WORLD WAR I
“War is no longer Samson with his
shield and spear and sword, and David
with his sling. It is the conflict of
smokestacks now, the combat of the
driving wheel and the engine.”
MILITARISM
Empires were less expensive to build and defend
 Growth of nationalism and imperialism led to
increased military spending
 The imperial powers followed a policy of
militarism—the development of armed forces and
their use as a diplomacy tool
 1890—Germany was the strongest European
nation

– They wanted to compete as a Naval Power—pretty
soon they were competing with Britain’s naval power
ALLIANCE SYSTEM
 1907—Two
Europe
major defense alliances in
– The Triple Entente (Allies)—France, Britain,
and Russia
– The Triple Alliance (Central Powers)—Germany,
Austria-Hungary, and Italy—eventually the
Ottoman Empire
 The
alliances provided a measure of
international security because nations were
reluctant to disturb the balance of power
IMPERIALISM
European nations had
been building empires
 Colonies supplied the
European powers with
raw materials and
markets for goods
 As Germany
industrialized, it
competed with France
and Britain in the
contest for colonies

NATIONALISM
 Politics
in the Western World was deeply
influenced by nationalism during the 19th
century
 In this atmosphere, competition soared
and many feared Germany’s growing power
in Europe
 Ethnic groups also resented domination by
others and wanted independence
 Many looked to the larger nations for
protection
ASSASSINATION = WAR
The spark that started the war began in “the
powder keg of Europe”—Balkan Peninsula
 Ethnic rivalries and leading powers’ interests
there created a problem between Bosnia and
Serbia
 In June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir
to the Austrian throne, visited the Bosnian
capital Sarajevo
 He and his wife were shot by Gavrilo Princip
while they were driving down the streets
 Princip was a member of the Black Hand-an
organization promoting Serbian Nationalism

