Why the German Gamble
Failed:
• Selective
Service Act: 3
million drafted 2 million sent;
AfricanAmerican troops
segregated
• War Industries
Board:
consumer goods
to war supplies
Why the German Gamble
Failed:
Food
Administration
• Herbert Hoover:
eat corn instead
of wheat,
meatless days,
etc; sacrifice
• “Victory
Gardens”
Americans React to the War
Committee on
Public Information George Creel
Propaganda
 Media/Government promote war &
patriotism

“Super Americanism”


Discrimination: German
Americans (fired from jobs,
beat up)
Patriotism: Sauerkraut,
Hamburger, Frankfurter,
German Measles
Changed - Liberty Lettuce,
Salsbury Steak, Hot Dog,
Liberty Measles

Espionage and Sedition
Acts (1918):


Prohibits speaking out against
the war/government
Violates 1st Amendment

Schenck v. United
States (1919) - Free Speech
can be limited when it
represents a “clear and
present danger”
“Over There”
• Americans Tip the Balance of Power
• Gen. John J. Pershing (“Black Jack”):
Commander - AEF
• U.S. troops fresh – Supplies are
plentiful – Germany Exhausted
• Summer 1918
• British, French, American troops stop
German advance on W. Front
• Push them back (Second Battle of the
Marne, St. Mihiel, Belleau Wood)
11/11/1918 – Armistice Day
11/11/18
Toll of the War







Total deaths approx. 26 million (1/2
civilians)
20 million wounded
10 million refugees
$350 Billion
Armenian Genocide- 1.5 million killed by
the Turks
110,000 Americans die in less than one
year of fighting- 60,000 from the flu.
Americans tip the balance- Wilson calls
for “Peace with Honor” based upon his
14 Points
The Lost Generation
“Had we returned home in 1916, out
of the suffering and the strength of
our experiences we might have
unleashed a storm. Now if we go back
we will be weary, broken, burnt out,
rootless, and without hope. We will
not be able to find our way any
more.” - Erich Maria Remarque All Quiet on the Western Front
http://books.google.com/books?id=hheBXQb5FBIC&pg=PA133&lpg=PA133&dq=all+qu
iet+on+the+western+front+%22had+we+returned%22&source=bl&ots=YJlNhqppo&sig=-80zvLJ1bChBbJ6TnvMeQILdKaQ&hl=en&ei=Rli4TOycIoOdlgfBqXrDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAQ
The Fourteen Points:
Wilson’s plan for peace

GOAL: Eliminate the causes of the War






Open Diplomacy. . .
Free Trade. . .
Arms Reduction. . .
Right to Self-Determination. . .
Freedom of the Seas. . .
Europeans only accept The League of
Nations
Complications at Versailles
1.
2.
Wilson Refused to take major Republican leader
with him to the Paris peace talks
Wilson went to Paris very idealistic – goal was to
create world peace


Europeans wanted to punish Germany and divide up
its territory.
Peace talks drag on for months- British Blockade
continues- Thousands more starve in Germany.
Redrawing the Map
Treaty of Versailles – New Nations & Resentment
1. Germany



2.
gained territory from Russia (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk)
was taken by the Allies: made into new nations:
Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland (Danzig
Corridor divides Germany)
Creates bitter resentment in Germany- they had won
the war on the Eastern Front, but it all gets taken
away at Versailles.
Austria-Hungary


Nations created - Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia,
Yugoslavia
Nations that are given the Right to Self-Determination
(One of Wilson’s 14 Points) are territories formerly held
by the Central Powers.
Peace Without Honor

Germany’s Reaction
 German leaders were not allowed to attend Paris peace talks
 held in a house surrounded by barbed wire
 expected a treaty based on the 14 points- “Peace with Honor”

Treaty of Versailles – Sows the Seeds of World War II
1.Article 231- Germany must accept full responsibility for the war
2.Took away German colonies, coal, fields, steel industry, Alsace & Lorraine
3.Reduced German army and navy (NO SUBS)
4.Forced Germany to pay $33 billion in war reparations- destroys the German
economy
5. Rumor spreads in Germany that the military was “Stabbed in the Back.”

Senate Rejects Treaty of Versailles
1. United States never ratified the Treaty of Versailles
2. Article X of the League of Nations (mutual protection clause) was the basis for
rejection. Senate felt it was unconstitutional because Article X would restrict
America from making foreign policy decisions.
3. Other Senators felt the treaty was too harsh.