WWI
1917-1918
1
Road to War
• Peace Movement
– Europe’s Issue
– Imperialist struggle between Germany and England
– William Jennings Bryan (Pacifist) believed war was wrong and the
U.S. should set an example of peace to the world.
• Family ties to Europe
– 92 million Americans in 1914 were 1st or 2nd generation immigrants with
strong ties to their homelands
– German and Irish Americans still held hatred for Great Britain.
– Many Americans felt close with Britain because of a common language
and similar legal systems.
2
Economic ties
• Economic ties were stronger with the Allied Powers than the Central powers.
– Before the war the U.S. traded with Britain and France twice as much as
they did with Germany.
• Some people saw the war as a way for the U.S. to dominate the world market.
– The first 2 years of the war the U.S. shipped millions of dollars of war
supplies to the Allies.
• Business ties with Great Britain pushed the U.S. to join the Allies.
• The U.S. supported an Allied victory in part to ensure the Allies could pay
back the millions of dollars in loans and protect U.S. shipping
routes from the Germans.
3
Push toward war
• British Blockade
– Prevented supplies from reaching Germany, this included food
supplies.
– Included neutral ports and the British mined the entire North
Sea.
– American supply ships bound for Germany refused to
challenge the blockade.
– Germany could not import food and by 1917 750,000 Germans
starved to death.
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Lusitania
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May 7, 1915
German U-boat sank the British liner off the coast of Ireland.
1,198 died, 128 were Americans
U-boats were viewed as uncivilized form of warfare.
Reported as an act of barbarism
Changed American opinion against the Central Powers
especially the Germans
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• After Germany announced they would sink all ships in British
waters hostile or neutral President Wilson knew the U.S.
would have to go to war.
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Zimmerman Note
• Telegraph from the German foreign minister to the German
ambassador in Mexico
• Intercepted by the British
• Proposed an alliance between Mexico and Germany
• Mexico would get Germany’s support in reclaiming lands lost
to the U.S. ( Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona)
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Revolution in Russia
• In March of 1917 the Czar of Russia was replaced by a
representative government.
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U-Boat attacks
• Between March 16-18 1917 German U-boats sank 3
unarmed American ships.
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Wilson Declares War
• Wilson declared war on April 2, 1917
• “The world must be safe for democracy” page 380
10
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.
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The War at Home
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War Industries Board
• 1917
• Bernard M. Baruch
• Encouraged companies to use mass-production techniques to increase
efficiency.
• Urged standardized production to eliminate waste
• Set quotas and allocated raw materials.
• Production increased 20%
• WIB only set price controls at the wholesale level.
– Retail prices went up especially in meatpacking, oil & steel
industries.
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Fuel Administration
• Monitored coal supplies
• Rationed gasoline & heating oil
• Promoted Gasless Sundays and Lightless Nights to
conserve fuel
• Daylight Savings time was adopted to take advantage of
the longer days of summer.
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Labor
• Wages increased
• Hours increased 20%
– metal trades, ship building, & meatpacking
• House incomes did not increase due to the higher cost of
food & housing.
• Stockholders did see a huge increase in profits.
– DuPont profits increased 1,600% 1914-1918
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Unions
• Union membership increased due to long working hours
and huge company profits.
• Company profits did not mean an increase in wages for
workers.
• 2.5 million 1916 to 4 million 1919
• 6,000 strikes occurred during the war.
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National War Labor Board
• 1918
• Dealt with labor issues
• Workers who did not follow the NWLB rules lost their
draft exemptions.
– “Work or Fight”
• Did work to improve factory conditions
– 8 hours
– Safety Inspections
– Enforced child labor ban
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Food Administration
• Herbert Hoover
• “Gospel of the clean plate”
• Encouraged
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One Meatless day
One Sweet less day
Two Wheat less days
Two Pork less days per week
Victory Gardens
• Set high government prices on wheat
– Farmers increased production by 40 million acres
– Farmers incomes increased 30%
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Financing the War
• 35.5 billion dollars was spent on the war effort
• Taxes
– Progressive income tax
– War profit tax
– Tax on tobacco, liquor, & luxury goods
• Bonds
– Liberty loans/bonds
– Victory loans/bonds
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Committee on Public Information
• Propaganda
• Influenced peoples thoughts & actions
• “Four-Minute Men”
– Gave short speeches on the war.
• Draft, rationing, bond drives, victory gardens
• Popularized the war though
– Advertising, paintings, posters, cartoons,
pamphlets, booklets, & leaflets.
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Anti-Immigrant War Hysteria
• German & Austrian Hungarian immigrants were targeted
• Violence against German born Americans
– Flogging, tar & feathering, lynching
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Many people with German last names changed their names.
Schools stopped teaching German language classes.
Librarians removed books by German authors.
Orchestras refused to play Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms.
German measles=liberty measles
Hamburger=Salisbury steak
Sauerkraut=liberty cabbage
Dachshunds=liberty pups
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Espionage and Sedition Acts
• June 1917 & May 1918
• You could be fined up to $10,000 or 20 years in jail for
interfering with the war effort or saying anything disloyal,
profane, or abusive about the government or the war
effort.
• Violated the 1st Amendment
• 2,000 people where prosecuted under the acts.
• Newspaper & magazines who spoke out against the war
lost their mailing privileges.
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• Targeted Socialist & Labor Leaders
– Eugene Debs
• 10 years for speaking out against the war & the draft
(Pardon 1921 by President Harding)
– Emma Goldman
• 2 years &$10.000 fine for organizing the “No
Conscription League”
• Deported to Russia (1919)
– “Big Bill” Haywood
• IWW
• Sentenced to a long jail term for urging workers to strike
• Escaped and fled to Russia (1921)
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"Colored Man Is No Slacker"
World War One Recruiting Poster
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Frontline trenches. Group of French
servicemen, "Poilus", in front of the entrance
of a cote. Woods of Hirtzbach. (Haut-Rhin.
France. June 16th, 1917).
From David Latapie (merci
beaucoup!)"Poilus" (hairy) is the nickname to
French
WWI soldiers, since they could not
afford the luxury of regular shaving. It is
a term of affection, especially now.
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Boys knitting socks, B. F. Day Elementary Sc
Seattle, 1918
Girls knitting socks, B. F. Day
Elementary School, Seattle,
1918
World War I Red
Cross poster
encouraging knitting,
ca. 1917
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