Download Ch 12 Sec 4 Notes

Chapter 12 Section 4
The War Ends
I.
The United States Enters the War
 Germany attacked ships carrying American passengers
 Germany planned to have Mexico attack the United States
 2 Main causes why the United States entered WWI
A. American Neutrality
1. Early years U.S. was neutral
2. President Wilson used the slogan “He kept us out of war.”
Which won his reelection
B. Trouble on the Seas
1. Unrestricted submarine warfare: any ship traveling the
waters around Great Britain could be attacked by German
submarines
2. Germany used its submarines or u-boats to attack British
naval ships, but then Germany started to attack merchant
ships (ships carrying goods to Britain)
3. Lusitania ( a British ship) was sunk under the German
policy of unrestricted warfare
4. killed 1,200 people (120 Americans)
5. Germany agreed to stop attacking passenger ships
because they were afraid the Americans would enter the
war
6. Germany decided in 1917 that the only way to defeat the
British is to break their promise to the Americans and
return to unrestricted warfare
7. Germany hoped to defeat the allied powers before the U.S.
entered the war
C. The Zimmermann Note
1. February 1917 the discovery of the so-called Zimmermann
Note was the final push for the U.S. to declare war on
Germany
2. Zimmermann Note was a secret message from the German
diplomat Arthur Zimmermann to the officials in Mexico
asking Mexico to attack the United States
3. Germany promised Mexico would gain U.S. states of
Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico (all that had been owned
by Mexico in the past)
4. Germany hoped that this would was would keep the U.S.
out of Europe
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5. Angered Americans, supported Allied powers because we
had ties in Great Britain; languages, traditions, and we
sold millions of dollars of war goods to Britain each week
6. April 1917 United States entered war on the side of the
Allied Powers
II. The End of Fighting
A. A New German Offensive
1. Germany had a chance to win the war when Russia
withdrew from the war (due to the civil war in Russia)
2. Germany no longer had to Russia on the eastern front so
they could send more troops to the west
3. Germany sent troops back to France and moved in with in
40 miles of the French capital Paris
4. Even though this seemed like a major advantaged for
Germany it was at a high cost 8,000 Germans were killed
B. German Collapse
1. Balance of power shifted
2. 2nd Battle of Marne, Allied forces stopped the Germans,
just as they had done at the Marne in 1914
3. Combining tanks, and aircraft, Allied forces gained large
amounts of territory
4. Germans gave up without a fight
5. In October Allied forces broke through Hindenburg Line.
6. Germany’s leaders approached the Allies asking for an
armistice (or truce)
7. November 11, 1918 Central Powers admitted defeat, Peace
was agreed to WWI was over
III. A Difficult Peace
A. Differing Allied Goals
1.Woodrow Wilson vision for peace called the Fourteen Points
2. Reduction in weapons, and the right of all people to choose
their own government
3. He also wanted to form an organization in which the world’s
nations would join to protect one another from violent behavior
4. The 4 major allies: Great Britain, France, and Italy all had very
different ideas on the peace treaty
5. Clemenceau (French leader) wanted to punish Germany
6. David Lloyd George (British leader) stood in the middle (saw
both side both the French and the Americans
7. Italy’s leader Vittorio Orlando hoped to gain territory so he
wasn’t happy that his goals were ignored
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B. The Treaty of Versailles
1. A negotiation (an agreement) from all the allies (Great Britain,
United States, Italy, and France)
2. The treaty was more close to Clemenceau’s vision than
Wilsons
3. Germany was forced to pay enormous amounts of money to
the war’s victims
4. Germany was forced to take full responsibility for the war
5. Other parts of the treaty was created to weaken Germany,
and to limit the size of its military
6. Germany had to return conquered lands back to Russia and
France
7. Other German lands were taken to form Poland
8. Germany signed the treaty on June 28th 1919 even though
they were furious about it
9. The treaty established the organization of world
governments called the League of Nations (Which made
Wilson happy) to establish peace between nations
C. Other Treaties
1. Austria-Hungry were broken apart forming independent
nations of Austria, Hungry, Yugoslavia, Czecholsovakia, and
Turkey
2. In the Middle East, former Ottoman lands turned into
mandates (or territories to be ruled by European powers)
3. Syria and Lebanon became French mandates
4. Palestine and Iraq became British mandates
5. 1917 Britain issued the Balfour Declaration – favored
creating a Jewish state in Palestine, the ancient Jewish
homeland
IV. The Costs of War
A. Human Costs
1. Nearly 9 million soldiers were killed in battle, and injured
(Germany, Russia, France)
2. Nearly an entire generation of young men died or were wounded
in France
3. Spring 1918 suffering became worse when influenza (flu) swept
across the globe
4. 50 or more people died because of this
B. Economic Costs
1. The war destroyed national economies (France, Belgium , and
Russia) farmlands and cities were devastated
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2. The war cost Europe the role as economic leader
3. Japan and the United States were now the leaders
C. Political Changes
1. Communist Revolution in Russia
2. Monarchies in Austria – Hungry, Germany, and the Ottoman
Empire were overthrown
D. Unrest in Colonies
1. Colonists in Europe found that the wartime sacrifices did not
help them win any new freedoms
2. Powers in Europe simply slip the lands controlled by the
German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires
3. Independence would have to wait
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