CHAPTER VII WHY THE UNITED STATES ENTERED THE WAR Wilson's In order to understand thoroughly why the United States finally entered the war and why she was not a participant earlier than April 1917, one need but look into the foreign policy of Woodrow Wilson. This policy as revealed in his mes Foreign Policy. sages and speeches includes six main principles: 1. A fundamental faith in democracy, a belief in man himself. 2. Equality of all nations, irrespective of size. 3. The preservation of peace through fair dealing. 4. The maintenance of international law. 5. Arbitration as a means for the settlement of disputes. 6. Force to be used only to combat criminal aggression and to further great humanitarian purposes. Affairs. President Wilson's foreign policy had been formulated to a considerable degree before the war broke out. The foundations of this policy lay in the Mexican situation where he wished coöperation to Mexican develop with the United States; a coöperation which was possible, he believed, "only when supported at every turn by the orderly processes of just government based upon law, not upon arbitrary or irregular force." Because of this belief, the President refused to acknowledge the presidency of Huerta, feeling that he was unfit to govern and that he had attained power by other means than "by the orderly processes of law," In the Mexican situation Wilson expressed a desire to serve the people of a war ridden land, just as in the the Great War later, he ordered our forces overseas for the "sake of humanity." An imperialistic policy was repudiated when he declared that the American people wanted nothing for themselves in Mexico. For this he was criticised by those who believed firmly in the policy which permits the flag of a country to follow its investors into any place and to declare war to defend private interests. "A war of aggression is not a war in which it is a proud thing to die, but a war of service is one in which it is a good thing to die," he declared. Financial concessions to a nation often have led to political control by the creditor power. For this reason President Wilson objected to the participation of the United States in the "Six Power Loan" to China, a loan made by bankers from Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, and the United States. Representatives of the Financial banking houses in the United States in March 9, 1913, called upon the President and asked his attitude toward their participation in the loan. To these officials he made known that he disapproved of the conditions of the loan inasmuch as it might lead to Concessions. interference in the political affairs of China, but he did wish to open "a door of friendship and mutual advantage," with China. "It is a very perilous thing to determine the foreign policy of a nation in terms of material interest," he declared. It not only is unfair to those with whom you are dealing, but it is degrading as regards your own actions." He carried his point still further by saying that "the United States will never again seek one additional foot of territory by conquest." Imperialism, then, was to have little force in the actions of America under the guidance of Woodrow Wilson. In these statements he developed an emphasis upon the need of a just practice between nations. "Comprehension," said he, "must be the soil in which shall grow all the fruits of friendship, and there is reason and a compulsion lying behind all this which is dearer than anything else to thoughtful men of America. I mean the development of constitutional liberty in the world. Human rights, national integrity, and opportunity as against material interests-that... is the issue. . . Peace. The administration further desired to encourage plans for insuring international peace. During the latter part of the year 1913 and early 1914, thirty-one nations, representing four- International fifths of the population of the world sanctioned the policy of arbitration. It was proposed "that whenever differences of interest or of policy arise that could be resolved by the ordinary processes of diplomacy they shall be publicly analyzed, discussed and reported upon by a tribunal chosen by the parties before either nation determines its course of action. If arbitration could be resorted to, force would no longer be the means for the settlement of disputes between nations. International Wilson's attitude toward the legitimacy and sacredness of international law clearly revealed itself in his correspondence with the belligerent nations in the Great War. To the people of America, the war at first seemed but a repetition of former European quarrels, from which we must stand aloof. Perhaps, we thought, we might offer mediation and endeavor in all possible ways to urge a settlement between the warring powers. There are four distinct stages in Wilson's policy Policy 1914 from 1914 to 1917: Stages in 1917. 1. A period of absolute neutrality, August, 1914 to February, 1915. 2. A period of diplomatic correspondence, in which the freedom of the seas was the chief point at issue. February, 1915 to December, 1915. 3. A period in which there were suggestions of a need for greater preparedness, but where no extensive plans were laid. December, 1915 to February, 1917. 4. A period of armed neutrality in which President Wilson asked the privilege of arming ships for defensive purposes against Germany's submarine attacks. February, 1917 to April, 1917. During the first three stages of Wilson's policy toward the nations at war, Americans, on the whole, were inert. Gradually, however, under the thoughtful and sane leadership of the President, they came to a realization of the issues; came to see that this was not purely an European struggle, but a war in which principles were at stake. During the years of 1916 and 1917 President Wilson's emphasis on the rights of humanity, on the rights of small nations, and the inviolability of international law began to be reëchoed by the American people, so that, when diplomatic relations were severed, they wholeheartedly endorsed that action. They came to realize that to preserve these rights they must take up arms against the aggressors of those rights: Germany and her allies. If President Wilson foresaw our entrance into the war, his attitude in 1914 does not indicate it. Like the American people as a whole, he was interested primarily in the pursuits of peace and abhorred war. At that time, too, the issues involved were not so apparent, but during the year 1915 the views of the President were shaping themselves in such a way that in May, 1916, he said: "We are participants whether we would or not, in the life of the world. The interest of all nations are our own also. . . What affects mankind is inevitably our affair as well as the affair of the nations of Europe and of Asia. . . Henceforth. . . there must be a common agreement for a common object, and . . . at the heart of that common object must lie the inviolable rights of peoples and mankind. . We believe these fundamental things: First, that every people has a right to choose the sovereignty under which they live. . . Second, that the small states of the world have a right to enjoy the same respect for their sovereignty and for their territorial integrity that great and powerful nations expect and insist upon, and third, that the world has a right to be free from every disturbance of its peace that has its origin in aggression and disregard of the rights of peoples and nations." Memorial Day, 1916, in response to those clinging to Washington's policies, he declared that he himself would never consent to an en League to Enforce tangling alliance, but that he sanctioned a "disentangling alliance—an alliance which would disentangle the peoples of the world from those combinations in which they seek their own separate and private interests and unite the people of the world to preserve the peace of the world upon a basis of common right and justice. There is liberty there, not limitation. There is freedom, not entanglement. There is achievement of the highest things for which the United States has declared its principle." Here he definitely advocated that the United States become a member of an alliance to keep the peace of the world,-A League to Enforce Peace. Gradually and yet surely, President Wilson's policies became those of the mass of the American people. Slowly a realization came that this was a war which vitally concerned the American Exponent of people, a war in which there was not merely a contest be Wilson the the Policies of the People. tween armies, but one in which there was a contest between forms of political organization. This realization expanded and developed until, when on April 6th, President Wilson and Congress declared that a state of war existed between the United States of America and Germany, American hearts were thrilled to undertake the task of "making the world safe for democracy." Throughout the period of the war, President Wilson was our leader, our spokesman. With most Americans, he abhorred war and endeavored in every way to keep out of it. But with most Americans, when our nationality was trampled under foot he whole-heartedly became a participant in the struggle. Reasons for a Declar ation of War The United States entered the Great War because Germany failed to observe the rights of small nations; because she had no regard for international law; because she sanctioned atrocities and willingly and knowingly violated the rights of neutrals; and because she disregarded the principles of right and justice, upon which America and other democratic and civilized countries have based their institutions. |