Transcript Chapter 9 Section 3 - Woodridge High School

Chapter 9
Section 3
Part II
When the American Arrived
• When the Americans
arrived in Europe, President
Wilson and General
Pershing told the British and
the French that they
wanted Americans officers
commanding American
soldiers
• However, the 93rd Infantry
Division (An African
American unit) was
transferred to the French
and they were the first
Americans to enter combat.
German Offensive
• To try and win the war,
the Germans launched
a massive attack and
pushed deeply into
Allied lines.
• American and French
troops twice blocked
German drives on Paris.
Counter-Attack
• General John “Blackjack”
Pershing organized the most
massive attack in American
history, causing Germans to
begin to retreat in September
1918.
• By November, the Americans
had destroyed the German
defenses and pushed a hole in
the German lines.
• Finally, on November 11, 1918,
Germany signed an armistice,
or cease-fire, that ended the
war.
Battle of the Argonne Forest (1918)
• On September 26th, Allied
troops began attacking the
Germans under the command
of French General Foch.
• Thanks to the presence of a
million American soldiers in
France by this time, the Allies
made slow, but steady,
progress.
• The German high command
warned that it could no longer
ensure victory and, as the
German army began
mutinying, it sued for peace.
Sergeant Alvin York
• Sergeant Alvin York, an
American hero, who
originally tried to avoid
the draft, took
command during the
Battle of the Argonne
Forest?
Peace Process
• The peace conference
started in January 1919
at the Palace of
Versailles in France.
• The resulting treaty was
called the Treaty of
Versailles.
• The main people
involved, known as the
Big Four, were leaders
of the Allied nations.
Big Four
• President Wilson – U.S.
• David Lloyd George –
Great Britain
• Clemenceau – France
• Vittorio Orlando – Italy
Wilson’s14 Points
• President Wilson made a plan for peace
known as the Fourteen Points.
– Points 1-5 wanted to eliminate the causes of war.
– Points 6 – 13 addressed the right to national selfdetermination (self rule or independent).
– The 14th point called for the formation of a League
of Nations to keep peace and prevent future wars.
Punishing Germany
• The other Allied governments believed Wilson’s
plan was too easy on the Germans; however, the
Treaty of Versailles included many terms to
weaken and punish Germany.
• It reduced Germany’s military and forced it to pay
reparations, or war damages.
• The war led to the end of the Russian, Ottoman,
German, and Austro-Hungarian empires and the
establishment of several new nations.
Republican Opposition in the U.S.
Senate
• The Treaty of Versailles did
include Wilson’s plan for the
League of Nations, but many U.S.
Congress members opposed it for
that reason.
• Republican were upset that they
were not invite to France to help
settle the peace treaty.
• Republicans in the Senate, lead
by Henry Cabot Lodge believed it
would force the United States
into many conflicts.
– After voting twice, the U.S. Senate
refused to ratify the treaty.
– The League of Nations started
without the United States.
Wilson Falls Ill
• Wilson tried to use public opinion against the
Republicans in the U.S. Senate by going on a cross
country speaking tour.
• However, while in Pueblo, Colorado, President
Wilson collapsed.
• Then, on October 2, 1919, he suffered a serious
stroke that almost totally incapacitated him,
leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in
his left eye.
• His last year in office, President Wilson rarely left
the White House.