ASSASSINATION = WAR
 On
June 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary
declared war against Serbia
 The Alliance System pulled one nation
after another into the conflict
 Germany, obligated by treaty, declared
war on Russia to protect A-H on August 1
 On August 3, Germany declared war on
France
 After Germany invaded Belgium (a neutral
country), Britain declared war on Germany
 The Great War had begun
THE FIGHTING STARTS
 August
3, 1914—Germany enacted the
Schlieffen Plan
 This plan called for:
– a holding action against Russia
– A quick drive through Belgium to Paris
– Then the two German armies would defeat
Russia
 Unable
to save Belgium, the Allies
retreated to the Marne River in France,
where they halted the advance in
September 1914
TRENCH WARFARE
 Both
sides dug in for a long seige
 By 1915, trenches outlined the border
between France and Germany
 There were three main trenches:
– Front line
– Support
– Reserve
 Each
trench had several dugouts—
underground rooms used as officers’
quarters and command posts
TRENCH WARFARE
 Between
the trench complexes lay “no
man’s land”—a barren expanse of mud
pockmarked with shell craters and
filled with barbed wire
 Soldiers who charged the lines were
mowed down by machine guns
TRENCH WARFARE
 July
1, 1916—the Battle of the
Somme
– The British suffered 60,000 casualties in
the first day alone
– Final casualties totaled about 1.2 million
– Only 7 miles of land had changed hands
 The
Trench Warfare, in which armies
fought for mere yards, continued for
over three years
DIVIDED LOYALTIES
 In
1914, Americans saw no reason to join
a struggle 3,000 miles away
 Socialists criticized the war as a capitalist
and imperialist struggle between Germany
and England to control markets and
colonies in China, Africa, and the Middle
East
 Pacifists, like William Jennings Bryan,
believed that war was evil and that the
U.S. should set an example of peace to
the world
DIVIDED LOYALTIES
 Many
Americans simply did not want their
sons to experience the horrors of war
 Millions of naturalized citizens followed
the war closely because they still had ties
to the nations from which they had
emigrated
 The sympathies increased for both sides
as the war continued
 However, Germany’s aggressive behavior
towards innocent civilians in Belgium made
many Americans side with Britain
DIVIDED LOYALTIES
 Germany
became “the bully of Europe”
 Propaganda provided by Britain—eventually
proven false—created this sense of anger
towards Germany
 America’s economic ties were much
stronger with the Allies than the Central
Powers
 The Allies flooded American manufacturers
with orders with supplies for the war, and
this helped to separate America and
Germany even more
DIVIDED LOYALTIES
 The
U.S. shipped millions of dollars of war
supplies to the Allies, but requests kept
coming
 By 1915, the U.S. was experiencing a
labor shortage
 From 1914 on, trade with the Allies nearly
quadrupled while trade with Germany fell
to almost zero
 By 1917, many Americans felt that
prosperity depended upon an Allied victory
THE WAR HITS HOME
 British
blockade
– Britain made use of its navy with a blockade
of Germany
– At first they prevented only military supplies
and weapons from getting through—but
eventually expanded to include food
– They also extended the blockade to neutral
ports and mined the entire North Sea
– American ships could not reach Germany
– 750,000 Germans died of starvation as a
result of the blockade
THE WAR HITS HOME
 Americans
had been angry with the
blockade-until Germany reacted
 Germany responded with a counter
blockade by U-boats (submarines)
 Any British or Allied ship found in the
waters around Britain would be sunk—and
it was not always possible to warn crews
and passengers of an attack
THE WAR HITS HOME
 One
of the worst disasters occurred on
May 7, 1915 when a U-boat sank the
British liner Lusitania off the coast of
Ireland
 Of the 1198 persons lost, 128 were
Americans
 Germany justified their actions by stating
the ship was carrying munitions
 American public opinion turned against
Germany and the Central Powers
THE WAR HITS HOME
 Despite
the disaster, Wilson ruled out a
military response in favor of a sharp
protest against Germany
 Unrestricted Submarine Warfare continued
 Germany sank the Arabic (British liner)
and two Americans were killed
 Again, the U.S. protested—Germany
promised to stop sinking liners
 They broke their promise by sinking the
Sussex (French liner) in March 1916—more
American lives were lost
THE WAR HITS HOME
 The
U.S. warned it would cut off all
diplomatic relations with Germany if
they did not cease unrestricted
submarine warfare
 They promised to do so if the U.S.
would urge Britain to allow food to
reach the German coast
1916 ELECTION
 The
Democrats re-nominated Wilson
 Republicans nominated Supreme Court
Justice Charles Evans Hughes
 Wilson ran on the slogan “He Kept Us Out
of War”
 Hughes pledged to uphold America’s right
to freedom
1916 ELECTION
 The
election returns shifted from
hour to hour
– Hughes went to bed believing he had won
– When a reporter tried to reach him to
inform him Wilson had won, an aide
stated “the President cannot be
disturbed.” “Well then,” replied the
reporter, “when he wakes up, tell him
he’s no longer president.”
GERMAN PROVOCATION
The German’s ignored Wilson’s calls for
peace
 Germany hoped to defeat Britain by using
unrestricted sub warfare
 On January 31-the Kaiser announced that
all ships-neutral or hostile-on sight
 Again, the U.S. held back until “actual
overt acts” of war were committed

