CHAPTER 24 READING GUIDE AND REVIEW
The Nation at War
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
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10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
Discuss the new role of the U.S. in Latin America and the various diplomatic approaches of
Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson.
List and explain the causes of the war in Europe and American reactions to the war.
Compare and contrast the arguments of the preparedness advocates and the pacifists.
Understand the factors that brought the U.S. into the war and the extent to which German
belligerence in the North Atlantic was responsible.
Compare American military involvement and wartime losses with those of the major European
nations.
Determine the reasons for the final collapse of Germany.
Show the ways in which the wartime partnership between citizen and government worked, and
how the war affected women and African-Americans.
Define the different goals of the victorious nations at the Paris Peace Conference, and explain how
Wilson’s goals were incorporated into the treaty.
Discuss the reasons for the failure of Wilsonian global idealism and the Versailles Treaty.
Reflect on American disillusionment and the decline of the progressive spirit as the 1920’s set in.
Describe the problems Wilson faced in Mexico and whether he handled them responsibly.
Specify the steps by which America mobilized for war.
Summarize the activities of the War Industries Board, the Committee on Public Information, and
the War Labor Board.
Explain the concessions or sacrifices that Wilson had to make to the other European leaders
regarding peace restructuring.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
List causes and effects of WWI.
Describe TR’s “Big Stick” Diplomacy in Latin America.
Why did Latin America view the U.S. as the “Colossus of the North”?
How did the war damage the progressive, humanitarian spirit in America?
How would you compare the Latin American policies of Presidents Roosevelt and Wilson?
What were central issues in America’s relations with China and Japan? How did TR handle tense
relations with Japan?
7. What were the strengths and weaknesses of TR aggressive foreign policy?
8. What impact did WWI have on women and African-Americans?
9. How were civil liberties under assault during WWI? Was it justified?
10. Why did America in the end refuse to ratify the treaty and join the League of Nations?
IMPORTANT PEOPLE
John Hay
George Creel
Herbert Hoover
William Hayward
William H. Taft
Eugene V. Debs (as he relates to WWI)
Henry Cabot Lodge
Warren G. Harding
Theodore Roosevelt
Bernard Baruch
James Cox
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty
Panama Canal
Portsmouth Conference
Hay-Pauncefote Treaty
Roosevelt Corollary
Gentlemen’s Agreement
IMPORTANT TERMS
Big-stick diplomacy
Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty
Russo-Japanese War
Root-Takahira agreement
Great White Fleet
“Colossus from the North”
“Dollar Diplomacy”
unrestricted sub warfare
self-determination
conscription
“normalcy”
League of Nations
Treaty of Versailles
IWW
War Labor Board
Committee of Public Information Espionage and Sedition Acts
Doughboys
Big Four
Treaty of Versailles
Sussex Pledge
“He kept us out of war”
“I took the canal…”
“Make the world safe for democracy” Liberty Bonds
“gunboat diplomacy”
Zimmerman note
collective security
Fourteen Points
War Industries Board
Schenck v. US
Bolsheviks
irreconcilables
Lusitania
“A war to end war”
WHAT WAS THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FOLLOWING ELECTIONS?
1916
Who were the candidates? WHAT WAS AT STAKE?
1920