World War One Era

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World War One Era

• 1914-1919

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1.) The World War I Era

• In 1914 all five of Europes major powers went to
  war. Germany, and Austria- Hungary made up the
  Central Powers Russia, France, and Great Britain
  were called the Allies. Each side felt confident
  of a swift victory.

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2.) Causes

• On June 28, 1914 the heir to the
  Austrian-Hungarian throne, and his wife, the
  Archduke Francis Ferdinand and Sophie were
  assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia
• Serbia had wanted Bosnia to rebel against the
  Austrian Hungarian Empire.
• Austria Hungry demanded an apology from the
  Serbs, when they refused was declared.
• -Russia allied with the Serbs began amassing
  troops. Germany demanded they stop and when they
  did not Germany declared war on Russia on August
  1.
• -to attack on the east, the Germans had to go
  through France, Belgium and Luxembourg. This
  brought Great Britain into it because they were
  allied with Belgium.

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3.) Stalemate

• EAST -Germans reached 30 miles of Paris
• -Neither side was able to gain more than a few
  miles
• -The human cost was appalling
• WEST --Austrian army took the Serbian capital of
  Belgrade. Turkey entered the war on the side of
  the Central Powers, and then Italy joined the
  Allies

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4.) Modern Warfare

• -Machine guns, grenades, artillary shells,
  poisonous gas were all used
• -In the battle in 1916, the British lost 60,000
  troops
• -morale sank
• -began slaughtering prisoners of war, burned
  fields, poisoned wells, used naval blockades, to
  starve civilians on coastlines

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5.) American Response

• -most Americans favored the Allies. Germany was
  ruled by Kaiser Wilhelm who was an autocrat-a
  ruler with unlimited powers.
• -Americans feared Germany and saw it as a
  frightening military power
• -In the beginning of the war, the U.S. declared
  itself neutral-business interest came first and
  hoped the Central Powers would not interfere with
  their trade, but the U.S. began to get ready just
  in case
• -The NSL (National Security League) was formed
  to promote patriotic education and the armed
  forces began recruiting large numbers of men and
• training them

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6.) Push for War

• -German use of submarine warfare was an effective
  military tactic
• -the U-boat (underseeboat) depend on the element
  of surprise and this was deemed uncivilized
• -On May 12, 1915, Germany sank a British
  passenger liner, the Lusitania, in the Irish Sea
  because it was suspected of carrying weapons to
  the allies.
• 1,198 people died (128 were Americans)
• -President Wilson demanded compensation to the
  victims families and a promise not to use
  u-boats. Germany complied on the condition that
  it would stop sinking passenger ships if they
  offered no resistance to German search and
  seizure.

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6.) Push for War contin

• -However, they still continued. Wilson, then,
  authorized a huge loan to the Allies
• -After Wilsons reelection and empty promises of
  keeping the U.S. out of the war
• He authorized the arming of American merchant
  ships.
• -When this measure went before the Senate, the
  anti-war Senators to prevent
• It from being voted on used a tactic known as a
  filibuster
• -meanwhile, Britain had intercepted a telegram
  from Germany to Mexico. In it, Arthur Zimmerman,
  Germans foreign secretary, propose an alliance
  with Mexico to keep the U.S out of Europe known
  as the Zimmerman note.

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7.) Revolution in Russia

• -1917-already had suffered 1.8 million losses,
  2.4 million prisoners, 2.8 million sick and
  wounded.
• -revolutionaries over threw Czar Nicholas II and
  replaced him with a Republican government and
  took itself out of the war. The U.S. was needed
  desperately

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8.) Resolution

• -Germany sank the City of Memphis, Illinois and
  the Vigilancia on March 16 18
• -Wilsons cabinet voted unanimously for war and
  he stated The world must be made safe for
  democracy.
• -The war revolution passed 82 to 6 in the
  senate, and 373 to 50 in the House of
  Representatives and was signed by Wilson on April
  6

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9.) Why did the U.S go to war?

