TWENTIETH CENTURY
AMERICANS
-- 2 1--
A WAR A N D A PEAC E
TAKE UP THE
SWORD OF JU5TICB
InAugust1914 ,a w ars ta rte d on the continentof
Europe.Itwasth e beginningo f a strugglethatlasted
formore th anfouryear s,b rou g ht death to millions
ofpeopleandchanged thehi story o f t heworld .A t
thetime people called the conflict theGrea t War.
Lateritw as calledtheFirst World War.
The m aincountriesfightingthewarwere.ono ne
side.Fran ce.GreatBritainandRussia.T he yw ere
kno w n asrh cAllies.Ont he other sideth e mam
88co un trieswereGerma nyandAustria.whowere
call edth eCentra l Po w ers.
MostA mer ican swantedtokeepoutoft hewar.
T he)' sawitasJpurdyEuropeanaffairthatwasnot
the-irconce rn.WhenPr esidentWilso nsaid thatth ey
sho u ldbe"impartial in thoughtas wellas in act ion."
m o stpeoplewereread ytoagtl"Cwithhim.
Hu tAmericansfoundit difficultto stayimparti alto r
long .Inthefi rsrdaysofthewartheGerman
govt:"rn m t"ntsentitsarmies m archin gintoneutral
Belgium. T h is shockedman yAmericans.Theyw ere
evenmore shockedwhennew sp ape rsprinted
rep on s - ofi:enfalseorexaggerated-ofGerman
crueltytoward s Belgian civ ilians.
Fro mth everybegin nin gofth e war the strong
Brit ishnavy preventedGermansh ipsfromtrading
with the UnitedStates.But trade betweentheUnited
Sta tesandthe Alliesgrewq u ickly.B y 1915
Amer icanfacto riesweremakin gvas tquantitiesof
\...·capon sandm unitionsand sellingth emtoBritain
and France.
Germanlead erswere dete rmined to sto p thisflowof
armament s totheirenemies.T hey announcedin
Febru ar y 1 t.J15,th atthey wo uld sin k all Allied
m er ch antships in th e seasaro und the British Isles.
O n ahazyafternoon in May , abig Brit i shpassen ger
sh ipcalled theL nsitaniaw asn eari ng th e endofits
voyage fromth eUnited Sta res to Britain.Suddenly.
withoutan y w arning .it was hitbyatorpedofroma
G er m an sub ma rine.Withinminutes theLusitania
wassin k ing. Mor eth an1.000passen ger s went with
it tothe bottomo f t he ocean.One h u ndr ed and
rwcnr y-cighto f tho sepasscngerswereA mericans.
T hesi nki ngoftheLIHital/iam ad e Americansvcry
angry .Some begantothinkthatGermanywould do