Chapter 19: World War I and Its Aftermath, 1914–1920
This chapter examines the events that led the United States into World War I and looks at how the war
impacted American society.
Section 1 discusses the events that pushed the United States into World War I. While President Wilson
struggled with political turmoil in Mexico, tensions in Europe led to a delicate system of alliances. In 1914 the
heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne was assassinated, and the alliances launched into the first world war. The
Allies—Russia, France, Italy, and Britain—squared off against the Central Powers—Germany, Austria-Hungary,
the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria. Wilson was determined that the United States would remain neutral even
though American ties to Allied heritage, business, and finances swayed many to sympathize with the Allied
cause. When German U-boats sank passenger liners with Americans onboard, Wilson issued strong warnings
and secured a pledge from Germany that kept the peace a little longer. His peacekeeping efforts won him
reelection, but the peace would not last long. A message indicating a Mexican-German alliance and another
series of U-boat attacks finally pushed Wilson to ask for a declaration of war on April 2, 1917.
Section 2 describes how the United States mobilized to fight World War I. When the United States declared war
on Germany, Americans at home united to support the war. Congress created special boards to coordinate the
efforts of business and labor. To fund the war effort, the government raised taxes, instituted new taxes, and
sold bonds. While soldiers fought the war overseas, the Committee on Public Information used propaganda to
urge cooperation at home. Selective service, a new conscription system, increased military forces. With large
numbers of white workers being drafted, a "Great Migration" of African Americans and Mexican Americans
headed north to take wartime factory jobs. In their eagerness to support the war, legislators passed laws that
curtailed citizens' civil liberties, and a climate of suspicion settled over not only German Americans, but also
labor activists, socialists, and pacifists.
Section 3 looks at the battles of World War I and the end of the war. New technologies and old-fashioned
strategies resulted in heavy casualties and a devastated Europe by the spring of 1917. When American
doughboys marched into the European stalemate, Allied morale lifted. The Bolshevik Revolution pulled Russia
out of the war and allowed Germany to focus its forces in the west. A massive German offensive pushed into
French territory, but American and French forces blocked the German drive. Massive counterattacks and an
American offensive in the Argonne Forest pushed the Germans back and shattered their defenses. As the
Central Powers crumbled, Germany signed an armistice. While the Treaty of Versailles treated Germany more
harshly than Wilson's Fourteen Points plan for peace, it still called for the creation of the League of Nations—an
international peacekeeping organization. Wilson returned home anxious to win approval for the treaty, but the
Senate rejected the treaty along with his League of Nations.
Section 4 reviews the turbulent aftermath of World War I. When the government removed its economic
restrictions from businesses and consumers, demand increased and inflation set in. Workers wanted increased
wages to keep up with inflation, and a series of strikes broke out. The rise of communism in Europe caused
many Americans to wonder if Communists or foreign radicals had inspired the strikes. A Red Scare spread
nationwide as Americans worried that Communists would seize power. A special government division
investigated thousands of foreign residents and deported nearly 600 of them, often disregarding their civil
liberties. As the Red Scare influenced attitudes about immigrants, frustration and racism led to violence
between whites and African Americans. Weary of reform and reeling from the events of recent years, voters
hoped to return to "normalcy" with the election of Warren G. Harding in 1920.
Section 1:
In the beginning of the war, 1914, what did Wilson say he would do? (go to war or stay neutral?)
Why did Wilson side with the Allies?
Name the Allied Powers:
Name the Central Powers:
The Zimmerman Telegram represented an alliance between Germany and what other nation that
the US had had trouble with?
Section 2:
How did the US Government pay for the war effort?
What did the Committee on Public Information do?
Why did African-Americans move during the Great Migration?
The civil liberties of four different groups were targeted during WWI, who were the four groups?
Section 3:
What had happened in Russia causing them to back out of the war?
What was the purpose of Wilson’s Fourteen Points?
What happened when Wilson asked Congress to approve being part of the League of Nations?
Section 4:
In the years after the war, what was the primary fear of many Americans?
What was life like in the US for an immigrant in the years after WWI? Why were immigrants treated
in such ways?
Who was elected President in 1920, what was his campaign slogan, and what did the slogan mean?