Download United States History, Since 1877 Rosen, The Great War Unit Notes

United States History, Since 1877
Rosen, The Great War Unit Notes
Woodrow Wilson and the World
Although he had built his career on domestic concerns, Woodrow Wilson's administration dealt heavily with foreign
affairs. He championed the principles of liberal democracy, including individual liberty, national self-determination,
peaceful free trade, and political democracy, which he intended to achieve through righteous behavior. Yet he proved that
he was as ready as any American president to apply military solutions to the problems of foreign policy.
Taming the Americas
Wilson wanted his foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere to differ from those of his predecessors, Theodore Roosevelt
and William Howard Taft. His goal was to encourage justice and democracy in the hemisphere, while at the same time
promote and protect American commercial interests. This democratizing spirit, however, caused him to intervene in the
affairs of several Latin American countries in order to help them develop safely into democratic societies. Nicaragua,
Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and, especially, Mexico were visited by American troops before 1917. The results led to
conflict and great resentment toward the United States.
The European Crisis
War began in Europe as a result of imperial rivalries and nationalist desires. Before the war, the great European powers
sought greatness by building navies and empires throughout the world. The rivalries created by their actions caused
international competition and conflict. Conflict and distrust turned into war when two sets of alliances, originally set up
for defensive purposes, were mobilized after the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne on June 28,
1914. These two alliances, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy (the Triple Alliance) on the one hand and Great Britain,
France, and Russia (the Triple Entente, also known as "the Allies") on the other), drew the nations toward war. With
Japan's declaration of war on Germany over trade opportunities in China, the war became a world war. Indeed, the evenly
matched alliances would fight a long, exhausting, and bloody war lasting more than four years, at a cost of 8.5 million
soldiers' lives—an entire generation of young men. A war that started with a solitary murder proved impossible to stop.
The Ordeal of American Neutrality
When war broke out in Europe, despite the American press labeling the German ruler, Kaiser Wilhelm II, a barbarian,
Woodrow Wilson was concerned with American security and the potential for conflict between American immigrant
populations and deemed the war a European matter and affirmed American neutrality. However, the United States
maintained a broad definition of the rights of neutrals, insisting on the American right to trade freely with belligerents,
send their ships safely overseas, and demand safe passage for their citizens on the nonmilitary ships of belligerents. This
involved both principle and economics: The war offered the United States huge economic opportunities. However, when
Great Britain set up a blockade against Germany, the Wilson administration protested vehemently but ultimately
acquiesced, spurring an American alienation from Germany that was only increased by economic ties between the United
States and the British. Germany reacted to American aid and trade with the Allies, as well as to Britain's crucial hold on
the seas, by using submarine attacks on British ships. The results were tragic: Along with many British trading vessels, the
passenger liner Lusitania was sunk, killing 1,198 passengers, 128 of them U.S. citizens. Some Americans pointed out that
the German embassy had warned prospective passengers that the Lusitania carried millions of rounds of ammunition and
so was a legitimate target. William Jennings Bryan, a pacifist, held that for countries to use passengers to ensure the safety
of military supplies was contemptible. Wilson protested Germany's tactics and won a temporary halt to unrestricted
submarine warfare. Although barraged by a variety of views on American involvement, Wilson maintained a middle-ofthe-road strategy between aggression and pacifism. His antiwar stance helped him win reelection as president in 1916, but
numerous controversies complicated his executive role, and his continued ability to steer the country on a course of
neutrality was not assured.
The United States Enters the War
Gradually, the United States rejected "absolute neutrality" and grew more pro-Allied, condemning the German blockade
of Britain, condoning the British blockade of Germany, and reluctantly granting loans to Britain and France for the
purchase of American goods. In an attempt to undermine the British blockade, Germany resumed submarine warfare in
January 1917. Wilson then received news of the Zimmermann telegram, in which Germany asked Mexico to side with the
Central Powers in war against the United States. This attempt by the Germans to bring the Western Hemisphere into the
war outraged Wilson and convinced him to ask Congress for a policy of "armed neutrality." In mid-March, German
submarines sank five American ships off Great Britain, leading Wilson to ask Congress for a declaration of war in April
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United States History, Since 1877
Rosen, The Great War Unit Notes
1917. Making war a noble cause became Wilson's purpose in the declaration. It would be a war for peace, justice, and
democracy against selfishness and autocratic power.
Over There
Two million American troops, trained to be morally upright and fiercely effective, eventually landed in France to take part
in the rescue. The democratic mission remained inspiring to some, but most American soldiers found the reality of trench
warfare demoralizing.
The Call to Arms
The nation was not prepared when the United States entered the war, even though it was clear that the stalled Allied war
effort demanded the immediate intervention of American forces; Britain and France had been exhausted by three years of
war, their troops depleted and their food supplies dwindling dangerously low, while Russia was facing the Bolshevik
Revolution. Wilson signed a new draft law to raise troops. Using the war as an opportunity to enact progressive reforms,
the Wilson administration initiated public health and physical education movements. It trained American draftees in moral
fitness as much as in the art of warfare. Two million American soldiers eventually left for France under the command of
General John J. Pershing.
