US INVOLVEMENT
IN WWI
Causes of American
Involvement

1. Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

2. British propaganda

3. Zimmerman Telegraph

4. Russian Revolution
Unrestricted Submarine
Warfare

Germany created new submarine called the ”U-Boat”

British blockaded North Sea, so Germany gave a “sink on
sight” order to any ship approaching Britain

May 7th, 1915-British passenger liner the “Lusitania”
sunk off the coast of Ireland

Killed 128 Americans
Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
 Aug.
1915
 The Arabic is
sunk by the
Germans
 2 Americans are
killed
Unrestricted Submarine Warfare




March 1916
The Sussex, an
unarmed passenger
ship is sunk
America threatens to
cut off diplomatic
relations
Sussex pledge- no
passenger or merchant
ships would be sunk
without warning
Zimmerman Telegram

March 1917-British authorities gave to the US a telegram
that was supposedly sent to Mexico from Germany

It had been decoded by the British

It asked Mexico to declare war on the US and they
would be supported by Germany
Russian Revolution

March 1917-Russia left WWI due to a Revolution in their
own country

Germany now would concentrate totally on the Western
Front

Pleas from Great Britain and France to join the war
effort
Declaration of War

April 2, 1917-Wilson asks Congress to declare war on
Germany

“The World must be made safe for Democracy”

April 6th-Congress votes and declares war
Civil Liberties

Espionage Act of 1917-imprisoned for 20 year if caught
inciting a riot or obstructing the draft

Sedition Act of 1918-Prohibited from making disloyal
remarks

Schneck v. US (1919)-Restriction of civil liberties is ok if
it demonstrates a “clear and present danger” to public
safety
Minorities

Women-Entered the workforce in mass, took the jobs of
soldiers fighting in Europe

Mexicans-immigrating in mass to get agricultural work in
the southwest

African-Americans-400,000 volunteered for the armed
services, served in non-combat roles, and in segregated
units
Turning the Tide of War

British in Turkey
 W.
Churchill, head of
British Navy, suggests
that Allies should
invaded middle east
and cut off AustriaHungry from supply
lines.

US Enters the War




Wilson and America feels
that WWI is a European War
Lusitania: a passenger ship is
sunk in1915.
Zimmermann Telegraph:
1917

German Foreign minister
sends message to Mexico
suggesting that Mexico join
the Central powers.

Mexico would receive New
Mexico, Texas, Arizona after
a German victory
April 2, 1917 US declares war
on the Central Powers
World War II
World War II

After Pearl Harbor,
American military
leaders focused on
halting the Japanese
advance and
mobilizing the whole
nation for war.
Mobilization at Home

The war effort required all of America’s huge productive capacity and
full employment of the workforce.


Government expenditures soared.
U.S. budget increases

1940 $9 million

1944 $100 million

Expenditures in WWII greater than all previous government budgets
combined (150 years)

GNP 1939 91 billion 1945 166 million
Restoration of Prosperity

World War II ended the Great Depression.

Factories run at full capacity

Ford Motor Company – one bomber plane per hour

People save money (rationing)

Army bases in South provide economic boom (most bases in South b/c of
climate)

The national debt grew to $260 billion (6 times its size on Dec. 7, 1941)
A Grand Alliance
The Big Three

Great Britain (Winston Churchill)

The U.S. (FDR)

The Soviet Union (Joseph Stalin)
Strategies for War

Defeat Germany first
Gloomy Prospects

By the end of 1942, the Allies faced defeat.

The chain of spectacular victories disguised fatal weaknesses within the Axis
alliance:
Japan
and Germany fought separate
wars, each on two fronts. They never
coordinated strategies.

The early defeats also obscured the Allies’ strengths:
The
manpower of the Soviet Union
The
productive capacity of the U. S.
Invasion of the Soviet Union

Hitler’s pivotal mistake.

On June 22, 1941, Operation Barbarossa

4 million soldiers along 2,000 mile front

German army quickly advanced, but at a terrifying cost.

