7.4: The United States and World War I
When World War I broke out, the United States initially vowed to remain neutral. Most Americans did not want to enter the war either, feeling it was more of a European matter. Two factors ostensibly changed the U.S. stance on nonintervention: The sinking of the Lusitania, a British ocean liner carrying 128 Americans (among many others), and the Zimmerman Telegram, which suggested that Germany might have been seeking an alliance with Mexico. The U.S. officially entered the war in 1917.
Read this overview of the period of the U.S. involvement in World War I. The account includes preludes to war and postwar instabilities and their effects.
Read this text about the period from wartime into the age of prosperity and decadence that followed in the 1920s. It also covers some different takes on social attitudes of the time. Feel free to read selectively for those.
Read this article about how World War I and its aftermath changed the global power structures. In particular, it elevated the United States into a world leadership role – although many Americans were hardly enthusiastic about its new position.