The War in France
General Pershing disliked the European conduct of the war and refused to allow American troops to enter the unified
Allied command. After nine months of waiting to enter the fight, fresh American troops were sent to the front in the
spring and summer of 1918. Using swift surprise attacks, American marines wore down German morale. In the summer of
1918, the Allies launched a massive counteroffensive that drove German troops back toward the German border. The
Americans had turned the stalemate into an offensive. By November, Germany was in chaos. The overthrow of the
government sent Kaiser Wilhelm II into exile. Finally, on November 11, 1918, an armistice ended the war. Out of 2
million American soldiers, 1.3 million saw action, some 230,000 survived the wounds of battle, and another 112,000
never made it home. European nations suffered much greater losses, though.
The Crusade for Democracy at Home
Many progressives hoped that World War I would improve life in America and free Europe from tyranny and militarism.
During the war, workers and women made important advances, partly as a consequence of wartime mobilization. But the
war also challenged progressive ideals. President Wilson's efforts to foster patriotic support for the war simultaneously led
to a harsh crackdown on dissent and an assault on civil liberties.
The Progressive Stake in the War
Wilson set aside his preference for decentralized government and embraced a centralized government that could organize
and win the war. Toward this end, his administration created the War Industries Board (WIB), headed by Bernard Baruch,
to direct civilian resources to fight the war. It created the Food Administration, under Herbert Hoover, to meet the food
needs of the armed forces and of a devastated Europe. New agencies mediated between business and government, creating
harmony in the name of public interest and also allowing corporate profits to triple, although some progressives, like
Wisconsin senator Robert La Folette, consistently opposed the war, believing it to be foolhardy. Nonetheless, mobilization
meant higher agriculture prices and new jobs in war industries. The institution of an eight-hour workday, a minimum
wage, and collective bargaining for laborers also became realities. Prohibition was boosted by the war effort, as its
supporters argued that the consumption of alcohol was a waste of needed grain, caused moral and physical weakness, and
served to profit German brewers. Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment, which banned the manufacture,
transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages, in December 1917, and prohibition went into effect on January 1, 1920.
Women, War, and the Battle for Suffrage
Women found new opportunities for work in the armed forces—many as nurses in France—but they also found jobs in the
United States in war-related industries as welders and heavy machine operators. Riding this wave of opportunity, women
used the wartime idealism to press for their right to vote. After limited success on the state level, women mounted a
federal campaign to amend the Constitution. The radical wing picketed the White House, while the National American
Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), the mainstream organization, saw its membership soar to over 2 million
members. Finally, Wilson gave his support to woman suffrage, which came in 1920 with ratification of the Nineteenth
Amendment.
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United States History, Since 1877
Rosen, The Great War Unit Notes
The Struggle over National Purpose
When the United States entered the war, many pacifists rallied around the flag and supported intervention, with the
argument that military force was the only means to achieve long-term goals for peace. Pacifist groups that continually
argued against the war were seen as cowards and traitors. To counter criticism, Wilson appealed for wartime unity by
creating the Committee on Public Information (CPI), headed by journalist George Creel. The CPI backed patriotic films,
encouraged universities to present the war as an episode in the long struggle for civilization, and discouraged dissent.
Anti-German sentiment swept through the nation. All things German became suspect, and even the German language was
banned in high school and college curriculums. Along with attempts at increasing patriotism came the suppression of
dissent and repressive antiforeign measures. The Espionage Act (June 1917), the Trading with the Enemy Act (October
1917), and the Sedition Act (May 1918) all suppressed criticism of the war. However, Republicans continued to criticize
Wilson's conduct of the war. When Wilson attempted to use the midterm congressional elections of 1918 as a referendum
on his leadership, Republicans won a narrow majority in the House and the Senate.
A Compromised Peace
Before the war's end, Wilson decided to reaffirm his goals for peace. Focusing on principles that would establish a
democratic international order, Wilson quickly found that his allies abroad and the political opposition at home had other
ideas.
Wilson's Fourteen Points
Wilson's goals for peace came in a plan called the Fourteen Points—a list of principles based on progressive ideas that
was designed to establish a liberal democratic world order free of war by establishing open diplomacy, free trade, national
self-determination, and an international League of Nations. These principles roused support throughout the war-torn
world. Their popular appeal redirected Wilson's presidential role to the grander world role of the people's champion.
