On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson presented a "Declaration of War" against Germany to Congress. Though he had run for re-election in 1916 with the platform "he kept us out of war," Wilson was frustrated by unrestricted submarine warfare carried out by the Germans. Part of the beginning of his speech read:
"Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents.…"
In other words, Wilson was condemning the German policy, announced by their government, of sinking boats, even those of neutral countries, without warning.
The German government would have opposed this declaration for several reasons. First, the navy of Great Britain had imposed a blockade of German ports since the beginning of the war. This blockade made it very hard for Germans to get food and supplies, and it was virtually causing starvation in Germany. As a result, the Germans felt that they had the right to retaliate against British ships. Second, the German government felt that submarines needed the element of surprise to successfully sink ships, so they could not provide any warning to enemy ships. Submarines were very exposed when they surfaced, so they needed to attack without providing any warning. Finally, the German government may have responded that Wilson's real reasons to go to war also resulted from the Zimmermann telegram, in which a German government official asked the Mexican government to help it fight against the United States. That may have also motivated Wilson to declare war, and he may have been using German submarine warfare as a pretext to some degree.
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