Transcript The War to End War 1917-1918

WWI Notes 8-19
1917-1918
8. The Sussex
a. Sussex was a cross-English Channel passenger ferry.
The Sussex became the focus of an international
incident when she was severely damaged by a torpedo
from a German U-Boat in 1916.
80 casualties (4 Americans)
b. Wilson told Germany we will go to war if this does not
stop.
c. Germany agrees to stay away from
passenger/merchant ships.
d. The outcome was considered a diplomatic victory for
Wilson.
9. Election of 1916
A. Bull moose party dies when TR walks
away from it in 1916.
B. Republicans nominate Charles Evans
Hughes.
C. Democrats: W. Wilson
D. Wilson wins. His campaign focus was
“He kept us out of war”
E. Speech: “There can be peace without
victory”
10. The US enters the Great
War.
A. German announced that they would use U-boats
without limitations. (ex. Passenger ships)
B. German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann
secretly proposed a German-Mexican alliance with
the Zimmermann note. News of the Zimmermann
note leaked out to the public, infuriating Americans.
C. On April 2, 1917, President Wilson asked for a
declaration of war from Congress after 4 more
unarmed merchant ships had been sunk.
D. War is declared for the US.
11. 5 Reasons Wilson Goes to
War
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Unrestricted U-Boat war
Zimmerman note
Russian Rev (I’ll explain)
U.S could help end war quickly
Moral reasons (civilian casualty rate)
12. Wilsonian Idealism
• President Wilson persuaded the public for war
by declaring his twin goals of "a war to end
war" and a crusade "to make the world safe for
democracy." He argued that America only
fought to shape an international order in which
democracy could flourish without fear of
dictators and militarists.
• Wilson was able to get war to appeal to the
American public.
13.Wilson's Fourteen Potent
Points
• Wilson delivered his Fourteen Points Address to
Congress on January 8, 1918.
• The message, though intensely idealistic in tone and
primarily a peace program, had certain very
practical uses as an instrument for propaganda. It
was intended to reach the people and the liberal
leaders of the Central Powers as a seductive appeal
for peace, in which purpose it was successful. It was
hoped that the points would provide a framework for
peace discussions. The message immediately gave
Wilson the position of moral leadership of the Allies
and furnished him with a tremendous diplomatic
weapon as long as the war persisted.
14 points continued.
• The first 5 points and their effects were:
• 1.
A proposal to abolish secret treaties pleased liberals of
all countries.
• 2.
Freedom of the seas appealed to the Germans, as well
as to Americans who distrusted British sea power.
• 3.
A removal of economic barriers among nations was
comforting to Germany, which feared postwar vengeance.
• 4.
Reduction of armament burdens was gratifying to
taxpayers.
• 5.
An adjustment of colonial claims in the interests of both
native people and the colonizers was reassuring to the antiimperialists.
• The largest achievement, #14, foreshadowed the League of
Nations - an international organization that Wilson dreamed
would provide a system of collective security.
14. Mobilizing for War
• The Committee on Public Information was
created to rally public support of war. It was
headed by George Creel. His job was to sell
America on the war and sell the world on
Wilsonian war aims.
• The Creel organization employed thousands of
workers around the world to spread war
propaganda. The entire nation was as a result
swept into war fever.
15. Restrictions on Civil Liberties
• There were over 8 million German-Americans; rumors began
to spread of spying and sabotage. As a result, a few GermanAmericans were tarred, feathered, and beaten. A hysterical
hatred of Germans and things related to Germany swept the
nation.
A. The Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of
1918 reflected fears about Germans and antiwar
Americans. Kingpin Socialist Eugene V. Debs and the
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) leader William D.
Haywood were convicted under the Espionage Act.
• At this time, nearly any criticism of the government could be
censored and punished. The Supreme Court upheld these laws
in Schenck v. United States (1919); it argued that freedom of
speech could be revoked when such speech posed a danger to
the nation.
16.Mobilizing for War
• No one knew how much steel or explosive powder the country
was capable of producing. Fears of big government restricted
efforts to coordinate the economy from Washington. States'
rights Democrats and businesspeople hated federal economic
controls.
17. War Industries Board
• In 1918, Wilson appointed Bernard Baruch to
head the War Industries Board in order to
impose some order on the economic
confusion. The Board never really had much
control and was disbanded after the end of the
war.
18. Women
• The National Woman's party, led by Alice Paul, protested
the war.
• The larger part of the suffrage movement, represented by the
National American Woman Suffrage Association,
supported Wilson's war.
• War mobilization gave momentum to the suffrage
movement. Impressed by women's war work, President
Wilson supported women suffrage. In 1920, The 19th
Amendment was passed, giving all American women the
right to vote.
• In the postwar decade, feminists continued to campaign for
laws to protect women in the workplace and prohibit child
labor.
•
19. African Americans
• Thousands of African Americans in the
south migrate north to work in war related
factories.
• Race riots occur in 26 Northern cities