wAS the US involvement In ww1 Just and not just?
Just War:
Un-Just War:
- America in world war one was just in a few cases however. in their weaponry, mainly handguns and assault rifles were used. Not many explosives were used, showing that they weren't aiming to kill large amounts of people, only who they needed to remove from the situation. Explosions could cause civilian casualties also, so in that scenario it is somewhat just. The probability of success was really high, because 8 countries were against 4. America had a lot of allies, so the other guys didn't stand a chance once America joined. They came out of the war as one of the only 2 superpowers left in the world, the other being Russia. There was legitimate authority for America to join the war because the us senate voted in 1917 that they could declare war on Germany. The U.S had one of the most powerful navy's in the world, so since a lot of the war was on water, they stood a really good chance.
- The United States had legitimate authority to declare war. Woodrow Wilson, who was president at the time, outlined the case for declaring war on Germany in a speech to the joint houses of congress. This was done on April 2, 1917. On April 4, 1917, the United States Senate voted to support the measure to declare war on Germany. The House concurred this on April 6, 1917. The cause for going to war was just as well, since the Germans were attacking them. America responded in self-defense when 159 Americans were killed in the sinking of the Lusitania, a British passenger ocean liner. The Germans were also suggesting a military alliance with Mexico, which promised Mexico the assistance in helping to claim the southwest territories Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, this is known as the Zimmerman Telegram. Mexico did refuse this deal, though, due to the fact that they were in a revolution and had less military power and politics compared to America at the time.
- A pro From World War One could be that when the U.S. joined the war they became a part of the allied forces which included Russia, United Kingdom, France, and Italy. When the U.S. joined they gained allies form all over Europe. Now after the War the U.S. has allies that they can get help from in any other conflicts. Even though after World War One in World War II Italy joined Germany in the fight against the U.S. Put even though we Lost our allies of Italy we still had allies in Russia, France, and The United Kingdom. The allies that we Gained from WWI have fought with the U.S in countless other wars. Including WWII the allies we made in WWI were a big part of The U.S winning WWII. Will still are Allies with most of the Countries today.
- The probability of success was really high, because 8 countries were against 4. (Link) America had a lot of allies, so the other guys didn't stand a chance once America joined. They came out of the war as one of the only 2 superpowers left in the world, the other being Russia.
- There was legitimate authority for America to join the war because the us senate voted in 1917 that they could declare war on Germany. The U.S had one of the most powerful navies in the world, so since a lot of the war was on water, they stood a really good chance. (Link)
Un-Just War:
- The United States during World War I was not just with the principle last resort of just war. The United States joined the war after the British passenger ocean liner Lusitania was sunk by the Germans, which was carrying 1,959 passengers. 1,198 drowned, 159 of them were Americans. Germany claimed the ship was an enemy ship carrying munitions. This created tensions between America and the Germans. After this, the British had intercepted a German telegram to Mexico and decoded it. Germany suggested a military alliance with Mexico. They were promising to fund Mexico and help them gain the southwest territories Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico to them. The British showed this telegram to Edward Bell, who was the secretary of the United States embassy in Britain. Bell then sent this information informally through a letter to the US ambassador. Once this information was released to the public, the news outraged the American public, only making them want to go the war with Germany even more.
- When the war began, German boats would attack any boat thought to be an enemy, whether it was actually an enemy boat or not didn’t matter. America had a boat in the way before they joined the war, so German boats sank it. It wouldn’t have happened if the boat wasn’t there, and it shouldn’t have been there anyways. (Link) Their probability of Success in the war was pretty high as well, considering that four countries were against america and it’s 7 allies, so they didn't really have to help 7 people fight 4. Also, U.S businesses weren’t large enough to produce enough resources for the war, so back home there was a lot of poverty for U.S citizens. America also joined into the war towards the end to help finish it, which also helped them win because there wasn't as much for them to do as when the war began.
- Americas involvement was not just because of the amount of casualties suffered during the US's involvement in WW1. During the War the Allied forces suffered a total of 10,063,856 casualties. The Central Powers suffered a total of 8,341,264 casualties. The Allied forces may have lost more soldiers but they have a total of 20 countries. The Central Powers have only a total of 4 different countries. So really the Central Powers suffered more from the War then the Allied Powers. World War 1 doesn't follow th principle because the amount of military force that was needed was not proportionate to the amount of casualties suffered.
- The war was not proportional considering casualties. The Central Powers had 15,000,000 casualties. The United States had 300,000 casualties in all. At the time, the Central Powers had only nine countries on their side of the war. The Entente Powers, which America was involved with, had more than forty countries. When both sides are combined, there was more than 65,000,000 mobilized. There was also more than 21,000,000 injured during this war. Nearly 12,800,000 on the Entente Powers were injured while the Central Powers had 8,000,000 wounded. Seven million citizens were also killed during the war. The Central Powers lost more than 1,600,000 civilians due to fighting while the Entente Powers lost more than 600,000. Other civilian deaths for both sides were due to malnutrition and disease. The civilians who had died because of the war’s fighting either died from military action or crimes against humanity.