Not mean inactivity as the u. S. Sold to both the ally and central powers. See also talked houseboat how the u. S. , it faced criticism how it treated its own decenters and minorities. This is just over an hour. Good morning, everyone. So this morning were going to be talking about or rather we will begin our conversation about neutrality. That conversation will last over the course of several lectures. So well wrap up other countries neutralities, but this morning were going to really focus on what neutrality looked like and meant for americans especially in the first half of the war. So the thing i want you to understand the most, and this is really vital because its a very different understanding of neutrality than we have today. Neutrality at the beginning of the war did not mean inactivity. It did not mean passivity. And it most certainly did not mean impartiality. So if it doesnt mean those things then what on earth does neutrality mean . The definition of neutrality differs with each country. Some like belgium will say they never gave up their neutrality. They were invaded, right, but they always remained officially neutral. So they were aggrieved against as a neutral country. Others like switzerland will say were neutral and to prove it, dylan, im going to hold your wallet, and kia, im going to hold your wallet and thats how im neutral. In the case of the United States neutrality will for the most part mean that they will do business with whoever and the very willingness to do business with both germans or rather the central powers and the allies is proof of their neutrality. So a lot of people are surprised to learn at the beginning of the war the u. S. Traded with and maintained diplomatic relations with all of the belligerent nations. Now, some of those relationships were strained to be sure. One of my favorite examples is the one of both the first and last Ottoman Empire ambassador appointed to the United States, alfred doblinski, a polish turk and he is appointed to d. C. And hes given one instruction from his departure from const constantinople. They tell him go to the states and all you have to do is be charming, have fabulous parties, be a fabulous guest and by all means avoid any social or political tensions. Doblinski who was never very good at heeding simple instructions of course gets to d. C. Right about the time that news of crisis is happening in the Ottoman Empire. Armenians and other christians are being attacked. And so the American Press is really pointing out that this is a problem. Well, doblinski and certainly the ottomans felt that wasnt very neutral, that was pretty judgy. And he so irritates Woodrow Wilson that Woodrow Wilson has his privileges an a ambassador revoked. How timely with our current news. Right . You dont behave you lose your office. But on his way out doblinski knew exactly how to annoy americans. What the africanAmerican Press said that doblinski pressed on americas cancer spot and that was he said how dare you americans who claim to be neutral judge we ottomans about how we treat our minorities given how you treat your own minorities, nativeamericans, africanamericans. So until you stop segregation you have no business telling us about being violent or how to control our minorities. And in order to ensure having lost his ambassadorship that he left Woodrow Wilson on the brink of a complete conniption doblinski was photographed in black churches in d. C. Praying and singing with africanamericans and talking about how their flight and their suffering really helped him understand who americans truly were despite their browbeating all over the world as purported neutrals who were also morally superior. So what we see in the case of the United States is that the question of race will already be part of this diplomatic tugofwar. The germans will do the same, right . Itll return so in the United States what we get from the very beginning of the war are a lot of the same kinds of concerns that had been weighing heavily on european empires we had been talking about, right . So what were some of those concerns . That there would be that their own countries were full of dissidents who could set the place ablaze by pointing out the fissures in american society, so hence our first picture here. So what are we looking at . Women. Women protesting in front of the white house, demanding the right to vote. Pointing out how american democracy is not perfect, and then therefore who are they more so as a neutral state going around the world and telling people whats right and whats wrong . What are some other dissident groups that we have in the country . Well, just like in europe we have workers who are galvanizing around their right to a safe working space, a fair living wage, safe reasonable working hours, right . This is still a time where we work 6 1 2 days a week, and on the half day were off our boss is supervising us at church and in our various halls, our ethnic halls. So workers are a problem. Women are a problem. Can anyone hazard a guess at other groups who might be jenny. Specifically what kind of minorities. So African Americans are a problem. How . For one thing, they continue to say we want our rights. We want the right to vote. We are americans, we pay taxes, we own land, we want the right to go to school wherever we actually qualify. African american women are also wanting to have the vote. We have the most pressing problem for African Americans is bridging, and bias. So African Americans will say we want this to end. Indeed it must end immediately, every incidents of racialized violence and there were many, every one of those incidents brings us too precariously close to how kaiser and other places treat their colonial populations. So these various groups, we have prohibitionists pointing out that immigrants are problematic populations. There are too many of them we have to have walls, medical screening in order to