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Causes Which Led United States into the War

    When Switzerland county citizens read in the daily papers of the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, on June 28, 1914, they paid but little more attention to the news than they would have done to an item pertaining to the accidental drowning of an unknown man in the Mississippi river.

    At that time they did not know that Germany had been secretly planning for forty years for a war to overthrow the world, and that the assassination of the Archduke and his wife would be seized upon by Germany as the opportunity to gain control of all the other nations of the earth.

    On July 28, 1914, Austria Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia immediately announced that she would stand by Serbia and ordered her troops mobilized. On August 1st Germany declared war on Russia, and on the same day France, knowning that Germany would soon declare war on her, began mobilizing troops. On August 2d Germany demnded [sic] free passage through Belgium for her troops. On August 3d Germany declared war on France and France declared war on Germany. On the same date Belgium rejected Germany's demand and on the following day, August 4, 1914, Germany declared war on Belgium. On the same day England declared war on Germany. During the four years and three months that the war continued the following declarations of war were made:

Austria against Belgium, August, 29, 1914.
Austria against Japan, August 27, 1914.
Austria against Montenegro, August 9, 1914.
Austria against Russia, August 6, 1914.
Austria against Serbia, July 28, 1914.
Belgium against Germany, August 4, 1914.
Brazil against Germany, October 26, 1917.
Bulgaria against Serbia, October 14, 1915.
China against Austria, August 14, 1917.
China against Germany, August 14, 1917.
Costa Rica against Germany, May 23, 1918.
Cuba against Germany, April 7, 1917.
Cuba against Austria-Hungary, Dec. 16, 1917.
France against Austria, August 13, 1914.
France against Bulgaria, October 16, 1915.
France against Germany, August 3, 1914.
France against Turkey, November 5, 1914.
Germany against Belgium, August 4, 1914.
Germany against France, August 3, 1914.
Germany against Portugal, March 9, 1916.
Germany against Roumania, September 14, 1916.
Germany against Russia, August 1, 1914.
Great Britain against Austria, August 13, 1914.
Great Britain against Bulgaria, October 15, 1915.
Great Britain against Germany, August 4, 1914.
Great Britain against Turkey, November 5, 1914.
Greece against Bulgaria, November 28, 1916 (Provisional Government)
Greece against Bulgaria, July 2, 1917 (Government of Alexander).
Greece against Germany, November 28, 1916 (Provisional Government).
Greece against Germany, July 2, 1917 (Government of Alexander).
Guatelmala against Germany and Austria-Hungary, April 22, 1918.
Haiti against Germany, July 15, 1918.
Honduras against Germany, July 19, 1918.
Italy against Austria, May 24, 1915.
Italy against Bulgaria, October 19, 1915.
Italy against Germany, August 28, 1916.
Italy against Turkey, August 21, 1915.
Japan against Germany, August 23, 1914.
Liberia against Germany, August 4, 1917.
Montenegro against Austria, August 8, 1914.
Montenegro against Germany, August 9, 1914.
Nicaragua against Germany, May 24, 1918.
Panama against Germany, April 7, 1917.
Panama against Austria, December 10, 1917.
Portugal against Germany, November 23, 1914. (Resolution passed authorizing military intervention as ally of England.)
Portugal against Germany, May 19, 1915. (Military aid granted.)
Roumania against Austria, August 27, 1916. (Allies of Austria also considered it a declaration.)
Russia against Germany, August 7, 1914.
Russia against Bulgaria, October 19, 1915.
Russia against Turkey, November 3, 1914.
San Marino against Austria, May 24, 1915.
Serbia against Bulgaria, October 16, 1915.
Serbia against Germany, August 6, 1914.
Serbia against Turkey, December 2, 1914.
Siam against Austria, July 22, 1917.
Turkey against Allies, November 23, 1914.
Turkey against Roumania, August 29, 1916.
United States against Germany, APril 6, 1917.
United States against Austria-Hungary, December 7, 1917.

    The United States govenment did all in its power to keep out of the world conflict and on several occasions President Wilson endeavored to bring about peace between the warring nations.