The Paris Peace Conference
Armed with his Fourteen Points and his new world role, Wilson traveled to Paris to take personal control of the peace
process. No other American president had ever gone to Europe while in office, and his stubborn refusal to include
prominent Republicans in the delegation proved foolhardy and eventually cost him his dream of a new world order. While
popular support bolstered his resolve for a peace without victory and for self-determination for all nations, the other Allied
leaders had revenge on their minds. French and British leaders were eager to blame Germany for the war so they could
force Germany to pay $33 billion in reparations and then dismember the country. While Wilson was able to prevent
Germany's dismemberment, he could not prevent the other demands. He had more success shaping the former AustroHungarian empire along the principles of self-determination even though many worried over the ambiguities implicit in
the notion of "self-determination." Yet on the basis of self-determination, the conference redrew the map of Europe and
parts of the rest of the world. Many of today's most bitter disputes—in the Balkans and Iraq, between Greece and Turkey,
the Arabs and Jews—have roots in the decisions made in Paris in 1919. Democratic equality suffered setbacks when
Wilson refused to include Japan's request for a statement of racial equality and when it was determined that the victorious
European nations were to be allowed to keep their Asian and African colonies. Overall, Wilson compromised on nearly all
of the fourteen points except the creation of the League of Nations, designed to serve as an international forum for
peaceful cooperation and problem solving among nations. The Treaty of Versailles, which ended the war, was imperfect
at best, and Wilson knew it. But he also believed it provided the best chance for a peaceful world.
The Fight for the Treaty
Wilson brought his treaty home after six months abroad. During his time away, resentment had arisen in the United States
regarding certain aspects of it. Wilson found American opposition to the treaty difficult to overcome. Opponents of the
treaty, known as reservationists and irreconcilables, believed it would tie the United States to the League of Nations, thus
limiting American sovereignty. Senator Henry C. Lodge became Wilson's archenemy and carefully crafted a political
opposition to the treaty as well as an alternative treaty, which Wilson ultimately rejected. In the end, Wilson did not have
the votes for Senate approval of the treaty. The United States would never join the League of Nations or sign the Treaty of
Versailles.
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United States History, Since 1877
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Democracy at Risk
The defeat of Wilson's treaty marked the end for progressives who hoped the war would move America toward still
greater reform. Instead, it moved a reactionary population toward a postwar policy designed to root out enemies at home.
Economic Hardship and Labor Upheaval
Within a month after the war's end, the government began the process of dismantling and demobilizing to turn the
economy back to private enterprise. Once freed from government controls, businessmen turned against the eight-hour day
for their workers and reduced the bargaining powers of the unions. Over 4 million workers took part in 3,600 strikes in
1919 because of the hard times that followed. But as a result of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and a growing distrust
of all things foreign, business leaders were eager to pin a Communist or revolutionary label to the strikes and the strikers.
Metalworkers and dockworkers in Seattle, policemen in Boston, and steelworkers all found themselves labeled as
subversives. The Wilson administration did little to aid the strikers, despite wartime protection for unions.
The Red Scare
The sweep of antilabor, antiforeign, and antiradicalism sentiment that followed the war produced a conservative,
reactionary, ultrapatriotic climate called the Red scare. Government officials led by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer
vowed to rid the country of all radicals. Palmer deported hundreds of aliens suspected of having radical leanings. Local
police and vigilante groups also tried to purge America of all they thought was too radical. Public institutions attacked
civil liberties, and the Supreme Court established the "clear and present danger" test in the Schenck v. United States
decision, holding that during times of national peril, free speech could be drastically limited. Eventually, the Red scare
lost credibility, and Palmer's power was diminished when an uprising he predicted for May 1, 1920, did not materialize.
The Great Migrations of African Americans and Mexicans
Partly as a result of newfound employment opportunities during World War I, increasing numbers of African Americans
migrated from the South to the urban North, and Mexicans migrated from Mexico to the American Southwest. Although
both groups migrated with hopes for creating a better life, both found a mixture of opportunity and disappointment in their
journeys. Discrimination in employment and housing as well as extreme violence met the newly arrived migrants.
Nevertheless, both migrations marked important political and cultural shifts in American life. In the urban North, African
American communities created a solid foundation for black protest and political organization. In the Southwest, Mexican
immigration meant a resurgence of a Mexican cultural presence, and Mexican Americans began their own efforts to
achieve greater solidarity and political organization.
Postwar Politics and the Election of 1920
Eager to put wartime crusades and strife behind them, American voters responded by giving Warren Harding the largest
presidential victory ever. Harding found the winning formula by promising Americans that he would usher in an era of
"normalcy" by avoiding excess and restoring a climate of order and procedure.
Conclusion: Troubled Crusade
The United States emerged from World War I with the strongest economy in the world and a position of international
preeminence. But in promising that the war would end all wars and make the world safe for democracy, Wilson promised
too much. Domestically, the war marked an end to progressive reform; in fostering a climate of intolerance and reaction, it
marked a reversal. Internationally, hopes for extending democracy and liberal reform were dashed. Thus, Americans
entered a new decade bruised and disillusioned.
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