Download Chapter 21 the First World War timeline for US

Chapter 21 the First World War
timeline for U. S. Presidents
1896-1901 William McKinley
1901-1908 Teddy Roosevelt
1909-1913 William Taft
1913-1921 Woodrow Wilson
Competition and Tensions in Europe
Setting the Stage For War
Europe at peace for the most part since 1815
- since 1848 slow breakdown in various regions of Europe
- rise of nationalism in wake of failed revolutions in 184-1849
- ethnic groups striving for political unity and freedom
- imperialism and the competition for Africa and Asian colonies
- militarism: growth and pride in military and that political aims could be
reached by use of force
o German expansion of navy threatens Britain
o Britain first to develop modern battleships
- Chaotic system of alliances tying all to one another
- Germany’s foreign policy under Bismarck
o keep France isolated to avoid two front war
o Three Emperor’s League (Germany, Russia, Austria)
o Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary)
o 1887 Reinsurance Treaty with Russia, pledging not to attack each
other
- Kaiser Wilhelm II ends Bismarck’s careful diplomacy
o aggressive pursues expansion of the German navy, which angers
and spurs Britain to build Dreadnaughts
o France sends billions in loans and signs military treaty with Russia
o Britain recognize each others “spheres of influence” in Africa and
Asia
o stage is set for Bismarck’s worst nightmare to occur
>
Balkans Powder keg
- Serbia wants Bosnia-Herzegovina, which is a protectorate of AustriaHungary
o a path to the Adriatic Sea
o 1908 Austria-Hungary annexes Bosnia-Herzegovina despite
Congress of Berlin Treaty of 1878
o Serbia protests the action, and become more militant toward AustriaHungary
o Situation becomes increasingly tense
Russian sides with Serbia (Pan-Slavism)
British side against Serbian because they don’t want a
Russian presence near the Suez Canal and the
Mediterranean
Germans
• fail to exploit break between Russian and Britain
• push for railway to Constantinople and closer ties to
the Ottoman Empire
o this pushes British into closer concert with
Russians
Looking Back Question page 164
1) What were Britain and Germany competing for in the late 1800”s?
2) Why did European nations form alliances with other countries?
3) The United States has alliances with many countries today. Do you think
this is a good idea? Why or why not?
Sparks !! June 6th, 1914
- Franz Ferdinand, heir to Austrian-Hungarian throne assassinate with his
wife in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
- Austria-Hungary, w/ German support makes demands of Serbia
o 1. Suppress all anti Austro-Hungarian groups
o 2. fire all teachers who teach anti Austrian-Hungary teaching and
discontinue books that do so
o 3. fire all officials who have made anti Austrian-Hungary
statements
o 4. allow officials from Austria-Hungary to be part of the
prosecution team
- Serbian agrees to all terms EXCEPT the last, but is willing to submit the
matter to the International Court at the Hague
o Serbian begins to mobilize troops fearing Austria would do so
o July 24th, 1914 Austria-Hungary declares war
o Russia begins mobilizing troops at the Austria-Hungary border and
the German border
o Germany tells Russia not to mobilize on their border and begins to
mobilize their troops
o Germany, hoping to defeat the French quickly, violated Belgium’s
neutrality, and attacks France
o Britain, after warning Germany of the consequence, declares war
on Germany
o Japan sides with Britain and declares war on Germany to get
German possessions in Asia
o Italy sides with Britain, France and Russia
o Ottomans side with Germany
keeps Russian fleet bottled up in the Black Sea
o Bulgaria sides with Germans
The Belligerents
Triple Entente
Great Britain
France
Russia
Italy
Japan
United States (1917)
Central Powers
Germany
Austria-Hungary
Ottoman Empire
Bulgaria
> The United States stays Neutral (at first)
- Wilson declares U. S. will stay neutral
o Americans find it hard to stay neutral
o most Americans are from Europe
o most American sided with the entente or Allies
Britain, France, & Germany
frankfurters become “hot dogs”
influenced by propaganda from the English
• pro English stories
• stories (yellow journalism) about German atrocities
o like nailing cats to church doors
o cruel German soldiers
o taking over all democratic countries
A New Kind of War
- trench warfare
- no real movement for four years after the first few months of fighting
- New technology
- Innovations in warfare of World War I
- industrialization, and production of the tools of war, first seen in Civil War
- new, deadly weapons
o submarines*, U-boats
o poison gas
o machine guns*
o long range artillery
tanks
airplanes
first use of large scale conscription*
women working in factories to keep production up, beginnings of
women’s liberation
o propaganda: a mixture of lies and truth to raise public sympathy and
support of war effort
old 19th century battle tactics
digging trenches to avoid machine gun fire and bombardments
straight charges of thousands of men into enemy gun fire
- Heartbreaking casualties in minutes
- The destruction of the flower of European manhood
o
o
o
o
-
Looking Back Questions page 165
1) What event started the war?
