The Great War
“The War to End All Wars!”
The Great War Begins

German Strategy: defeat
France quickly, leave
British forces stranded,
then move on to Russia
(Schlieffen Plan)

Sept. 1914 - the First Battle of the Marne
- Allies pushed the German lines back
some 40 miles
Trench Warfare

By early 1915, both armies
occupied hundreds of miles
of trenches

No-man’s-land - separated two sides, thin
strip of bombed out territory

Soldiers would charge through
no-man’s -land toward enemy trenches as
thousands were killed by machine-gun
The Battle of the Somme

In July 1916, Allied Powers launched an
offensive near the Somme River in France

British forces suffered some 60,000
casualties in a SINGLE day

Battle lasted 4 months,
more than 1 million
dead & wounded
New Weapons

Machine guns fired hundreds of rounds
per minute

The Allies introduced tanks

Most feared - poison gas

Submarines/airplanes
Lusitania
• May 7, 1915, a U-boat
torpedoed & sank the
Lusitania, British
passenger liner
• 128 Americans were killed
• “savages drunk with blood”
Road to War
• March 1916, the French passenger vessel Sussex
was attacked injuring several Americans
• Wilson threatened to cut diplomatic ties with
Germany if they did not stop submarine warfare
• Germany responded with the
Sussex pledge - promise not to
sink liners without warning or
ensuring passengers’ safety
Road to War
• 1916 Wilson launched military “preparedness”
program
• National Defense Act in June 1916 - increased the
number of soldiers in the regular army 90,000 175,000
• “He Kept Us Out of War”
Diplomatic Relations Broken
• February 1, 1917 - Germany resumed full-scale
U-boat warfare
• Wilson ordered the arming
of U.S. merchant ships sailing
into war zone
• However, German torpedoed & sank 5 U.S. ships
The Zimmermann Note
• March 1, 1917, American newspapers published
an intercepted telegram from German foreign
secretary Arthur Zimmermann to a German
minister in Mexico
• Proposed a Mexican alliance with Germany
• Angered Americans
• April 2, 1917, President Wilson asked Congress
for a declaration of war
Preparing U.S. Military
• Selective Service Act passed
on May 18, 1917 - required
men between the ages of 21
& 30 to register with local
draft boards
• Supporters of draft argued it would
help build a more democratic U.S.
• Massive training camps had to be built to house
& train the new soldiers
Over There
• U.S. troops began sailing to France as part of the
American Expeditionary Force (AEF)
• The troops did not participate in the fighting
until 1918
• Escorted by U.S. warships,
merchant vessels
transported troops, supplies,
& volunteers (Convoy System)
The War at Home
Mobilizing the Nation
Directing the Economy
• 1st step - raise money to pay for war
• Liberty Bonds during the war & Victory
bonds after the end of the fighting
• Government also increased taxes
Conserving Resources
• Food Administration - Herbert Hoover encourage agricultural production & conserve
existing food supplies
• “food will win the war”
• Hoover guaranteed
farmers high prices
• Fuel Administration - Harry Garfield encouraged heatless Mondays
Organizing Industry
• War Industries Board (WIB) - government’s
central war agency
• Some business leaders were
critical of Wilson’s programs
• Some argued government
intervention would damage
U.S. system of free enterprise
Mobilizing Workers
• American industries became short on labor
• Unionized workers across the country went on
strike - higher wages & benefits
• National War Labor Board (NWLB) - arbitrated
disputes between workers & employers
• Labor shortages strengthened unions & brought
changes in the work force
The End of War
Revolution in Russia
• March 1917 Russians demanding a change in
government & an end to the war, overthrew the
czar
• Bolsheviks (radical
Russian socialists) seized
power
• Vladimir Lenin, Bolshevik leader, seized power
& moved quickly to remove Russia from the war
Germany’s Last Try
• March 21, 1918, some 1 million German soldiers
launched a tremendous offensive against the
Allies
• “Big Bertha”
• By late May Germans had pushed Allies back to
Marne River
• U.S. troops helped French stop the
Germans at Chateau-Thierry
Allied Victory
• Late summer of 1918, French commander
Foch ordered a major offensive along the
entire western front
• For 3 months the Allies pushed deep into German-held
territory
• By November, had reached &
occupied the hills around Sedan
• Battle of Argonne Forest - African American troops
played a major role
Allied Victory
• Taking a hard hit from the Allied offensive, the
Central Powers’ forces began to disintegrate
• In Fall of 1918, mutinies broke out in the
German army & navy
• November 9 1918, Kaiser
Wilhelm gave up the throne
Allied Victory
• November 10, 1918 German government representatives
arrived at Allied Headquarters to hear the armistice
terms
• Allies demanded Germany
evacuate & surrender military
equipment
• Signed armistice on
November 11, 1918 - cease fire
• At last, the war had ended
Wilson’s 14 Points
• Program for world peace
• 9 of the points dealt with selfdetermination - the right of people
to govern themselves
• Other points focused on causes of modern war:
secret diplomacy, arms race, violations of
freedom of the seas, & trade barriers
• Final point established the League of Nations
Paris Peace Conference
• Opened on January 18, 1919
• Big Four - Wilson, David Lloyd
George, Georges Clemenceau, &
Vittorio Orlando
• The other three insisted Germany bear the
financial cost of war by making huge reparations
to the Allies
• After 6 months of debate, the Treaty of Versailles
was signed