• -they had been involved already by supplying
  money and ammunitions.
• -they wanted their markets opened up again for
  industry
• -British propaganda had promoted an anti-Germany
  sentiment.
• -Americans supported the idea of Democracy for
  all.

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10.) The U.S. gets involved

• -at first the U.S. saw themselves as associates
  rather than equal partners.
• -they sent loans, naval support, arms, but no
  troops
• -The Allies wanted more -they wanted even a
  token army, to boost morale
• -In June, Wilson sent General John J. Blackjack
  Pershing and 14,500 men.
• Pershing quickly realized he needed more troops

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11.) Draftees and Volunteers

• -Selective Service Act passed in Congress in
  May-authorizing a draft of young men for military
  service it was widely accepted.
• -By November of 1918, 24 million men had
  registered for the draft. From these
• 3 million were picked by lottery.
• -Volunteers and National Guardsmen made up the
  remainder of what was called the American
  Expeditionary Force (AEF)
• -25,000 of these were women, who volunteered to
  serve in uniform as nurses,
• Driver, clerks, and telephone operators, and in
  private agencies

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12.) Convoy System

• -to get their troops and supplies overseas safely
  from attacks of u-boats, the troops and merchant
  ships were sent surrounded by destroyers

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13.) American soldiers in Europe

• -Infantry men were called doughboys because of
  their dumpling-shaped buttons on their uniforms
• -Pershing kept his troops segregated from allied
  troops who were too used to defensive maneuvers.
  The American troops were also segregated by race.
  
• -300,000 African Americans troops were kept
  separate and most never saw combat. (3,295 died
  or were wounded. None were allowed in the
  Marines, and the Navy and Army used them for
  menial tasks and manual labor in the camps.
• -One troop, of African Americans, known as the
  Harlem Hell Fighters, convinced their officers to
  loan them to the French who did not practice
  segregation. This 396th infantry all received
  Croix de Guerre, the highest combat medal for the
  French.

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14.) Women

• -many women went to Europe on their own beginning
  in 1914 as volunteers in the Red Cross and
  YMCA-348 American women were killed during the
  war.

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15.) End in sight

• -with Russia out of the war in the East, Germany
  focused on France and Britain in the West in 1918
  and began to make headway.
• -American forces came to the rescue and began to
  turn the tide of the war the marines refused to
  dig trenches and fought where they stood. Their
  fearlessness cost them greatly, but were
  successful.
• -British tanks, a new machine, gave them
  protection as well as mobility and the Allies
  were finally able to break the German lines once
  and for all.
• -Germany began to seek terms for ending the war.
  The U.S. did not want them to have any
  concessions. They wanted total surrender and
  soon the Germans were in full retreat.

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15.) End in sight contin

• -Allies began to use airplanes to drop bombs and
  practiced the first Arial bombing raids (not
  effective yet)
• -The final Allied assault came on Sept. 26 over
  1 million A E F troops drove the Germans out of
  France and cut their supply lines.
• -By the time, armistice, or ceasefire was
  called, the Kaiser had died. On November 11,
  1919 the guns were silent.

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16.) Wars Toll

• -more than 50,000 American soldiers died in
  battle, but this number was minute compared to
  European losses. Total number of soldiers and
  sailors is estimated to be 8 million. 20 million
  civilians were also killed during and after the
  war from fighting, starvation, and disease and
  injuries.

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17.) Impact on the home front-economy

• -taxes had gone up to pay for the war.
• -Liberty Bonds were sold to raise millions of
  dollars for the war effort and then loaned to the
  Allies at low rates of interest. Sold by the Boy
  Scouts and Girl Scouts of America, they could be
  redeemed plus interest after the war.
• -industry converted their production to war
  goods
• -gasless days were introduced to save fuel and
  days were lengthened to reduce fuel consumption
• -strikes were prohibited in companies that
  produced war supplies

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18.) Home Life Impact

• -Food consumption was regulated and the Gospel of
  the Clean Plate was promoted by women to reduce
  waste, no second helpings, no catering to
  different appetites, no eating between meals, no
  refreshments at parties, dances, etc.-one
  meatless a day a week was instituted.

