Unit 7. What political circumstances in Europe led to World War I What events motivated the United States to join the war?

Unit 7

The United States Enters World War I

World War I Begins

What political circumstances in Europe led to World War I

What events motivated the United States to join the war?

Guiding Questions

NationalismImperialismMilitarismPropagandaTriple AllianceTriple Entente

Terms to Know

Militarism Nationalism Imperialism Alliance System

• Strong buildup of armed forces ; Aggressive military preparedness

• Arms race between Britain and Germany

• Feeling of strong pride, loyalty, and devotion to one’s nation

• Right of self-determination- the idea that those who share a national identity should have their own country and government

• Economic and political control of a strong nation over weaker nations

• Triple Alliance(Central Powers)- Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy (Switches sides)

• Triple Entente (Allies)- Britain, France, Russia

Causes of World War I

Archduke of Austria-Hungary Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian rebelSerbian officials knew of plot

Austria-Hungry wanted to crush Serbia to stop nationalism from threating empire

Asked Germany for supportAfraid Russia would start war if they attacked Serbia

Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28Russia began mobilizing militaryGermany declared war on France and Russia

World War I had begun

Assassination Sparks War

Germany immediately attacked FranceSchlieffen Plan- Quick drive through Belgium,

then France to capture Paris; Then attack Russia

British government had a treaty with Belgium promising it would help Belgium stay neutral

Britain declared war on Germany when German troops moved across Belgium

Western frontStalemate- trench warfare

Germany Makes its Move

Cultural /Economic Ties

Unrestricted Submarine warfare Zimmerman Note

• Most Americans supported the Allies cause

• British propaganda helped sway favor to allies

• Many U.S. banks invested heavily to the Allies

• Allied win was necessary for the invested money to be paid back

• Germany announced they would sink any ship in waters around Britain without warning

• The Lusitania, a British passenger liner carrying American civilians, was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine

• Germany promised to not sink merchant ships after warning from U.S. (Kept U.S. out of war past Election of 1916)

• Restarted on Feb. 1, 1917

• Sunk 6 American ships

• January 1917• Telegram sent from

office of Arthur Zimmerman to the German ambassador to Mexico

• Promised to return Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona to Mexico if it allied with Germany

• Intercepted by British intelligence

• Printed in American newspapers

U.S. Moves Towards War

April 2, 1917: President Wilson asks Congress for declaration of war on Germany

Resolution was passed a few days later with overwhelming supportOnly 50 representatives and six senators voted

against declaring war

U.S. Declares War

How did international alliances help create tensions in Europe?

Why might some Americans have chosen to support either the Allies or the Central Powers?

Why did the sinking of the Lusitania affect U.S. public opinion about the war?

Why would Germany’s offer to Mexico worry many Americans?

Discussion Questions

The Home Front

What did Congress do to prepare the economy for war?

How did life change for women on the home front during World War I?

Guiding Questions

Victory gardenEspionageDraft/Conscription

Terms to Know

War Industries Board

Food Administration

Fuel Administration

• Organized the creation of war materials

• Encouraged companies to use mass-production techniques to increase efficiency

• Urged them to eliminate waste by standardizing products

• Told factories what they could make

• Distributed raw materials, ordered new factories to be built, sometimes set prices (Caused retail prices to soar)

• Run by Herbert Hoover

• Job to increase food production while decreasing food consumption

• Urged families to conserve food

• Encouraged families to plant and grow their own vegetables (Victory gardens)

• Managed the use of coal and oil

• Started daylight savings time to save energy

• Urged people to have “Heatless Mondays”

• Made workweeks shorter for factories that were making goods not used for war

Wartime Agencies

National War Labor Board(1918) Tried to get companies to pay better wages, use 8 hour

workday, allow unions the right to organize and bargain collective

Labor leaders agreed not to disrupt war production Increased union participation by more than 1 million

Women joined the workforce in record numbers Hired for jobs traditionally held by men More than 1 million women joined workforce Helped show women hold jobs that many believed only men

could doGreat Migration

Huge movement of African Americans to the north (300,000-500,000)

Worked in factories

Mobilizing the Workforce

War Financing Committee of Public Information

• U.S. spent about $35 billion on war effort

• Congress raised income rates• New taxes on company profits • War-profits tax• Excise Taxes (tobacco, liquor,

luxury goods)• “Liberty Bonds”/ “Liberty Loans”