keep these undesirables pouring in from europe to continue to coming with their drinking habits and their weird religions. Catholics. Italians. Irish. Forgetting that plenty of germans and french are also that. But this idea that the colder and that is the United States is having its own bubbling of problems, native americans that are demanding citizenship and dont have it at this time right these are worrisome enough that americans should focus on themselves in order to control that population, what happens over there will also at a perfect over here. Will democracy be enough to prevent what happened over there from also happening over here. One of the things that youre also taught in high school that is just plain wrong is that americans are isolationist. They are not. The period between at least the 1890s and certainly still through the 19 forties, that is a window within which americans actually spread out in the United States, in pretty spectacular ways. So some talked about eight american imperialism being born. And certainly a imperial vision is not yet its full manifestation. So from the nineties the u. S. Has not reached into hawaii, canada, puerto rico. Most importantly reached into the philippines so all the way into asia. Americans are not isolationists. They want to get into your house but they dont want to come into theirs. That is not isolationism. You want to change other people, we just dont want them to have any say. So, in that period, in those early years of the war, we talked about this a few weeks ago, americans have their attention completely trained on the americas. So what is happening . Whats happening on the Canadian Border what canadians are getting ready to celebrate the war of 1810 and 1814. The activity is happening on the or borders. Will they go toe to toe with quebecois. Who will show that they are the place that matters more . Then 1812, 1814, again 1819. Americans attention has been trained on the mexican border. Why there . Since at least 1910, truly earlier, but since at least 1910 mexico had been undergoing several revolutions, and those revolutions had intensified in nature and move them closer to the border. The source of the tension in many instances were americans who mexicans felt were too much of a precedence in mexico, control too much of the land and capital, and controlled too much of the industry in mexico. Its a complicated set of revolutions, not just one, but none the less that internal set of conflicts in mexico is working its way closer to the american border. Hence once again being very concerned about american safety, american protectionism with respect to what comes through that southern border. What we know is that people also came through the southern border. So her idea that Central American migration pattern is really contemporary, this is what was happening hundred plus years ago. The border was quite porous. Its certainly like a valve opened and closed depending on American Labor needs. So people are very surprised to find out that at around this time a quarter of the workforce are mexicans. If you went skiing in colorado at this time the ski patrol was mexican. So we have continued the myth that its a new wave, when in fact there has been a very constant stream. One that americas have welcomed and vilified depending on economic and political interests. But the border was eight tremendous concern in 1914. Concern there is also framed around the social darwinism language we talked about. So immigrants bring the disease. And a disease is as much political in your mind, communism. Talk russi. Socialism. Pathologize am. But they also bring maladies. And so part of the way that we make ourselves feel safer is to scream these maladies. To tell ourselves that its more inherent to one set of people and not another. That is the way that we are spending our energy. Why is that southern border in the caribbean so important . I want to take a slight step back here and talk about the problem constituencies. Women in the polity, women in public spaces, this was such a incendiary act to put on your full support hurdle, and leave the house to protest. Its an embarrassment to you and your family. Possibly lent you in jail. You will note that the language at the top of the banner kaiser wilson. Wilson who spent much of his career curating the notion that he function from a very high moral stance, more so than his country could meet. My favorite quote comes from josh, the french Prime Minister at the end of the war. He goes through all of his points for the vision of world peace. He says even god only had ten. This is the picture of African Americans marching down fifth avenue in new york. Their banner reads the first blood for american independence is by christmas. So reminding the nation that African Americans have been militarily part of defending this country at every turn. So how can we continue to have laws that limit their citizenship rights, laws that limit where they can, go who they marry, etc. That is not independence. So for much of the world, europeans in particular this political question really captures it right. Here is uncle sam selling stuff. There is a long Shopping List and they are asking how much can i borrow from you in order to continue on. If you were to ask a german, a british person, what are the americans doing in 1914 they would say fattening their pockets. Do not ever forget affection of those pockets comes at the cost of european lives. That american greed and their willingness to sell to anyone could openly result in the collapse of european empires. More so than europeans killing themselves. So to come back to the question that trump asked many many weeks ago, how is it that the germans are always pinned as the bad guys, we can see that even as early as 1914 we are starting to vilify the rules of some neutrals. In this case the u. S. In this political cartoon we see that there is an image