WWI
-- What were the causes of WWI?
-- What were American interests in getting
involved?
-- Why do you think the American public did not
support getting involved until so late in the
war? Why would the US not want to take
part?
In 1914, the British Empire covered
about ¼ of the world’s land and ruled
over about 1/5 of it’s population.
Human cost of WWI
• 10 million military and 7 million civilians were
killed in the war. (~ 117,000 Americans).
• 20 million died of hunger and disease related
to war.
– Spanish Flu killed 600,000 Americans and over 50
million worldwide in 1918 and 1919.
War in Europe
Woodrow Wilson
• Insists on “open door”  to make the world safe
for democracy.
• 1918 – endorses women’s suffrage as vital for
winning the war. (by 1917, 16 states had given
women the right to vote).
• Obsessive fear of disloyalty:
– Espionage Act (900 people sentenced to prison during
war)
– Sedition Act
– Selective Service Act
– Trading with the Enemy Act
– Alien Enemies Act
– Alien Act
National War Labor Board
NWLB
• To mediate disputes, recognize fair wages and
hours, collective bargaining.
• War Labor Policies Board
– Set standards for federal employees
1. Lusitania and Submarine
Warfare
• British passenger ship – sunk by Germany
1915 because they claimed it carried
weapons. Germany declared unrestricted
warfare on British ships.
• British denied it was carrying explosives.
• British responded with a naval blockade on
Germany. This prevented the US from trading
with Central Pwrs.
• Over 1000 people killed 126 Americans killed.
Neutrality?
• William Jennings Bryan: Wilson practiced a
false neutrality by allowing US passengers on
ships that we know might be sunk. The ships
are not neutral.
2. Mexico and the Zimmerman
Telegram
• Germany sent a Telegram to Mexico offering
lost territory (New Mexico, Texas, Arizona) and
financial support if Mexico joined Germany in
war against the US.
• Intercepted by London.  US declared war as
result.
• US had invaded Mexico with 11000 troops in
1916 to chase Pancho Villa.
US Cavalry invading Mexico in pursuit of Pancho Villa in
1916.
3. Trade and Economics
Making the World Safe for Democracy
• US experienced economic boom because of war
orders from Europe. (before US entry).
• US gave loans to European countries to finance war.
• Germany and UK blockaded each other to stop US
imports. Germany sank all ships bound for Britain.
Britain responded with blockade on Germany which
ended US trade with Germany.
• US loaned $2bil to UK; 27 mil to Germany.
• Lend-Lease Program: US will supply arms with
no payment until after war.
Trade and Economics
• In 1917, the estimated cost of the war was
$3.5 billion.
– Actual cost: $35 billion & 116,516 US soldiers.
• The US had loaned $2 billion to Britain and
France before entering the war, compared to
$27million to Germany.
Tax Base
• Before the war, most of the government’s
revenue came from tariffs.
• In 1917, the War Revenue Act was passed,
imposing an “excess profits levy” as high as 60%.
– Fed. Revenue went from $930 million in 1916 to
$4,388 million in 1918
• The personal exemption for income tax went
from 3,000 – 1,000
• Tax on earnings above $500,000 went from 7% to
77%
– Thus the income tax became the most important
source of federal revenues.
4. Demographics
• Americans divided on entry into war.
Economic benefits of war.
• Isolationism: Idea that US should not get
involved. Socialists, Progressives especially
opposed the war.
• US army 1914: 98,000; 1917: 4 million.
Demographics
• 1/3 of Americans were 1st or 2nd generation
Germans.
– These 8 million Germans and another 4 million
Irish did not love England.
• National Defense Act of 1916 expanded Army
from 90,000 to 175,000
– While Wilson was still maintaining a policy of
neutrality, a draft was instituted to expand the
army.
US Army
• 1917: US Army was the 7th largest in the world.
Equipped with old weapons and only had a day and a
half of ammunition in reserve.
– Spring, 1917: Army + Nat’l Guard =379,000
– End of War: 3.7 million
• Early summer, 1917: token American forces and the
French Army was plagued by mutinies.
• March, 1918: 300,000 Americans in France
• November, 1918: over 2 million!
• (1,400,000 of them saw action)
• 367,000 African American troops
5. Wilson, WWI and Progressivism
World War and the death of
Progressive Party
• By 1916, Progressives became extremely
committed to the defense of national honor,
nationalism, and opposition to Wilson. But,
imperialism and militarism replaced old liberal
formulas of protest, and within a year, the party
was dead.
• War was justified with progressive rhetoric and
on progressive terms.
– Discredited progressive language – morals and ideals
– Guaranteed that anti-war reactions would be antiprogressive.
Civil Society on the eve of war
1913 Armory Show,
Chicago
$45,000 worth of paintings sold!
Duchamp’s Nude
descending a
Staircase
(or, explosion in a shingle factory)
Wassily Kadinsky – Improvisation #27 – Garden of Love
Matisse’s work was chosen by
students at Chicago's Art
Student's League as the most
appalling and blasphemous
pictures in the exhibition. The
charges brought against him
were "artistic murder, pictorial
arson, artistic rapine, total
degeneracy of color, criminal
misuse of line, general aesthetic
abberation, and contumacious
abuse of title“
Troubled by the public’s
reaction to his work, Matisse
said in an interview:
"Oh do tell the American
people that I am a normal man;
that I am a devoted husband
and father, that I have three
fine children, that I go to the
theatre!"
Meanwhile, in Europe, the press had
been paying attention to the Caillaux
affair. Joseph Caillaux, former premier
and current minister of finance and
radical socialist leader in France was
accused of high crimes and
misdemeanors.
His wife was enraged by how the press
had destroyed his career. She decided
to solve the problem by buying a gun
and killing the responsible journalist.
When news arrived of the
assassination of the Archduke Franz
Ferdinand in Serbia, it seemed only a
brief distraction from the Calliaux trial.
How did the war affect the Economy?
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-- Unions
-- Wages
-- Production
-- Taxes
How do you think the war affected
politics?
WWI killed 10 million in battle
2 million died of hunger related to war
Efforts to save grain led to the 19th
Amendment– prohibition.
1915-1918: the real income of farmers
grew 30%
$20 billion were raised with Liberty Bonds
Bernard Baruch, head of the
War Industries Board (WIB)
Women working in a shipyard, 1918
1918, the government wanted to
encourage women to work on farms
to keep food production up.
Women in the Workforce
Wartime policies and economic changes wound
up killing progressivism, even though
progressives were in power. Why do you think?