Download World War I

World War I
Great War in Europe (1914-1919)


Archduke and wife of
Austria-Hungary
assassinated by
Serbian nationalist on
June 28, 1914
Alliances and
ultimatums dragged
Europe into a
destructive conflict
The Path To War

American Neutrality
 Isolationists
 Mostly pro-Allies policies and
public opinion

German U-Boats
 Lusitania sunk on May 7, 1915
killing 128 Americans
 Sussex Pledge
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Sussex in March 1916
Wilson threatened sanctions
and Germany promised to abide
by freedom of the seas
 German unrestricted submarine
warfare
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Russian Revolution (1917)
Zimmermann Telegram (1917)
 German request for Mexico
alliance in return for lost land by
U.S.

United States declares war on
April 6, 1917
American Domestic War Effort
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War Agencies
 War Industries Board

Mass production, standardization, price
and supply controls
 National War Labor Board
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Representatives from labor and
business arbitrated labor disputes to
prevent disruptions
 Food Administration
 Committee on Public Information

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War propaganda agency
Liberty Bonds
 Financial support for American war
effort
 Portrayed as an act of patriotic duty
American Propaganda
American Domestic Insecurity

Espionage Act of 1917
 Prohibition of:
 Interfere
in military
operations
 Interfere in military
recruitment
 Support of U.S. enemies
 Promote insubordination
 Schenk v. United States
(1919)
 “Clear

and present danger”
Sedition Act of 1918
 In times of war:
 Prohibit
disloyal, profane,
scurrilous, abusive language
against U.S. government,
military, and flag
Americans Over There

Selective Service Act of 1917
 Conscription of 21-31
 18-45 by 1918

American Expeditionary Force (AEF)
 Inspired to preserve democracy and
defend American honor
 General John J. Pershing

War Events
 Spring Offensive (1918)
 Hundred Days Offensive (1918)
 Armistice (11/11/1918)


German capitulation
Casualties
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117,000 Americans
1 million British,
1.6 million French,
3.3. million Russian,
2.4 million German,
2.9 million Ottoman,
1.5 million Austrian-Hungarian
Wilson And Peace

Fourteen Points
 “peace without victory”
 Self-determination
 League of Nations

Treaty of Versailles
 German guilt, reparations
 League of Nations

Wilson and Senate Treaty Ratification
 Senate Opposition

Irreconcilables
 Strongly opposed the Treaty of Versailles

Reservationists
 Henry Cabot Lodge
 Amendments to Treaty to limit American
involvement
 Wilson’s Public Campaign

Wilson debilitated by a stroke from exhaustion
 Senate rejects Treaty and League of Nations
Postwar America
Labor Unions and Strikes

Union Membership
 AFL supported WWI

AFL reached 4 million by 1920
 IWW opposed WWI


Lost membership
Strikes of 1919
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Seattle General Strike
Boston Police Strike
Steel Strike
Coal Strike
Anti-union sentiment increases

Association with radicals
Postwar America
Race Riots

Red Summer of 1919
 Three dozen cities
experienced race riots
 Economic competition
and First Red Scare

Chicago (July-August)
 Blacks react to stoning of
young man

Omaha (September)
 Brutal lynching of William
Brown
Postwar America
First Red Scare
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Causes
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War Propaganda
Russian Revolution
Strikes and Riots
Targets
 Anarchists, Bolsheviks,
Socialists, Communists,
Wobblies


1919 Bombings
Attorney General A.
Mitchell Palmer
 Palmer Raids
 Deportations