Transcript 20th 11-12 Unit III WWI

American Entrance into World War I:
Reasons
 4) American Economic Interests:
 UK blockade; US  Allies extensive
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loans; want to get paid back
5) American Idealism:
A better world would emerge desire to
end autocracy
“World safe for democracy.”
6) American Security:
A German victory - dominant in Europe
viewed as a threat to the US
Special Note on Wilson
 USA enters the war as an “associated
power” not an ally of Britain & France
 Wilson determined to distance US from
Old World ambitions
 Crusade for democracy & freedom, not a
struggle for land & colonies
American Military Mobilization
 April 1917 – US had limited military power
 200,000 men; few officers w/ combat
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experience
US air corps had 55 planes & 130 pilots
May 1917 – Selective Service Act passed
10,000,000 men registered w/out riots
2,000,000 reached Europe before the
armistice (3/4 saw combat)
American Military Mobilization
 Women: not drafted; the navy accepted
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them for non-combat purposes
13,000 served (nurses, secretaries, etc.)
African Americans: double their proportion
in the general population
Segregated units & excluded from the
navy & marines; mostly non-combat roles
Some black officers
The 369th Infantry Regiment saw
continuous duty on the front
American Success in Combat
 1) US had relied mostly on foreign ships
 Begins to expand its merchant fleet
 2) Rear Adm. William S. Sims  best way to
defeat the U-boat threat was with the convoy
system
 Merchant vessels would travel in a large
group with a guard of circling DD & CA
 By midsummer 1917 shipping losses cut in
half
 US Navy mined & patrolled the North Sea
American Success in Combat
 Fighting in Europe
 General John J. Pershing (AEF)
 US initially served mostly as replacements
 Pershing insisted the US should fight as a
separate army
 Believed in aggressive combat – felt the Allies
had become too defensive
 Wanted the US to have a strong voice @ the
peace table – most likely to happen if the AEF
remained distinctive & separate
 After April 1918 US soldiers fought
independently under Marshall Foch
 General John
Joseph "Black
Jack" Pershing
American Success in Combat
 German Success:
 March 3, 1918 – Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
 March 21, 1918 – Operation Michael begins
 Tide Turns Due to US Participation
 Battle of Cantigny - US helps stop the new
German offensive
 Chateau-Thierry & Belleau Wood – played a
major role in throwing back German attacks
 US helps win the Second Battle of the Marne
 Sept. 1918 – US mounted offensives at SaintMihiel and in the Meuse-Argonne area
This map of the Western Front shows the three
main offensives of the American Expeditionary
Force. The areas in color were areas newly
conquered by the Germans from March, 1918 to
July, 1918.
Significance to US Entrance:
 (1) turned the tide of battle in favor of
Allies
 (2) broke sharply w/ America’s traditional
isolationism; “foreign entanglements”
 (3) marks America’s emergence as a
world power and eventual world leader
Allied & Central Powers (WWI)
The German Surrender
 September 1918: Hindenburg & Ludendorff
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realize the war was lost
Kaiser abdicates; Reichstag left in control
Reason:
1) hoped to obtain better peace terms
2) the new government, not the army
leaders would be blamed for defeat
New Government asks Wilson for an
armistice based on the 14 Points
German Surrender:
 Nov. 11, 1918: armistice signed by the new
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socialist government
The Great War ends @ 11:00 AM
Most Germans thought they were winning the
war – German troops still controlled Belgium &
large areas of Eastern Europe (Treaty of BrestLitovsk)
Armistice a SHOCK!
After 1918, nationalists claim Germany could
have won the war had it not been for the
“November criminals” (socialists & Jews) who
“stabbed Germany in the back”
 This photograph was
taken after reaching
an agreement for the
armistice that ended
World War I. The
location is in the
forest of Compiègne.
Foch is second from
the right. The train
carriage seen in the
background, where
the armistice was
signed, later became
the setting of France's
own armistice in June
1940.
The "Stab-in-the-Back" legend (Dolchstoßlegende) from an
Austrian postcard, 1919
 The capitulation was
blamed upon the
unpatriotic populace,
the Socialists,
Bolsheviks, the
Weimar Republic, and
especially the Jews
(1919).
Versailles Palace
The Treaty of Versailles with
Germany (1919)
 A. Different Allied Objectives: “Big Four”
 1. David Lloyd George - PM (Br.)
 Expand empire; preserve naval & industrial
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supremacy
“Make Germany pay for war.”
2. Georges Clemenceau - P (Fr.)
Protect from future invasion
weaken Germany with:
(a) territory (b) financial payments
(c) military limitations
The Treaty of Versailles with
Germany (1919)
 3. Vittorio Orlando – Pres. (It.)
 Expand Italy and overseas empire
 4. Woodrow Wilson – Pres. (US)
 Just peace; world based on the 14 Points
Left to Right, Prime Minister David Lloyd George of the United
Kingdom, Vittorio Orlando of Italy, Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau
of France, and President Woodrow Wilson of the USA
German delegates in Versailles: Professor Dr. Walther Schücking, Reichspostminister
Johannes Giesberts, Justice Minister Dr. Otto Landsberg, Foreign Minister Ulrich Graf
von Brockdorff-Rantzau, Prussian State President Robert Leinert, and financial advisor
Dr. Carl Melchior
THE
TREATY OF PEACE
BETWEEN
THE ALLIED AND ASSOCIATED
POWERS
AND
GERMANY,
The protocol annexed thereto, the
Agreement respecting
the military occupation of the territories
of the Rhine,
AND THE
TREATY
BETWEEN
FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN
RESPECTING
Assistance to France in the event of
unprovoked
agression by Germany.
Signed at Versailles, June 28th, 1919.
The Treaty of Versailles with
Germany (1919)
 B. Major Treaty Provisions:
 1. Territorial (a) Alsace-Lorraine  Fr.
 (b) Saar Valley  Fr. 15 years
 (c) Denmark and Belgium (minor lands)
 (d) Posen, West Prussia, and “corridor”
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given to the Poles
(e) Danzig  League of Nations
(Polish use)
The Treaty of Versailles with
Germany (1919)
 2. Disarmament
 (a) army –> 100,000 volunteers
 (b) Rhineland demilitarized
 (c) navy - no BB; no U-boats; coastal
defense
 (d) military aircraft forbidden
 (e) war industries prohibited
The Treaty of Versailles with
Germany (1919)
 3. Colonial - Germany cedes all colonies
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to the League of Nations
4. War Guilt and Reparations (a) accept sole responsibility for causing
the war (Article 231)
(b) pay reparations for all damages (1921)
₤6.6 Billion
5. League of Nations - Germany not a
member
Mass demonstration in front of the Reichstag against the
Treaty of Versailles