Chapter 19-1 Critical Thinking # 4 & 5

4) Why were America's ties with the Allies stronger than its ties with the Central Powers?

For one, the Allies got the Americans' pity when Germany went through Belgium, attacking citizens, destroying villages, hospitals, libraries and Cathedrals. More importantly, though, were America's economic ties to the Allies, which were much stronger than America's economic ties with the Triple Alliance. America's trade with Britain and France was more than double its trade with Germany before the war, and this became even more true when the war started and the Allies came to America to buy supplies. The U.S. shipped millions of dollars of dynamite, cannon powder, copper wire, tubing, and armored cars to the Allies, and more requests continued to come until it it caused a labor shortage in 1915. In addition to this, many Americans felt closer to Britain due to common ancestry and language, as well as similar systems of government and legal systems.


5) Why do you think Germany escalated its U-Boat attacks in 1917?
-Germany's military buildup
-the effects of the British blockade
-Germany's reason for using submarine warfare

I think that Germany escalated its U-Boat attacks because the country was suffering in the war and it was the most effective and easy way for them to retaliate. Britain's blockade, for example, kept weapons, military supplies, and most importantly, food from getting into Germany, as well as blocking neutral ports and the entire North Sea. This made it very difficult for Germany to import food and crop fertilizers, and as a result there was famine by 1917 and about 750,000 Germans died of starvation. Germany was desperate for a way to retaliate against Britain, and U-Boat attacks were one of the few ways it could make an impression upon the country, and actually hurt the British.
I think that Germany used submarine warfare because soldiers had become rather useless with trench warfare, fighting for yards of land and with thousands dying just to gain a few miles of land. Submarines were difficult to detect, and made it easy for Germany penetrate into Britain's waters in order to fire upon any British of Allied ship. The threat against non-military ships also had the potential to keep merchant ships from trading with Britain, as they did not want to be fired upon just for being in British waters, as well as making it difficult for Britain to export.
Germany's military buildup was also a factor in their use of U-Boat attacks. For 3 years, Germany was locked in trench warfare with Allied soldiers, in which all that could be done was for soldiers to make a charge at enemy lines every now and then only to be mowed down by machine guns, in hopes of gaining a few yards of land. Soldiers on land were not accomplishing much; in 5 months of trench warfare, 1.2 million men were killed and only about 7 miles of ground changed hands. It appears that Britain and the Allies did not have a good way to combat the submarine warfare, and it was also a good way to fight navy ships.