World War I
Chapter 30-31
1914-1918
Woodrow Wilson - 1912
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Taking advantage of the
Republican disorder
Democrats nominate
progressive reformer Dr.
Woodrow Wilson
Wilson – Doctor of
Political Science at
Princeton, President of
Princeton (1902),
Governor of New Jersey
(1910)
Election of 1912
Wilson platform was called the “New
Freedom” which called for stronger antitrust legislation, banking reform and tariff
reductions
 Roosevelt organized the Bull Moose Party
with 2000 delegates from 48 states

Roosevelt’s Plan
Consolidation of trusts and labor unions
that would be regulated by the
government
 Women’s suffrage
 Minimum wage laws
 Socialistic social insurance

Wilson’s Plan
Favored small enterprise,
entrepreneurship and free functioning
unregulated and un-monopolized markets
 Enforcement of anti-trust laws
 Shunned social welfare

Election Results
Wilson won with 41% of the popular vote
 Called for an all out assault on what he
called the “triple wall of privilege” – the
tariff, the banks, and the trusts

Tariffs
Underwood Tariff Bill – provided for a
substantial reduction of rates
 In addition paved the road for the 16th
Amendment which allowed for a
graduated income tax

Banks
Federal Reserve Act of 1913 – President
appointed a Federal Reserve Board
 12 regional reserve districts with its own
central; the bank of banks
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Trusts
Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914
searchlight on companies engaged in interstate
commerce – aim to CRUSH monopolies by
uprooting unfair practices, including unlawful
competition, false advertising, mislabeling,
adulteration, and bribery
 Clayton Anti-Trust Act added to the list of
objectionable business practices including price
discrimination and interlocking directorates

Help for the Farmers
Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 – made
credit available to farmers at low rates of
interest
 Warehouse Act of 1916 authorized loans
on security of staple crops

Help for the Workers
Seamen’s Act of 1915
 Workingmen’s Compensation Act of 1916
– assistance to federal employees during
periods of disability
 Child labor laws
 Adamson Act of 1916 – established the 8
hour work day for train employees with
extra pay for overtime

Foreign Affairs
Wilson opposed Dollar Diplomacy and
Imperialism
 Ended the Panama Canal Tolls Act of 1912
 Jones Act – Philippines to territorial status
and promised independence as soon as a
stable government could be established

…eating his Anti-Imperialism
words.
1915 – sent marines to Haiti to protect
American interest
 1915 – sent marines to Dominican
Republic
 1917 – Wilson purchased the Virgin
Islands from Denmark
 1917 – Unrest in Mexico sent troops twice

The Great War
Europe was a volcano
ready to explode in
the early 1900s
 June 28, 1914 –
Serbian nationalist
killed Franz
Ferdinand, heir to the
throne of AustriaHungary, and his wife
Sophie

The Start of the War
Serbia was allied with powerful Slavic
Russia.
 Russian Tsar Nicholas II mobilized troops
and moved toward Germany on the east
 Alliance between France and Russia
 France confronted their ancient enemy,
Germany, on the west

Kaiser Wilhelm II Attacks
Germany became
alarmed and attacked
France through
Belgium
 AIM: knock off France
to use full force
against Russia

Britain Enters the War
Great Britain felt
threatened with the
German attack on
neutral Belgium
 Britain entered the
war on the side of
France and Russia

Central Powers
Germany
* Enter the war later
Austria-Hungary
*Turkey and
Bulgaria
Allies
France
Britain
Russia
*Japan
Italy
United States
The USA

Neutrality – Woodrow Wilson issued a
routine neutrality proclamation, and urged
all Americans to be neutral
$$ Blood Money $$
1914 – United States was in a recession
 Demand for war materials by the French
and British jump-start the US economy
 J.P. Morgan advanced the Allies $2.3 Billion
 THIS DID NOT VIOLATE INTERNATIONAL
NEUTRALITY LAWS
 Germany was technically free to trade with
the America but the British naval blockade
prevented Germany from trading

Submarine Warfare
February 1915
– Germany
announces an
unrestricted
submarine war
 Germany will
try to uphold
neutrality
rights but
mistakes might
occur

Unterseeboot
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1915 – German U-Boats sank
90 ships in the war zone
Lusitania – British passenger
liner torpedoed and sunk off
coast of Ireland
May 7, 1915 – 1,198 dead
with 128 Americans dead
4,200 cases of small arms
ammunition were on board
The Arabic
The British ship
Arabic was sunk in
August 1915
 200 Americans dead
 America protested Germany agreed not
to sink anymore
unarmed ships
without warning