of food, apples in that barrel. Its important to remember that 1914 was a real boom time for the american economy. Like most countries when the war first began there is a retraction, we are concerned, they spend less, we dont have access to all of the sources we would normally want to purchase. Right . The Stock Exchange was closed in new york just like it had closed in vienna, paris, and berlin. But once by december people start coming out of their keeps again, the americans realize that this war is an amazing boom for their economy. Because if nothing else, while the europeans are fighting each other they cant produce things. The country that produces the best and most things germany, is especially unable to do so because they are fighting on to, soon to be three fronts. We talked about the example of harmonicas under christmas of 1914. The holidays are coming, we need things, those things are chocolates, toys for children. Clothing. Remember a lot of the armies had not prepared for the war coming in to winter. So now the americans are the ones who can sell all of their crop. So all of their meat. Selling their corn. And sell one of the first ways americans make money has to do with horses and mules. There is a robust trade in american horses, from the upper northwest through the midwest, so kansas for example its economy goes through the roof, because it has huge stock years were all of these greens bringing in courses couldnt be sorted, screened for illness, and then put on fast moving trains to chicago across to philadelphia, new york, and boston. Why are we moving so many horses . They need them at the front. Who needs them at the front . The british in particular. You will recall that i told you that the average lifespan of a horse is about two weeks. And that is a lucky horse. So they are dying almost more quickly than we can get them over their. Germans will say they will have a robust Propaganda Campaign saying that you are responsible for killing my son. The horse that you are standing over, and that you are making scores of money on, that horse is being used to pull artillery, move cavalry, even the cavalry wasnt doing very much. So horses are vital. They are vital in terms of how the armies imagine themselves, but they are also vital for all the Different Things that they can do in the war zone, and the people that are shipping the most number of courses and at the same time saying that they are neutral are the americans. Because americans have a healthy transportation system, railways, ports people are sending the horses up from argentina and brazil, and uruguay. They are coming down from canada. We are selling to germany on occasion, but those horses have to make it past the british channel. We are selling to germans absolutely. When germans float the sub that spends two weeks in philly, that will go back completely full of american products, and germans will see that the successful nature of the trip is part of the commerce. Why would the germans think that the u. S. Would be a potential good partner . For one thing there were a lot of germans here. About 25 of the population, in some instances still, first, second, or Third Generation germans. The first highest amount of germans outside of berlin is in new york. Most cities in the east coast will have some city version of a germantown. So germany at the very least would say well my cousin will not them go nuts and so quickly. We have a chance. We just have to convince them that we are on their side. Besides, the irish dont care about fish. The irish will also join us. French canadians hit the british, we can get it started up there to. So we have a very good chance of winning a media war if you will. Public sentiment. And for a time, that seemed to work. It worked because in part the germans were winning. But the moment the war starts, it becomes at the very least a little bit more dangerous being german in america. You see in iowa for example an attempt to pass a english only bill. Making english the official language by law when the u. S. Has no official language, u. S. Does it have english as the official language. In se parts of the United States like pennsylvania they couldve made german the official language, given how much it was spoken. Some parts of eastern ohio, very czech. So all of a sudden you are seen singing german, speaking in german, those become suspect behaviors. Now remember this suspicions that we have four people that are not like us, genetically defective, racially defective, that muscle could easily be rerouted to a new cause. So what we see in 1914, certainly 1915 is that it becomes downright dangerous being german, being suspected of being german, and doing, consuming, celebrating things however broadly german. My favorite example of this is actually this set of images. So we get reports in the United States and moscow of people going out on the street with their baseball bats, now they represent the kaiser. It had to homicidal, i dont know how they could kill that many animals but they did. That tiny thing comes as the emblem for the germans. Even their animals are cruel and murderous. So in your way of proving your position on that patriotism, club it. Its no longer sauerkraut you are having cabbage. Americans love rebranding food. Its not french fries its liberty fries. So, americans having a stein thats what theyre called, you are publicly crashing. That if you are german those steins who mean a lot, they represent your military background, your russian background, so this declaration of germanys is important. Note here, the little boy is pointing a gun at a dog, note the shadow. In so doing, its animal cruelty, it is patriotism that goes all the way back. This german was found to be suspect because he was allegedly german in public, and he had responded entirely too slowly to the call to the list. And worst of all, had raised the derelict question of why are we doing