Transcript Diplomacy & The Great War

THE U.S. IN WWI:
PROPAGANDA WAR AND FOREIGN WAR
EUGENIA LANGAN
MATER ACADEMY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL
HIALEAH GARDENS, FLORIDA
WITH THANKS TO SUSAN POJER
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
TODAY:
 WHY DID THE U.S. ENTER WORLD WAR I – 1914 -18?
 HOW DID THE U.S. GOVERNMENT PERSUADE THE AMERICAN
PUBLIC TO SUPPORT THE WAR?
 WHAT ROLE DID THE U.S. PLAY IN THE WAR?
 WHAT WERE THE EFFECTS ON THE HOME FRONT?
 WHAT WERE THE EFFECTS OF THE WAR?
BROAD: HOW DID THE U.S. BECOME A SUPERPOWER?
CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I:
1. INDUSTRIAL AND IMPERIAL RIVALRY BETWEEN
BRITAIN AND GERMANY – AND FRANCE
2. NATIONALISM - IN PART FOR SAME REASONS
AS IN U.S. –NEED OF GOVERNMENTS TO MAINTAIN
PUBLIC SUPPORT
3. ARMS RACE AMONG EUROPEAN INDUSTRIAL
POWERS – PREPARING FOR INEVITABLE WAR
AGGRESSIVE NATIONALISM
COLONIAL RIVALIES IN AFRICA, 1914
COLONIAL RIVALRIES IN ASIA, 1914
EUROPEAN ARMS RACE
TOTAL DEFENSE EXPENDITURES FOR THE GREAT
POWERS [GER., A-H, IT., FR., BR., RUS.]
IN MILLIONS OF £S, AND % INCREASE.
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
1914
94
130
154
268
289
398
FRANCE
BRITAIN
RUSSIA
GERMANY
1910-1914 INCREASE IN
DEFENSE EXPENDITURES
10%
13%
39%
73%
4. THE ALLIANCE SYSTEM: PREPARING FOR
INEVITABLE WAR AND MADE WAR INEVITABLE!
Entente Cordial:
BRITAIN, FRANCE, RUSSIA
Triple Alliance:
GERMANY, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY,
ITALY
5. ASSASINATION OF AUSTRIAN ARCHDUKE AND WIFE,
IN SARAJEVO, SERBIA BY BOSNIAN NATIONALIST
FRANZ-FERDINAND, SOPHIE AND CHILDREN
HE WAS HEIR TO THE THRONE
The Assassination: Sarajevo
THE ASSASSIN:
Gavrilo
Princip
THE LONE NUT ASSASSIN WHO STARTED WWI
6.
THE ALLIANCES AND DECLARATIONS OF WAR
 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY DECLARED WAR ON SERBIA OVER
ASSASSINATION, JULY 28

SERBIA WAS ALLY OF RUSSIA  RUSSIA DECLARED WAR
ON AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
 AUGUST 1 – AUSTRIA-HUNGARY WAS ALLY OF GERMANY
GERMANY HAD EXCUSE TO DECLARE WAR ON RUSSIA
 RUSSIA WAS IN THE ENTENTE CORDIALE  BY AUGUST 8,
ENTIRE ENTENTE CORDIALE AND ITS ALLIES HAD DECLARED
WAR ON TRIPLE ALLIANCE (EXCEPT ITALY) AND ITS ALLIES
 OTTOMAN EMPIRE ALLIED WITH GERMANY
 JAPAN DECLARED WAR ON GERMANY AND INVADED
GERMAN TERRITORY IN CHINA
ALLIED POWERS:
CENTRAL POWERS:

DID THE U.S. HAVE A DOG IN THAT FIGHT?

