Transcript Slide 1

World War I
Chapter 31
continued
on next slide
Stagnation in Europe
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The war in Europe had quickly ground
into a stagnant mass slaughter on both
sides.
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Casualties on both sides were
extraordinarily high. Reasons.
By early 1917 both sides were running
out of steam.
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Trenches
Stagnant lines.
Germans couldn’t go on much longer simply
throwing new bodies into the war.
Britain was highly dependent on foreign
shipping for keeping its war effort going.
Germany needed to end the war soon or
lose.
WWI
Western
Front
Trench
Line
Unlimited Sub Warfare
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Peace without Victory address.
Germany’s response
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January 1917 Germans announce unlimited sub
warfare
Is a repeal of the Sussex Pledge.
What is the German gamble?
What about the state of the US military seemed to
justify this gamble?
Wilson breaks off diplomatic relations, but refuses
to enter the war absent some overt act of
aggression against US.
What happens when he tries to arm merchant
ships for self-defense?
Wilson Asks for War
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March, 1917, Zimmerman Note is
publicized.
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Germany’s overt act.
Revolution overthrows Czar in Russia
and Russia withdraws from war.
Consequences?
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What is it?
Now all Allies democracies
Allies are in even more desperate straits.
April, 1917 Wilson asks congress for
a declaration of war.
Wilsonian Idealism Enthroned
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Isolationism ran deeply in the
American psyche.
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Washington’s farewell address
While most favored the Allies, the
fever to go to war was relatively
mild.
Fifty US reps, including Jeanette
Rankin vote against the war
Wilson has to glorify the war aims
Wilson’s 14 Points

The Fourteen Points was a speech delivered by United States
President Woodrow Wilson to a joint session of Congress on
January 8, 1918. The address was intended to assure the country
that the Great War was being fought for a moral cause and for
postwar peace in Europe. Fourteen points include:
 Abolish secret treaties
 No territorial gains; return to pre-war borders
 freedom of the seas
 removal of economic barriers among nations
 Arms reduction
 adjustment of colonial claims in the interest of both natives and
colonizers
 self-determination for minority groups such as Poles
 international organization to provide for collective security and
dispute resolution.
Creel Manipulates Minds
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Committee on Public
Information. Purpose?
George Creel.
Creel is very successful.
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Super-Patriotism.
Dehumanizing the enemy
Problem: Wilson and
Creel convince the
country that the war will
create a new international
utopia.
p707
Enforcing Loyalty
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Anti-German hysteria and discrimination.
German-American schools and newspapers by
the thousands were forced to permanently close.
In cities and towns across the nation, libraries
burned their German-language books in public
burnings.
City streets in Chicago with German names were
changed
Liberty Cabbage, and Dachshunds became
"liberty pups".
New Orleans, Berlin St. was renamed for General
Pershing
In June 1918 a bill was introduced in the with the
aim to wipe out German names from the map of
the United States.[17]
Enforcing Loyalty
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Espionage Act of 1917 and Sedition Act of 1918
 It prohibited any attempt to interfere with military
operations, to support U.S. enemies during wartime, to
promote insubordination in the military, or to interfere
with military recruitment. In 1919, the U.S. Supreme
Court unanimously ruled in Schenck v. United States
that the act did not violate the freedom of speech of
those convicted under its provisions.
 In United States v. Motion Picture Film (1917), a
federal court upheld the government's seizure of a film
called "The Spirit of '76”
 Eugene V. Debs, Socialist Party presidential candidate
in 1904, 1908, and 1912 was arrested and sentenced
to 10 years in prison for making a speech that
"obstructed recruiting." He ran for president again in
1920 from prison.
The Nation’s Factories Go To War
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Country unprepared when war
started.
Army ranked 15th in the world
in size.
Up-hill battle to mobilize the
economy onto a war footing
Government never had a very
effective central control over
war production. Laissez-fare
economics wins out
Labor
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Mostly, Feds were able to keep
labor in line with a combination of
strategies.
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Work or fight rule.
National War Labor Board chaired by
Former President Taft. Its purpose was
to arbitrate disputes between workers
and employers in order to ensure labor
reliability and productivity.