this again. His peers lost their minds, beat him up, tied and tethered him, and then lynched him. Now lynching is not a practice uniquely reserved for African Americans. Its a practice that is also being seen against latinos in the u. S. , union workers, people who are gay or suspected of being gay. Non conforming in any way its suspect behavior. But now we see that germans are being swept up and dealt with in a manner that is normally reserved for African Americans tells us a lot about the level of vitriol that we get in the United States. Especially with respect to whoever we see as worrisome lean different from us. And raising any kind of question about, what is happening again . Whos fighting again . Where is the fighting happening . Why are we getting involved . All of those things would brand you a suspect citizen. Likely one who needs careful policing. So here is a fabulous other picture of how we use children, give them a role in the war but also use them to shame adults into action. So to hell to kaiser, when you are three what else can you curse . This discrimination. And the sign says america forever. Im going to step back a little bit here. This is very important because in this part of the discussion about american isolationism, or one of the ways that americans communicated, not wanting to get involved in other peoples fights was to say that we are the creators. We are the protectors of others. Were not fighters, we are lovers. We are so strong we dont have to prove it said wilson a few years later. This idea that americans were going around the world being protectors of usually people of color was certainly amplified with the spanish american war in 1988 but the u. S. Never bothered to ask people if they were german. They would have had a different answer response to the idea that we have romanticized here. Its a girl being protected by suspected lee brown spaniards. What we have to remember is that during the war, especially its first few years, americans are using the destruction of war to broaden their imperial footprint. So between 1913 and 1917, the u. S. Acquires a bevy of countries here, and if it doesnt take control outright it certainly has the facto control thanks to its military. So like Great Britain and germany, the American Navy becomes the way that americas flex their muscles. Although the American Navy is not big, its a distant third, it could actually be seventh actually. Americans think of themselves as having a navy that ought to make people afraid. At least in the caribbean it does. So the United States will purchase danish islands, and with a 25 mill in dollar check to denmark as a empire. They buy out. The Virgin Islands that some of you may have enjoyed thus far or will at some point is part of fan mark. They make the case for that expansion not out of imperial and tensions, the daines, another country are not going to be good at keeping the germans at bay in europe. If the fold we are going to have a german state just off the coast of florida, thats not okay. They can park their warships, and from that space lunch towards the piano canal, it would be just below nicaragua. So you will recall that i mentioned a couple of weeks ago that the germans had moved to warships into north america. One was perfect where . Near . No. Not the east coast. So one ship is parked right off the coast of puerto rico, Dominican Republic haiti. The other ship is off the coast of california. In each instance there is a german worship on either side of the pandemic canal. The canal that the americans have spent a ton of money, a ton of time and a ton of scientific effort to make theirs. The french have been trying and they can pull it off. In 1914 you will recall just as the war is starting the americans have been preparing to celebrate for the opening of the panama canal. They could not. The darn fighting was taking the attention away from the American Engineering marvel that is the panama canal. The americans then said in opening this canal and shortening trade routes mostly to asia, we buy ourselves, and by ourselves they mean through asia have seen more appealing. They can make, it theyre subs could make, it and their worships can make it. We are going to come in to the caribbean and say that we are here to stop the local conflict on one of the islands. They are going to see that they are here because one of the islands, 80 of them all of this money so they have no choice they have to come in to defend their financial interests. The us said no way and know how. The caribbean is our lane said the United States. Thankfully, we have the navy and marines who can much more quickly than europeans all of a sudden set foot in this region and take control of violence with deep pore, its the large worships need deeper ports to come into. Now there is one other, there are multiple empires in the caribbean, but the biggest one would be Great Britain. You have to make them, any number of the smaller islands on the right. A youve got a important foothold at the northern part of south america. Again on your right. And Trinidad And Tobago on the lower left hand corner or more important as petra states. So britain does not like the idea that the americans are going around claiming for themselves some of the biggest islands in the caribbean and saying that we will just hold it while you are fighting. Dont worry about it. We are going to build some military bases and change some laws, dont worry, were not looking at jamaica. In the meantime Great Britain is sink canada, as we are on the side of the atlantic, get down there. Defend our property. So the canadians send military in bermuda, jamaica, and they say to also be there as a defensive line, so that the u. S. Doesnt use world as a destruction to scoop up the entire caribbean. One of the arguments that the canadians wont make for being a region is that they will say we as a modern state also need our own deep