Unit 7
 What political circumstances in Europe led to World
War I
 What events motivated the United States to join the
war?
 Nationalism
 Imperialism
 Militarism
 Propaganda
 Triple Alliance
 Triple Entente
Militarism
•
•
Strong buildup of
armed forces ;
Aggressive
military
preparedness
Arms race
between Britain
and Germany
Nationalism
•
•
Feeling of strong
pride, loyalty, and
devotion to one’s
nation
Right of selfdeterminationthe idea that
those who share a
national identity
should have their
own country and
government
Imperialism
•
Economic and
political control
of a strong nation
over weaker
nations
Alliance System
•
•
Triple
Alliance(Central
Powers)Germany,
Austria-Hungary,
Italy (Switches
sides)
Triple Entente
(Allies)- Britain,
France, Russia
 Archduke of Austria-Hungary Franz Ferdinand was
assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian rebel
 Serbian officials knew of plot
 Austria-Hungry wanted to crush Serbia to stop
nationalism from threating empire
 Asked Germany for support
 Afraid Russia would start war if they attacked Serbia
 Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28
 Russia began mobilizing military
 Germany declared war on France and Russia
 World War I had begun
 Germany immediately attacked France
 Schlieffen Plan- Quick drive through Belgium, then
France to capture Paris; Then attack Russia
 British government had a treaty with Belgium
promising it would help Belgium stay neutral
 Britain declared war on Germany when German troops
moved across Belgium
 Western front
 Stalemate- trench warfare
•
•
•
•
Cultural /Economic
Ties
Unrestricted
Submarine warfare
Most Americans
•
supported the Allies
cause
British propaganda
helped sway favor to allies •
Many U.S. banks invested
heavily to the Allies
Allied win was necessary
for the invested money to
be paid back
•
Germany announced they
would sink any ship in
waters around Britain
without warning
The Lusitania, a British
passenger liner carrying
American civilians, was
torpedoed and sunk by
German submarine
Germany promised to not
sink merchant ships after
warning from U.S. (Kept
U.S. out of war past
Election of 1916)
Restarted on Feb. 1, 1917
Sunk 6 American ships
•
•
Zimmerman Note
•
•
•
•
•
January 1917
Telegram sent from office
of Arthur Zimmerman to
the German ambassador
to Mexico
Promised to return Texas,
New Mexico, and Arizona
to Mexico if it allied with
Germany
Intercepted by British
intelligence
Printed in American
newspapers
 April 2, 1917: President Wilson asks Congress for
declaration of war on Germany
 Resolution was passed a few days later with
overwhelming support
 Only 50 representatives and six senators voted against
declaring war
 How did international alliances help create
tensions in Europe?
 Why might some Americans have chosen to
support either the Allies or the Central Powers?
 Why did the sinking of the Lusitania affect U.S.
public opinion about the war?
 Why would Germany’s offer to Mexico worry many
Americans?
 What did Congress do to prepare the economy for
war?
 How did life change for women on the home front
during World War I?
 Victory garden
 Espionage
 Draft/Conscription
War Industries Board
•
•
•
•
•
Organized the creation of
war materials
Encouraged companies to
use mass-production
techniques to increase
efficiency
Urged them to eliminate
waste by standardizing
products
Told factories what they
could make
Distributed raw
materials, ordered new
factories to be built,
sometimes set prices
(Caused retail prices to
soar)
Food Administration
•
•
•
•
Run by Herbert Hoover
Job to increase food
production while
decreasing food
consumption
Urged families to
conserve food
Encouraged families to
plant and grow their own
vegetables (Victory
gardens)
Fuel Administration
•
•
•
•
Managed the use of coal
and oil
Started daylight savings
time to save energy
Urged people to have
“Heatless Mondays”
Made workweeks shorter
for factories that were
making goods not used
for war
 National War Labor Board(1918)
 Tried to get companies to pay better wages, use 8 hour workday,
allow unions the right to organize and bargain collective
 Labor leaders agreed not to disrupt war production
 Increased union participation by more than 1 million
 Women joined the workforce in record numbers
 Hired for jobs traditionally held by men
 More than 1 million women joined workforce
 Helped show women hold jobs that many believed only men could
do
 Great Migration
 Huge movement of African Americans to the north (300,000-
500,000)
 Worked in factories
War Financing
•
•
•
•
•
•
U.S. spent about $35 billion on war effort
Congress raised income rates
New taxes on company profits
War-profits tax
Excise Taxes (tobacco, liquor, luxury
goods)