2) Why did the war become a world war?
3) What was the United States policy toward the war when it broke out?
> America Goes To War (page 166)
- Business booms
o Allies and Central Powers spend billions $$$
steel, oil, food, ammunition
leads to problems…..
Britain blockade seizes American ships bound for Germany
• U.S. protests as violation of neutrality
• British pay for goods but hold ships for weeks
• seize any war materials
- U-boats attack allied shipping
o unrestricted submarine warfare
o sink merchant vessels often without warning
America protest this as violation of international law
(Geneva Convention)
• prior warning is the rule
• gave crew a chance to call for help
• a chance to get in the lifeboats
> Sinking of the Lusitania (May 7th, 1915)
- Lusitania (British passenger ship) sunk with over 1,110 people on board
o including 128 Americans
o Wilson protests, but attacks continue
o Sussex, French passenger ship sunk 3/1916
o more protests
Germans promise to give warnings from now on
Relations with Germany Grow Worse
- Wilson reelected “He kept us out of the war!”
- preached “Peace without victory” to no avail
o business booming with England and France
o over $3 billion
loans to England and France
Germany thinks U.S. isn’t really neutral
resumes unrestricted warfare
- Zimmerman telegram
o furnished by the British
o promise Mexico Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona if the helped
Germany and attacked the U.S.
o Wilson asks for declaration of war to “Make the world safe for
democracy.”
o 4-6-1917 U.S. declares war on Germany and the Central Powers
Looking Back page 167
1) How did the war help businesses in America ?
2) Why were Americans outraged by submarine warfare?
3) What event led America to declare war against Germany?
4) What reasons did President Wilson give for declaring war on Germany?
America Prepares to Fight
o small army (200,000)
o not enough weapons on hand
o short on military supplies
o Selective Service Act (the draft) no riots this time
3 million drafted in 2 years
2 million volunteer
Government controls industry
- War Industries Board
o decided what could be made
o how much you could charge
o organized the country’s factories to meet the war effort
Government controls food production
- to feed soldiers
- and starving civilian populations overseas
o German submarine blockade working
o Hoover in charge of the Food Production Board
o encourages farmers to plant more
farmers make good profits for a change
wheatless Mondays
porkless Thursdays
Victory Gardens
- these actions triple the amount food sent to the amount of food sent to the
Allies
Paying for the War
- raised income taxes
- sold $ 21 billion in bonds
o bond: a term loan to paid with interest
o government needed to pay
soldiers
loans to allies
- Support the War
o movie stars sold bond
o movies made war heroes
o patriotic posters put out
o American propaganda
- Laws Control People Against the War
o Americans against the war were few
because of their beliefs they refused to fight
sent to prison
Anti War Laws
• Espionage Act
o anyone helping the enemy got 20 years
• Sedition Act
o anyone speaking out against the government,
flag, or constitution could be punished
o over 1500 people arrested for violating one or
both of these acts
Looking Back Questions page 169
1) How did the Unites States build up its army?
2) Why did the government take control of the many American industries?
3) How did the government pay for the war?
4) What was the Sedition Act? What was the Espionage Act?
5) Do you think it’s right to punish people who speak out against the
government in the time of war? Why or why not?