GERMAN PROVOCATION
 The
Overt Acts Came:
– First, the Zimmermann note—a telegram from
the German foreign minister to the German
ambassador in Mexico that was intercepted by
British agents
– The telegram proposed an alliance between
Mexico and Germany and promised that if war
with the U.S. broke out, Germany would
protect Mexico in recovering lost territory
– Next came the sinking of four unarmed
American merchant ships
GERMAN PROVOCATION
– Finally, events in Russia removed the last
significant obstacle to direct U.S. involvement
in the war
– The Russian Monarchy was replaced with a
representative government
– Now supporters of American entry into the
war could claim that this was a war of
democracies against brutal monarchies
 April,
1917—America declared war on
Germany
MOBILIZATION
 The
U.S. was not prepared for war
 Only 200,000 men were in service and
only a few officers had combat
experience
 Drastic measures were taken in order
to prepare for a modern war in
Europe
MOBILIZATION
 Congress
passed the Selective Service
Act of 1917
– This required men to register the
government in order to be randomly
selected for military service
 By
1918, 24 million had signed up—
about 3 million were sent—2 million
before the truce was signed—3/4th’s
saw actual combat
MOBILIZATION
 About
400,000 African Americans
served in the armed forces
 More than half of them in France
 African Americans served in
segregated units and were excluded
from the anvy and marines
 Most were assigned to non-combat
duties—although there were a few
exceptions
MOBILIZATION
 The
all-black 369th Infantry saw more
continuous duty on the front lines
than any other American regiment
 Two soldiers of the 369th, Henry
Johnson and Needham Roberts, were
the first Americans to receive
France’s highest military honor, the
“cross of war”
MOBILIZATION

Training:
– 17 hour days in both Europe and the U.S.
– Target practice, bayonet drill, kitchen duty, and
cleaning up the grounds were all included
– Real weapons were in short supply, so fake ones
were used in most practice drills
 Rocks
instead of grenades, or wooden poles instead
of rifles

Women:
– Although not allowed to enlist, the army accepted
women in the Corps of Nurses, but denied them
army rank, pay and benefits
– Some 13,000 women committed themselves to
service
MASS PRODUCTION
 In
addition to the vast army, the
U.S. had to find a way to transport
all the supplies and men across the
ocean
 This was made difficult by the
submarine warfare by the Germans
 To solve this problem the government
took four crucial steps
MASS PRODUCTION

First
– The government exempted many shipyard workers
from draft and gave others a “deferred” classification

Second
– The U.S. Chamber of Commerce joined in a public
relations campaign to emphasize the importance of
shipyard work
– They distributed service flags to families of shipyard
workers
– They also urged automobile owners to give shipyard
employees rides to and from work since streetcars
were so crowded
MASS PRODUCTION
 Third
– Shipyards used fabrication techniques—instead
of building an entire ship in the yard,
standardized parts were built elsewhere and
then assembled at the yard
– This method reduced construction time
drastically
 Fourth
– The government took over commercial private
ships and converted them for transatlantic
war use
AMERICA TURNS THE TIDE
 U-boats
were a major threat
 Vice Admiral William S. Sims
convinced the British to use the
Convoy System—a heavy guard of
destroyers escorting merchant ships
across the ocean in groups
 By fall of 1917, shipping losses had
been cut in half
AMERICA TURNS THE TIDE
 The
U.S. also helped to lay a 230-mile
barrier of mines across the North Sea
from Scotland to Norway
 The barrier was designed to bottle up the
U-boats
 By early 1918, the Germans found it
increasingly difficult to replace staff and
submariners lost in this barrier
 Of the 2 million Americans sent to Europe,
only 637 were killed by U-boats
FIGHTING IN EUROPE
 After
2 ½ years of fighting, the allies
were tired and demoralized
 Americans offered numbers and a
freshness and enthusiasm
 The AEF (American Expeditionary Force)
led by General John J. Pershing, led the
forces in Europe
 They were nicknamed “doughboys” because
of the white belts they wore—which they
cleaned with pipe clay, or “dough”
NEW WEAPONS
 The
new weapons of the Great War
changed the nature of warfare
 The two most innovative weapons were the
tank and the airplane
– Together they heralded mechanized warfare—
warfare that relies on gas powered machines
 Tanks
were first used the 1916 at the
Battle of the Somme (not very effectively)
 By 1917, they knew how to plow through
barbed wire to clear paths for infantry
NEW WEAPONS
Airplanes were first used to scout
 Eventually, tanks were shooting down planes
 Early dogfights were fought by pilots with
pistols—firing at one another as they flew by
 Eventually planes began carrying mounted
machine guns due to the difficulty of flying and
shooting
 The blades of the propeller kept getting in the
way of the bullets—the Germans introduced a
interrupter gear that permitted the stream of
bullets to avoid the whirring blades

