Chapter 255： U.S. declares war

Sure enough, it did not exceed Edel's expectations. On the tenth day after the outbreak of the Russian Revolution, the United States announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Germany. The reason is that Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare threatens the freedom of shipping and trade in the United States.

When the founding President of the United States, Washington, stepped down in 1796, he confessed to the public: "The important principle of our dealings with foreign countries is: in expanding business relations with them, we should have as few political connections as possible... Use some artificial connections to make ourselves It is certainly unwise to enter Europe’s frequent political rises and declines or frequent enemies and friends.” John Adams said bluntly: “We should regard it as the first principle and never forget: all wars in Europe in the future. China remains neutral.” The diplomatic tone set by the founding leaders of the United States is called isolationism.

Therefore, after the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the then US President Wilson declared US neutrality and demanded that the US "must be neutral not only in name but also in fact." In his message to the envoys of the belligerent countries, he also exhorted: "Don't show any non-neutral feelings. Language and writing won't work."

Since the independence of the United States, it has actually been surrounded by the colonies of the European powers Britain, France, and Spain. It is a wise choice to keep a distance from all European powers. It is a wise choice to keep a distance from all European powers. Disputes in Europe. Another important reason for maintaining neutrality is that the United States is relatively weak and needs to keep a low profile, seek a peaceful development environment, seek development wholeheartedly, and strengthen its own strength.

On the eve of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the United States had fewer than 30,000 troops. Looking at the whole world, it was not as good as Bulgaria. Considering the land area of ​​the United States, this number is pitifully small, and the naval power is even more insignificant. In addition, the United States is a country of immigrants, and European immigrants occupy an important position, and their excessive involvement in the European war may also cause different European ethnic groups in the country to fall into division due to their allegiance to their country of origin. Staying neutral and sitting on the hill watching the tigers fight, you can profit from the European disputes.

War will create a lot of logistical needs. This is an opportunity for American companies. Therefore, the United States not only neutralizes itself, but also hopes that other countries will "let the bullets fly." Throughout the 19th century, the United States took advantage of the contradictions between European countries to expand its territory from east to west, desperately expanding its strength.

The United States purchased Louisiana from France in 1803, forced Spain to abandon Florida in 1819, annexed northern Mexico to become Texas in 1845, signed a treaty with the United Kingdom in 1846 and acquired Oregon, and established New Mexico and Upper California from the annexed territory of Mexico in 1848. , Purchased Alaska from Tsarist Russia in 1867.

The end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century was the "Golden Age" in the United States, and society was advancing violently on the road of progress. The hard power indicator is that in 1890 the US steel production was already the world's largest, and by 1900 the US steel production was 13.3 million tons, roughly the sum of Britain and Germany. The relative share of the United States in world industrial production surpassed that of the United Kingdom in 1900, at 23.6%, and the United Kingdom at 18.5%. The total relative industrial potential also surpassed a quarter of the UK in 1900.

The population of the United States was only 3 million in 1783 and 32 million in 1860. Since the 1880s, the population of the United States has increased rapidly, mainly because a large number of immigrants from Southeast Europe began to flow into the United States. From 39 million in 1870 to 63 million in 1890.

The U.S. military has also developed extremely rapidly since 1898, and it increased to 100,000 in 1900, of which 10,000 were stationed in Cuba and 60,000 were fighting in the Philippines. In 1884, the U.S. Navy also ranked 12th in the world.

In 1914, the United States had a population of 98 million. The national income of $13.7 billion was more than 13 times that of the United Kingdom's $1 billion. The per capita income of $377 was also much higher than the United Kingdom's $244. The total national income of all European countries, including Russia, is equal to that of the United States. The US Navy is third in the world, second only to Britain and Germany. At this time, even the most ignorant people in the old world can feel the strength of American muscles and work hard to adapt. Of course, this also includes the United States itself.

It is not objective to say that the United States will inevitably abandon isolationism just because of muscularity. A major change in diplomatic policy will inevitably involve challenges to core interests. A closer look at American isolationism is not just about maintaining neutrality.

It refers specifically to the relationship between the United States and Europe. It does not apply to other parts of the world. It also refers specifically to politics and military affairs, not economics and culture." This sentence has two meanings. The first meaning is that the United States It's just that they are not involved in military and political disputes in Europe, and other places outside of Europe are not necessarily neutral, especially the Americas.

In 1823, US President James Monroe expressed the red line of isolationism in his seventh State of the Union address to Congress: "We treat all attempts by European countries to expand their systems to any part of the Western Hemisphere as against us. A threat to peace and security. We have never and will not interfere with the existing colonies or possessions of any European country, but for those countries that have declared independence, any interference by any European country in order to oppress them will be regarded as an intervention against the United States. Unfriendly performance."

That is to say, if the powers do things in Europe and the United States does not care, doing things in the Americas belongs to America's core interests. The second meaning is that isolationism is only military and political non-intervention, but it requires equal opportunities in economics and culture. Even in your colonies, you must open your door and share your interests. On the high seas, freedom of navigation is required. This principle reveals the brute force of a backward power. It has the same confidence as Monroeism. It is all saying that American isolationism is Conditional and bottom line. In short, isolationism serves the economy, and interest is the kingly way.