south. The way that we prove that we are a modern state, and therefore should have more autonomy, is to have our own people of color that we can control and civilize. So to make it can do that work. We can show our ability to control ourselves by showing that we can control others, when those others are of color and considered defective in all of those waves we were talking about. So the caribbean becomes this alternative space for a tug of war, not only between the United States and the people that inhabit the caribbean, but very much the United States and the empires vetting on the other side that will either be friends or foes west. It is a much more complicated set of events happening here, and where the United States is focusing. It makes even more sense for the germans to have sent their warships into the caribbean, because they can say well if everyone is fighting over islands we should get ours as well. Were here to make sure the americans dont take the whole thing. So what we get in those first couple of years is important reminder that the americans unofficially and officially of this colonial race around the world. The stuff of our lectures in the next two weeks. So the u. S. Is military has the guise of experienced before world war one breaks out of the ones that were sent to the philippines to patrol, patrol the troublesome people there. Sent to the caribbean, and two American Cities to crush unionists, to crush protesting African Americans. To protest, to crush protesting African Americans. So they have colonial experience not unlike the front and british soldiers that we talked about. They got their experience controlling colonial peoples in africa and asia. So one of the things thats always uprising to students is that the head of the American Army will for some years live in the philippines as you know they are trying to crush the independent movements there, and he during his time in the philippines will dedicate himself to becoming a expert on islam. The moral people that fought the most against the americans are who the americans would said are the most difficult to pacify. Language often used to refer to colonial expansion. They are muslim, and if americans were going to be good colonial controllers than they needed to understand islam. So one of the people going into world war one, who is a Global Expert on islam is from neutral United States. Most of the officers going in to battle in world war one by 1917 on the american side will have fought in the philippines, will certainly have fought in mexico, well have spent some time in the caribbean, and those in the american caribbean are the most frustrated because they feel like they are missing out on something elsewhere. They are just doing this with a local folk. So they will understand what it is like to stand between multiple factions. So the defense of all of this activity in the United States, this concern about eight domestic set of tensions, and an international set of tensions will look like this. In the case of the United States we will immediately start to vilify our neighbor. I have to say, that has not disappeared. It really hasnt. If you are in my neighborhood, im in a Grocery Store and im talking to another kit in another language we invariably get looks. I am quite certain that the fact those languages are french or german means that the looks are a little less, i am certain not certain in fact, if i was speaking to her in arabic that looks would be different. They would be longer for sure. So this idea, this flinching that we still have is a reminder of how much people are from elsewhere has not gone away. Its intensified precisely in the moment we are talking about. In some ways the war legitimizes that reflects. You have to because that neighbor of yours that speaks english with an ax it also speaks german with an accent, so how can you know . Right . So we have an eraser of german culture, this is when people start angle sizing, or in the case of this part of the country scandinavian icing, so what people in minnesota are are like oh we are scandinavian there are not enough skinned enough ian immigrants who had female children to account for all the scandinavians here now. What happens is that a lot of people become skittish, and become norwegian because its no longer safe to be german. So hudson changes. We distance ourselves from our german culture, behind the songs that we sing at school. Many schools have a Public Performance of getting rid of german ancestry in their schools. Children are asked to do, this is probably one of my favorite pictures, the peach pit campaign. Children all around america are given another way to do their part. They are to go around collecting peach but by the barrels. It says reduce the peach pits, grind them into a charcoal powder, which can then be used in gas masks to filter the poison. So children and women who before had been a problem in the polity, they have their suffrage or communities run dry, that is a place where women shouldnt be. But since they are out of the house at least they can put their work towards the war effort, now it is respectable to be out, you are collecting food, you are helping people in need. You are doing your part, the patriotic act. So americans around the country, people are told initially that they are patriots, so they can send them to the allies, as though that alone could do the job, right. Again give a kid a job of collecting something and they will throw themselves into the job. This is a great image of how nonamericans have two faces, two sides. On one hand they are for peace on earth, good will, but in actuality and without much effort, they would also sell you, petal, ammunition sales, etc. So back to the things that we do domestically, we also have a peculiar or version or rebirth of the klan because of the war. Now, the clan is not the worst of the white supremacist organizations working at this