World War I, 1917-1918
Allied Powers: England, France, Russia
Central Powers: Germany, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Turkey
U.S. Neutrality
Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
The Spark: Serbian Independence
Gavrilo Princip
Narodna Odbrana
Black Hand
Tsar Nicholas & Russian Support
Germany advances on France
Ottoman Empire
England
Blood bath
Technological Characteristics:
Armor
Planes
Tanks
Breakdowns
Chemical Warfare
Trench Warfare
The Machine Gun
30 cal air cooled, water jacket – American
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Hiram Maxim
800 rounds per min.
7.9 mm Spandau - German
Razor Wire / Barb Wire
Blood Bath & Stalemate
U.S. Public Opinion:
Wilson
Lusitania, 1915
German U-boats
Zimmerman Note, 1917
Economic Ties
U.S. Bankers – The Trio
JP Morgan, James Baker, Charles Stillman
Soldiers: White, Latino, Black
Bolshevik Revolution, 1917
Vladimir Lennin
Treaty of Versailles, 1918
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Germany forces to accept full responsibility of war
Germany must disarm
Germany must make territorial concessions
Germany must pay heavy war reparations
Ottoman Empire collapsed
Austria-Hungary collapsed
many new nations are created out of the territorial re-arrangements
Unexpected Consequences
1. Redrawing of Europe creates long-standing hostilities with
U.S.
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2. redrawing of Europe creates ethnic fighting & national
violence
3. U.S.S.R becomes anti-American because it was left out of the
treaty sharing
4. U.S. suffered little casualties
- entered the war as it was drawing to a close
- brought economic prosperity to the U.S
- shifts the balance of power and wealth from Euro to U.S.
World War I At Home:
Economic Prosperity – tremendous economic upturn
- economy is burning hot
- War Machine / Military Industrial Complex
Women – found new employment opportunities
- enter the workforce to replace man
- wage earners
- managers
- building America’s military
- dynamics of the house begin to change
- liberation of women
Migration to War Factories – movement from South to North / West to East
- war factories mostly in the North
- military industries dominant in the north
Great Black Migration – 7 million blacks left the fields of the south to
work the factories of the north
Latino Migration – from the southwest to the north
Poor White Migration – from the south and west to the north
Rural Migration – from the west, from the fields
Immigration to US War Factories & American Farms – movement from Mexico
to American West and Southwest / to American Fileds
Push-Pull Factor
Mexican Revolution, 1910-1917 – creates massive immigration into U.S.
Mexican Workers – fed American troops abroad and Americans at home
Labor – economy is better
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Strikes – continue, especially since women find new forms of
discrimination in the workplace
Wages – increase, sometimes doubled
Hours – improve from 55hrs per week to 48 hrs per week
Politics – democracy expanded
19th Amendment – passed in 1920 gives women the legal right to vote
Communism – first time it’s a real threat to the U.S.
First Red Scare – fear of Communist take-over
General Mitchell Palmer – military expert / government official
- believes there are people in the U.S. that are
secretly trying to over throw the government
- Bolsheviks plotting a violent take-over
Palmer Raids – raids into neighborhoods
- raids into orgs., churches
- arrests of people / dissenters
- rounds ups & deportations
- aided and abetted the First Red Scare
Espionage & Sedition Act – illegal to criticize the govt.
- can be arrested to dissenting
- can be detained, deported, even killed for objecting
- violation of Free Speech Clause of the U.S. Const.
- restrictions on free speech
Eugene Debbs – rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight
German-Americans – attacked, beaten, criminalized, victimized
Anti-German Hysteria – German communities assaulted
Mexican & Mexican Americans
Latino Soldiers – 100,000 troops
Blacks
Black Soldiers – 200,000
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Poor Whites – largest ethno-racial group to go off to war
Returning Soldiers – come home to jobs taken by women, latinos, and blacks
Ethno-racial Hostilities – from economic competition
Lynching
KKK Violence
Texas Rangers
Race Riots
Houston Race Riot, 1917
Chinese Exclusion Act
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