A Bloody Conflict. Combat Trench Warfare – “No man’s land” – Major battles left several thousand men dead 1915 Poison Gas – Vomiting, blindness, suffocation.

A Bloody Conflict

Combat• Trench Warfare– “No man’s land”– Major battles left several thousand men dead

• 1915 Poison Gas– Vomiting, blindness, suffocation

• 1916 British tanks– Slow, unreliable, easy to destroy

• Aerial Combat– Dogfights

• Convoys– Allowed American troops to arrive safely

Russia • March 1917– Riots broke out– Czar Nicholas II abdicated his throne– Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin establish a

Communist government– Treaty of Brest-Litovsk• Russia lost territory, but Germany removed themselves

from remaining Russian land

Wilson’s Fourteen Points• January of 1919• “the principle of justice to all peoples and

nationalities”– First Five-Eliminate War

• Free trade• Disarmament • Freedom of seas• Impartial adjustment of colonial claims• Open diplomacy, not secret agreements

– Next 8- Rights of self-determination • Evacuate all countries invaded during war• League of nations

– Help preserve peace and prevent future wars

Treaty of Versailles• U.S., G.B., France, Italy• Wilson did not agree with other Allies– Stripped of armed forces– Made to pay 30 billion in repartitions– Acknowledge guilt for WWI– However, Wilson was pacified by the idea of his

League of Nations being created• U.S. Senate rejects the treaty– “entangling alliance”

• Worried that league could supersede Congress • Went to the people (30 speeches in 3 weeks)• By 1921 U.S. signed peace treaties with Central Powers and

never ratified his plan.

The War’s Impact

Canadian Soldiers in Germany British Fleet

The Economy• Inflation Cost of living increases Unrest• Union membership increased Easier organization– National War Labor Board• Grant concessions to workers

By the end of 1919, more than 3,600 strikes involving more than 4 million workers had taken place.

• Seattle General Strike of shipyards– Actions worried many Americans

• Boston Police Strike– Workers fired

• Steel Strike– Immigrants targeted

Society • Racial Unrest

– Competition for jobs• Red Scare

– 1919 strikes led to strong communist fears– Soviet Union Created Communist International

• Organization for coordinating the activities of Communist parties in other countries

• Palmer Raids– U.S Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer– General Intelligence Division (FBI)– Detained & deported any one they suspected– Never supplied any hard evidence– Limited immigration

• 1920 campaign – Republican Warren G. Harding – A return to “normalcy”