NEW WEAPONS
 By
1918, airplanes were being built
stronger and faster
 The British had built up a strategic
bomber force of 22,000 planes to
attack the Germans
 Observation balloons were used
extensively by both sides—they were
protected by aircraft flying close
NEW WEAPONS
 New/Improved
Technology:
– Machine Guns—firepower increased to 600
rounds per minute
– Airships/Airplanes—mounted with machine guns
for “dogfights”, and both zeppelins and planes
carried bombs
– Antiaircraft Gun—the name says it all
– Poison Gas—a yellow-green chlorine fog
sickened, suffocated, burned, and blinded its
victims—gas masks became standard use
– Tanks—used to “mow down” barbed wire and
soldiers
NEW PROBLEMS
 With
the new weapons and warfare came
new injuries
 Trench foot, caused by standing in cold
wet trenches for long periods of time
without changing into dry socks or boots
 Amputation was generally the only option
 A painful infection of the gums and throat
called trench mouth was also common
Trench Foot
ON THE OFFENSIVE
 Russia
pulled out in 1917 and Germany
moved its army from the East to the
West
 They were within 50 miles of Paris when
the Americans arrived just in time to stop
the Germans at Cantigny, France
 The U.S. helped push the Germans back
and helped in their defeat at the Second
Battle of the Marne
 The Tide had turned against the Central
Powers
THE COLLAPSE OF GERMANY
November 3, 1918—Austria-Hungary
surrendered to the Allies
 That same day, German sailors mutinied against
government authority—the mutiny spread quickly
 November 9—socialist leaders in the capital,
Berlin, established a German republic—the Kaiser
gave up the throne
 Although the allies never set foot on German
soil, the Germans were too exhausted to
continue
 At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the
eleventh month (11:00am, November 11, 1918)
the Germans agreed to a cease-fire and signed
an armistice

THE FINAL TOLL
World War 1 was the bloodiest war in history to
that time
 Deaths numbered 22 million, more than half of
them civilians
 20 million were wounded, and 10 million became
refugees
 Direct economic costs may have been about
$338 billion
 The U.S. lost 48,000 men in battle, and 62,000
from disease
 More than 200,000 were wounded