A New Kind of War
Central Powers “center of Europe”
Germany
Austria-Hungary
Ottoman Empire
Bulgaria
Allies
Great Britain
France
Russia
United States (1917)
Allies have several advantages over the Central Powers
- more manpower
- greater industrial capacity
- Great Britain’s large navy
Central Powers advantages
- Germany’s army is the best most professional army in the world
- able to deploy/coordinate troop movements faster than Allies
- easier communication
Early Years of the War
- Germany attacks through neutral Belgium to avoid French line of defenses
- stalls at the Marne river about 45 miles from Paris
- both sides dig in, and nothing really changes until the last months of the
war
- with failure of Germany to take Paris, and thus France, the war is really
lost, and Bismarck is spinning in his grave
o counted on quick victory over France
Eastern Front
- Russia attacks Germany with several hundred thousand troops (16 :9) and
after initial successes is totally humiliated in the Battle of the Tannenberg
Forest
o displayed the importance of railways to move an army to fight two
Russian armies
o Russian were poorly equipped
o contributes to unrest at home
o contributes to financial instability in Russia
- Germans seize most of Poland
- Gallipoli: Churchill’s strategy to seize Constantinople from the Turks
o British totally crushed
o hundreds of thousands in casualties
o mismanaged and poorly timed
o ultimately doomed to failure
Naval Warfare
- British use their navy to blockade North Sea to cut off material to Germany
and later to starve the population
-
German U-boats declare the seas around Great Britain a war zone and sink
any ships that enter into it
o spurs the invention of the convoy system and development of
“Destroyers” who’s job it is to find and sink enemy subs
o 1915 sinking of the Lusitania with 1200 civilian deaths prompts
warning from US of possible intervention
o only major naval battle 1916 in Jutland is inconclusive
Stalemate
- war of attrition now, with foolish charges into barrages of heavy caliber
machine gun fire
- destruction of the flower of European manhood
Unites States
- sees an economic bonanza selling stuff to both sides
- our economy is booming
- goal is to be neutral…”it’s Europe’s war…”
- British blockade effectively cuts off US trade with Germany and does more
business with Allies
- British propaganda is used as an effective weapon to sway American public
opinion against Germany (cats nailed to churches), fake atrocities
- Zimmerman telegram (which the British decode and publish)
o from a German envoy to this Mexican counter-part promising the
return of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas is they sided with
Germany in the war
o infuriates the public
o Germany resumes unrestricted U-boat warfare (they are desperate!)
o Russian Revolution fires American ideals
o Allies are mostly democratic style governments
o Central Powers are monarchies
o so we enter WW I “…to make the world safe for democracy” in
1917
The Allied Victory
o the convoy system
grouping ships together to protect against the U-boats
- Victory in Europe
- Russia pulls out allowing the Germans to send millions of troops to the
western front
- Spring/summer 1918 last German push stalls 37 miles from Paris
- Germany is financially, economically, and spiritually exhausted
- thousands of Americans arriving in Europe every day
- Bulgaria, Austria, Hungary pull out or surrender
- Germany stands alone until November 11th, 1918 at 11:00 P. M. when they
surrender
-
British naval blockade of Germany continues into the winter of 1919
Casualties (war dead & wounded)
Allies
Central Powers
Military dead:
4,386,000
Military wounded:
12,831,500
Military missing:
4,121,000
Military dead:
5,525,000
Military wounded:
8,388,000
Military missing:
3,629,000
No other war had changed the map of Europe so dramatically — four empires
disappeared: the German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and the Russian. Four defunct
dynasties, the Hohenzollerns, the Habsburg, Romanovs and the Ottomans together
with all their ancillary aristocracies, all fell after the war. Belgium was badly damaged,
as was France with 1.4 million soldiers dead, not counting other casualties. Germany
and Russia were similarly affected.
Of the 60 million European soldiers who were mobilized from 1914 – 1918,
- 8 million were killed
- 7 million were permanently disabled
- 15 million were seriously injured
- Germany lost 15.1% of its active male population
- Austria-Hungary lost 17.1%
- France lost 10.5%.
750,000 German civilians died from starvation caused by the British blockade during
the war. The war had profound economic consequences. In addition, a major
influenza epidemic spread around the world. Overall, the Spanish flu killed at least 50
million people.
In November 1914 alone, epidemic typhus killed 200,000 in Serbia. There were about
25 million infections and 3 million deaths from epidemic typhus in Russia from 1918 to
1922. By 1922 there were at least 7 million homeless children in Russia as a result of
nearly a decade of devastation from World War I and the Russian Civil War.
President Wilson’s Peace Plan (The Fourteen Points)
- Wilson thought this would lead to a lasting a peace
- Freedom of the seas for all
- All nations should reduce the size of their military
- right to freedom and independence
- form a League of Nation to hash out problems
Looking Back page 170
1) How did the Untied States help the Allies Defeat Germany?
2) What did President Wilson believe his peace plan would do?
3) What was the League of Nations?
