 Long-term causes
• Nationalism
• Militarism
• Alliances
• Imperialism
 Immediate cause
• Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand (heir to
Austria-Hungary’s throne) by Serbian nationalist in
1914
 Domino
war
effect that caused Europe to fall into
 The World
Goes to War
 Triple
Entente
• Great Britain
• France
• Russia
• Serbia
 Triple
Alliance
• Austria-Hungary
• Germany
• Italy
 Central Powers
• Austria-Hungary
• Germany
 Allied Powers
• Great Britain
• France
• Russia
• Serbia
• 1 year in Italy (traitors!!)
• 1 year to go United States
 Animated Map
The Western Front
Front Line Trenches
Soldiers in the First World War did not
spend the whole of the time in the trenches.
The British Army worked on a 16 day
timetable. Each soldier usually spent eight
days in the front line and four days in the
reserve trench.
Another four days were spent in a rest
camp that was built a few miles away from
the fighting.
However, when the army was short of
men, soldiers had to spend far longer
periods at the front.
It was not uncommon for soldiers to be in
the front line trenches for over thirty days at
a time.
On one occasion, the 13th Yorkshire and
Lancashire Regiment spent fifty-one
consecutive days in the line.
Communication Trenches
• The trench system on the
Western Front consisted of
front-line, support and
reserve trenches.
• The three rows of trenches
covered between 200 and
500 yards of ground.
• Communication trenches
were dug at an angle to
those facing the enemy.
These trenches used to
transport men, equipment
and food supplies.
Awful Conditions
Awful Conditions
Lice
•
•
•
Men in the trenches suffered from lice. One soldier
writing after the war described them as "pale fawn in
colour, and they left blotchy red bite marks all over the
body." They also created a sour; stale smell.
Various methods were used to remove the lice. A
lighted candle was fairly effective but the skill of
burning the lice without burning your clothes was only
learnt with practice.
One soldier described how this worked: "The things lay
in the seams of trousers, in the deep furrows of long
thick woolly pants, and seemed impregnable in their
deep entrenchments. A lighted candle applied where
they were thickest made them pop like Chinese
crackers. After a session of this, my face would be
covered with small blood spots from extra big fellows
which had popped too vigorously."
•
Trench Feet
•
•
•
•
Many soldiers fighting in the
First World War suffered from
trench foot.
This was an infection of the feet
caused by cold, wet and
insanitary conditions. In the
trenches men stood for hours
on end in water logged trenches
without being able to remove
wet socks or boots.
The feet would gradually go
numb and the skin would turn
red or blue. If untreated, trench
foot could turn gangrenous and
result in amputation.
Trench foot was a particular
problem in the early stages of
the war. For example, during the
winter of 1914-15 over 20,000
men in the British Army were
treated for trench foot.
The only remedy for trench foot
was for the soldiers to dry their
feet and change their socks
several times a day.
Trench Foot in COLOR!!!
Amputations
•
Over 1.65 million men in the British Army were wounded during World War I. Of
these, around 240,000 British soldiers suffered total or partial leg or arm
amputations as a result of war wounds. Most of these men were fitted with
artificial limbs.
Poison Gas
Mustard Gas
• Mustard Gas (Yperite) was first
used by the German Army in
September 1917. It was one of
the most lethal of all the
poisonous chemicals used during
the war.
• It was almost odourless and
took twelve hours to take effect.
Yperite was so powerful that
only small amounts had to be
added to high explosive shells to
be effective. Once in the soil,
mustard gas remained active for
several weeks.
Various Gas Masks worn in WWI
Poison Gas
Poison Gas Deaths: 1914-1918
Country
Non-Fatal
Deaths
Total
British Empire
180,597
8,109
188,706
France
182,000
8,000
190,000
United States
71,345
1,462
72,807
Italy
55,373
4,627
60,000
Russia
419,340
56,000
475,340
Germany
191,000
9,000
200,000
Austria-Hungary
97,000
3,000
100,000
Others
9,000
1,000
10.000
Total
1,205,655
91,198
1,296,853
Letters from the Trenches
•
•
•
•
Twelve and a half million letters
were sent to the Western Front
every week. In 1914 the Postal
Section of the Royal Engineers
had a staff of 250 men.
By 1918 the Army Postal Service
employed 4,000 soldiers. Letters
only took two or three days to
arrive from Britain. Even soldiers
in the front line trenches
received daily deliveries of
letters.
Soldiers were also encouraged
to write letters to friends and
family in Britain. Most men
decided it would be better to
conceal the horrors of the
trench warfare.
As a result of the Defence of the
Realm Act that was passed in
1914, all letters that the men
wrote should have been read
and censored by junior officers.
 There
was no desire or need to enter war
 Outbreak of war had devastating effects
on American economy
• Deep recession spurred by drain of hard specie
• Loss of overseas markets for trade
 By
1915, Britain and France looked to U.S.
to supply them with munitions and
foodstuffs giving industrial and
agricultural sectors of the economy a
boost
 One-third
of U.S. population were
hyphenated Americans
 Vigorous propaganda campaigns by both
sides
 Economic ties between U.S. and Allies
• Trade with Germany ended but trade with Allies
increased
• Value of American trade shot up from $824 million in
1914 to $3.2 billion in 1916
• 1917: loans to Allies exceeded $2.5 billion compared
to loans to the Central Powers of only $27 million
• Nation enjoyed great economic boom
 U.S. became neutral in name only