“Liberty Bonds”/ “Liberty Loans” (People
lend the government money, and the
government promised to repay the money
with interest)
Committee of Public Information
•
•
•
•
•
Headed by muckraker George Creel
Job was to “sell” the war to the American
people
First national propaganda agency (Biased
communication designed to influence
people’s thoughts and actions)
Gave jobs to advertising experts, artists,
authors, songwriters, entertainers, public
speakers, and motion picture companies
Four-Minute Men- gave speeches urging
audiences to support the war in various
ways
 Espionage Act of 1917
 Made it illegal to aid the enemy, give false reports, or
disrupt the war effort
 Sedition Act of 1918
 Made it illegal to speak against the war publicly
 Both laws were upheld in court
 Along with the CPI, helped lead to violence against
many groups
 German Americans, labor activists, pacifists, socialists
 In 1917, the United States had roughly 200,000 troops in its
army and National Guard
 Many more were needed
 Progressives were against forced military service, but believed
a draft was needed
 Selective Service Act of 1917
 Required all men between 21-30 to sign up
 Lottery randomly determined order on which men were
called before a local draft board
 Draft board was responsible for selecting and releasing people
for military service
 Consisted of people from local communities
 About 2.5 million were drafted
African Americans
•
•
•
•
400,000 African Americans were drafted
42,o00 served overseas as combat troops
Encountered discrimination as they had
to serve in racially segregated units,
usually under the supervision of white
officers
All African American 92nd and 93rd
Infantry Divisions won praise from
French commander Pepin and U.S.
commander , John J. Pershing
Women
•
•
•
•
•
First war in which women officially
served in the armed forces
Served in non-combat roles
More than 11,000 women served in the
navy. Enlisted at rank of yeoman (Office
jobs, chemists, electricians, radio
operators)
Army did not enlist women, hired them
as temporary workers to work in office
jobs
Army nurses serving in the Army Nursing
Corps were the only women to be sent
overseas
 12,000 Native Americans
 20,000 Puerto Ricans
 Thousands of Mexican Americans served
 Volunteered for service more than any other minority
group in the U.S.
 Some Asians fought on the side of the United States
 Even before they were citizens
 Granted citizenship for their contributions
 Why do you think the federal government
undertook such wide-scale economic and social
mobilization?
 How did life change for women on the home front
during World War I?
 How did life change for African Americans on the
home front during World War I?
 How were Americans’ rights limited during World
War I?
 How did new technologies increase the number of
casualties compared to other wars?
 Why was the arrival of the U.S. forces so important to
the war effort?
 Why did President Wilson’s ideas for peace
negotiations differ from those of French Premier
Clemenceau and British Prime Minister Lloyd George?
 Convoy
 Armistice
 National self-determination
 Reparations
 Resolve
 Trench warfare
Trench Warfare
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•
•
•
•
Network of trenches built across France
all the way to the Belgian cost
Caused a stalemate in the fighting on the
Western Front
Front line, support, reserve trenches
“No Man’s Land”
Rat infested, Trench foot, Trench mouth
New Technology
•
•
•
•
•
•
Artillery guns placed far behind the battle
lines
Machine guns
Poison gas
Armored tanks
Zeppelins (Giant helium filled balloons)
Airplanes
Convoy System
•
•
•
•
Devised by American admiral William
Sims
Convinced the British to use navy ships to
guard passenger and merchant ships
Greatly reduced the number of shipping
losses incurred by the British
Also, helped ensure U.S. troops arrived
safely to Europe
Russia Pulls Out of War
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•
•
•
•
Russian Revolution began in March 1917
Vladimir Lenin’s Bolshevik Party took
power in 1917 and established a
Communist state
Lenin pulled Russia out of the war to
focus on building his Communist state
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk- agreement
between Russia and Germany. Russia gave
up Ukraine, its Polish and Baltic
territories, and Finland
Allowed Germany to focus on 1 front
 Nearly 2 million U.S. troops were sent to Europe
 “Doughboys”
 Fresh and ready to fight
 John J. Pershing was commander of American
Expeditionary Force
 By May 1918, Germany was within 40 miles of Paris
 Americans started first major attack
 Captured village of Cantigny
 June 1, U.S. and French troops stopped German drive at
Chateau-Thierry
 Battle of Argonne Forest