(People lend the government money, and the government promised to repay the money with interest)

• Headed by muckraker George Creel

• Job was to “sell” the war to the American people

• First national propaganda agency (Biased communication designed to influence people’s thoughts and actions)

• Gave jobs to advertising experts, artists, authors, songwriters, entertainers, public speakers, and motion picture companies

• Four-Minute Men- gave speeches urging audiences to support the war in various ways

Selling the War

Espionage Act of 1917Made it illegal to aid the enemy, give false

reports, or disrupt the war effortSedition Act of 1918

Made it illegal to speak against the war publicly

Both laws were upheld in courtAlong with the CPI, helped lead to violence

against many groupsGerman Americans, labor activists, pacifists,

socialists

Espionage and Sedition Acts

In 1917, the United States had roughly 200,000 troops in its army and National GuardMany more were neededProgressives were against forced military service,

but believed a draft was neededSelective Service Act of 1917

Required all men between 21-30 to sign upLottery randomly determined order on which men

were called before a local draft boardDraft board was responsible for selecting and

releasing people for military serviceConsisted of people from local communities

About 2.5 million were drafted

Mobilizing the Military

African Americans Women

• 400,000 African Americans were drafted

• 42,o00 served overseas as combat troops

• Encountered discrimination as they had to serve in racially segregated units, usually under the supervision of white officers

• All African American 92nd and 93rd Infantry Divisions won praise from French commander Pepin and U.S. commander , John J. Pershing

• First war in which women officially served in the armed forces

• Served in non-combat roles • More than 11,000 women served

in the navy. Enlisted at rank of yeoman (Office jobs, chemists, electricians, radio operators)

• Army did not enlist women, hired them as temporary workers to work in office jobs

• Army nurses serving in the Army Nursing Corps were the only women to be sent overseas

African Americans and Women Join Military

12,000 Native Americans20,000 Puerto RicansThousands of Mexican Americans served

Volunteered for service more than any other minority group in the U.S.

Some Asians fought on the side of the United StatesEven before they were citizensGranted citizenship for their contributions

More Minorities Join Army

Why do you think the federal government undertook such wide-scale economic and social mobilization?

How did life change for women on the home front during World War I?

How did life change for African Americans on the home front during World War I?

How were Americans’ rights limited during World War I?

Discussion Questions

Combat and Modern Warfare

How did new technologies increase the number of casualties compared to other wars?

Why was the arrival of the U.S. forces so important to the war effort?

Why did President Wilson’s ideas for peace negotiations differ from those of French Premier Clemenceau and British Prime Minister Lloyd George?

Discussion Questions

ConvoyArmisticeNational self-determinationReparationsResolveTrench warfare

Terms to Know

Trench Warfare New Technology

• Network of trenches built across France all the way to the Belgian cost

• Caused a stalemate in the fighting on the Western Front

• Front line, support, reserve trenches

• “No Man’s Land”• Rat infested, Trench foot, Trench

mouth

• Artillery guns placed far behind the battle lines

• Machine guns• Poison gas• Armored tanks• Zeppelins (Giant helium filled

balloons)• Airplanes

Combat in WWI

Convoy System Russia Pulls Out of War

• Devised by American admiral William Sims

• Convinced the British to use navy ships to guard passenger and merchant ships

• Greatly reduced the number of shipping losses incurred by the British

• Also, helped ensure U.S. troops arrived safely to Europe

• Russian Revolution began in March 1917

• Vladimir Lenin’s Bolshevik Party took power in 1917 and established a Communist state

• Lenin pulled Russia out of the war to focus on building his Communist state

• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk- agreement between Russia and Germany. Russia gave up Ukraine, its Polish and Baltic territories, and Finland

• Allowed Germany to focus on 1 front

Americans Arrive Just in Time

Nearly 2 million U.S. troops were sent to Europe“Doughboys”Fresh and ready to fight

John J. Pershing was commander of American Expeditionary Force

Americans Enter Combat

By May 1918, Germany was within 40 miles of ParisAmericans started first major attack