Samuel Gompers (AfofL) supports the
war
Membership in mainstream labor
booms
Strikers get Squashed
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Smaller and more radical
organizations, especially the
Wobblies (IWW), organized
strikes and industrial
sabotage. These groups
were harassed unmercifully.
1919 largest strike in
American history hits the
Steel industry.
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Industry reacted mercilessly to
strikers demands that union be
recognized and that they be
allowed collective bargaining.
Strike collapses after black
strike-breakers brought in.
Black Migration
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War was beginning of a mass migration
of blacks from the south to the industrial
north.
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Reasons
Chicago Race Riot of 1919 was a major
racial conflict that began in Chicago,
Illinois on July 27, 1919 and ended on
August 3.[1] During the riot, dozens died
and hundreds were injured.[2] It is
considered the worst of the approximately
25 riots during the Red Summer of 1919,
so named because of the violence and
fatalities across the nation.
Migration continues after the war.
Beginning of the large black populations
in industrial northern cities.
Women Go to Work
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Women also entered the
workforce
Helped convince Wilson to
support the 19th
Amendment, giving
women the vote; ratified in
1920.
Most women gave up their
jobs after the war.
Boost to women’s activism
Hoover Sets the Table
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Food production and
availability was a key issue
Herbert Hoover chosen to
lead Food Administration.
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Volunteerism vs. enforced
restrictions.
 Wheatless Wednesdays
meatless Tuesdays
 Victory gardens.
Hoover, Cont.
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Congress restricted use of
crops for making alcohol
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Helped advance the cause of
prohibition.
Many brewers were of German
extraction and were subject to
war-prejudices.
18th Amendment prohibiting the
sale of alcohol passed in 1919
and began prohibition.
Hoover’s voluntary approach
worked. Farm production
increased by a quarter and
food exports to the allies
tripled.
Appeal to Conserve Food
Bond Drives
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Hoover’s methods were
emulated in other agencies
Great bond drives.
Went overboard; those
who refused to purchase
bonds were branded
unpatriotic
Intimidation and threats.
Making Plowboys Into Doughboys
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At the beginning, most
Americans assumed that US
contribution to war would be
naval
Allies made it clear that they
were running out of men to
throw into the war.
The war had been
extraordinarily bloody.
Allies need America to supply
fresh troops.
Draft
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Many volunteered for war, but
not enough.
conscription.
Some in congress predicted
that a draft would cause riots.
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Compared by some to Slave
labor.
Had not been a draft in US since
the Civil War.
Legislation starting draft was
passed six weeks after war
declared.
Terms
Workers in key industries
exempted.
Doughboys
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Within a few months,
army grows to over 4
Mill.
How to get these
guys ready to fight?
Training timetable
had to be
accelerated.
Nearly a year after
US declared war
before US troops in
any force could fight
in Europe.
Fighting In France
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The need to hurry US troops into action
was magnified by events in Russia.
With Russian out of war, Germany able
the send battle-tested troops from the
Eastern front to the Western front.
Germany suddenly has a dangerous
manpower advantage in that theater.
America is having shipping problems
and is taking a long time to get army
together and trained.
American soldiers began to trickle into
France in 1918, but were not a separate
army.
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Were used to reinforce the Allied armies on
a unit by unit basis. America is not a
separate fighting force.
America Helps Hammer The “Hun”
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Spring 1918 the Germans unleash a massive
offensive that rolled the Allies back with
frightening momentum.
May 1918 Germans within 40 miles of Paris
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Americans brought a fresh spirit of optimism
July 1918 Allies begin to role back Germans.
Black Jack Pershing.
Muess-Argonne offensive, involving 1.2 Mill. US
troops.
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US troops see their first real action as an independent
unit at Chateau-Thierry.
10% US casualties.
Germany getting worn down. Reverses on the
battle field, and British blockade is taking its toll.
The Fourteen Points Disarm Germany
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October 1918 Germans
turn to Wilson seeking a
peace based on his
fourteen points.
