World War I

The War to End All Wars

…..until WWII

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Background

• Where: Europe

• Key players: Britain, France, Russia v. Germany & Austria

• When: 1914-1918

• Impact: Millions of men killed & wounded

Causes

• Militarism - Build up of weapons

• Alliance System - Turned small war into major war

• Imperialism - Competition for colonies

• Nationalism - Loyalty to one’s country - Each nation thought it was the best

Immediate Cause

• Assassination of Austrian Archduke

The War

• Western Front

• Trench Warfare

• Weaponry more advanced than tactics >>>>leads to massive slaughter

U.S. Role 1914-17

• Isolationist

• U.S. remains neutral but…

supplies Allies

Modern Warfare

•

Stalemate

• Neither side could win or gain ground

U.S. Gets Drawn in…

Submarine Warfare

• Lusitania - 128 Americans killed by German u-boat in 1915

• Germans also torpedo French liner Sussex killing more Americans

>>Sussex Pledge = Germany would not attack merchant ships without warning/Allies would no longer blockade– Neither side followed through

Propaganda

• Allies carry out anti-German propaganda campaign over trans-Atlantic cable

• Once U.S. joined they began campaign of there own

Cultural Links

• German and Irish Americans tended to side with Central Powers

• Majority of Americans were pro-British and the Allies

Economics

• British blockade cut off U.S. trade with Germany

• U.S. trade with the Allies increased 4x between 1914-1917

• Wilson did not believe trade or loans to British & French violated neutrality

Zimmerman Note

Zimmerman Telegram

• 1917• Message from German foreign secretary to German minister in Mexico urging an alliance with Mexico– Mexico to regain “lost territories”

Russian Revolution

• Czar Overthrown

• Russian Democracy?

• Russia then quits the war

• Communist state emerges

United States enters the War in 1917

U.S. at War

• Revenue Act in 1916 to expand military

• Selective Service Act (1917) – draft of males 18 to 45– 4.8 mill served, 2.8 mill drafted

• AEF (American Expeditionary Force) sent France (2 million men) un John J Pershing

• 51,000 killed

Centralizing the Economy

• Gov’t agencies overseen by Council of National Defense

• Gov’t entered housing and labor relations

• Supervised public utilities including telegraph and telephone

“To Keep the World Safe for Democracy?”

• Liberty Bonds• Victory Gardens• CPI (Committee on Public Information)

• Liberty Cabbage• Literacy tests for immigrants (Wilson’s veto overridden)

Patriotism v Dissent (Protest)

• Sabotage Act• Espionage Act• Socialists, communists and some progressives protest U.S. entry in WWI

• Famous socialists Schenck & Debs arrested under Espionage Act>>> Challenges in Supreme Court >>> “Clear and Present Danger” principle

Wilson’s 14 Points SpeechGiven to Congress in January 1918

• 1-5 = end sources of hostility (end secret treaties, arms reduction, colonial practices, freedom of the seas)

• 6-13 = Rearrangement of European borders (self-determination/no large empires)

• 14 = Create a League of Nations

Armistice Day

• November 11, 1918• Ends hostilities between belligerent nations

Treaty of Versailles

• Reparations

• Internationalism

• Self-determination

• League of Nations– Wilson for/Sen. Against– Not Ratified