops to France.