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当第一次世界大战在欧洲爆发时美国的政策是中立

1914年，第一次世界大战在欧洲爆发，这不是一个国家的战争，也不是一个国家所能停止的战争。奥地利大公和储君弗朗茨.菲迪南德在萨拉热窝被暗杀成为一战爆发的导火索。本周，我们就向你讲述第一次世界大战的故事，以及一战对在伍德罗.威尔逊领导下的美国会产生什么样的影响。

奥地利大公是被塞尔维亚的民族主义分子暗杀的，他们反对奥地利地对塞尔维亚的统治。就在此次暗杀事件发生后，奥地利宣布向塞尔维亚开战。塞尔维亚有一个盟国是俄罗斯，俄罗斯愿意就塞尔维亚对奥地利的任何战争提供援助。奥地利也有盟国，最重要的是德国。德国希望俄罗斯不要介入奥地利和塞尔维亚的战争，但当俄罗斯拒绝时，德国向俄罗斯宣战，同时，德国向俄罗斯的亲密盟国法国宣战。而当德军进入中立国比利时时，几天之后，英国便向德国宣战。

一个又一个国家为了他们的盟国和为了捍卫他们之间的协定而加入战争，在短短一周内，欧洲绝大多数国家都加入了战争。一方是轴心国，包括德国和奥匈帝国；另一方是协约国，包括法国、英国和俄罗斯。欧洲其他一些国家要么加入轴心国，要么加入协约国，其中，保加利亚和土耳其加入了轴心国，而意大利、罗马尼亚、葡萄牙和希腊则加入了协约国。

美国想置身于战争之外。威尔逊总统在战争爆发后立即宣布美国保持中立，他说：“这是一次对我们而言是无所作为的战争，他们之间的战争与我们没有什么关系。”绝大多数美国人都支持总统的政策，他们都不想卷入战争之中。然而，许多美国人发现，要想在他们内心保持中立是很难的。有些美国人的祖籍在德国，因此他们在内心是支持轴心国的。还有大量的美国人，他们的祖籍是英国和法国，因此他们在内心是支持协约国的。然而，美国的官方政策是中立，美国想与交战的双方都进行贸易往来。

德国和奥地利希望能够尽快地取得战争的胜利，他们被俄罗斯和法国这两大敌人压在中间。不过，德国将领对此并不担心，他们已经制定了一项确保胜利的计划。德国将领计划以绝大多数德国军队对法国进行突然袭击，他们希望能够在很短的时间内解决法国问题，然后再回身对付俄罗斯，这样一来，德国就不会同时两面受敌了。

一开始，德国的计划取得了成效，两百万德军通过比利时进入了法国，他们迅速向巴黎推进，德军希望能够迅速取得一场胜利。但德军将领犯了一个错误，他们的推进速度太快了，当英法军队退回到巴黎外围时，疲惫的德军已经无力坚守他们的阵地了。在巴黎外围的战斗异常的激烈和血腥，最后德军不得不撤退。德军的撤退就给了协约国时间进行强有力的防御准备，此时，对于德国而言已经没有速胜的机会了，相反，德国和奥地利现在已经是面临两面作战的局面了，在西面是法国和英国，而在东面则是俄罗斯。

协约国立即采取措施减少德国与其他国家之间的贸易。英国海军开始搜捕开往德国港口的中立国家的补给船只，后来，这一行动还延伸到封锁任何试图向德国出口食品的船只。英国和其他国家的这种封锁取得了很大的成功，德国面临饥饿的威胁。德国的水面舰船无法打破英国的封锁，它只能将希望寄托在另一种海上武器：潜艇。德国宣布将利用潜艇击沉任何从英国海岸附近驶出的船只，这种威胁包括企图继续保持与协约国贸易的中立国家。

美国和其他一些中立国立即抗议德国的声明，他们说，德国的这种做法是明显违背国际法的。

当德国的潜艇在爱尔兰海域击沉了一艘英国船只时，受害者中有一位是美国公民。几个星期后，一艘美国油船在英国舰船和德国潜艇之间的战斗中受伤，随之而来，最为严重的事件发生了，有一艘英国的客船，叫路西塔尼亚（Lusitania），它正从纽约驶往英国途中受到了德国潜艇的攻击，这艘客船在18分钟内沉没，船上1200人死亡，其中美国人有129人。

击沉路西塔尼亚号客船震惊了美国，美国人称这起事件为大规模谋杀，他们转而反对德国。威尔逊总统警告德国说，如果德国继续攻击民用船只的话，美国就将对德国宣战。德国已经面临强大的协约国，它不希望与美国开战，因此，德国许诺不会再没有警告的情况下攻击民用船只，而且德国还就路西塔尼亚号事件表示道歉。

