On This Day In History: America Joins the First World War

On this day in 1917, the United States Congress approved President Woodrow Wilson’s request to declare war on Germany.

Several immensely important events preceded Wilson's decision to ask for the declaration of war four days earlier ...

🔥The sinking of the Lusitania on May 7, 1915 which caused the deaths of 1,195 people, including 128 Americans.

🔥The interception of the Zimmerman telegram sent from Germany to Mexico in January 1917 encouraging a Mexican invasion of the Southern United States.

🔥The resumption of unfettered German submarine warfare on February 1, 1917.

These events pushed the American population away from isolationism and reticence and into the muddy, bloody soaked trenches of the Western Front.

It is without doubt that the arrival of American soldiers in France in 1917 contributed enormously to the eventual outcome of the war in November 1918.