The Great War

United States History

THE GREAT WAR

Key Vocabulary Nationalism: Feeling of intense pride in

one’s homeland

Militarism: Aggressive build-up of armed forces to intimidate and threaten other nations

Propaganda: Information designed to influence opinion

Key Vocabulary (continued)

No-man’s-land: Area between the trenches in trench warfare

Convoys: gathering merchant and troop transports in small groups and moving them together

Reparations: Monetary compensation for all of the war damage it had caused

Causes of War Militarism

Alliances

Nationalism

Imperialism

Assassination of Franz Ferdinand June 1914

Ferdinand: Heir to Austro-Hungarian throne

Princip: Bosnian member of a Serbian nationalist group (Black Hand)

Archduke Franz Ferdinand (left) and Gavrilo Princip (right)

War Breaks Out! Alliances Triggered, Germany invades France

hoping to knock France out quick and avoid two front war Problem: Germany goes through neutral Belgium

and Britain had guaranteed Belgium neutrality Britain declares war on Germany Italy flips to Triple Entente

Central Powers: Triple Alliance + Ottoman Empire + Bulgaria

Where’s the US in all this? US trying to stay neutral,

though most backed Allied Forces (Entente) Government and Business

backed the British

May 7, 1915: Lusitania sunk by U-boat US viewed this as terrorist act

on women and children

Sussex Pledge (1916): Germany would stop using submarine warfare to keep US out of war

Zimmermann Telegram (January 1917)

Germany asked Mexico to become an ally in the war against the US and in return would get lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona

Changed US Views on war US enters after

Germany begins sinking US ships with U-boats

An Overview of the Home Front

War Industries Board (WIB) Coordinate Production of War Materials

Victory Gardens Food Will Win The War—Don’t Waste It “Wheatless Mondays”, “Meatless

Tuesdays”, “Porkless Thursdays”

National War Labor Board (NWLB) Prevent disrupting war effort due to

strikes

Home Front (continued) Committee on Public

Information (CPI) “SELL” the war to the American

people Use song, art, and writing to urge

people to support war effort

Selective Service Draft system that required all

men aged 21 to 30 to register for the draft

A lottery system decided the order to be drafted

Home Front (continued) Great Migration: African American

workers moving north to work in factories with promises of high wages

Women join the workforce and go to war (mostly in clerical work or as nurses)

Espionage & Sedition Acts: illegal to aid the enemy, give false reports, or criticize the government

America’s Military By the numbers:

300,000 soldiers at start 2 million more volunteers 2.8 million men drafted 400,000 African-Am. Drafted 42,000 African-Am. in

combat Over 300,000 casualties

50,000 deaths from battle 200,000 wounded 60,000 deaths from disease

11,000 Women in Navy 20,000 Women in Army

Nursing Corps

New Technologies in WWI

The War Continues…but Russia Leaves

1917: Riots in Russia due to war, fuel shortages, and food

Czar abdicates (leaves) the throne and the Revolution begins

Vladimir Lenin (Bolshevik Party) overthrows the government and creates the communist rule Lenin pulls Russia out of war and

makes treaty with Germany

Treaty of Versailles Most important participants were the

“Big Four” President Wilson (US) Prime Minister David Lloyd George (Britain) Premier Georges Clemenceau (France) Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando (Italy) Russia not invited as Lenin’s gov’t not viewed

as legitimate

Germany greatly punished (lost land, troops, given massive reparations, had to take blame for causing the war)

Wilson’s Fourteen Points Basis of negotiations for Versailles

Three Key Points Free trade, free seas, disarmament, open

diplomacy National Self-Determination

Borders should be decided on ethnicity and national identity

Creation of the League of Nations Respect and protect one another’s territory and

independence

The New Map of Europe