After the outbreak of the First World War, the pockets of American businessmen were filled with massive and high-priced military orders from both sides. In August 1914, France shipped a large amount of gold to the safe of the Morgan Company in the United States in exchange for a loan of 100 million US dollars. In October 1915, Morgan lent another 500 million U.S. dollars to Britain and France. The money could only buy American goods. There are more than 470 million loans and military supplies to Russia. During the First World War, the United States did not refuse trade with Germany and its allies.

But Britain's maritime power was too strong and blocked trade with Germany. The maritime superiority of the British forces quickly evolved the neutral trade of the United States into a de facto channel for blood transfusion to the Allied countries. The maritime trade between Britain and the United States became the hatred of the Germans, and the contradiction between the United States and Germany began to intensify.

On February 4, 1915, the German Admiralty launched an unrestricted submarine war and delineated a blockade on the British islands. All passing surface vessels, military and civilian, will be attacked without warning. The freedom of shipping is restricted and Americans can no longer do business.

On March 28, 1915, the American cruise ship "Falaba" was sunk and an American died. Five weeks later, a large British passenger ship "Lusitania" was sunk in the seas of Southern Ireland, killing more than a thousand people, of which 128 were Americans. The Lusitania incident caused civilian casualties and caused an uproar in American society. When the Germans hailed "We are watching this recent accomplishment of our navy with joy and pride", the public opinion of the Germans is extremely vicious and does not respect basic human rights in the American public.

President Wilson issued extremely strong and threatening diplomatic notes for this. Dissatisfied with this note that may lead to diplomatic missteps and lead to war, Brian angrily resigned, then US Secretary of State and pacifist. In fact, Wilson's biggest political goal at the time was to be re-elected in 1916. During the campaign, he slogan "He kept us away from war", advertised that he would allow the United States to continue trade without participating in the war.

Wilson, who was born in the South, desperately needed votes from the Northeast and the Great Lakes region, which benefited the most from the war trade, so that these voters could continue to profit from the war. Not paying for the war is a prerequisite for Wilson's re-election. Fortunately, after this, the German submarine warfare was somewhat curtailed, but on March 24, 1916, the "Sassex" incident occurred again. The German submarine sank the French passenger ship "Sassex" in the English Channel without warning, and 80 passengers were seriously injured or drowned, including 4 Americans. Although this incident is not serious, it is tantamount to adding fuel to the fire that has deteriorated.

In 1916, the US trade surplus "increased from more than 430 million U.S. dollars to more than 2 billion U.S. dollars, that is, an increase of 3.7 times." The war money of World War I accelerated the upgrading of the US industrial structure. The industry and agriculture, especially the military industry, developed extremely fast, and it also won the initiative in finance, changing from a debtor country to a creditor country. Comparing the volume of transactions between the United States and the Allies and the Allies, we can find that the United States and the Allies are more economically tied up. The capital exported by the United States to Germany only accounts for 2% of the total capital exported by the United States. And if the Allied powers are defeated, the huge US investment will be wiped out, which is obviously not what Americans want to see.

The Germans are at a disadvantage in economic warfare and propaganda warfare. The U.S. government issued an ultimatum to Germany to sever diplomatic relations, and Germany had to announce that it would stop sinking unwarranted merchant ships without warning, that is, the "Sassex Guarantee".

As the war situation changed, on February 1, 1917, Germany once again resumed its most effective naval battle ace-unrestricted submarine warfare, and pushed submarine technology to the peak. Germany judges that even if the United States enters the war, it will take a year and a half for the US military to be assembled and transported to Europe, and whether it can be transported to Europe under the German submarine blockade is another matter. Germany only needs to end the war before the Americans arrive. The Germans are always overconfident when considering the war capabilities of the enemy and ourselves at the risk of strategy and risk.

On February 25, Wilson received a secret telegram from the ambassador to Britain Page, which contained a top-secret telegram from the German Foreign Minister Zimmermann to the German ambassador to Mexico on January 19.

Zimmerman wrote in the telegram: "We intend to start an unrestricted submarine warfare on February 1. At the same time, we will do our best to keep the United States neutral. If we cannot do this, we intend to work with Mexico in the following Establish an alliance on the basis: coordinated operations, conclusion of peace treaties, generous financial assistance, we acquiesce in Mexico to regain the lost lands of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. The details are arranged by you. We expect to go to war with the United States. You should immediately inform the President of Mexico in secret. , And asked him to take the initiative to invite Japan to participate in the war and adjust Japan's relations with us. Please tell the President that the unrestricted submarine warfare will force Britain to make peace within a few months. Please reply if you receive the call.-Zimmerman".

This message not only recognized the need to fight the United States, but also reached out to Mexico, which the United States regards as its back garden. Its effect is undoubtedly explosive. The British made it headline in the Times.

Seeing the enraged American people, Wilson certainly will not let go of this opportunity. On March 12, Wilson passed the Congress to authorize the State Department to declare that the merchant ships operating in the theater of war were armed, and the merchant ships could fire on German submarines.

A few days later, three more ships, "Memphis City," "Illinois," and "Virginia" were sunk. People and goods were damaged, and calls for participation in the war became louder and louder. Then on March 15-18, the U.S. Congress voted to declare war on the Allies, with the slogan of fighting for democracy and freedom (and American money).

After receiving the intelligence of the US declaration of war, Edel watched at most for ten seconds. Now for him, the US has no direct influence on Romania. Because now an event in Russia has the most direct impact on Romania.