The Sussex Pledge
March 1916
 German pledge was
violated with the
sinking of the French
ship Sussex
 Wilson threatened to
cut diplomatic relations
 Germans buckle but
wanted Washington to
persuade allies to
modify blockade

Sign of the Imperial German Navy
Election of 1916
Republican candidate
Charles Evans Hughes
ran against Wilson
 Wilson won 277-254 in
a very close race

Neutrality Restated
Jan. 22, 1917 – restated US
neutrality
 Jan. 31, 1917 – Germany
announced unrestricted
submarine warfare
 Wilson broke diplomatic ties
with Germany, but waited for
overt agression

The Zimmerman Note
March 1, 1917
 German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmerman
 Wrote letter to German
ambassador to Mexico to
propose an alliance
 Promised Mexico – Texas,
New Mexico, and Arizona
after victory

A war against tyranny…
German U-Boats promptly sank 4 unarmed
American merchant vessels in March
 Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks created a
Communist state, and formally ended
Russia’s involvement in the war

The US Declares War
April 2, 1917 – Wilson
asks Congress to
declare war
 Only 6 Senators and
50 Representatives
voted no

Jeanette Rankin
Jeanette Rankin (MT)
– 1st woman ever
elected to the US
Congress
 Voted “no” on the
declaration of war

The War to End All Wars
Wilson said the war would
be the “war to end all
wars”
 He called it a crusade to
“make the world safe for
democracy”
 Aim of war: shape
international order and
end autocratic, militaristic
rule

Wilson’s Fourteen Points
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The Woodrow Wilson boosted the morale of the Allies
Jan. 8, 1918 – Wilson delivered his famous “Fourteen
Points” speech to Congress
1. Abolish secret treaties
2. Freedom of the seas
3. Removal of economic barriers
4. Reduction of armaments
5. adjustment of colonial claims in the interest of both
native people everywhere
He also called for independence by self-determination
14. Proposed a League of Nations – international
organization that would provide collective world security
Committee on Public
Information
Headed by journalist George
Creel
 His job was to sell America on
the war and sell Wilson’s ideas
 Employed 150,000 “four
minute” men at home and
abroad
 Propaganda – poster,
billboards, leaflets, and
pamphlets

Hatred
Orchestras would not
play German composers
 German books were
removed from libraries
 German classes were
cancelled in schools
 Beer became suspect
(Schlitz and Pabst)

Fear of Germans
Espionage Act of 1917 - $10,000 fine
and 20 years imprisonment for
interfering with the recruitment of
troops or disclosure of information
dealing with national defense. 900 went
to prison under the act
 Sedition Act of 1918 – federal crime to
criticize the government or Constitution,
negative opinions of the war, or the
draft could lead to imprisonment

Eugene V. Debs
Socialist politician who
had run for president
was against the war
 He gave a speech
encouraging young men
to rethink their decision
to go to war
 Imprisoned for violating
the Espionage and
Sedition Acts

Schneck v. United States (1919)
Supreme Court decision stating that
freedom of speech can be revoked when it
poses a “clear and present danger” to
national defense
 Most people arrested for such war crimes
were later pardoned by Republican
Warren Harding in the 1920s

United States ready for war?
Shipbuilding
programs were
launched
 Army only had
100,000 regulars
 15th largest Army in
the world

War Industries Board
Bernard Baruch appt.
head of WIB
 Created to organize
production of steel
and explosive powder

Labor
“Labor will win the
war.”
 “Work or Fight” rule –
1919 – threatened any
unemployed male with
immediate draft
 Discouraged strikes

The National War Labor Board
Chaired by W.H. Taft
 To head off labor
disputes that might
hamper war efforts

War Time Inflation
Inflation increased during the First
World War
 1914-1920 – prices more than doubled
 6,000 strikes
 1919 – 250,000 steel workers went on
strike
 Companies refused to negotiate with
unions, and 30,000 black workers were
brought in
 Setback crippled union for years

The Great Migration
10,000 Southern
blacks were drawn
North during the war
 Jobs were available
and fueled the
movement
 Their appearance in
northern cities
sparked violence

Women During The War
Women worked in
factories and fields
while men were
fighting
 Hurt the women’s
movement; many
feminist were pacifist
 National Woman’s
Party – led by Quaker
Alice Paul

