Question

How did the Sussex pledge affect relations between the United States and Germany?

Answer 1

Hint: The pledge was named after the steamer S.S. During World War I and sunk by the Germans in 1916, Sussex was built in 1896 and used for services between the British Isles and France.

Complete answer: Sussex Incident, the sabotaging by a German submarine of a French cross-channel passenger steamer, the Sussex, leaving 80 casualties, including two wounded Americans. The attack prompted a U.S. threat to sever diplomatic relations. The German government replied by promising to provide sufficient notice before the sinking of merchant and passenger ships and to provide for the safety of passengers and crew with the so-called Sussex pledge. Germany had implemented a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, enabling, without warning, the torpedoing of armed merchant ships, but not passenger ships. While no U.S. civilians were killed in this attack, it caused President Woodrow Wilson to announce that the United States would sever diplomatic ties with Germany if Germany were to continue this practice. Germany became persuaded in 1917 that by instituting unrestricted submarine warfare, it could overpower the Allied Powers before the United States could join the war. Therefore in January 1917, the Sussex pledge was rescinded; this launched the decisive stage of the so-called First Atlantic War. The resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare and the Zimmermann Telegram contributed to the declaration of war on Germany by the United States. As Germany sought unrestricted submarine warfare, the Sussex Pledge was seen as an effort by the Imperial German government to satisfy the United States to avoid a breakdown in diplomatic relations.

Note: The incident in Sussex further outraged President Woodrow Wilson, who "considered the precious and irrefutable principles of international law and humanity's universally recognised dictates." If Imperial Germany did not stop its unregulated submarine warfare immediately, the United States government will be forced to conclude that there is only one course that it can pursue and otherwise break off diplomatic relations."