U.S. neutrality severely tested after Britain and France imposed
naval blockades against Germany
Germans utilized U-Boats
• New weapon, submarine, they utilized to terrorize shipping traffic across
Atlantic
 Bombed ships crossing Atlantic whether they were civilian or military
• Germans claimed that ships might be carrying munitions of war for Britain or
France and must be stopped

By September, 1915, U-boats had sunk 90 ships, including British
luxury liner The Lusitania
• Killed 1,200 people, 130 were Americans
• Wilson still didn’t want to go to war, issued warning to Germans to cease
submarine warfare

March, 1916, Germans attacked French passenger liner The
Sussex, killing 4 Americans
• Wilson issued Sussex Ultimatum where he warned Germans to stop
• submarine warfare or U.S. would break all diplomatic relations with Germany

Wilson begins preparedness campaign

British liner torpedoed
by a German U-Boat.
1,200 passengers were
killed, including 128
U.S. civilians.
 Wilson
warns Germany
to stop unrestricted
submarine warfare
 Wilson
re-elected with
campaign slogan “He
kept us out of the war.”

March 2, 1917, Wilson received word that British
agent had intercepted and decoded letter from
German Foreign Secretary Zimmerman to
German ambassador
• Letter contained promise from German government to
Mexican president that if his country assisted Germany in
war against U.S., Mexico would be given back the
territory lost in the Mexican-American War after
Germany’s victory

The combination of the sinking of four unarmed
American merchant vessels along with the
telegram, which directly threatened the U.S.,
were enough for Wilson to ask Congress for
declaration of war





January 16, 1917
Telegram sent to
Mexico by Germany
Intercepted by British
and given to America
Promised Mexico
would get back states
of Texas, New Mexico,
and Arizona if it
formed alliance with
Germany
Caused Wilson to
finally ask Congress
for declaration of war
•
•
•
Dark Green – land
that Mexico had
currently
controlled in
1917.
Medium Green –
land that was
promised to
Mexico by
Germany in the
Zimmerman Note.
Light Green –land
that Mexico had
once controlled,
before the
MexicanAmerican War.
“The world must be
made safe for
democracy…”
“This will be a war
to end wars…”
 Selective
Service Act: authorized draft of
young men for military service in Europe.
• First day: 9.6 million Americans registered for
the draft
 Committee
on Public Information:
educated public about causes and nature
of the war.
• Had to convince Americans that the war effort
was a just cause
• Earned widespread support for American war
effort

Committee on Public Information formed
• Given task of informing Americans of the war through
propaganda
 Encouraged Americans to buy war bonds and support war effort

Food Administration headed by Herbert Hoover
encouraged Americans to sacrifice
• “Meatless Mondays” and victory gardens
Americans stopped eating German food, playing
German music
 War Industries Board controlled production, wages,
and prices of manufactured goods
 Selective Service Act (1917) authorized
conscription of American males into military service



Espionage Act of 1917 and Sedition Act of 1918:
allowed postal authorities to ban treasonable or
seditious newspapers, magazines, or printed materials
from the mail; enacted severe penalties for anyone
engaged in disloyal or treasonable activities
Prejudice Against German Americans
• Hamburgers= “liberty steaks”
• Dachshunds= “liberty pups”


New opportunities for women: worked in jobs left by
men going to war
African Americans follow opportunity North
• Great Migration: movement of 1.2 million African Americans
from rural South to industrial North in order to escape racism
and get a chance at economic advancement