THE WAR AT HOME
 Winning
the war was not just up to the
soldiers, but also the politicians
 Because WW1 was such an immense
conflict, the entire economy had to be
refocused on the war effort
 Congress gave Wilson direct control over
much of the economy, including the power
to fix prices and to regulate—even to
nationalize—certain war-related industries
THE WAR AT HOME
 The
main regulatory body was the
War Industries Board (WIB)
 Established in 1917 and reorganized
in 1918 under the leadership of
Bernard M. Baruch
 The board encouraged companies to
use mass-production techniques
 They also urged eliminating waste by
standardizing products
THE WAR AT HOME
 Under
the WIB, industrial production
increased by about 20%
 However, the WIB applied price
controls only at the wholesale level
 As a result, retail prices soared and
by 1918 they were almost double
what they had been
 Corporate profits soared as well
THE WAR AT HOME
 The
Railroad administration controlled the
railroads and the Fuel Administration
monitored coal supplies and rationed
gasoline and heating oil
 Many people adopted “gasless Sundays”
and “lightless nights” to conserve fuel
 In March 1918, the Fuel Administration
introduced another conservation measure:
daylight-saving time, which had first been
proposed by Ben Franklin in the 1770’s as
a way of taking advantage of the long
summer days
THE WAR AT HOME
 Wages
during the war rose by 20%
 A household’s income, however, was largely
undercut by rising food prices and housing
costs
 By contrast, stockholders in large
corporations saw enormous profit
 The DuPont Company saw its stock multiply
in value 1600%
 Unions also boomed because of the uneven
pay between labor and management
THE WAR AT HOME
 To
deal with the disputes, Wilson
established the National War Labor
Board in 1918
 Workers who refused to obey board
decisions could lose their draft
exemptions
 “Work or Fight” the board told them
 The board also worked to improve
labor conditions
THE WAR AT HOME
 Food
Administration
– To help reduce and conserve food, Wilson set
up the Food Administration under Herbert
Hoover
– Instead of rationing food, he called on people
to follow the “gospel of the clean plate”
– He declared “meatless”, “sweetless”,
“wheatless” and “porkless” days to help
conserve
– Restaurants removed sugar bowls from tables
and served bread only after the first course
THE WAR AT HOME
 Taxes
supplied most of the war
finance
 A progressive income tax, a war
profits tax, and higher excise taxes
on tobacco, liquor, and luxury goods
were issued
 The rest was raised through “Liberty
Loans” and “Victory Loans”
 “only a friend of Germany” would
refuse to buy bonds
THE WAR AT HOME
 To
popularize the war, the government set
up the nation's first propaganda agency,
the Committee on Public Information (CPI)
 The head of the CPI was a former
muckraking journalist name George Creed
 Thousands of paintings, posters, cartoons,
and sculptures promoting the war were
created
 Creed recruited 75,000 “four-minute men”
to speak about anything and everything
about the war
THE WAR AT HOME
 Although
the campaign worked, it also
inflamed hatred and violations of the civil
liberties of certain ethnic groups
 Anti-Immigrant Hysteria came about due
to the overwhelming fears Americans had
about Germans invading
 Many Americans with German names lost
their jobs
 Orchestras refused to play Mozart, Bach,
Beethoven, and Brahms
THE WAR AT HOME
 Some
towns with German names
changed them
 Schools stopped teaching the German
language and librarians removed books
by German authors from the shelves
 People even resorted to violence
against German Americans, flogging
them or smearing them with tar and
feathers
THE WAR AT HOME
 German
measles were changed to
“Liberty Measles”
 “Salisbury steak” was changed to
“liberty sandwich”
 Sauerkraut was renamed “liberty
cabbage” and dachshunds turned into
“liberty pups”
THE WAR AT HOME
 Espionage
and Sedition Acts
– June 1917: Congress passed the Espionage
Act and May 1918 it passed the Sedition Act
– Under these Acts, a person could be fined up
to $10,000 and sentenced to 20 years in jail
for interfering with the war effort or for
saying anything disloyal, profane, or abusive
about the government or war effort
 This
act led to the prosecutions for over
2000 people—half of which resulted in
convictions
THE WAR AT HOME
 The
House of Representatives refused to
seat Victor Berger, a socialist
congressman from Wisconsin, because of
his antiwar views
 Columbia University fired a distinguished
psychologist because he opposed the war
effort
– A colleague who supported the war resigned in
protest
– “If we have to support everything we don’t
like, then this country is resting on a pretty
wobbly basis”
THE WAR AT HOME
These Acts targeted socialists and labor leaders
 Eugene V. Debs was given a 10 year sentence
for speaking out against the war
 Anarchist, Emma Goldman, received a two-year
sentence and a $10,000 fine for organizing the
No Conscription League
 When she was released she was deported back
to Russia
 “Big Bill” Haywood and others of the IWW were
accused of sabotaging the war effort