time. There are a lot of them. Some would say the clan is like hollywood. If you were to look at sea time magazine, clansmen were not so ashamed that they would hide their faces. They would walk around publicly with whatever flaps. The war tells us, in this worry about people hiding amongst us, the klan gets rebranded or sanitized as defenders and domestic creators. Theyre looking out for all of those problem population were talking about. So the klan starts this campaign cut 100 american. They are the ones who will always be 100 american. They are the ones you will find those who arent and in so doing, and adopting this new kind of campaign, they play some critical distance between themselves and the kinds of violence that had been getting a load of bad publicity from the United States, that had in some instances but not nearly enough, that some americans were thinking, is this who we really want to be . Because stories about people who kill other citizens on math tend to come from autocratic places like russia and the Ottoman Empire. And domestically part of how we kept an eye on our population and kept things stable so that we could stay neutral was to increase dramatically the amount of policing that we do of normal american citizens. It is just that it is okay now, because we are looking for spies. We are looking for ways that germans will infiltrate american society, poison our wells, ruin our crops. Dump bull evil on our cotton. Anything to undermine us. Pay our neighbors to go to the south to go to war with us. One of the things that we see is an uptick in the policing of again, those populations that we talked about initially. This is especially true for African Americans. They will say the germans are swarming. Urban spaces were African Americans live, and whispering in their ears that they should write against segregation. Our good black people never had a problem with segregation there was no reason they would protest except that foreigners got ideas in their minds, that our thursday moment had as early as 1914, and getting into the minds of African Americans. The minds of latino americans. And so we explain away the continued demand for fair civil rights. By women pick a constituency and youve got it. You explain away as possible i forget which historian said, if you had a cold, it was the work of a german. If there was a problem in your farm, a german must have done it. The german becomes the bogeyman for all things that at this period. That is even before we get the story the explosion that black tie new jersey. New jersey, new york, theyre so close to each other at that point. Actually, it might have been new york, the two sides of the same coin. This is a period of high paranoia, and where do we see that already . In europe just before june of 1914. The decision to shoot the archduke. The conditions are not that different from the United States. But some of the things that keeps us from being swept up are not necessarily, i want you to remember, a deep commitment to isolation. We are going out all over the place. In part, that Atlantic Ocean is a cushion that we bank on. Making sure that we keep the caribbean lake free of those european presence this is another way that we then put up those borders, those barriers. We lean on that navy to keep those other ships out of the way. This is why we are going to have an intensification of immigration laws. It is not enough to say we do not want catholics to come. We have to actually look at catholics really closely, inspect them thoroughly in order to ensure that they are not also concealing other ways of being defectives. People are always surprised at the amount of time that border inspectors will once we get these new laws like measuring the distance between your eyes. The size of your ears. The curvature of amendments. Look the length of their legs, their limbs, etc. We are always looking out for something that can take us out from the inside. Internationally, it will end their, when did it look like for the United States . The u. S. Spends the first part of the war trying to sell the notion that the americans are peacemakers their brokers on occasion when the germans are saying, maybe we should and this fight before he gets any worse, they reach out to the pope and they we chow to Woodrow Wilson to broker peace this, i remind you as they continue to sell on both sides. The u. S. Will be the nation that patrols or polices spaces overseas, especially where americans or american interests exist. That would be mexico, the caribbean, that will continue to be the philippines. If you remember, well you should come on the 29th of october, remembering that in 1914, when world war one is raging in europe, the u. S. Is also at war in two locations. Mexicans mexico and where with the second place be . They will not call it a war. They will call it expeditions. Missions. But they are nonetheless at war. They will call for more borders, more ways of keeping people out where we had had few of those ways before. In so doing, they will spend a lot of time countering aggravations that the United States is in fact not all that different and certainly not better than europeans. If only, if one lee needs only to look at native americans and African Americans and the constant violence and atrocities that were reported back from mexico. Those opposed to americans joining the war will say, i am not that concerned about bell making belgium safe, but im very much invested in making georgia safe. Making new mexico safe, making the shop floor safe in chicago. I will go to war for that. But i do not actually i am not sure how, what is happening to belgium of all places. One of the worst countries at the time, while that is a reason that i should stop making my money, stop expanding into the caribbean, stop raising cotton. We need a compelling reason to stop the tremendous economic boom that we are experiencing, especially in those first 18 months of the war, and im sorry to tell you, lucy tanya was not reason enough. By this point i think it was ron who brought up that the battle of town unburnt alone had roughly how many . 