    As early as 1915, however, it became evident that Germany had the United States infested with thousands of spies who, until the moment the United States declared war on Germany, concentrated their efforts on destroying grain elevators, arsenals, ammunition factories, and in spreading propaganda which would create sympathy for Germany among the citizens of the United States.

    The history of submarine operations of the Central Powers is one long record of outrages perpetrated on American citizens and American property; a succession of protests on the part of the government of the United States, headed by President Woodrow Wilson, and of assurances and promises made and later violated by the German and Austrian govenments.

    More than two hundred Americans had gone to their deaths through this submarine warfare up to the time diplomatic relations were severed on February 3, 1917. Most of the Americans lost were traveling on unarmed merchant ships and, under the practices of international law and humanity, believed themselves secure. The ships lost on which the Americans met death are only a fraction of the number sent to the bottom by torpedoes--most of them without warning.

    The first American of whom there is a record to lose his life in submarine attack was Leon T. Thresher, a passenger on the British steamship Falaba, bound from Liverpool for West Africa, which was torpedoed and sunk on March 27, 1915, off Milford, England. The Falaba, after a hopeless attempt to escape stopped, and while boats were being lowered and passengers were still aboard, the submarine drove a torpedo into her side and she went down in ten minutes. Of 242 persons, 136 were saved. The American was among the lost.

    The first American ship attacked was the Gulflight, an oil tank vessel, from Port Arthur, Texas, to Rouen, France, torpedoed without warning off the Scilly Islands on May 1, 1915. Two men jumped overboard and were drowned; her captain died of heart failure. The Gulflight did not sink and was towed to port by British patrols. The german government acknowledged the attack as an accident, expressed its regrets and promised to pay damages.

    The next attack was one which shocked the civilized world and brought the United States and Germany for the first time to the verge of war. It was the destruction of the Lusitania on May 7, 1915. Unarmed, with 1,257 passengers, of whom 159 were Americans, and a crew of 702, she was torpedoed without warning and sunk in 23 minutes off Old Head of Kinsale, as she was nearing Liverpool. In all, 1,198 lives were lost, of which 124 were Americans, many of them of national prominence. The case passed into diplomatic negotiations which never took final form.

    While the Lusitania case was still fresh in the public mind, a German submarine torpedoed another American ship--the Nebraskan--without warning, on May 25, 1915, south of Fastnet Rock. The Nebraskan owed her safety to her seaworthiness. She reached port damaged, under her own steam, and no one was injured. The German government again expressed its regret for a mistake and promised to pay damages.

    Twenty American negro muleteers on the Leyland steamship Armenian were killed on June 28, 1915, by shell fire and drowning when the Armenian failed to escape with her cargo of army mules from a submersible near the Cornwall coast.

    The next submarine attack in which Americans were endangered was unsuccessful, but only because the steamship Orduna, of the Cunard line, proved too speedy for her pursuer. After sending a torpedo just under the Orduna's stern, the submarine rained shells after the fleeing vessel without hitting her and then gave up the chase. Germany explained that the submarine commander had failed to observe his orders, and that more explicit instructions had been issued.

    Three Americans were endangered when the Russian steamship Leo was torpedoed without warning on her way from Philadelphia to Manchester, England, on July 9, 1915.

    On July 25, 1915, came the first destruction of an American ship by submarine. It was the Leelanaw of New York, bound from Archangel to Belfast, with flax, which is contraband. She was caught northwest of the Orkney Islands. The Leelanaw, besides carrying contraband, attempted to escape. As a neutral ship her destruction was a doubtful right of any belligerent. She finally stopped, as the German submarine was firing at her, and then sent her papers over to the submersible by a small boat.

    On August 19, 1915, came the celebrated case of the Nicosian of the Leyland line, and the British patrol boat Baralong. The Nicosian, with mules from New Orleans to Avonmouth, was stopped by a submarine off the coast of Ireland, and her crew, including 36 Americans, took to the boats. While the submarine was making ready to destroy the Nicosian, the Baralong appeared and destroyed the submarine by gunfire, took on the Nicosian's crew and towed the ship to safety.

