No one reads History anymore, but, too often, they engage in the most rancid conspiracy theory mongering, a mixture of equal parts ignorance and bile. (Start at 1:35:44 of the clip from Wilson (1944), a hagiographic treatment of the 28th President, and a box office failure, but it nails accurately enough what propelled the US into World War I.)
Reading Barbara Tuchman’s seminal works on World War I should be required reading at both high school and college – I read all of her works in high school as a junior and again in college. Actually suggested that her Guns of August be read in the above thread on X.
And no, history isn’t taught anymore- “social studies” replaced history, government and geography in the 1960s. Just glad that my father passed down his love of history
Don, I read an account of Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare campaign which did lead to the U.S. entry. Germany’s supposed rationale, at least in part, was to break the allies sea blockade of Germany which left much of their population starving. They were seeking to impose a blockade on Great Britain in the hopes of prompting a lifting of the allies blockade which was not limited to war related materials but to food and medicine. Does your reading of history support that view?
The naval blockade of Germany was having a devastating impact on Germany by 1917. Why they didn’t better exploit the vast rich agricultural areas they had conquered in the East has never been adequately explained. Submarine warfare was in its infancy during World War I. It was not the weapon it was in WWII. German persistence in a policy that offered little chance of working and angered the US is one of many self defeating policies that the Germans engaged in during the War. The Germans also engaged in continuing sabotage of US industry, including the Black Tom explosion of 1916, that were clear acts of war against a neutral power.
At your local university library, there may still be a treasure trove of diplomatic history on the war published in the interwar period and after. Helps if you are conversant in several languages, of course.
And no, history isn’t taught anymore- “social studies” replaced history, government and geography in the 1960s. Just glad that my father passed down his love of history
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IMO, secondary school academic subjects should be taught by people with actual subject training, not teachers’ college clots like Tim Walz. Teacher training for secondary school academic specialists should consist of a short menu of methods courses (say, four) followed by an internship and then a stipended apprenticeship where you work under the supervision of a certified master teacher. Compiling credits in your subject (say, >42 credits with D-credits excluded) should antedate that.
The answer is always the same…
Someone touched one of America’s boats. (Don’t do that.)
https://youtube.com/shorts/wnn-BpfRnPo?si=8rxwi868xB439Raf
Very good, Nate!
Since searches for “root causes” are popular these days, I would note that the cause of many (not all) problems in Europe the last century has been that inflamed pimple on Europe’s backside, Serbia. It has only been recently that staying out of the Balkans is the best policy.
“One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans.”
Chancellor Otto von Bismarck (1888)
I used to tell my sons that WW1 began because a Serbian assassinated the Archduke of Austria, so naturally Germany invaded France. They always got a kick out of that. Of course we then had the appropriate lessons to learn the details. But that has stuck with them over the years.