You idiots!
• What did George Washington warn
us about?
To stay out of European
Conflicts!!
• Alliances, no matter how you view them are preparations for war.
– Allies areBANG!!!
France, Great Britain, Russia, and turn-coat Italy.
– Central Powers are Germany, Austria- Hungary, and the Ottoman
Empire
– Europe had been at war with one another since the mid to late
1800s that helped to cause these alliances
• Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated by a Serbian national
organization known as the Black Hand. So in order to stop future
Serbian uprisings AH declares war on Serbia.
• Remember Russia promised to protect all Slavic people no matter
what government they were under and therefore declare war on AH.
• "One day the great European War will come out of some damned
foolish thing in the Balkans." Otto von Bismarck
• This causes Germany to
declare war on Russia
because of their alliance
with AH, and then
declares war on
Russia’s ally: France.
• Great Britain then
declares war on
Germany and AH
because of its alliance
with France.
•Germany began the war offensive with
invading Belgium on August 4th 1914
following the Schlieffen Plan.
•Unable to save Belgium the British and
the French retreat to the Marne River and
My plan is
stopped the German the
advancement
in
bomb
September 1914. homeboy!!!
• By the spring of
1915 two lines of
deep rat-infested
trenches zigzagged
across northern and
eastern France.
• German soldiers
occupied one line
and Allied soldiers
occupied the other
line.
This
Sucks!!!
• Between them lay “no man’s
land” a barren expanse of mud
pockmarked with shell craters
and filled with barbed wire
entanglements. Every once in
a while, the soldiers would
climb out of their trenches and
try to overrun enemy lines,
while machine guns blazed
and poison gas filled the air.
• Trench warfare was the name
given to this style of combat
• Began on July 1st 1916 and lasted until midNovember the British lost 60,000 troops on the
first day alone.
• Final casualties totaled about 1.2 million650,000 Germans, 420,000 British, and nearly
200,000 French. Yet only 7 miles of ground
changed hands.
• This kind of fighting would continue for more
than three years (war of attrition)
Christmas Truce
• Began on Christmas Eve December 24, 1914 all
along the Western Front
• Two sides: Germans and British mainly (with
some French) come together and eat, drink, sing
Christmas carols, and play soccer.
• Soldiers would communicate with one another
when they would be firing at the other’s trench
• It lasted until New Years Day 1914 some lasted a
little longer
• Over 100,000 troops participated
United States Exports to Europe 1910-1915
Numbers represent dollars (in millions)
•Many Americans did not
see a need to fight in a war
that was 3,000 miles away
(isolationism)
•Despite the widespread
opposition to war, a general
feeling of sympathy for
Great Britain and France
emerged.
•They finally commit to war
in 1917 to push the Allies
over the top.
The Great War
Why did the U.S. get involved in a
European war?
The U.S. was set to make a
“killing”
• By 1917, the U.S. GNP was 20% higher
than it was in 1913 (That means that we
were producing a LOT more!)
• We would lend money to countries who
would then use that money to buy stuff
from us!
• We did most of our trading, though, with
the Allies.
As profitable as war was, it posed
some problems
• Under international law, countries
at war could intercept and detain
neutral ships, inspect them and
confiscate contraband.
• In 1915-the British Navy began a
blockade of Germany
• The Germans responded with
their new weapon…Zie
Unterseeboot!
The Germans warned that the waters
around the British Isles were a war zone
• The Lusitania was a
British ship that was
sailing from NY to
England.
• The Germans sunk it
with a torpedo
• 128 Americans died
Should we go to war?
• The debate over involvement began to
intensify
• Women’s groups, political and labor
radicals were some of the people who
opposed involvement.
• Who do you think favored intervention?
1916 Presidential Election
• Wilson wants to be re-elected and uses the
slogan: HE KEPT US OUT OF WAR!!!
– He wins the election with the vote from the
South and West-who wanted nothing to do with
the war
• We stay out!
Germany appeared to be winning
the war and decided to take a
• They sent a secret message to the Mexicans
– Remember…the Mexicans were basically in the
middle of a revolution and Pancho Villa was
still leading people in anti-American sentiment
THE ZIMMERMANN NOTE
April 1917-Wilson asked
Congress for a declaration of
war!
