Transcript Winning the War - Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies

Winning the War
Essential Question: How did the
Allies win WWI?
Total War
• The channeling of a nation’s entire
resources into the war effort
Economies Committed to War
Production
• Universal Conscription: “The Draft” all
young men need to be ready for military
service
• Governments raise taxes and borrow
money
• Forbade labor strikes
• Rationing of food, gasoline, etc.
Total War
Total War
Economic Warfare
• Britain’s naval blockade of North Sea
• Keep ships from carrying supplies in and out
of Germany
• confiscate contraband (military supplies or
raw materials) ----could not take food and
clothing
• British blockade stopped both types of goods
• German winters of 1916 & 1917 called the
“turnip winter”
Why was control over the Adriatic,
Mediterranean, and North Seas significant
during WWI?
• German’s use U-boats to create their
own blockade
• 1915-Germans declare they will sink all
ships carrying goods to Britain
Allied Ships Sank by U-Boats
The Lusitania
• May 1915- German sub torpedoed British
liner off the coast of Ireland
• 1,200 passengers killed
• 128 Americans
• Germans argued the Lusitania was carrying
weapons
• Americans threat to cut of diplomatic relations
with Germany (Woodrow Wilson)
• Germans will now surface before attacking
ships--allowing civilians to escape
Propaganda War
German Poster
“Think of your children”
What is Propaganda?
• The spreading of ideas to promote a
cause or damage an opposing cause.
Often uses distorted facts or
exaggerations to sway public opinion.
Women Join the War Effort
French Women Factory
Workers
German Women
Woman Ambulance Driver
Red Cross Nurses
Russian Women Soldiers
Morale Collapses
• Germany is sending 15 year-olds to the
front
• Britain is nearly bankrupt
War Fatigue
• Massive desertions
• Russian soldiers leave the front to fight
a revolution at home
• Russia is hit hard by the war
– Incompetent generals & corruption
– Allies hope Russia will become a
democratic government
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
• 1918-Lenin signs treaty ending Russian
participation in WWI
• Germany could now concentrate its
efforts on the Western Front
• This could be a great breakthrough for
the Central Powers
The United States Declares
War
• Many Americans support the Allies b/c:
– Cultural ties
– Democracy (France)
• Some German/Americans supported
the Central Powers
• Irish immigrants (anti-British) & Russian
Jews (anti-Tsar)
February 1, 1917
• Germans announce they will resume
unrestricted submarine warfare
• Wilson denounced Germany
Zimmermann Telegram
• British intercept a message from
German Foreign Minister, Arthur
Zimmermann to his ambassador in
Mexico
• Proposed that Germany would help
Mexico reconquer NM, TX, AZ. In turn
for Mexican support against the US
• USA ---Goes Crazy Anti-German
Declaring War
• 1917---Wilson asks Congress to declare
war on Germany
• “To make the world safe for democracy”
• “The war to end all war”
African Americans
What was the effect of the
entry of the US into WWI?
• 1918 US troops join the Allies on the
Western Front
• US also has $$$
• Increase in troops and supplies to the
Allies
The Fourteen Points
• Wilson failed to maintain American
neutrality
• But still hoped to be a peacemaker
• January, 1918 he issues the Fourteen
Points-Terms for solving WWI & future
wars
Victory At Last
• Germans mount their last offensive
before the Americans arrive
– Push Allies back 40 miles
• Allied counterattack pushes Germans
back
• September, 1918--German generals
state that the war cannot be won
• German citizen uprisings urge William II
to step down
• Austria-Hungary is also unstable
• The empire is splintered
The Armistice
• German government sought an
armistice w/ the allies
• 11am on November 11, 1918 the war
came to an end