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
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)
Underlying Causes of WW1
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M—Militarism
A—Alliances
I—Imperialism
N--Nationalism
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.
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
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.
Ailments
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Trench fever
Trench foot
Trench mouth
Shell shock—mental disorder from heavy
fire from artillery
Early Losses in the War
• Over 500,000 men
died on each side in
the first year
• Battle of Somme
(1916)
– 20,000 died in one
day alone
US Struggles for Neutrality
• Wilson proclaimed neutrality on August
4, 1914
• US does not become involved until 1917
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
The Submarine (U-Boats)
• Power of Surprise
• Could sink easily
• Warned Americans it would sink shipped
suspected to be carrying contraband
Luisitania
• 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
• National Defense Act—expanded size of
army
• Campaign slogan “He kept us out of
war”
• Wilson wins over Charles Evans Hughes
by a narrow victory
10. 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.
Section 2: The Home Front
 America Mobilizes
for War
 Opposition to
the War
 Changes in
American Society
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
24 million registered—2.8 million drafted
Including volunteers, 4.8 million Americans were in
the armed forces.
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
Government Takes Control
 Food Administration
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Program to decrease
consumption of food
Headed by Herbert Hoover
Wheatless Mondays
Meatless Tuesdays
Mobilizing Minds
 Committee on Public Information—job was to “sell”
the war to America
 George Creel—journalist in charge of CPI.
 Germans were portrayed as hateful beasts.
 Americans were encouraged to buy
liberty bonds (war bonds)
Opposition & Its Consequences
 Resistance to the Draft

Court-martialed or imprisoned
 Jane Addams—formed the Women’s Peace Party
 Espionage Act—banned treasonable printed
materials from the mail.
 Sedition Act—banned disloyal, profane or about the
American form of government (i.e. the war)
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Fines, imprisonment
Eugene v. Debs
The War Changes
American Society
 Women
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Jobs
19th Amendment
 African Americans
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Enlisted in the war
Great Migration—1.2 million moved North
 Mexican Americans
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Crossed Border
Formed Barrios
Wilson, War, &
Peace
Section 3
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.
America Gives the Allies the Edge
Convoy—organized group of
merchant ships surrounded
and protected by naval
vessels
All ships traveled in convoys
Used to ward off submarines
Not one member of the AEF
was killed crossing the
Atlantic
Russian Revolution
March 1917—Czar Nicholas II was
overthrown
Vladamir Lenin—gained control of
Russia and became he first
Bolshevik (communist) ruler
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk—ended the
war between Russia & Germany
Thus, Germany began an all-out
attack on Western Front
Americans At War
Doughboys—nickname given
to US soldiers
Important Battles:
Battle of the Marne
Battle of Chateau-Thierry
Battle of Belleau Wood
Sergeant York
Congressional Medal of Honor
50,000 Americans died
The War Ends
Nov. 8, 1918– Germany
finally surrendered to
the Allies
5 million Allies died
and 8 million Central
Power troops died.
Almost 7 million
civilians were killed
Wilson Promotes “Peace Without Victory”
• Germans agreed to an
armistice in November
of 1918
• Although the fighting
stopped on the
battlefield, the war
continued at the peace
conference
Wilson’s 14 Points
• Peace Without Victory
• Right of all people to “national selfdetermination”
• General principles for international conduct
• League of Nations—Wilson’s alliance plan for
permanent peace
– would help implement these principles and
resolve future disputes
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
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
Wilson Faces Trouble At Home
• Henry Cabot Lodge and other senators were
against the treaty
• Wilson traveled across the country trying to
gain support.
• Wilson suffers a stroke.
Senate Rejects the Treaty of Versailles
• Senate has to approve the treaty
• Article X—an attack on any country
would be seen as an attack on the
entire League of Nations
– Members would protect each other from
aggressor nations
• US does not sign a treaty until 1921!
Section 4: Effects of the War

Adjusting to Peace
– Influenza of 1918—great pandemic killing between
20 and 40 million people worldwide
– Race Riots
– Inflation
 Samuel Gompers (AFL)
 Farmers
The Red Scare
 Fear
of
Communism
 Mitchell Palmer
 Palmer Raids
 ACLU—American
Civil Liberties Union
 Sacco & Vanzetti
Return to Normalcy
Election of 1920
 Warren G. Harding
 Creditor Nation—other countries owed the US
more than the US owed them.
 US became a “Quiet Giant”
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