    The next crisis came on August 19, 1915, when the Arabic of the White Star Line, from Liverpool to New York, was torpedoed without warning near the Lusitania's grave and sunk in about ten minutes. Out of 375 passengers and crew 48 were lost. Thirty Americans were on board and all but two were saved. The German government contended the submarine commander thought the Arabic was about to ram him, and fired in self defense, but disavowed the act, expressed regret and gave additional assurances for the future safety of passenger ships.

    One American of the crew of the Hesperian of the Allan line was lost on September 4, 1915, when the ship returning to Liverpool from Montreal, was torpedoed and sunk without warning off the southern coast of Ireland. The German admiralty contended no German submarine was in that vicinity, but a piece of a German torpedo had been picked up on the Hesperian's deck.

    Austria's first submarine operations of consequence, and those which brought Germany's closest ally into the situation, began with the destruction of the Italian steamship Anacona, in the Mediterranean on November 7, 1915. With hundreds of passengers, many of them women and children from Naples to New York, the Ancona was chased and stopped by an Austrian submarine. Twelve Americans were on board and nine were lost. Italian official figures say 308 passengers were lost out of 507 on board. Some of the American survivors swore the Austrian submarine even shelled the lifeboats as the passengers were getting into them.

    On December 5, 1915, a submarine presumably an Austrian, attacked the American oil steamship Petrolite off the coast of Tripoli. A sailor was injured by a shot into the Petrolite's engine room and the submarine continued firing after the Petrolite had swung broadside so the submarine commander could see her name painted on her side and the American flag flying between her masts. The submarine commander finally permitted the Petrolite to proceed after he had taken some of her stores.

    A new crisis, and the first suspicion that German submarines were operating in the Mediterranean, or that Austria submaries were being manned by German officers and crews, were developed by the destruction of the British steamship Persia on December 30, 1915, southeast of Crete, while on her way to the Orient. Mr. McNeeley, American consul, on his way to his post at Aden, was among the 335 passengers who lost their lives, of whom two or more were Americans. The wake of a torpedo was seen but no submarine was visible. Germany, Austria and Turkey denied responsiblity. The United States again made representations, and assurances were given for what Germany termed "crusier warfare," which involved a promise not to sink any peaceful ships without warning or providing for the safety of those aboard.

    With the coming of winter and the chilling storms which sweep the North Sea, submarine warfare was transferred to the warmer waters of the Mediterranean and then finally was much restricted until the spring of 1916. On March 1 of that year the submarine campaign was resumed with renewed ruthlessness.

    The Patria of the French line, carrying no armanent whatever, sailing from Naples to New York, was attacked without warning by a submarine north of Tunis. Passengers and crew saw the torpedo pass harmlessly under the Patria's stern and some saw a periscope. The Patria put on full speed and escaped further attack, but had another narrow escape in the same way the next month. Americans were on board in both instances.

    With the renewal of the submarine campaign the destruction of ships some times numbered as many as ten in one day. In every instance where American lives were taken, Germany apologized and promised to see that such a thing did not occur again.

    On April 19, 1916, President Wilson publicly warned Germany not to pursue her submarine policy. On May 8, 1916, the Cymric, White Star liner, was torpedoed off the Irish coast. On November 29, 1916, the Minnewaska, an Atlantic transport liner, was sunk by a mine in the Mediterranean. On January 31, 1917, Germany announced her intention of sinking all vessels in the war zone around the British Isles, and on February 3, 1917, the United States severed diplomatic relations with Germany and Count Von bernstorff was handed his passports.

    During the month of February, 1917, the submarine unrestricted warfare resulted in the sinking of 134 vessels and a number of the persons killed and drowned were Americans.

    On March 18, 1917, the City of Memphis, Illinois and Vigilancia, three American ships, were torpedoed.

    On March 21, 1917, the American ship Healdton, bound from Philadelphia to Rotterdam, was sunk by a submarine without warning, and 21 men were lost.

    On April 1, 1917, the American armed ship Aztec was sunk in the submarine zone, and on April 5, the American steamer Missourian was sunk in the Mediterranean.

    The United States declared war against Germany on April 6, 1917, and against Austria-Hungary, December 7, 1917.