How did the US benefit by remaining neutral during WWI?

 (My Answer in Quora)

The United States wasn’t neutral for all of WWI. They did however have a policy of neutrality that lasted from 1914 to April 1917. This was completely understandable.

The Great War was seen as a war that resulted from the tenuous breakdown in the Balance of Power that defined European politics. At the core of these continental rivalries was the question of colonial territory and First World imperialism. Britain and France were not eager to allow ‘Johnny-come-lately’ Germany to challenge their hegemony in this domain. Add to that French security concerns, the Eastern Question and German militarization and you had the powder keg for WWI.

None of these issues were seen as having any impact on the United States by the vast majority of Americans. They were geographically and strategically beyond the US’s orbit and America appeared as having little to gain by intervening in favor of one side over the other. There was no appetite for lives sacrificed to satiate an imperialism that was seen as disdainful by the American public.

A neutral United States growing without the strain of a war economy and not suffering the ignoble fate of high casualties was the best option for America. In fact the US could profit immensely by supplying goods to either side while furnishing the necessary war loans. They did just that for several years.

However ideal intentions often come unstuck when faced with the grim face of reality. Neutrality is a fine line to walk especially if economic considerations are playing a major role in framing policy.

President Woodrow Wilson’s administration for one had a distinct bias in favour of the British (many believe that he was dead set on backing the British from the get go). The sinking of the Lusitania shipping liner in 1915 by a German submarine that resulted in 128 American lives lost further transformed public opinion in the US against Germany.

In March 1916 the French passenger ship, the Sussex, was sunk with more American lives lost. Although the public was angered it was still not clamoring for war. In fact Wilson, ever the politician, went ahead and won the 1916 election with the slogan “He kept us out of the war”.

Behind the scenes though the situation was shifting significantly. The winds were blowing more strongly in one direction as the US upped their supplies to their Anglophone cousins. Berlin caught on quickly. A side does not take kindly when another country is acting as a supply arsenal for the enemy while hiding behind the cloak of neutrality.

While many in the German war establishment were loathe to encourage U-Boat attacks on American shipping, for fear of drawing the United States into an official war (check out the Sussex Pledge), the Kaiser wasn’t.

His voice carried the day by January 1917. Germany would embark on a policy of naval aggression. This together with the deliberate expose of the Zimmerman Telegram (a secretive 1917 German initiative to draw Mexico into a war against the United States) further sealed America’s position in the War.

It was clear that if a new order were to prevail in Europe in favour of Germany the United States could likely suffer. The US could not remain neutral. Germany had to be defeated and Wilsonian idealism dictated that the US would have to be at the post war negotiation table that followed (this was an opportunity for his League of Nations to come to fruition).

Wilson brought the matter before Congress on the 2nd of April 1917. Four days later the US was officially at war with Germany.