Although President Wilson campaigned on the slogan “He kept us out of the war,” in fact he wanted the US to be involved. He was constantly offering to mediate, an offer that no one took seriously. After his reelection in Nov 1916, by April 1917 Wilson proposed war. He gave two reasons for the war, the attempt to get Mexico to attack the United States outlined in the Zimmerman Telegram, and the unrestricted submarine warfare Germany conducted around Great Britain.
One cannot always count on one’s opponents being stupid, but it does happen. The Zimmerman telegram intercepted by British Intelligence is a good example. This telegram proposed that if Mexico attacked America they could count on German support to claiming Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. There was no way that the Mexican government would ever try to attack the United States, no matter what encouragements were offered by Germany. In a final act of stupidity, Ambassador Zimmerman actually admitted that he had written the telegram proposing that Mexico attack. If there ever is a Hall of Shame for dumb politicians, Zimmerman will have his own exhibit, maybe even his own wing.
The other reason for the war listed by Wilson was submarine warfare. An example of this was the sinking of the Lusitania. A history website tells us about it:
As always, there is more to the story than this. Near the start of the war in August 1914, the British, wanting to leverage the might of the Royal Navy, imposed a blockade of German ports. This blockage was very effective, causing starvation in Germany and the eventual deaths of 763,000 civilians, according to official statistics. Germany responded with the only advantage she had, which was her submarine service, the most advanced in the world. Germany declared the North Sea and the area around the British Isles a British “military area” and warned that any ships entering this area, including those from neutral countries, were subject to submarine attack.
While the sinking of the Lusitania killed over 1000 people, the British Navy killed far more with their blockade. How dare the “Hun” attack an innocent ship!
Most passengers were unaware of two crucial facts about the Lusitania. First, she was secretly subsidized by the British government, and in return was built to meet with specifications to allow her to be converted to an Armed Merchant Cruiser if the need arose. She had magazines for powder and ammunition, and gun mounts concealed underneath her decks. Second, on her final voyage she was carrying contraband (military cargo), including 4.3 million rounds of Remington .303 cartridges, used in both rifles and machine guns. Passengers were not aware of the contraband, but the Germans, via their spy network, almost certainly were. In fact, the German Embassy in Washington took out an ad in the New York newspapers, warning people not to book passage on the Lusitania. The German notice was printed next to a Cunard Line advertisement for the voyage, and caused a stir. Many people took heed, and the Lusitania was only at about half capacity on the final voyage.
This is how propaganda works. Even when every word is true and accurate, it can still be false by only selectively citing what you want the public to hear. WWI was an easily avoidable war. The reason it happened was the division of Europe into sides or alliances. When a junior partner in the German alliance had their head of state assassinated, war became inevitable since Germany felt that an ally in the Austro-Hungarians was needed. Interestingly, Serbia, where the assassination took place, basically gave Austro-Hungary everything they wanted. It was not enough.
As most historians will admit, like A.J.P. Taylor for example, WWII was directly caused by the horrid peace treaty of Versailles at the end of WWI. Once there is a “them” and an “us,” war can continue from generation to generation.
This is how the media works. An incident happens and then it is twisted to serve the purpose of war.