For the next three years, 90 percent of German deaths occurred on the
eastern front.
Turning Points of the War:
Eastern Front


Stalingrad

From August 1942 until February 1943 German and Soviet armies fought
one of the bloodiest engagements in history.

Each side suffered more casualties than the Americans did during the
entire war.

The Soviets defeated the German army at Stalingrad and then again at the
battle of Kursk.
The Germans began a long retreat to Berlin.
Atom Diplomacy

FDR had funded the top-secret Manhattan Project to develop an atomic bomb

Dr. Robert Oppenheimer successfully tested in the summer of 1945.

FDR had died on April 12, 1945, and the decision was left to Harry Truman.

An amphibious invasion could cost over 350,000 Allied casualties.
Turning Points
of the War: The Pacific

August 6, 1945 – Enola Gay drops bomb
on Hiroshima


August 9, 1945 – Nagasaki



140,000 dead; tens of thousands injured;
radiation sickness; 80% of buildings
destroyed
70,000 dead; 60,000 injured
Emperor Hirohito surrenders on Aug.
14, 1945. (V-J Day)
Formal surrender signed on September
2 onboard the battleship Missouri in
Tokyo Bay
Development
of the Cold War

The Cold War (1945-91) was one of perception
where neither side fully understood the intentions
and ambitions of the other. This led to mistrust and
military build-ups.
 United States

U.S. thought that Soviet expansion would continue and spread throughout the
world.

They saw the Soviet Union as a threat to their way of life; especially after the
Soviet Union gained control of Eastern Europe.
Development
of the Cold War

Soviet Union

They felt that they had won World War II. They had sacrificed the most (25 million
vs. 300,000 total dead) and deserved the “spoils of war.” They had lost land after
WWI because they left the winning side; now they wanted to gain land because
they had won.

They wanted to economically raid Eastern Europe to recoup their expenses during
the war.

They saw the U.S. as a threat to their way of life; especially after the U.S.
development of atomic weapons.
Cold War Mobilization
by the U.S.



Alarmed Americans viewed the Soviet
occupation of eastern European
countries as part of a communist
expansion, which threatened to
extend to the rest of the world.
In 1946, Winston Churchill gave a
speech at Fulton College in Missouri in
which he proclaimed that an “Iron
Curtain” had fallen across Europe.
In March 1947, U.S. president Harry
Truman proclaimed the Truman
Doctrine.
The Truman Doctrine (1947)




Reasoning

Threatened by Communist influence in Turkey and Greece

“Two hostile camps” speech
Financial aid “to support free peoples
who are resisting attempted
subjugation”
Sent $400 million worth of war
supplies to Greece and helped push
out Communism
The Truman Doctrine marked a new
level of American commitment to a
Cold War.
The Policy of
Containment and the
Bay of Pigs



Definition - By applying firm diplomatic, economic, and
military counterpressure, the United States could block
Soviet aggression.
Fidel Castro helped to lead the Cuban Revolution in
overthrowing the existing government of Cuba in 1959.
He was an ardent communist and was allied with the
Soviet Union. This deeply concerned the United States
as this gave communism and the Soviet Union a foothold
in the Americas
The results were disastrous for the United States. The
government looked weak and the CIA inept. It also
seemed to strengthen Castro's government within Cuba
and caused him to look to the Soviet Union as a military
ally.
North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (1949)
Stalin’s aggressive actions accelerated the
American effort to use military means to
contain Soviet ambitions.
 The U.S. joined with Canada, Britain,
France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and
Luxembourg to establish NATO, a mutual
defense pact.
 Pledged signers to treat an attack against
one as an attack against all.
 Counterpart in Eastern Europe – Warsaw Pact

End of War

Snags in negotiations

Truce talks lasted for two years

Truce signed on July 27, 1953

Cost of the war

U.S. – 33,000 deaths and 103,000 wounded and missing.

S. Korean – 1 million

N. Korean and Chinese – about 1.5 million