March 1918: Soviet Union signs a treaty with the Central
Powers and withdraw from the war- Brest-Litovsk
Treaty
This allowed more German soldiers to fight on Western
Front; launched attack that was stopped by newly
arrived American forces
By May, 1918, over one million American troops were
stationed in France, along the Western Front. (American
Expeditionary Force)
Approximately half of these men were stationed in the
front lines.
With American assistance, and a discouraged
Germany, the Allied Forces were able to launch a series
of offensives that sent the Germans retreating.
Armistice Day being celebrated in New Zealand
… And in Canada.
“The eleventh hour… of the eleventh day…
of the eleventh month…” of 1918.
Delivered to Congress on January 8, 1919 in
preparation for his postwar vision
 Believed that Great War would be “the war to end all
wars” and that America had to “make the world safe
for democracy.”
 Points provided for:

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The abolishment of secret treaties
Freedom of the seas
Economic freedom
Reduction of arms
End of colonialization
Self-determination
Formation of international organization for collective security
 This most important point to Wilson but would prove the hardest for
him with Americans at war’s end
 Wilson
writes his Fourteen Points
 Lenin, now
in power in Russia, claimed that the
entire war was “an imperialistic land grab”
(fought for the purpose of gaining new
territory)
• He exposed secret treaties Russia had made with the
Allies in which they agreed to divide among
themselves the empires of their enemies.
 Wilson, on
the other hand, wanted to promote a
“peace without victory”
 War
was not about acquisitions and
imperialism, but about peace and
freedom (ideals)
• “Only a tranquil Europe can be a stable Europe. There must be
a peace without victory. Victory would mean peace forced upon
the loser, a victor’s terms imposed upon the vanquished. It
would be accepted in humiliation and would leave a sting, a
resentment, a bitter memory upon which terms of peace would
rest, not permanently, but only as upon quicksand.”
 He
answered Lenin’s charges about the
purpose of the conflict by outlining
America’s war aims in Fourteen Points
 Rest
of the Allies disagreed with Wilson
• They blamed Germany for starting the war and
felt that they had suffered more than the U.S.
 They insisted Germany make reparations or payment
for war damages
 Wanted to weaken Germany so that it would never
threaten Europe again
 Allies
create the Treaty of Versailles in
June 1919.
Britain
David Lloyd-George
France
George Clemenceau
The “Big Three”
+ Italy
America
Woodrow Wilson
Italy
Vittorio Orlando

League of Nations was made part of the treaty along with
Article X
• Called for members to stand at the ready if another member nation’s
sovereignty was being threatened
• Proved problem for Wilson when he returned to America

Problems with the peace
• In the new map that emerged from the conference, national self-
determination was violated constantly.
 Ex: Iraq was still a mandate of Britain (territory overseen by another nation)
• In Middle East, breakup of the Ottoman Empire led to new states in
which ethnic groups were clustered together randomly
• Germany gets broken up so that ethnic Germans now live within
borders of Poland and Czechoslovakia
 Causes Hitler to invade these areas to reunite all ethnic Germans at start of
WWII



Irreconcilables: wanted to remain isolationist,
something that could not be done if they signed the
treaty and became a part of the League of Nations
Reservationists: were opposed to the treaty as it was
written because the language was too vague, felt that it
could lead the U.S. into a war without the consent of
Congress, which was unconstitutional
When treaty went to Senate for vote, no one was willing
to compromise:
“At a moment that demanded compromise, Wilson and his opponents
refused to put aside personal and political differences for the good
of the country. The tragedy of the failed votes was that without full
American support, the League of Nations proved unable to maintain
peace among nations.”
 Germans
have strong desire for revenge
 Lenin’s Soviet Russia threatened
revolution throughout the industrial world
 In U.S. horrors of war and widespread
fear of communists and radicals cause
Americans to question political and
economic role in the world

Presidential Election of 1920
• Wilson felt election of
Democrat James M. Cox would
prove that Americans
supported the League of
Nations and his vision of the
role U.S. should play in the
world
• Election of Warren G. Harding
would be final rejection of the
league
 Harding rejected “Wilsonian
idealism”
 Tired of progressive reforms
and foreign crusades
 Called for a “return to normalcy”
“I’m Normal!!!!”
 By
1920 the U.S. was an economic giant
• Richest, most industrialized country in the
world
• U.S. was now largest creditor nation in
the world
 Other countries owed the U.S. more
money than the U.S. owed them
 The victorious United States came out of the
war strong, confident, and prosperous