Home » A History of American Involvement in Europe

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America made tremendous economic advances after the devastating ravages of the Civil War. An industrial revolution expanded throughout America, fed by waves and waves of immigrants who poured into the country in the nineteenth century. Between 1815 and 1914 over thirty-five million European immigrants entered America. They came for a myriad of reasons including a rising European population having placed pressures on obtaining employment; higher taxes in Europe; the threat of conscription; the world had become a smaller place with the advent of steam ships, mass circulation newspapers and the electric telegraph; national catastrophes such as the Great Famine in Ireland, the collapse of the economy in southern Italy after unification and anti-Semitic pogroms in Tsarist Russia all drove people to seek a new life in the new world. America became involved diplomatically with some of the European powers when it became drawn into the scramble for Asia. It also clashed with and defeated Spain in 1898, seizing the Philippines and Cuba in the process, this result was all significant as it illustrated that Spain was no longer the mighty empire it once was and that there was a new kid on the block. The outbreak of World War One in Europe was watched with horror from the far-side of the Atlantic, public opinion swayed behind Britain and France, the latter for their support during the American War of Independence and the for the former because of their shared language and culture. Nonetheless the majority of Americans remained committed isolationists and America chose to remain out of World War One for the time being.

However, the horrors of the World War One became unavoidable and pressure was mounted by the Polish, Ukrainian and Jewish communities in America whose countries were being devastated by the Triple Entente. Still America remained isolated, neither side managing to persuade them to join their cause but if they were going to sign up it was always going to be on the side of the Triple Entente, no question. Pressure continued to mount, Britain and France succeed in securing loans from America, while a German U-boat sunk the passenger ship the Lusitania resulting in the death of 128 Americans. American public opinion became further enraged with the publication of the Zimmerman telegram in January 1917. The telegram was sent by the Foreign Secretary of Germany to the German ambassador in Washington directing him that if it seemed likely that America were to enter the war, he was to approach the Mexican government with a proposal for a military alliance. In March the Tsar was toppled by a democratic government removing the final obstacle and America declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917. American forces were commanded by General Pershing, he was adamant that his soldiers would form an independent fighting force and would not be led by British or French commanders. He quickly abandoned this stance during the Ludendorff offensive when it appeared likely that the Entente forces were going to collapse, Pershing sent his troops wherever they were needed. The American role in the war was decisive with half a million troops arriving in Europe in June 1917 alone.

The writing was on the wall and the Central Powers capitulated and sought an armistice in October 1918. Peace negotiations were based on Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, he was forced to compromise but he remained steadfast in his resolve for self-determination and the League of Nations. America, though decided to stay out of it, job done they returned to their isolationist ways. Throughout the Twenties they withdrew further and further from world affairs, passing a number of immigration acts which effectively ended mass immigration into the US. Times were good in America as the economy boomed, this was in direct comparison to a Europe reeling after World War One and burdened by crippling war debts. Germany in particular was on its knees, leading President Coolidge's Vice President to present the Dawes Plan which poured investment into Germany. Many commentators have accused the Dawes Plan as been one of the major contributory factors of the Wall Street Crash and the subsequent Great Depression. The Dawes Plan signalled a huge wave of investment in Germany, reaching almost four thousand million dollars between 1924 and 1929. In addition, a further eight and a half thousand million dollars was invested by Wall Street in other foreign enterprises. Many of these investments proved to be uneconomical and offered very little return. Of course there were other contributory factors which included - a huge bulk of capital was lodged in small banks rather than in central banks, therefore it was not accessible if a slump threatened and after a long spectacular boom in 1927 there was a gradual erosion of confidence as a result of a series of financial scandals and a gradual decline in industrial and agricultural prices.