From February 18 onwards every enemy merchant vessel found within this war zone will be destroyed without it always being possible to avoid danger to the crews and passengers. On February 4, 1915, the German government announced that it would retaliate against the illegal British blockade:Īll the waters surrounding Great Britain and Ireland, including the whole of the English Channel, are hereby declared to be a war zone. But given the relatively mild international response to Britain’s conduct, the British government concluded that “the neutral powers seem to satisfy themselves with theoretical protest.” It was in that spirit that the Germans expected their submarine policy to be accepted as well-but in the case of President Wilson at least, they were in for a surprise. Moreover, food intended for civilian use was not considered contraband by anyone-except Britain. “By sowing mines in international waters,” historian John Coogan explains, “Britain deliberately replaced the belligerent right of visit and search in the North Sea with a new rule: explode and sink.” So while an opposing force had the right to search ships carrying cargo to its enemy, British mines indiscriminately destroyed anything with which they came into contact. In this case, the British mined the North Sea so that even neutral ships would travel in peril. In a distant blockade, one side simply declares whole areas of the seas to be off-limits. While a so-called close blockade, where a belligerent stopped traffic with its enemy’s ports by stationing ships within a three-mile limit, was considered legitimate, a distant blockade of the kind in which Britain was engaged was not. It led to Germany declaring waters surrounding Britain to be a war zone, which led to the sinking of a US vessel and the entrance of the United States into the War. Two days later, Wilson announced a break in diplomatic relations with the German government, and on April 6, 1917, the United States formally entered World War I on the side of the Allies.The British Blockade of Germany, or the Blockade of Europe, occurred from 1914 to 1919. Gerard’s words proved accurate, as on February 1, 1917, Germany announced the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare. State Department that German leaders, forced by public opinion, and by the von Tirpitz and Conservative parties would take up ruthless submarine warfare again, possibly in the autumn, but at any rate about February or March, 1917. Gerard was skeptical, writing in a letter to the U.S. Furthermore, no ship would be sunk before safe passage had been provided for the ship’s crew and its passengers. According to the pledge, merchant ships would be searched, and sunk only if they were found to be carrying contraband materials. On May 6, the German government signed the so-called Sussex Pledge, promising to stop the indiscriminate sinking of non-military ships. Germany could not risk American entry into the war against them, however, and when Gerard urged the kaiser to provide assurances of a change in the submarine policy, the latter agreed. After Gerard protested the continued German submarine attacks on merchant ships, the kaiser in turn denounced the American government’s compliance with the Allied naval blockade of Germany, in place since late 1914. Gerard, spoke directly to Kaiser Wilhelm on May 1 at the German army headquarters at Charleville in eastern France. To follow up on Wilson’s speech, the U.S. WATCH: Underwater Killers on HISTORY Vault
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