“The world must be made
safe for democracy”
We ended up declaring war on
April 6, 1917
•Many people were opposed to war, they called it a
“Rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight”
•Many people were excited to go “Over there”
“Over There”
Over There
Johnnie, get your gun,
Get your gun, get your gun,
Take it on the run,
On the run, on the run.
Hear them calling, you and me,
Every son of liberty.
Hurry right away,
No delay, go today,
Make your daddy glad
To have had such a lad.
Tell your sweetheart not to pine,
To be proud her boy's in line.
(chorus sung twice)
Johnnie, get your gun,
Get your gun, get your gun,
Johnnie show the Hun
Who's a son of a gun.
Hoist the flag and let her fly,
Yankee Doodle do or die.
Pack your little kit,
Show your grit, do your bit.
Yankee to the ranks,
From the towns and the tanks.
Make your mother proud of you,
And the old Red, White and Blue.
(chorus sung twice)
Chorus
Over there, over there,
Send the word, send the word over
there That the Yanks are coming,
The Yanks are coming,
The drums rum-tumming
Ev'rywhere.
So prepare, say a pray'r,
Send the word, send the word to
beware.
We'll be over, we're coming over,
And we won't come back till it's over
Over there.
Should we have gone to war?
“The world must be made safe for
democracy.”
“We shall fight for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in
their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, and to make the world itself
at last free”
Woodrow Wilson
Vs.
“Let the capitalists do their own fighting.”
“The capitalists tell us it is patriotic to fight for your country and
shed your blood for the flag. Very Well! Let them set the example.
It is their country; they own it and therefore according to their logic it is their patriotic duty to the
youth of the nation…”
Eugene Debs
• Upon entering the war, the French and British came over and
asked to borrow money from us, so they could buy
weapons/munitions, etc. from us
• Not much was expected from the American military other than
money, supplies, and naval support.
•We sent a small contingent of 14,500 men in June of 1917 led
by General John Pershing (the AEF)
• He then advocated for a million men…and got them by
Spring of 1918…but only through strenuous efforts.
• Conscription was enacted in 1917…by end of war 2 million
men crossed the Atlantic and 1.4 million saw combat
This was a Total War
• “Homefront” had to be mobilized
1. Propaganda
2. “War socialism”
3. Curtailment of Civil Liberties
Propaganda
• Committee on Public Information headed by George Creel
– Propaganda
–
–
–
–
75,000 “4 Minute Men” gave impromptu speeches.
Movies such as “The Kaiser: Beast of Berlin”
Exhibitions of frightfulness committed by the Germans!
Posters, songs, no more hamburgers…“liberty
sandwiches”
“War Socialism”
– New agencies created to organize at home
• Food Administration, Council of Nat. Defense, War
Industries Board (most important one-headed by Bernard
Baruch-who became a virtual dictator over the
economy…allocated raw materials, told manuf. what to
produce, fix prices, build new plants, etc.). National War
Labor Board setup to avert strikes.
Controlling the people (thought)
was a top priority
• Sedition and Espionage Acts
– Made it a crime to speak against war or “incite insubordination”
and then…for “saying, printing, or writing anything “disloyal,
profane scurrilous, or abusive” about the American form of
government, Constitution, army or navy.
• More than 1,000 convictions! Debs… “I would rather be a free soul in
jail than a sycophant and a coward in the streets.” arrested and put in jail.
– Ran for pres in 1920 and received nearly a million votes!
– Schenck v. U.S. (1919) upheld these acts
A New Labor Force also changed
the homefront
• Immigration ceased and 4 million men went
into armed services.
• Women went into workforce
• Great Migration began as Northern
businesses sent recruiting agents into deep
South. 400,000 AA migrated northward
By 1930-# of AA in North TRIPLED that of 1910
Great Migration by Jacob Lawrence
Racial Tensions increased in North
• Chicago Race riot in 1919
Racial feeling, which had been on a par with the weather during the day took fire shortly after 5 o’clock
when white bathers at the Twenty-ninth street improvised beach saw a colored boy on a raft paddling
into what they termed “white” territory. A snarl of protest went up from the whites and soon a volley of
rocks and stones were sent in his direction. One rock, said to have been thrown by George Stauber of
2904 Cottage Grove avenue, struck the lad and he toppled into the water.
Cop Refuses to Interfere.
