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The US Enters
The Great War
Selective Service Act of 1917
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Required all men
between 21 and 30 to
register for the draft
Candidates were
drafted through a
lottery system and then
either accepted or
rejected for service by
a local draft board
About 2.8 million
Americans were drafted
while another 2 million
volunteered
African-American Troops
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Nearly 400,000 blacks
were drafted to serve
overseas
Had to serve in
segregated units under
white officers, faced
racial discrimination
Still, many, such as the
“Harlem Hell Fighters,”
served with distinction,
winning medals
The War Industries Board
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Created in July 1917
Run by former
stockbroker Bernard
Baruch
Tasked with efficiently
managing US industry in
the manufacture of war
materials
Controlled what products
were made in US
factories
Food Administration
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Run by Herbert Hoover
Responsible for
increasing food
production and
reducing food
consumption
Encouraged families to
grow their own food in
“victory gardens” and
to observe “Wheatless
Mondays” & “Meatless
Tuesdays”
Fuel Administration
Run by Harry Garfield
 To conserve fuel,
Daylight Savings Time
was created and
Americans were
asked to observe
Heatless Mondays
 Factories not making
war materials had
their workweeks
shortened

Paying for the War
US spent $32 billion
on the war
 Congress raised
income taxes and
created new taxes on
corporations
 US also borrowed $20
billion from American
citizens through the
sale of Liberty Bonds
or Victory Bonds

US Troops Arrive in Europe
The “doughboys”
(nickname of
unknown origin for US
soldiers) of the
American
Expeditionary Force
(AEF) arrived in
France in July 1917
 Commanded by
General John J. “Black
Jack” Pershing
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Trench warfare
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Armies had dug a
network of trenches
(deep protective
ditches) along the
Western Front in which
soldiers lived worked
and fought
Living conditions were
poor, many soldiers
suffered from diseases
such as trenchfoot
Trench Foot
“No Man’s Land”
The devastated area
between the opposing
armies’ trench lines
where everything had
been destroyed
 Soldiers would come
out of the trenches
and race toward the
enemy while fully
exposed to enemy fire

New Weapons
1. Machine Guns
2. Artillery
3. Poison gas
Germans introduced
the use of chemical
gasses as weapons
 These gasses could
burn the skin, blind,
or destroy the lungs if
breathed in
 Fortunately, gas
masks and rubber
chemical suits offered
some protection

4. Tanks
5. Airplanes
6. U-boats (submarines)
7. Hand Grenades
8. Land Mines
Russia Pulls Out of the War
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Two revolutions in Russia
in 1917 (the first one
democratic, the second
one communist) ousted
Czar Nicholas II
The new Russian
government negotiated a
separate peace with
Germany and withdrew
Russia from the conflict,
closing the Eastern Front
American Victories
Summer 1918: US
forces successfully
defended Paris from a
German attack
 Fall 1918: US forces
began the Battle of
Argonne Forest,
which would
eventually shatter
Germany’s fighting
abilities
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The War Ends
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Revolt broke out in
Austria and the Ottomans
surrendered to the Triple
Entente, leaving Germany
alone to fight
After a mutiny broke out
in the German navy and
the people of Berlin
erupted in riots over food
shortages in Nov. 1918,
Kaiser Wilhelm II stepped
down as Germany’s
leader, clearing the way
for an armistice
WWI ended at 11 AM, Nov. 11, 1918
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
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Pres. Wilson presented
his plan for resolving the
war; his plan sought to
restabilize Europe and
resolve the root problems
that had started WWI to
begin with
Britain and France
rejected Wilson’s plan in
favor of punishing
Germany with harsh
reparations (fines)
Points 1 - 5
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Ban secret alliances
Respect freedom of
the seas
Remove all barriers to
trade (tariffs)
Everyone reduce the
size of their military
Stop colonization,
respect the rights of
native peoples
Points 6 - 13
Specified the creation
of new states in
Europe (such as
Poland) and redrew
the boundaries of
Europe
 Also promoted selfdetermination for
various European
ethnic states
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Point 14: The League of Nations
Create a “League of
Nations” to help
preserve peace and
prevent future wars
by offering a forum
for resolving
international disputes
 The only one of
Wilson’s 14 Points to
be accepted by
Europe

The Treaty of Versailles
Signed
in
June 1919
Officially
ended
WWI
1. Germany was forced to
accept all blame for WWI
2. Germany had to pay
reparations of $33 billion
($350 billion in today’s money)
3. Germany could only have
a limited military
4. Germany had to give up
territory to France & Poland
5. Germany had to give
up its overseas colonies
Germans signed – but were
furious over the terms
Congress Rejects the Treaty
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US Senate refused to ratify the
Treaty of Versailles because of
strong opposition to joining the
League of Nations – many
feared that joining the League
would mean giving up our
right to decide our own foreign
policies, while others saw the
League as the type of “foreign
entanglement” that
Washington had warned the
US to stay out of
US never signed the Treaty or
joined the League, returned to
a policy of isolationism
Casualties of war
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1 in every 4 soldiers
involved died in the
war
Even more were
maimed: lost limbs,
lost vision, burned,
etc.
Many suffered from
mental problems after
the war: “shell shock”
or PTSD
Europe lie in ruins
Austrian Corporal Adolf Hitler