Began on Sept. 26, 1918
Biggest offensive for the American Expeditionary Forces
U.S. troops slowly advanced
By early November, U.S. troops had opened a hole on the
eastern side of the German line
 German troops began falling back




 November 3, 1918- Austria-Hungary and Ottoman
Empire surrendered to the Allies
 November 3, 1918- German sailors in Kiel rebelled
 Main base of German fleet
 Mutiny spread quickly as soldiers and workers seized
power in other German towns
 November 9, 1918- socialist leaders in Berlin
established a German republic
 November 11, 1918- Germany signed an armistice (an
agreement to stop fighting)
 Casualties
 22 million deaths (U.S.- 48,000(battle), 62,000
(disease))
 20 million wounded (U.S.- 200,000)
 10 million refugees
 Costs
 $338 billion
 In January 1919, delegates from 27 countries met at Palace
of Versailles
 Treaty of Versailles- Treaty with Germany
 Germany was not in attendance
 Treaty of Saint-Germain- Treaty with Austria-Hungary
 Meetings lasted 5 months
 “Big Four”
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


President Woodrow Wilson (United States)
Prime Minister David Lloyd George ( Great Britain)
Premier Georges Clemenceau (France)
Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando ( Italy)
 Russia was not invited to meetings
 Allied leaders did not recognize Lenin’s government
Points 1-5 (Prevention
of Future Wars)
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•
•
•
•
No secret treaties (open
diplomacy)
Freedom of the seas
Free trade (Lower or
abolish tariffs)
Disarmament (removing
weapons to “lowest point
consistent with domestic
safety”)
Fair changes to colonial
changes
Points 6-13 (National
Self-determination)
•
•
•
Idea that the borders of
•
countries should be
drawn based on ethnicity •
and national identity
Ethnic groups would form
their own nation-states or •
decide for themselves
which nation they would
belong to
No nation should keep
territory taken from
another nation
Point 14
Creation of the League of
Nations
International
organization to address
diplomatic crises
Members would help
keep peace by promising
to respect and protect
each other’s territory and
political independence
 British Prime Minister Lloyd and French Premier
Clemenceau wanted to punish Germany
 Wanted to prevent further invasions by Germany
 Britain did not want to give up its naval advantage
 Treaty of Versailles would ignore freedom of the seas,
free trade and fair settlement of colonial claims
 No colonial people in Asia or Africa gained
independence
 France and Britain took over colonial areas in Africa and
Middle East
 Japan took over colonies in East Asia
Provisions
•
•
•
•
•
•
Established 9 new nations (Splitting up
Austro-Hungarian, Russian, German, and
Ottoman Empire)
Greatly reduced Germany’s military
Germany was blamed for causing the war
(war-guilt clause)
Germany was required to pay
reparations- money to pay for the war
damages caused ($33 million; Designed to
keep Germany’s economy weak)
Germany had to give back territory of
Alsace-Lorraine to France
Germany’s troops were not allowed west
of the Rhine River (Rhineland;
Demilitarized zone)
Weaknesses
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•
•
•
•
Harsh treatment of Germany weakened
ability to provide a lasting peace
War guilt clause humiliated Germany
Germany was never going to be able to
pay off the reparations bill, especially
after being stripped of overseas colonies
Russia was excluded from peace
conference and lost more territory than
Germany did
Treaty ignored the rights of colonized
people for self-determination (Especially
in Southeast Asia)
 Most of the opposition in the United States to the Treaty of Versailles
involved the League of Nations
 “Irreconcilables”
 Felt League was the type of organization the Founders warned about (Took
power out of the hands of Congress)
 “Reservationists”
 Agreed to ratify treaty, only if language was changed to allow Congress the
constitutional right to declare war
 Provision for joint economic and military action against aggresssion did not
require Congressional approval
 Wilson refused to negotiate and campaigned heavily to the American
people
 Senate voted on treaty 2 times (Nov. 1919 & Mar. 1920)
 Refused to approve treaty both times
 After Wilson left office in 1921, the U.S. negotiated separate peace
treaties with each of the Central Powers
 League of Nations formed without the United States
 What could the Americans bring to the war to
help the Allies?
 How did the postwar goals of the main Allies vary?
 How do you think the Treaty of Versailles affected
Germany in the years following WWI?
 What were the Senate’s objections to the Treaty of
Versailles?