Transcript The US and World War I - North Pocono School District

The US and World War I
Chapter 21
Mrs. Hauber
The Spark
Helping to Win the War
On The Home Front
Losing the Peace
Underlying Causes of WWI
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M—Militarism
A—Alliances
I—Imperialism
N—Nationalism
***All Cause Tension!!***
Who’s to Blame?
• Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip
murders Ferdinand
• Austria-Hungary blames Serbia for not
preventing the crime
• Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
on July 28th, 1914.
Today’s Uniform
WW1 USMC Lance
Corporal: Private Class
Falling Dominos
• Russia mobilizes to help Serbia
• Germany declares War on Russia
• 3 days later, Germany declares war on
France to avoid a war on two fronts
• Neutral Belgium is attacked
• Great Britain declares war on Germany
Roots of War Video Clip
US Struggles for Neutrality
• Wilson proclaimed neutrality on August
4, 1914
• US does not become involved until 1917
Section 1: A Spark Ignites Europe
• War starts in Southeast Europe
• Balkans—small warring groups located
in the Balkan region
• Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife
were assassinated while visiting
Sarajevo (the capital of Bosnia)
Ties that Bind
• Some Americans sided with the Central
Powers because of their heritage or
dislike of the British
• Others sided with the Allies because they
did not like the way the Germans treated
people (too militaristic)
• Britain used propaganda to tell tales
about German atrocities
International Law for Neutral
Countries: “Freedom of the Seas”
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Trade with both sides of warring nations
Ships can be inspected
Contraband can be seized
Commercial ships had to be warned
before they were sunk
• Germany felt international
law no longer applied and
they would not adhere to it.
Lusitania
• British luxury liner sunk by a German
submarine
– 1198 people killed (128 Americans)
– Carried contraband
• Arabic and Sussex—two more Allied ships
sunk without warning.
• Germany made pledges not to sink unarmed
liners again for fear of US involvement.
Trade with the Allies
• Loaned Britain large sums of money in
order to continue trading with them
• US wanted to avoid a depression
• Trade with Britain grew while trade with
Germany plummeted (mostly due to
blockades)
Election of 1916
• Preparedness Program--Arming and
organizing for war
• Campaign slogan “He kept us out of
war”
• Wilson wins over Charles Evans Hughes
by a narrow victory
Zimmerman Note
• German ambassador writes a letter to
Mexico asking for their help.
• Germany would then help Mexico
recapture Texas, Arizona, and New
Mexico from the US
• Britain intercepted it and US published
it.
US Goes to War
• US declares war on Germany on April 2,
1917.
• Wilson wanted to make the world “safe
for democracy”
• Historians say:
– British navy had protected American
economy and we could not afford to lose
that.
Section 2: Helping to Win the War
The massive influx of American troops and supplies no
doubt hastened the end of the war
1. Trench Warfare
Dug trenches, lived underground and fired at each
other in fixed positions
Battle lines hardly moved at all
Elaborate system (4 or 5 miles)
Goal was to break enemy trenches
Barbed wire and machine guns prevented this.
2. Ailments
Trench fever
Trench foot
Trench mouth
Shell shock—mental disorder from heavy fire
from artillery
3. Early Losses in the War
Over 500,000 men died on each side by 1914
Battle of Somme—lasted 5 months in 1916
– Germans lost more men than died in the Civil War
– 20,000 died in one day alone
Overall, 10 million died in battle
4. American Expeditionary Force (AEF)
American regiment
that advanced
against the Germans
Led by General
John Pershing
AEF (continued)
Before the AEF, Germany almost won the war
US advanced 50 miles past the enemy trenches to
Sedan and cut the railroad that gave supplies to
the Germans
5. Germany’s mistake
Did not expect US to turn the tide of the war.
US lost 50, 280 men but was little compared to
other countries
Nov 11, 1918—armistice was signed.
Section 3: The Home Front
 Life was much
different now
 Rationing hurt
free enterprise
 First Experience in
total war
1. Mobilization of Men and Women
 Selective Service Act—required all men between 21
and 31 to register for the draft
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Passed on May 28, 1917
Used a lottery system
Men could no longer buy
themselves out of the war
 US factories provided US troops with ammo, but
Britain and France provided the heavy equipment
2. The War at Sea
 All ships traveled in
convoys
 Convoy—organized group
of merchant ships
surrounded and protected
by naval vessels
 Used to ward off
submarines
 Not one member of the
AEF was killed crossing the
Atlantic
3. Mobilizing Money
 $23 billion---used for American war effort
 $10 billion---used for loans to Allies
 To pay for this, the government:
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Used taxes
Sold war bonds
4. Government Takes Control
 Food Administration
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Program to decrease
consumption of food
Headed by Herbert Hoover
who previously was in charge
of the Belgium Relief Program
Wheatless Mondays
Meatless Tuesdays
5. Farmers
 Enjoyed wartime prosperity because of the increase
in crop prices
 Later suffer for this when the war is over.
6. The War Industries Board
 Decided which goods should be produced
 Set prices for government purchases of goods and
supplies
 Bernard Baruch—economic dictator who headed
the WIB
 Eventually production went up
and waste went down
7. The Labor Force
 Went down by 4 million
 Women took many of the jobs
 Women were asked to quit after WWI as an “act of
patriotism”
 African Americans moved north to fill the gap and
find a better life
 The shortage of labor sent wages up with private
and government firms bidding against each other
8. Strikes
 Samuel Gompers—headed of the AFL pledged that
unions would not strike if the government gave
them direct support.
 National War Labor Board—discouraged strikes
and encouraged management to negotiate with
unions
9. Mobilizing Minds
 Committee on Public Information—job was to “sell”
the war to America
 George Creel—journalist and Chairman who printed
the “Official Bulletin” of war news
 Germans were portrayed as hateful beasts.
 Three main themes:
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America is unified
Crusade for Peace
Image of the Despicable Enemy
Mobilizing Minds (continued)
 Celebrities were used to
help sell war bonds
 “Four-minute men”—
gave four minute
speeches around the
country in favor of the
war
 Huns—nickname for
Germans which meant
bestial monsters outside
the civilized world
Section 4: An Uneasy Peace
 Germans agreed to an
armistice in November of
1918
 Although the fighting
stopped on the battlefield,
the war continued at the
peace conference
1. The Treaty of Versailles
 “Big Four”
 Great Britain (David Lloyd George)
 France (Georges Clemenceau)
 Italy (Vittorio Orlando)
 United States (Woodrow Wilson)
 Peace Conference was located in Paris
 Wilson was the 1st President to travel to Europe
while in office
2. Provisions of the Treaty
 Germany’s reparations bill
(33 billion)
 German colonies were
parceled out among the
allies
 Austria, Hungary,
Czechoslovakia, Poland,
and Yugoslavia all became
independent states.
 League of Nations
3. Wilson’s 14 Points
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Blueprint for Peace
Right of all people to “national self-determination”
General principles for international conduct
League of Nations—Wilson’s alliance plan for
permanent peace
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would help implement these principles and resolve
future disputes
4. Fight over the Treaty
 Senate has to approve the treaty
 Article X—an attack on any country
seen as an attack on the
Nations
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would be
entire League of
Members would protect each other from aggressor
nations
5. Borah and Lodge Lead Opposition
 Both adamantly opposed joining the League of
Nations
 Wilson traveled across the country trying to gain
support
 Americans weren’t ready and elected Harding as
the next President