Captured village of CantignyJune 1, U.S. and French troops stopped German drive

at Chateau-Thierry Battle of Argonne Forest

Began on Sept. 26, 1918Biggest offensive for the American Expeditionary

ForcesU.S. troops slowly advanced By early November, U.S. troops had opened a hole on

the eastern side of the German lineGerman troops began falling back

American Troops Go On Offensive

November 3, 1918- Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Empire surrendered to the Allies

November 3, 1918- German sailors in Kiel rebelled Main base of German fleetMutiny spread quickly as soldiers and workers

seized power in other German townsNovember 9, 1918- socialist leaders in Berlin

established a German republicNovember 11, 1918- Germany signed an

armistice (an agreement to stop fighting)

Collapse of Germany

Casualties22 million deaths (U.S.- 48,000(battle), 62,000

(disease))20 million wounded (U.S.- 200,000)10 million refugees

Costs$338 billion

Costs of World War 1

In January 1919, delegates from 27 countries met at Palace of Versailles Treaty of Versailles- Treaty with Germany

Germany was not in attendanceTreaty of Saint-Germain- Treaty with Austria-Hungary

Meetings lasted 5 months“Big Four”

President Woodrow Wilson (United States)Prime Minister David Lloyd George ( Great Britain)Premier Georges Clemenceau (France)Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando ( Italy)

Russia was not invited to meetingsAllied leaders did not recognize Lenin’s government

Plans for Peace

Points 1-5 (Prevention of Future Wars)

Points 6-13 (National Self-determination)

Point 14

• No secret treaties (open diplomacy)

• Freedom of the seas• Free trade (Lower or

abolish tariffs)• Disarmament

(removing weapons to “lowest point consistent with domestic safety”)

• Fair changes to colonial changes

• Idea that the borders of countries should be drawn based on ethnicity and national identity

• Ethnic groups would form their own nation-states or decide for themselves which nation they would belong to

• No nation should keep territory taken from another nation

• Creation of the League of Nations

• International organization to address diplomatic crises

• Members would help keep peace by promising to respect and protect each other’s territory and political independence

Wilson’s Fourteen Points

British Prime Minister Lloyd and French Premier Clemenceau wanted to punish Germany Wanted to prevent further invasions by

GermanyBritain did not want to give up its naval

advantageTreaty of Versailles would ignore freedom of

the seas, free trade and fair settlement of colonial claimsNo colonial people in Asia or Africa gained

independenceFrance and Britain took over colonial areas in

Africa and Middle EastJapan took over colonies in East Asia

Allies Reject Wilson’s Plans

Provisions Weaknesses

• Established 9 new nations (Splitting up Austro-Hungarian, Russian, German, and Ottoman Empire)

• Greatly reduced Germany’s military

• Germany was blamed for causing the war (war-guilt clause)

• Germany was required to pay reparations- money to pay for the war damages caused ($33 million; Designed to keep Germany’s economy weak)

• Germany had to give back territory of Alsace-Lorraine to France

• Germany’s troops were not allowed west of the Rhine River (Rhineland; Demilitarized zone)

• Harsh treatment of Germany weakened ability to provide a lasting peace

• War guilt clause humiliated Germany

• Germany was never going to be able to pay off the reparations bill, especially after being stripped of overseas colonies

• Russia was excluded from peace conference and lost more territory than Germany did

• Treaty ignored the rights of colonized people for self-determination (Especially in Southeast Asia)

Treaty of Versailles

Most of the opposition in the United States to the Treaty of Versailles involved the League of Nations “Irreconcilables”

Felt League was the type of organization the Founders warned about (Took power out of the hands of Congress)

“Reservationists” Agreed to ratify treaty, only if language was changed to allow Congress

the constitutional right to declare war Provision for joint economic and military action against aggresssion did not

require Congressional approval

Wilson refused to negotiate and campaigned heavily to the American people

Senate voted on treaty 2 times (Nov. 1919 & Mar. 1920) Refused to approve treaty both times

After Wilson left office in 1921, the U.S. negotiated separate peace treaties with each of the Central Powers League of Nations formed without the United States

U.S. Senate Rejects Treaty of Versailles

What could the Americans bring to the war to help the Allies?

How did the postwar goals of the main Allies vary?

How do you think the Treaty of Versailles affected Germany in the years following WWI?

What were the Senate’s objections to the Treaty of Versailles?

Discussion Questions