250,000. Look here on the other side, but in a week, roughly a week, ten days. When we have that number there, that number on the western front, or have that kind of number in the middle east, couple of thousand, almost 2000 people dying at sea would barely have made the news had it happened to anyone else but the americans. That the british understood that by 1915, logic did not work, morals did not work, appeals at saving your ancestors the british did not work, so maybe, having the americans bleed a little bit might work. I eric larsen has a book about. It is all right. It is a best seller. I am glad i read it. But as a historian, we have slightly different ways of doing things. One of the things he alleges in his book is that churchill had claimed that what we needed to get the americans off the sidelines was a proper klemetti. He argues that the british knew that the germans everybody knew the germans had warned the americans not to get on that ship but they did so anyway. Churchill larsen claims that churchill knew exactly where the sub was and said nothing because it was a cause small cost to pay for those 2000 lives to get the americans finally involved. And still it did not. On that final note, i shall and. On thursday, we will talk about what it was like for the other european countries. You might want to come in with knowing countries with these countries are. We will have to move quickly through the. That will be on the mid term. Any questions before we go . About the lecture. We have time to move around with the microphone if you want. It is so weird. You guys are so quiet. I am not used to being this way, but thank you for making it easier. Yes. How was it so easy for the u. S. To do business with both the germans and the british and french . With they not have blockaded goods going to germany . Initially no, but certainly by 1915. But there is not necessarily a blockade initially, because language of a blockade would not have worked for the british either. Do you see what i mean . The british needed goods just as much. They cannot say, hey, neutral argentina, you cannot sell to the germans. Argentina were shooting down their ships to. They are losing money because the ship they just some, all those horses they soul to the americans, you will never see that money. Our british blockade is really a protection of all of you, not just our british interests. So a lot of the products road on neutral ships like dutch, norwegian and swedish ships. The germans will say, it is not fertilizer, it is just bird poop. I needed for my garden. But in actuality, we know it can be used for any number of things. Good question. Back over here. My question is, we just buying time to pick sides on you trilogy or was it a matter of we saw benefit to us to stay neutral, and then why did we eventually pick sites . Theres never just one answer. There is a substantial population of the United States that are pacifists. They do not want to be at war, whether its with canada or germany. That voice, while demonized as an american and unpatriotic at this time is nonetheless powerful. That voice is diverse because it works for german americans to be a part of that pacifist voice, even if they are deeply wedded to pacifism is self. We are aware that it is nonetheless my brother who lives over there. My cousin who lives over there. Americans had their hands full with their own lives, and the main arguments were going to war a violation of imperial lines did not apply to americans. You see what i mean . At the same time, americans are trying to promote this moral stance about war and people in europe say i call bull. But that is what they do, they say you are not same assess. Lets ask a mexican lets ask African American its not going to work for your economy. There is this moral stance of making sure that its as a fairly battled as the british. If that was truly the case there wouldnt be such a huge disparity between what you sell, and who you sell to on each side. Well talk about what ultimately tips the americans into battle next month, but i can say that it comes back to the economy. There is a question over here, and then over here, and if we have time peter, i might have time for only one more question because we do have to get out of the room. Can you talk a little bit but the american volunteers because, before america gets involved . Good question. A lot of americans served in the war in other countries before the u. S. Goes into war formally in 1917. Some of those americans have been living in europe for sometime. Many came from ivy league schools, and thought either they were francophiles or anglophiles or dramatic, they were fighting for that honor that we were talking about, the ideals. Plenty more simply walked over the Canadian Border, signed up, they were tall enough and had enough teeth, and they signed up because that dollar a day wage was a correction to unemployment, especially in the great lakes area. Many African Americans, in fact 30 to 40 of the black soldiers in canada were actually African Americans, who were like i am not afraid of the kaiser or the western front, but i am very much afraid of the posse that came into my town, so i am out. Also, i was going to move to canada anyway. I am going to prove to you how fantastic of a citizen i am by joining your army from the beginning. So once the u. S. Joins is a war in 1917, it tries to get those other people to come back and fight on the american side. Some say no thank you. But yes, americans did fight in all of the other religious camps, including germany and austria hungry. This is because they were either there or from their. Okay, thank you very much. Folks have a good rest of the day. I will see you thursday