　威尔逊总统接受了德国的道歉。和许多美国人一样，他希望美国置身于血腥的欧洲战争之外，而且他还知道协约国的一些记录也不是那么清白。例如，他正因大量的德国人挨饿而苦恼，他和许多美国人认为英国对德国的食品封锁是残酷的。同时，他还对当时英国残酷镇压爱尔兰起义感到震惊。所有这一切中，美国人最感到震惊的是发生在欧洲战场上的一些情况：双方军队都使用毒气弹和其他可怕的武器，士兵的死亡以上百万计，这场战争已经成为人类的大屠杀。

1916年是美国总统选举年，威尔逊总统获得民主党的提名，他将寻求连任。全国的民主党人以这样的话语表示他们对他的支持：“他让我们置身于战争之外！”威尔逊自己并不喜欢这样的话语，他觉得这样的话会产生失落感。但美国人继续这样说，因为他们不想要战争。

共和党提名联邦最高法院法官查尔斯.埃文斯.休斯（Charles Evans Hughes）为该党的总统候选人。休斯是一位温和的共和党人，他支持一系列的社会改革。和威尔逊一样，休斯承诺，美国将继续保持中立。然而，休斯的一个支持者是美国前总统西奥多.罗斯福，而且罗斯福呼吁美国采取强硬政策，这样的政策则会导致美国卷入战争。因此，罗斯福的言论使得许多美国人看到，威尔逊是一位期望和平的总统候选人，而休斯则是一位期望战争的总统候选人。

这次总统选举非常接近。刚开始，似乎休斯要赢得了总统选举，选举日那晚，他上床睡觉时认为他将是下一任总统。但当晚的计票结果确认威尔逊获得了胜利。这次选举结果非常的接近，以致共和党在两周内没有接受这一结果。伍德罗.威尔逊赢得了他下一个总统任期，在他第二个总统任期内，他将发现，他兑现在选举中所许下的诺言变得越来越困难，最后他发现他根本不可能兑现他的诺言，美国最终在威尔逊当总统期间参加了第一次世界大战。

欲知后事如何，请看下周分解。

简评：

一个人的思维，在其一生中几乎是差不多的，而其思维必定会主宰其行动。一个民族的思维也是有很大惯性的，自然其行动也会是有很大惯性的。这一点，我们从德国参加的两次世界大战就能清楚地看清这一点。

两次世界大战，德国的敌人都是法国、俄罗斯和英国；德国的打法都是先以闪电战形式击败法国，然后，再掉转头去打俄罗斯；结果都是陷入两面作战，最终战败的命运。德国不是不想吸取教训，实则是因为其民族性使然。

因此，要战胜一个人，就要认真地了解这个人的学习内容、生活习惯，以及喜怒哀乐等。要战胜一个国家或一个民族，就必须了解这个国家或这个民族的特点，包括文化、习性。这看起来是都是软性方面的东西，但恰恰是这些软性的东西，决定了一个国家或一个民族的硬性所在。那些只关心当下的经济情况，军队建设，武器装备，而忽视对民族和国家特点的全面掌握，是永远不可能战胜他们的。

US Adopts Neutrality as World War One Begins in Europe

British forces in action during World War One　一战中的英军

In nineteen fourteen, Europe exploded into the First World War. It was a war no nation really wanted. But no nation seemed able to stop it. The assassination of Austria’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand in the city of Sarajevo was the spark that set off the explosion.　This week in our series, we tell about the war and how it affected the United States under President Woodrow Wilson.　

The Austrian Archduke was murdered by Serbian nationalists. They opposed Austrian control of their homeland. After the assassination, Austria declared war on Serbia. One of Serbia’s allies was Russia. Russia agreed to help Serbia in any war against Austria.　Austria had allies, too. The most important was Germany. Germany wanted Russia to stay out of the war. When Russia refused, Germany declared war on Russia. Then Germany declared war on Russia’s close ally, France. Britain entered the war a few days later when Germany violated the neutrality of Belgium.　

An abandoned British trench captured by the Germans. German soldiers are on horseback in the background.　德军占领了一段英国放弃的战壕，照片后面显示的是德军骑兵。

One nation after another entered the conflict to protect its friends or to honor its treaties. Within a week, most of Europe was at war.　On one side were the Central Powers: Germany and Austria-Hungary. On the other side were the Triple Entente Allies: France, Britain, and Russia. Many other nations took sides. Bulgaria and Turkey joined the Central Powers. Italy, Romania, Portugal, and Greece joined the Allies.　