THE WAR AT HOME
 The
IWW eventually faded under the
pressure by these Acts
 African Americans:
– Black public opinion was divided
– W.E.B. Du Bois believed blacks should support
the war effort
– Du Bois believed that supporting the war would
strengthen calls for racial justice
– William Monroe Trotter, founder of the
Boston Guardian, believed victims of racism
should not support a racist government
THE WAR AT HOME
 The
war accelerated the Great Migration—
the large scale movement of blacks to
Northern cities
 Several factors contributed to this great
multitude of people moving
– First, many sought to escape discrimination
– Second, manufacturers needed the laborers
– Finally, newspapers bombarded Southern
blacks with articles contrasting Dixieland
lynchings with the prosperity of Blacks in the
North
THE WAR AT HOME
 While
men were fighting and Blacks began
new lives, women moved into jobs that had
been held exclusively by men
 They became railroad workers, cooks,
dockworkers, and bricklayers
 They mined coal and took part in
shipbuilding
 Support for women’s suffrage rose greatly
during this period—this aided the passage
of the 19th amendment in 1920
THE WAR AT HOME
 The
Flu Epidemic:
– In the fall of 1918, the U.S. suffered a
home-front crisis when an international flu
epidemic affected about ¼ of the population
– The economy was devastated
– Mines shut down, telephone service was cut in
half, and factories and offices staggered
working hours
– Cities ran short on coffins—corpses of poor
people lay unburied for at least a week
THE WAR AT HOME
 In
the army, the disease spread
quickly killing more than a quarter of
those who caught the disease
 Doctors did not know what to do
except tell people to stay clean and
quarantine themselves
 The disease was spread around the
world by soldiers—more Germans died
than any of the Allied countries
THE WAR AT HOME
 The
war and the epidemic ended
quickly, but now the daunting task of
peace lay before the world
 Americans hoped that this “war to
end all wars” would do just that
 Leaders of the victorious nations
gathered in Versailles to work out the
terms for peace
Wilson Fights for Peace
 Wilson
arrived in Europe with a hero’s
welcome
– Italians displayed pictures of him in their
windows
– Parisian strewed the street with flowers
– Representative from different ethnic
groups ~ Armenians, Jews, Ukrainians, and
Poles appealed to him for help in setting up
independent nations for themselves
Fourteen Points
Wilson’s plan for world peace
 January 18, 1918 ~ presented to Congress his
Fourteen Points speech which were divided into 3
groups
 First 5 were issues that needed to be addressed to
prevent another war

– No secret treaties among nations
– Freedom of the seas for all
– Tariffs and economic barriers should be lowered or
abolished to foster free trade
– Arms reduction to lowest point consistent with domestic
safety
– Colonial policies should consider the interests of the
colonial peoples as well as the imperialist powers
Fourteen Points
 Next
8 points dealt with boundary changes
 Based the provisions on the principle of
self-determination “along historically
established lines of nationality”
 14th point ~ an international organization to
address diplomatic crises like those that
had sparked the war ~ League of Nations ~
would provide a forum for nations to
discuss and settle their grievances with
have to resort to war
Allies Reject Wilson’s Plan
 Wilson
was naïve in thinking the Allies
would agree to his plan
 Allies were angry
 Georges Clemenceau
– French premier
– Had lived through 2 German invasions
– Wanted to prevent future invasions
 David
Lloyd George
– British prime minister
– Won reelection with the slogan “Make Germany
Pay”
Allies Reject Wilson’s Plan

Vittorio Orlando
– Italian prime minister
– Wanted control of Austrian-held territory

Peace conference did not include
– the defeated Central Powers
– Russia (now a communist country)
– Smaller Allied nations

The Big Four
– Wilson, Clemenceau, George, and Orlando
– Worked out the treaty detail among themselves
– Wilson conceded on all points except the League
Debating the Treaty of Versailles
 June
18, 1918
– The Big Four and the leaders of the defeated
nations gathered in the Hall of Mirrors of the
Palace of Versailles to sign the treaty
– Everyone hoped the treaty would create
stability for a rebuilt Europe
Provisions of the Treaty
Established 9 new nations including Poland,
Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia
 Shifted boundaries of other nations
 Carved up the Ottoman Empire into 5 areas
called mandates and placed France and Great
Britain in charge
 They were to control them until they were ready
for self-rule
 Germany

– Was barred from maintaining an army
– Had to return Alsace-Lorraine to France
– Had to pay reparations ~ war damages ($33 billion) to
Allies
Weaknesses of the Treaty
Treatment of Germany weakened the treaty so
that it could not provide lasting peace in Europe
 Weaknesses