SENTIMENTAL:
RELATIONSHIP WITH BRITAIN
 ECONOMIC: DID IT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE
WHETHER BRITAIN OR GERMANY WAS GREATEST
INDUSTRIAL/ IMPERIAL POWER?
 ECONOMIC: RAILROAD AND INDUSTRIAL DEBT TO
BRITISH BANKS – IF BRITAIN HIT THE SKIDS AND
CALLED DEBT WHAT WOULD HAPPEN?
 RECESSION OR DEPRESSION

WHAT ABOUT OUR INTEREST VIS-À-VIS JAPAN?
EUROPE IN 1914
BRITISH RECRUITING POSTER WITH LORD
KITCHENER – LOOK FAMILIAR?
Soldiers Mobilized
14
12
Millions
10
8
6
4
2
0
France
Germany
Russia
Britain
RAILROADS MADE MASSIVE TROOP MOBILIZATION
POSSIBLE
WORLD WAR I IN EUROPE:
WESTERN FRONT
EASTERN AND
BY 1918; STALEMATE IN WESTERN EUROPE – STUCK
IN BELGIUM WITH MASSIVE CASUALTIES
Verdun – February, 1916
e GERMAN OFFENSIVE.
e EACH SIDE HAD 500,000 CASUALTIES.
The Somme – July, 1916
e 60,000 BRITISH SOLDIERS KILLED IN ONE DAY.
e OVER 1,000,000 KILLED IN 5 MONTHS.
WHY SUCH HIGH CASUALTIES?
RAILROADS FOR
MASSIVE TROOP MOVEMENTS AND NEW WEAPONS
U-Boats
AIRPLANES:
DEATH FROM THE SKY
The Zeppelin: Silent Death from the Sky
Long-range Artillery - Krupp’s “Big
Bertha” Gun
Flame
Throwers
Grenade
Launchers
Poison Gas
Machine Gun
Trench Warfare
Trench Warfare
“No Man’s
Land”
MEN IN THE TRENCHES WERE ALMOST
DEFENSELESS AGAINST POISON GAS
THE SITUATION IN 1917 IN A NUTSHELL"

STALEMATE IN WESTERN EUROPE
 THROUGH GERMANY WAS FIGHTING ON TWO
FRONTS, BRITAIN AND FRANCE WERE RUNNING
OUT OF ABLE-BODIED TROOPS
 THEY NEEDED THE U.S.
America
Joins
the
Allies
The Sinking
of the Lusitania, 1915
WILSON'S PUBLIC RESPONSE: NONINTERVENTION == "TOO PROUD TO
FIGHT"
 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1916: WOODROW
WILSON –D VS. CHARLES EVANS HUGHES - R
WILSON'S CAMPAIGN SLOGAN?
"HE KEPT US OUT OF WAR."
THE RESULTS: NON-INTERVENTION WAS POPULAR
 BUT MANY REPUBLICANS, SOME DEMOCRATS
LIKE WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN, AND INDEPENDENTS
LIKE TR PUBLICLY ADVOCATED WAR
 WHAT WAS THE REPUBLICAN CONSTITUENCY,
MAINLY?
 INDUSTRIES, LIKE RAILROADS, AND BANKS –
WHO LOBBIED FOR WAR
 LOANS FROM BRITISH BANKS – ALSO DESIRE FOR
WAR INDUSTRIES!
 SO WILSON PRIVATELY CHANGED HIS MIND AND
WANTED WAR
MARCH 1917 – THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION DEPOSED THE
CZAR. NOW THAT THERE WAS NO ABSOLUTE MONARCHY
AMONG THE ALLIES, WILSON WOULD BE ABLE TO CLAIM
PURPOSE OF WAR WAS “TO MAKE THE WORLD SAFE FOR
DEMOCRACY" -- EASIER TO SELL TO AMERICAN PEOPLE

WILSON'S OTHER MOTIVES?
 "MAKE THE WORLD SAFE FOR DEMOCRACY?"
"MORAL DIPLOMACY"?
 ROLE IN TREATY – PROMOTE LEAGUE OF
NATIONS?
 THE DILEMMA FOR WILSON AND WAR PARTY
IN CONGRESS: HOW TO CHANGE THE PUBLIC'S
MIND!
 JANUARY 1917 – GERMANY BEGAN
UNRESTRICTED SUBMARINE WARFARE – 7 U.S.
MERCHANT SHIPS SUNK – BUT STILL NOT QUITE
ENOUGH TO WIN MAJORITY SUPPORT FOR WAR

WHAT DID?

