Primary Documents - Cuba's Declaration of War with Germany, 7 April 1917
Reproduced below is the Cuban
declaration of war with Germany on 7 April 1917. Cuba's declaration followed
the U.S.A.'s decision, one day earlier,
to enter the war.
Click here to read Cuban President General Mario Garcia Menocal's statement on his government's decision to go to war against Germany.
Cuban Declaration of War, 7 April 1917
Article I
Resolved, that from today a state of war is formally declared between the Republic of Cuba and the Imperial Government of Germany, and the President of the Republic is authorized and directed by this resolution to employ all the forces of the nation and the resources of our Government to make war against the Imperial German Government with the object of maintaining our rights, guarding our territory and providing for our security, prevent any acts which may be attempted against us, and defend the navigation of the seas, the liberty of commerce, and the rights of neutrals and international justice.
Article II
The President of the Republic is hereby authorized to use all the land and naval forces in the form he may deem necessary, using existing forces, reorganizing them or creating new ones, and to dispose of the economic forces of the nation in any way he may deem necessary.
Article III
The President will give account to Congress of the measures adopted in fulfilment of this law, which will be in operation from the moment of its publication in the Official Gazette.
Source: Source Records of the Great War, Vol. V, ed. Charles F. Horne, National Alumni 1923
'Whippet' was a term used to describe any light tank.
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