Wilson says that no
negotiations before the
Kaiser is out of power.
The Germans promptly
send him packing.
Armistace—11/11/1918.
America rejoices.
US Contribution to Victory
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America’s primary contribution.
The potential numbers US
could throw into battle made it
clear to the Germans that they
could not win.
US was forced to rely heavily
on European equipment
Battlefield casualties compared
Losses in World War I
Wilson Steps Down From Olympus
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At the end of the war Wilson was extraordinarily
popular both at home and in Europe.
Moral leader of the world with most powerful
economy behind him.
That popularity was not destined to last.
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Impossible to satisfy expectations
Wilson’s mistakes
Biggest and most fatal “mistake” was mid-term
election
Republicans upset by his delegation to peace
negotiations. Why?
An Idealist Battles The Imperialists
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People of Europe welcome Wilson with thundering
acclaim
Leaders of the Allied countries were wary. Why?
Peace conference was dominated by the Big Four,
leaders of US, France, England and Italy. Wilson in the
driver’s seat.
The Big Four
Wilson’s Goal
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Europe was a mess.
Wilson’s ultimate goal was
League of Nations
First priority to keep the
winners from dividing up the
colonies of the beaten
countries.
Wilson had to compromise.
What did the treaty say
regarding Colonies?
"The Rabbit. 'My offensive equipment being practically
nil, it remains for me to fascinate him with the power of
my eye.'"
Republicans Carve up the Treaty
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Henry Cabot Lodge and
other isolationist
Republicans raise
objections to the LON
treaty and insisted on
modifications.
Enough Senators said
would not pass without
the changes to defeat the
treaty.
Treaty That Bred A New War
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Wilson forced into a series of
compromises
Treaty presented to Germans in June,
1919. They cried foul.
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Why?
 Planted seeds of resentment.
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Wilson was forced to compromise many of
his ideals
Wilson’s popularity is tarnished
Treaty did, though, liberate a number of
people.
New Nations
The Domestic Parade Of Prejudice
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Wilson returned to
political storm.
Isolationists hated the
LON.
Rabid anti-Germans
Liberals.
Recent immigrants
from Axis countries
Irish
Wilson’s Tour And Collapse
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Majority of Americans favored the treaty
and senate Republicans had no real
hope of defeating it.
What is Republican strategy? Is it
successful?
Delay causing Americans to become
increasingly apathetic and confused
Wilson decided to go over the heads of
congress to the people.
Went on a barnstorming speaking tour.
Collapses and suffers a stroke. One side
paralyzed.
With Wilson incapacitated, Republicans
in congress have control of the debate.
Wilson on his whirlwind tour to
sell the nation on a
League of Nations
Wilson Rejects The Lodge
Reservations
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Senator Lodge able to tack on
14 reservations so that LON
would not bind the US to act.
Wilson, who hated Lodge, flatly
rejected the reservations.
What does Wilson order
Democrats to do? Why? What
is the result?
Defeat Through Deadlock
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Public pressure forced another vote.
4/5 of senators favored the treaty in some form,
but the necessary 2/3 majority could not agree
on a version of it.
In 1920 comes up again for a vote with the
Lodge amendments tacked on again.
What does Wilson do? What happens to the
treaty?
Election of 1920
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Wilson’s plan: make the
election of 1920 a
referendum on the
League
Theodore Roosevelt had
been the frontrunner for
the Republican
nomination, but his health
collapsed in 1918 and he
died in January 1919,
leaving no obvious heir to
his Progressive legacy.
Election of 1920
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Both major parties turned to dark horse
candidates from the electoral vote-rich
state of Ohio. The Democrats nominated
newspaper publisher and Governor James
M. Cox, in turn the Republicans chose
Senator Warren G. Harding,
Republicans win overwhelmingly. Big
business, laize faire Republicans back in
power.
Women voting for the first time.
Debs gets nearly a million votes despite
being in prison.
Consequences of US Rejection of
LON
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LON left without the vital American
international support
America retreated behind
isolationism and let Europe find its
own way.
France feels compelled to rearm,
so Germany does, too. Without
America, the LON was toothless.