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19.) Hearts and minds

• -Propaganda-films, pamphlets, newspapers and
  advertisements, articles, posters, were
  distributed to raise loyalty to the war effort.
• -Spy fever/sabotage in America was deemed a real
  threat and approached near hysteria-nativism was
  revised-the National Security League preached
  100 American.
• -The war promoted hostility toward Germans and
  anything German-they changed the name hamburger
  to the liberty burger and German measles to
  liberty measles, and people of German descent
  were treated horribly lynched, horse whipped, and
  vigilante justice was tolerated.

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20.) Civil Liberties Repressed

• -Espionage Act was passed in 1917-made illegal to
  interfere with the Draft
• -Sedition Act in 1918 made it illegal to discuss
  anything disloyal about the American form of
  Government, the Constitution, or the army or
  navy. Government imposed censorship on the press
  and sued publications if they published anything
  seen as seditious. Former Presidential
  candidate, EugeneDebs received a ten year jail
  sentence for criticizing the government. He ran
  for president again in 1920 from jail.

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21.) Cultural and Social changes

• -The womens Land Army put women to work on
  farms.
• -African Americans and Mexicans were recruited
  to work in the places white men had vacated.
• -drinking was not allowed in 1919 (proposed in
  1917 because the grain was needed for food).
• -women got the vote also

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22.) Making Peace

• -President Wilson on Jan. 8, 1918 delivered a
  peace program that attempted to create a treaty
  acceptable to all parties-which came to be called
  the Fourteen Points.
• -It called for 1) an end to secret alliances
• 2) The restoration of freedom of the seas.
• 3) A reduction in armaments
• 4) Europe to handle claims with respect to
  native population
• 5) Austria-Hungry to allow its different
  ethnic groups to determine their futures-self
  determination

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22.) Making Peace contin

• 6) An association of nations to join together in
  a single organization to secure world peace
• Peace Conference was held in Europe in January of
  1919-Wilson chose to attend him. His 14 points
  began to unravel and he was forced to
  compromise-self determination was abandoned, but
  the League of Nations was approved. It failed to
  pass in the U.S. though because Republican
  senators feared a loss of independence.

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23.) The Peace Treaty

• -The Big Four-Britain, France, Italy, and the
  U.S. dominated at the time 2nd (peace talks in
  March)
• -The French demanded a 15 year control of all
  mineral resources in Alsace-Lorraine.
• -The New Nations of Czechoslovakia and
  Yugoslavia were formed separate from
  Austria-Hungary
• -The French and Britain wanted to cripple
  Germany. They demanded reparations-payments from
  its enemy for the economic injury it suffered
  during the war. They ruled that Germany owed 33
  million dollars to the Allies. Germany never
  forgave this humiliation. Germany refused to sign
  at first, but when the French threatened
  invasion, Germany signed the treaty at Versailles
  on April 28, 1920

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24.) Postwar at Home

• -most were upset that Wilson had promised U.S.
  involvement in the League of nations-To gain
  support he traveled the country to deliver
  speeches(36 in 23 days). He suffered a stroke
  and remained an invalid for the rest of his term.
• -The biggest winners of the war were American
  businesses. The U.S. was now the Worlds richest
  creditor. Europe owed the U.S 11.5 billion
  dollars.
• -a problem was there was no plan to reintegrate
  troops into American society. Jobs were scarce.
  Women were fired or voluntarily left so returning
  men could find work.
• -disillusionment marked the post war years and
  an end to optimism was felt by all.
• -African American troops came home with no
  prospect for jobs even though they were declared
  heroes. The U.S. was on the threshold of a
  stormy era the 1920s.