Precarious America

During the start of World War I, America’s position remained neutral. Neutral which meant not taking part in the war. The United States was neutral because the US military did not take part or get involved with the dangers. At the start of World War I America was trying to pull itself out of recession. The US economy was declining and trade was slow. But, soon the US found a way to strengthen their economy. Which was to make a profit selling supplies to both sides (allies and central powers) during the war.

In every war there are weaknesses and advantages accompanying both sides at war. For instance, Germany had limited access to the North Sea. This weakness created a problem because supplies and goods passed through the North Sea. The North Sea was where their supplies passed through. With that cut off Germany could no longer receive any more supplies. But, Germany’s advantage relied on their strong army which didn’t help them with their blocked off supply source. As for Britain, they had a strong navy. With that strong navy they had the idea of creating a blockade. Britain knew that if they created the blockade then, it was cut off their supply line. With this in mind the US could take advantage of that blockade and start trading supplies with Europe.

America had many choices presiding the idea of the British blockade. The allies of the US were Russia, Britain, France, Serbia, and Italy. The central powers were Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria. One choice was to trade who they could which was the allies. The problem with that was it could lead to war and upset central powers. The second choice was to not sell to either side (allies and central powers) which helped them avoid war. The problem with the second choice was that the US will lose customers, lose money, and start to come back to recession.

The choice that America finally chose was choice one, to trade with the allies. This left Germany enraged and as a