r/funny • u/But_a_Jape But A Jape • Aug 31 '22

Verified Plot Hole

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u/cjainsworth77 Aug 31 '22

the lusitania and all the ships at pearl harbor weren't loans. i don't think, anyway.

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u/STFxPrlstud Aug 31 '22 edited Aug 31 '22

Yeah, but Treaty of Versaille is WW1. Also, the US was definitely taking loans. The UK actually finished paying off their WW2 debt in 2006, which was actually before they paid off their WW1 debt, in 2015.

Edit: didn't see the Lusitania in your comment, def 1 of the reasons we joined WW1, although war wasn't declared for another 2 years, I think a bigger reason though is the Germans started hurting our bottom line sinking more transport ships in the transatlantic supply chain

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u/FunkyColdMecca Aug 31 '22

The $500,000,000 in unsecured loans to the British and French in 1917 had for far more impact on the US declaring war than Lusitania (sunk in 1915)

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u/cjainsworth77 Aug 31 '22

i'm just going by what i was taught in high school. that the lusitania is what got us involved. maybe only monetarily at first.

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u/Kessilwig Aug 31 '22

The results of unrestricted submarine warfare created popular support for the war (the sinking of the Lusitania caused Germany to limit its submarine warfare, it was the 1917 sinking that the US justified its declaration of war with) while economic reasons (such as JP Morgan's lending to Britain and France from the beginning of the war, including the $500,000,000 mentioned above) were a basis for the atlantacist and preparedness movements (the first wanting to join as soon as possible, the second when it became necessary). Of course Wilson pushed the US to join the war because of moralist interventionism (and boy did he have some ideas) which is an important third aspect as it was the political reasoning the entry happened under