THE ZIMMERMAN TELEGRAM
The Zimmerman Telegram
LUCKY BREAK FOR THE WAR PARTY! WILSON HAD
TELEGRAM PUBLISHED IN U.S. PAPERS MARCH 1919;
CONGRESS DECLARED WAR ON GERMANY APRIL 6,
1917. U.S. TROOPS SENT TO EUROPE, 1918
The Yanks
Are Coming!
PERSHING INSISTED THAT
U.S. WHITE TROOPS FIGHT
IN SEPARATE AMERICAN
EXPEDITIONARY FORCE,
NOT IN BRITISH OR
FRENCH UNITS

MOBILIZATION: RECRUITING VOLUNTEERS
HEADLINE SAYS, "HUNS KILL
WOMEN AND CHILDREN"
BUT MOST U.S. TROOPS WERE DRAFTED –
SELECTIVE SERVICE ACT OF 1917

24,000,000 MEN REGISTERED FOR
THE DRAFT BY THE END OF 1918.
4,800,000 MEN SERVED IN WW1
(2,000,000 SAW ACTIVE COMBAT).
400,000 AFRICAN-AMERICANS
SERVED IN SEGREGATED UNITS.
15,000 NATIVE-AMERICANS SERVED
AS SCOUTS, MESSENGERS, AND
SNIPERS IN NON-SEGREGATED UNITS OR IN FRENCH
UNITS.
1917 – JONES ACT MADE PUERTO RICANS CITIZENS
OF U.S. SO PUERTO RICAN MEN COULD BE DRAFTED
Americans in the Trenches
U.S. DOUGHBOYS –
ENLISTED MEN
The Flying Aces of World War I
Eddie
Rickenbacher, US
Francesco
Barraco, It.
Eddie “Mick”
Mannoch, Br.
Willy Coppens de
Holthust, Belg.
Rene Pauk
Fonck, Fr.
Manfred von
Richtoffen, Ger.
[The “Red Baron”]
Looking for the “Red Baron?”
 MAY 1918: AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE
ARRIVED IN FRANCE, BY JUNE > 1 MILLION U.S.
TROOPS ARE THERE – JOINING 14,000 WILSON
SENT IN 1917!
 OCTOBER 1918:
AEF ARRIVED AT THE FRONT
 NOVEMBER 11, 1918: GERMANY
SURRENDERED
WE MADE A DIFFERENCE!
SOUVENIR POSTCARD
THE WAR ON THE HOME FRONT
WARTIME EXPANSION OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT:

COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE:
WAR INDUSTRIES BOARD –
BERNARD BARUCH
FOOD ADMINISTRATION –
HERBERT HOOVER
RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION – (RAILROADS WERE
NATIONALIZED)
WILLIAM MCADOO
NATIONAL WAR LABOR BOARD –
W. H.TAFT & FRANK P. WALSH

THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION (MINISTRY OF
PROPAGANDA!)
GEORGE CREEL
U.S. FUEL COMMISSION

RESULTS OF FEDERAL REGULATION OF ECONOMY
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
UNEMPLOYMENT VIRTUALLY DISAPPEARED
REAL GDP INCREASED 4%.
EXPANSION OF “BIG GOVERNMENT.”
EXCESSIVE REGULATIONS?
SOME GROSS MISMANAGEMENT 
OVERLAPPING JURISDICTIONS.
CLOSE COOPERATION BETWEEN PUBLIC
AND PRIVATE SECTORS.
UNPRECEDENTED OPPORTUNITIES FOR
DISADVANTAGED GROUPS.
WAR PRODUCTION: CREATES JOBS! CURTISMARTIN AIRCRAFT PLANT, BELOW
AND THOUGH OVER A MILLION MEN WERE IN THE
ARMY, THE INDUSTRIAL LABOR FORCE INCREASED:
HOW?
 WOMEN WENT TO WORK: IN FACTORIES, IN
OFFICES, AS NURSES, FARMERS, IN OTHER "MEN'S"
JOBS
WOMEN FACTORY
WORKERS, L, AND
BARBERS, ABOVE
 AND ABOUT 30,000 WOMEN SERVED IN THE
ARMY, NAVY AND MARINES (IN NON-COMBAT
ROLES)
WOMEN NAVY YEOMEN
WOMEN MARINES
DOUBLE MESSAGE:
PRETTY WOMAN
USED TO RECRUIT
MEN – BUT ALSO
WOMEN TO NAVAL
RESERVE OR COAST
GUARD RESERVE
STIRRING UP POPULAR SUPPORT AND MONEY AT
HOME
EVEN LITTLE KIDS AND GRANDMA LIKE THE WAR!