The United States hoped to stay out of the war. President Wilson immediately declared American neutrality. He said: "It is a war with which we have nothing to do, whose causes cannot touch us."　Most Americans agreed with President Wilson. They did not want to get involved in the fighting. However, many found it difficult to remain neutral in their hearts. Some Americans had family roots in Germany. They supported the Central Powers. A greater number of Americans had family roots in Britain or France. They supported the Allies.　Yet the official American policy was neutrality. The United States planned to continue to trade with both sides.　

Germany and Austria expected a quick victory in the war. They were caught between two powerful enemies: Russia and France. But German military leaders were not worried. They had a battle plan they were sure would succeed.　The German generals planned to strike quickly at France with most of the German army. They expected to defeat France in a short time and then turn to fight Russia. In this way, the German army would not have to fight both enemies at the same time.　

A 1915 poster showing a French soldier holding a grenade一张1915年的海报上表现的是一名法国士兵手拿一颗手榴弹正准备投射画像

At first, the plan worked. Two million German soldiers swept across Belgium and into France. They rushed forward toward Paris, hoping for a fast victory. But the German commanders made a mistake. They pushed their men too fast. When British and French forces struck back -- outside Paris -- the tired and worn German soldiers could not hold their positions.　The battle was fierce and unbelievably bloody. In the end, the Germans were forced to withdraw.　The German withdrawal gave the allies time to prepare strong defenses. There was no chance now for a quick German victory. Instead, it would be a long war, with Germany and Austria facing enemies on two sides. Britain and France were on the West. Russia was on the East.　

The Allies took immediate steps to reduce Germany’s trade with the rest of the world. The British navy began seizing war supplies found on neutral ships sailing toward German ports. It then expanded its efforts to block food exports to Germany.　The blockade by Britain and the other allies was very successful. Germany faced possible starvation. Its navy was not strong enough to break the blockade with surface ships. Its only hope was to break the blockade with another naval weapon: submarines.　Germany announced that it would use its submarines to sink any ship that came near the coast of Britain. The threat included ships from neutral nations that tried to continue trading with the Allies.　

The United States and other neutral nations immediately protested the German announcement. They said it was a clear violation of international law.　

lA German submarine said to be the one that sank the Lusitania　

When a German submarine sank a British ship in the Irish Sea, one of the victims was an American citizen. A few weeks later, an American oil ship was damaged during a sea battle between British navy ships and a German submarine. Then came the most serious incident of all. It involved a British passenger ship called the Lusitania.　The Lusitania was sailing from New York City to Britain when it was attacked by a German submarine. The Lusitania sank in eighteen minutes. One thousand two hundred persons were killed. One hundred twenty-nine were Americans.　

The sinking of the Lusitania shocked and horrified the American people. They called it mass murder. They turned against Germany. President Wilson warned that he might declare war on Germany, if Germany continued to sink civilian ships.　Germany did not want war with the United States. It already faced a strong fight against the European Allies. It promised not to sink any more civilian ships without warning. And it offered regrets for the Lusitania incident.

President Wilson accepted Germany’s apology. Like most Americans, he hoped to stay out of the bloody European struggle. And he also knew that the record of the Allies was not completely clean.　For example, he was troubled by reports of mass hunger in Germany. He and other Americans felt the British food blockade was cruel. They also were shocked by the way British forces brutally crushed a rebellion in Ireland at the time.　Most of all, the American people were sickened by reports of what was happening on the battlefields of Europe. The armies were using poison gas and other terrible weapons. Soldiers on both sides were dying by the millions. The war had become a bloodbath.

President Woodrow Wilson in 1916

The United States had a presidential election in nineteen sixteen. President Wilson won the nomination of the Democratic Party to seek re-election. Democrats around the country shouted their support with these words: "He kept us out of war!" Wilson himself did not like the words. He felt it raised false hopes. But people continued to say it, because they did not want war.　

The Republican Party nominated Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes as its candidate for president. Hughes was a moderate Republican. He supported a number of social reforms.　Like Wilson, Hughes promised to keep the United States neutral. However, one of his supporters was former President Theodore Roosevelt. And Roosevelt called for strong American policies that could lead to war. Roosevelt’s words led many Americans to see Wilson as the candidate of peace....and Hughes as the candidate of war.　

Voting in the presidential election was very close. At first, it seemed Hughes had won. He went to bed on election night believing he would be America’s next president. But voting results later that night confirmed Wilson as the winner. The election was so close the Republicans did not accept defeat for two weeks.　Woodrow Wilson had won another term. During that term, he would find it increasingly difficult to honor the words of the campaign. Finally, he would find it impossible. The United States entered World War One while Woodrow Wilson was president.　

That will be our story next week.

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