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 self-

determination (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.