WARTIME CURTAILMENT OF CIVIL LIBERTIES:
 FOR REASONS THAT SHOULD BE OBVIOUS, WWI WAS
NOT VERY POPULAR!
 VOCAL OPPOSITION LED TO FEDERAL CRACKDOWN:
1.
ESPIONAGE ACT OF 1917:
 FEDERAL CRIME PUNISHABLE TO OBSTRUCT
RECRUITMENT OR ENCOURAGE INSUBORDINATION IN
MILITARY = TO OPPOSE THE DRAFT
 POST OFFICE TO CONFISCATE LEFTIST BOOKS,
PAMPHLETS
2.
SEDITION ACT OF 1918 – FEDERAL CRIME TO
 SPEAK AGAINST PURCHASE OF WAR BONDS;
 UTTER, PRINT OR PUBLISH "DISLOYAL" OR
"SCURRILOUS" LANGUAGE ABOUT U.S., U.S.
GOVERNMENT, CONSTITUTION OR ARMED FORCES.
 WILLFULLY URGE OR ADVOCATE CURTAILMENT
OF WAR PRODUCTION "WITH INTENT" TO HINDER
WAR EFFORT.
THESE ACTS WILL BE SIGNIFICANT DURING POSTWAR "RED SCARE"

1918 FLU PANDEMIC – AT HOME AND ABROAD
 H1NI FLU THAT KILLED YOUNG PEOPLE
 50 – 100 MILLION DEATHS WORLDWIDE
 500,000 – 675,000 DEATHS IN U.S.
 JOY AT THE ARMISTICE, NOVEMBER 11, 1918 –
WE STILL CELEBRATE VETERAN'S DAY ON 11/11.
EFFECTS:
116,516 U.S. TROOPS DIED
SOMME AMERICAN CEMETERY, FRANCE
WWI CASUALTIES
10,000,000
9,000,000
8,000,000
7,000,000
6,000,000
5,000,000
4,000,000
3,000,000
2,000,000
1,000,000
0
Russia
Germany
Austria-Hungary
France
Great Britain
Italy
Turkey
US
WAR IS HELL . . . BUT THE
PEACE, WAS TOO!
THE ARMISTICE WAS BASED ON PRESIDENT
WOODROW WILSON’S “FOURTEEN POINTS” FOR A
PEACE TREATY, ANNOUNCED IN CONGRESS JANUARY
1918 (PHOTO BELOW)


KEY PROVISIOS OF THE FOURTEEN POINTS:
1. MUTUAL DISARMAMENT –ALL NATIONS TO REDUCE
ARMS AND MILITARY TO AMOUNT NEEDED FOR
DOMESTIC SECURITY
1.
FREEDOM OF THE SEAS – ALL NATIONS TO HAVE
SAFE PASSAGE IN SEAS, IN PEACE AND WAR
2. LEAGUE OF NATIONS
 THOUGH SEVERAL OF THE POINTS CALLED FOR
GERMANY TO RETURN TERRITORIES IT SEIZED
DURING THE WAR, THERE WAS NO PROVISION
FOR PUNISHMENT OF GERMANY
THE UNEASY PEACE
THE TREATY
OF
VERSAILLES
(1919)
TREATY BETWEEN ALLIED POWERS
AND GERMANY
THE “COUNCIL OF FOUR” AT THE PARIS PEACE
CONFERENCE. FROM LEFT, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER DAVID
LLOYD GEORGE, ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER VITORIO
ORLANDO, FRENCH PRIME MINISTER GEORGES
CLEMENCEAU, AND U.S. PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON
THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES REJECTED MOST OF WILSON’S
FOURTEEN POINTS
 FRANCE WANTED REPARATIONS, OTHER EUROPEAN
NATIONS WANTED TO CRIPPLE GERMANY
KEY PROVISIONS:
1. RESTRICTIONS ON GERMAN MILITARY:

EXAMPLES: ONLY 100,000 SOLDIERS, NO TANKS OR
MACHINE GUNS; ONLY 15,000 SAILORS AND 6 BATTLESHIPS
 COMPLETE DEMILITARIZATION OF RHINELAND – BETWEEN
GERMANY AND FRANCE
2. GERMANY DEPRIVED OF TERRITORY – NOT JUST LAND IT
HAD TAKEN IN WWI! EXAMPLES:

ALSACE-LORRAINE RETURNED TO FRANCE
 WEST PRUSSIA TRANSFERRED TO NEW NATION OF POLAND

THIS CREATED “POLISH CORRIDOR” SEPARATING
EAST PRUSSIA FROM THE REST OF GERMANY
 PART OF UPPER SILESIA TRANSFERRED TO NEW NATION
OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA, REST TO POLAND
 GERMANY LOST ITS COLONIES IN AFRICA AND THE PACIFIC
TERRITORIAL CHANGES DUE TO WWI. GERMAN LOSSES DUE TO TREATY OF
VERSAILLES, RUSSIAN AND OTTOMAN LOSSES DUE TO TREATIES OF BRESTLITOVSK AND SÉVRES: RUSSIA NOT HAPPY!
 AND AFTER WAR, WILSON SECRETLY SENT U.S. TROOPS TO AID WHITE
(CZARIST) ARMY IN RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR = ROOTS OF COLD WAR
TREATY OF VERSAILLES, CONT’D:
3. REPARATIONS –OVER $50 BILLION IN REPARATIONS
IMPOSED ON GERMANY, DUE TO EUROPEAN ALLIES –
MOSTLY FRANCE

REPARATIONS WERE PAYABLE MOSTLY IN GOLD OR
COAL – EITHER ONE, RUINOUS TO GERMANY
 SOME HISTORIANS ESTIMATE THAT IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN
GERMANY UNTIL 2020 TO PAY OFF THE REPARATIONS
4. LEAGUE OF NATIONS ESTABLISHED, BUT . . .
 U.S. SENATE, LED BY “IRRECONCILABLES,”
REFUSED TO RATIFY THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES –
MOST AMERICANS OPPOSED IT – CONCERN ABOUT
LEAGUE OF NATIONS AND U.S. SOVEREIGNTY
 U.S. WAS NOT IN THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS –
PROBABLY THE ONLY COUNTRY THAT COULD
HAVE ENFORCED DEMILITARIZATION PROVISIONS
OF TREATY
SENATOR HENRY CABOT LODGE, R.
MASS, LED CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE
TREATY
WILSON SUFFERED STROKE, 1919 –
COULDN’T DO PUBLIC PRO-TREATY
CAMPAIGN
GERMANS, INCLUDING VETERANS OF WWI, FELT
BETRAYED BY THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES
WWII.
WHO’S THAT SOLDIER ON THE LEFT?
 JAPAN NOT FULLY SATISFIED, EITHER: GOT
GERMAN POSSESSIONS IN CHINA NORTH OF THE
EQUATOR, BUT REST WENT TO WESTERN
COUNTRIES

THE MIDDLE EAST PROBLEM:
 WESTERN EUROPEAN NATIONS TOOK OVER
OTTOMAN POSSESSIONS IN MIDDLE EAST UNDER
LEAGUE OF NATIONS MANDATES
 DURING THE WAR, T.E. LAWRENCE (LAWRENCE OF
ARABIA), WITH AUTHORIZATION OF BRITISH FOREIGN
OFFICE, PROMISED PALESTINE TO HASHEMITE ARABS IN
EXCHANGE FOR THEIR FIGHTING AGAINST OTTOMAN
EMPIRE
 BUT IN 1917 BALFOUR DECLARATION, BRITAIN
PROMISED PALESTINE TO THE JEWS
WWI, “THE WAR TO END ALL WARS”
PUT THE WORLD ON THE PATH TO
WORLD WAR II, THE COLD WAR, AND
THE CURRENT “WAR” BETWEEN THE
WESTERN NATIONS AND RADICAL
ISLAMISTS.