Women During The War
National American
Woman Suffrage
Association
 Supported Wilson’s
war
 Said women must
take part in the war
effort to earn a role in
shaping the peace

Women’s Suffrage
1917 – NY voted for
women’s suffrage.
 Michigan, Oklahoma,
and South Dakota soon
followed.
 19th Amendment –
1920- gave all American
women the right to vote.
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War Economy
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Food Administration – headed
by Quaker Herbert Hoover
Relied on voluntary compliance,
not force
Rejected ration cards
Posters, billboards, newspapers,
pulpits, and movies
“Wheatless Wednesdays”
“Meatless Tuesdays”
Conservation and Victory
Gardens
War Economy
Foodstuffs for production of alcohol was
prohibited by the government
 Prohibition became a popular idea
 18th Amendment – 1919 – prohibited
manufacturing, sale, and distribution of
alcohol
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War Economy
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Hoover’s plan increased farm production by 25%
Food exports to Allies tripled
Fuel Administration imitated Hoover’s campaign
by supporting “heatless” Mondays, “gasless”
Sundays and “lightless” nights
Treasury Department promoted Liberty Loan
drives which netted $21 billion (2/3 the cost of
the war)
Nation took over railroads and shipbuilding in
1917
Doughboys
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Conscription laws were
passed to raise an army
All men between 18-45
had to register
Exemptions were granted
only in key industries
4 million man army
Women and African
Americans were allowed
in army in segregated
units
Russia
Vladimir Lenin and
Bolsheviks take over
Russia in 1917
 Withdrew from
“capitalist war” in
1918
 Two front war ended;
Germany’s troops on
the eastern front
were sent to the
western front

US Troops
United States – an effective fighting force
did not reach France until one year after
the declaration of war
 Americans fought in France, Belgium,
Italy, and Russia.
 5,000 troops to Archangel, Russia
 10,000 troops to Siberia along with 70,000
Japanese

Hammering the Hun
Germans exploded on
the western front
Spring 1918
 500,000 troops strong
 Terrifying momentum
 May 1918 – Germans
within 40 miles of
Paris

American Combat
30,000 American
Marines enter the war
at Chateau-Thierry
 1st engagement of US
troops against
German regulars
 Truckloads of fresh
American soldiers
assist in the victory

nd
2
Battle of the Marne
July 1918 – Germans are
exhausted
 Americans assisted at the victory
of the 2nd Battle of the Marne
 Beginning of German withdrawal
 Sept 1918 – 9 US Divisions
(243,000) and 4 French Divisions
pushed Germans from St. Mihiel

Chateau-Thierry Monument
at the Marne River Valley
General John J. Pershing
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American General given
command in France
Undertook the Meuse-Argonne
Offensive
September 26 - November 11,
1918
Cut German rail lines to western
front
47 days
120,000 killed/wounded
Germans Seek Peace
Oct. 1918 – Germans turned to Wilson for
peace based on his “Fourteen Points”
 Wilson wants Kaiser removed
 Kaiser Wilhelm II fled to Holland
 Armistice - 11 day of the 11 hour of the
11 month

Wilson Loses Support
1918 Congressional Elections – Wilson
campaigns hard for Democratic candidates
 Republicans win majority in the US House
 Wilson goes to Paris to help with peace
negotiations
 1st sitting president to go to Europe

Paris Peace Conference
Controlled by the Big Four:
 1. Woodrow Wilson – United States
 2. Premier Vittorio Orlando – Italy
 3. Prime Minister David Lloyd George –
England
 4. Premier Georges Clemenceau France
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Treaty of Versailles
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Jane. 18, 1919 – conference opened in France at
Versailles
Wilson’s goal was to implement a world
parliament known as the League of Nations
Wilson stipulated that the victors would not take
possession of the conquered territory outright
but would receive it in trust
Syria was given to France
Iraq was awarded to Britain
Wilson Returns Home
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Republicans, led by Sen.
Henry Cabot Lodge,
proclaimed they would
not support the League of
Nations and planned to
Americanize the treaty
Wilson appeals to the
American people and
embarked on a
countrywide speech
making tour
Election of 1920
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Warren G. Harding
Gov. James M. Cox
Harding swept election
404-127
Debs gets 1 million votes
from prison
Harding calls for a return
to normalcy
Collapse of the Treaty
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America never joined the
League of Nations or ratified
the treaty
Treaty collapsed
France began to fortify and
arm the Franco-German border
Germany began to illegally
rearm
What did WWI accomplish?