– It humiliated Germany by containing a war-guilt
clause
– It forced Germany to admit sole responsibility for
starting WWI
– German militarism did play a part in igniting the
war, but other nations caused diplomatic crises
before the war
– Germany could not pay the huge reparations
– Germany was stripped of its colonial possessions in
the Pacific
Weaknesses of the Treaty
• Russia who for 3 years had fought on the side of
the Allies, lost more territory than Germany,
because they were not included in the
negotiations (had higher casualty rates than any
other nation)
 Russia which became known as the USSR (Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics after 1922) wanted
its territory back
 Ignored claims of colonized people for selfdetermination
Opposition to the Treaty
• Wilson faced strong opposition to the treaty
when he returned to the U.S.
• Some people including Herbert Hoover felt it
was too harsh
• Other felt it was too imperialistic because
colonies were not given their freedom or other
countries were carved up into mandates
• Ethnic groups did not like the treaty because
the new national boundaries did not satisfy their
demands of self-determination
Debate of the League of Nations
• Main domestic issue ~ the League of Nations
• A few opponents believed the League threatened
the U.S. foreign policy of isolationism
• Conservative senators, headed by Henry Cabot
Lodge, were suspicious of the provision for joint
economic and military action against aggression
even though it was voluntary
• Wanted the constitutional right of Congress to
declare war included in the treaty
Wilson Refuses to Compromise
• Wilson ignored the Republican majority when he
chose members of the American delegation
• If he would have compromised on the League,
the Senate might have approved the treaty
• September 1918 ~ Wilson went on an 8,000 mile
tour to promoted the treaty
• He delivered 34 speeches in 3 weeks explaining
why the U.S. should join the League of Nations
• On October 2, 1918, Wilson had a stroke and lay
partially paralyzed for more than 2 months
• Was unable to meet with his cabinet
Wilson Refuses to Compromise
• Treaty came to a vote in the Senate in
November 1918
• Senator Lodge introduced numerous amendments
including one that qualified how the U.S. would
enter the League of nations
• Many feared that U.S. membership in the League
would force the U.S. to form its foreign policy in
accord with the League
• The Senate not only rejected the amendment
but the treaty itself
• Wilson refused to compromise
• Treaty came up again for a vote in March 1920
and again it was rejected
Wilson Refuses to Compromise
• 1922 ~ U.S. signed a separate treaty with
Germany after Wilson was no longer president
• U.S. never joined the League of Nations
• It did maintain an unofficial observer position at
League meetings
Domestic Consequences of WWI
• Accelerated America’s emergence as the world’s
greatest industrial power
• Contributed to the movement of African
Americans to Northern cities
• Intensified anti-immigrant and anti-racial
sentiments among mainstream Americans
• Brought over one million women into the
workforce
The Legacy of the War
• With the end of WWI, many Americans wanted
a return to what Warren G. Harding called
“normalcy”
• Both the U.S. and the rest of the world had
been transformed by the war
• WWI strengthened the U.S. military and the
power of the government
• Accelerated social change for African
Americans and women
• Propaganda campaign provoked powerful fears
The Legacy of the War
• In Europe the destruction of massive loss of life
severely damage social and political systems
• Political instability and violence persisted for
decades in many countries
• Russia became the first communist state
• Militant fascist organization seized Italy, Spain,
and Germany
• Americans called WWI ~ “the war to end all
wars”
The Legacy of the War
• Unresolved issues in Europe would eventually
lead America into a bigger war
• Treaty of Versailles settled nothing
• Some Europeans wanted to resume the fight
including an Austrian WWI veteran named Adolf
Hitler
• “It cannot be that two million [Germans] should
have fallen in vain . . . No, we do not pardon, we
demand – vengeance!”
• Two decades later, Hitler’s desire for vengeance
will put the U.S. & Europe into an even greater
war
The Legacy of the War