Colored men who were present attempted to go to his rescue, but they were kept back by the whites, it is
said. Colored men and women, it is alleged, asked Policeman Dan Callahan of the Cottage Grove station
to arrest Stauber, but he is said to have refused.
Then, indignant at the conduct of the policeman, the Negroes set upon Stauber and commenced to
pummel him. The whites came to his rescue and then the battle royal was on. Fists flew and rocks were
hurled. Bathers from the colored Twenty-fifth street beach were attracted to the scene of the battling and
aided their comrades in driving the whites into the water.
Negroes Chase Policeman.
Then they turned on Policeman Callahan and drove him down Twenty-ninth street. He ran into a drug
store at Twenty-ninth street and Cottage Grove avenue and phoned the Cottage Grove avenue police
station.
Two wagon loads of cops rolled to the scene, and in a scuffle that ensued here Policeman John O’Brien
and three blacks were shot.
Reserves Called Out.
In less than a half hour after the beach outbreak, Cottage Grove avenue and State street from Twentyninth south to Thirty-fifth were bubbling caldrons of action.
When the situation had gotten beyond the control of the Cottage Grove police, Acting Chief of Police
Alcock was notified. He immediately sent out a call to every station in the city to rush all available men
to the black belt.
Chicago Tribune-28 July, 1919
For Women, intervention in
WWI had more positive effects.
• Traditional support was there from women
– Red cross, conservation organizations, army
nurse corps, organized war bond drives
• New opportunities arose
– Dockworkers, railway crews, steel mills, etc.
– “I’ll never work in nobody’s kitchen but my own any more.”
– BUT, most returned to previous jobs after war
– Overall, though, the movement for suffrage was greatly enhanced.
• As a direct result of WWI…the 19th Amendment was passed! Yippee!
What do you do after the war?
What happens to the Central
Powers?
•To what extent should a defeated wartime enemy
be punished?
•Is harsh punishment practical?
•Worthwhile?
•Legitimate?
The Paris Peace Conference Palace of
Versailles
•the victorious nations meet to decide the fate of Europe
The Big Four: Britain’s Lloyd
George, France’s Clemenceau,
Italy’s Orlando, and President
Woodrow Wilson all met to
negotiate a peace treaty in
France’s Hall of Mirrors,
Versailles. Germany, nor any
of the Central Powers were
represented at the settlement
talks.
President Wilson Has His Ideas for Peace
14 Points - the principles making up Wilson’s plan for
world peace following WWI -> provided liberty & selfdetermination for all nations, even the enemies.
League of Nations (the 14th Point) - an association
of nations established to promote international
cooperation & peace.
Sounds like a great idea, right?
WRONG - Both Congress and the Allies reject
Wilson’s plan for peace - not strict enough
The allies have their own ideas!
REVENGE!!!
Britain & France wanted to make
Germany pay for the death,
destruction, and hardship that they
had caused.
Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles - treaty that ended
World War I, expressed the selfish
territorial aims of mainly Great Britain and
France.
what the treaty called for . . .
•established 9 new nations
•gave France and Britain mandates
(temporary colonies)
•demilitarized Germany
•forced Germany to pay $33 billion in
reparations
•forced Germany to sign a “war-guilt
clause” (stating that Germany was solely
responsible for WWI)
Europe 1914
Europe 1919
What did the Treaty fail to take into consideration?
Ethnic Map of Europe 1918
Major Problems with the Treaty
•humiliated Germany (not only did they
have to pay for the war, they had to accept
the total blame for the war)
•upset Russia (they lost land)
•created international instability (disputes
over territories, disputes over governments)
The Treaty of Versailles “sewed the
seeds” for World War II.
It created even more international
unrest than before World War I!!!
Sacrifices That Proved In Vain
•ruined farms, factories, and towns
•destruction of commerce
•political & social disorder
•financial bankruptcy
•four years of want & suffering
•over 10 million dead
•over 20 million wounded
*Yet nothing was accomplished, all of these sacrifices
for nothing! But, why? Why did the meeting powers
decide on the Treaty of Versailles? REVENGE!!!