Treaty of Versailles Punishes Germany
o harsh towards Germany
o France wants protection for life from Germany
o take back Alsace-Lorraine
o coal rich valley of the Saar
o Italy wants Tirol, Fiennes, and Trieste
o Belgium wants small parts of German territory
o Britain wants German African colonies
o Japan wants German Asian colonies
Reparations and Peace Keeping
Allies want Germany to pay for the cost of the war because “it was their fault”
League of Nations , to maintain peaces and provide a place to work out
problems
Wilson wants a just peace
Europeans want secret treaties to divide up German spoils
France wants Germany broken up so it can’t start any trouble again
fate of German nation in the hands of the Allies
punish them for “starting the war”
weaken them so they couldn’t start another war
lost all colonies and part of Germany (to Poland)
charged $ 33 billion in reparations
greatly reduced German army & navy
- Creates League of Nations
-
Wilson signs treaty even though
o fears treaty will cause bitterness in Germany
o might lead to future conflicts
Senate Rejects Treaty
- July of 1919, treaty sent to Senate
- many objections
o led by Henry Cabot Lodge
League called members to help out those in distress or
under attack
would involve us in future wars
Wilson went town to town trying to drum up public
support for the treaty
Wilson suffers a stroke
March 1920, Senate formally rejects treaty
Looking Back 171
1) What was Germany forced to do to meet the terms of the Treaty of
Versailles?
2) Why did some senators oppose the League of Nations?
Creating a New Europe “We’re preparing for…eternal peace.”
Treaty of Versailles 96 months)
- Germany Pays, much to Wilson’s disappointment
o forced to admit “sole” guilt for the start of WWI
o only country forced to pay reparations (no set amount)
o forced to give up much of its land
Polish corridor, separating East Prussia from the rest of
Germany
Alsace and Lorraine to France
small western strips to Belgium
- military limitations
o no draft allowed
o army limited to 100,000 men
o no tanks or heavy artillery
o small navy, no submarines allowed
o Rhineland to be occupied by Allied troops
Austria and Hungary sign separate peace with Allies
- both lose territory
o new countries
Czechoslovakia
Poland
Yugoslavia
• Serbian, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, BosniaHerzegovina
Romania
Problems with ethnic groups
- new boundaries leave 3 million Germans in Czechoslovakia
- Polish corridor given to Poland so they an outlet on the Baltic Sea is mostly
German
- Turks execute 1.5 million Armenians before, during, and after WW I
Bulgaria
- loses territory to Greece and outlet to the Aegean Sea
Ottoman Empire
- lose all territory except for Asia Minor
- keep Dardanelles and Bosporus but can’t fortify them, and an international
force makes sure of this
Russia punished for the revolution and withdrawal from WW I
- loses all Polish lands
o Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania all declare
independence from Russia
o also lose territory to Romania
League of Nations (part of the Versailles Treaty)
- Wilson felt the league of Nations would fix any injustices in the treaty
- promote international cooperation
- help keep he peace by
o settling disputes
o reducing armaments
o working in concert with the world court
- each nation had once vote
- council would things, and there would be 5 permanent members (the victors
of WW I)
- members agreed not to go to war but submit to the League for arbitration
and problem solving
- powers would include
o imposing economic sanctions
o breaking of diplomatic relations
o use of armed force as a last result
What to do about the colonial question?
- former German colonies would be held as mandates by the victorious
powers until they were ready for independence
- supervisory countries would decide when “colonial mandate” was ready
Start of the League
- opposition in US Senate, who refuse to ratify treaty despite Wilson’s
campaigning for it
- suffers a stroke, and treaty is dead
- US negotiates a separate treaty with Germany
- traditional powers all join league, eventually over 60 countries
Later conflicts as results of WW I
The end of World War I set the stage for other world conflicts, some of which are
continuing into the 21st century.
-
-
The Communists in power, future cold war rival
German discontent with Treaty of Versailles,
Adolf Hitler was able to gain popularity and power.
World War II was in part a continuation of the power struggle that was
never fully resolved by the First World War
it was common for Germans in the 1930s and 1940s to justify acts of
international aggression because of perceived injustices imposed by the
victors of the First World War.
roots of the continuing Israeli-Palestinian Conflict are partially found in
the unstable power dynamics of the Middle East which were born at the end
of World War I.
Ottoman Empire had maintained a level of peace and stability throughout the Middle
East. The end of Ottoman rule also spawned lesser known disputes over water and
other natural resources.
The fall of Ottoman government, power vacuums developed
political boundaries drawn by the victors after only cursory consultation with the local
population
Chapter Questions
1)
What event after the signing of the Armistice in November of 1918
contributed to German misery?
2)
How did Versailles lay the groundwork for Germany and World War
II?