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America Commits its Navy
Shipping Convoys
America Profited from the War
Americans Were Not Ready to Join the War
The Zimmermann Note
The U.S. Congress Declares War
U.S. Army Expansion Act
The Spring Offensive
Map of the German Offensive
The Hundred Days Offensive
Map of the Western Front 1918
“Over There”
Graph of Casualties of the Hundred Days Offensive
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1
America Commits
Its Navy
By 1916, the
Germans’ use of
unrestricted submarine
warfare put Britain in
danger of losing the
war.
America sent its
navy to help the British
against the U-boats.
Secretary of
Navy Josephus
Daniels
Clockwise from
top:
•Josephus
Daniels
•Torpedo Miss
•Torpedoed
Freighter
2
Shipping Convoys
The Americans used a convoy system to deliver supplies to
England.
Convoys are ships traveling together with a strong naval
escort.
Losses to U-boats fell from 10% to 2%.
3
America Profited from the War
American industry
and agriculture profited
by supplying food,
materials, and weapons
to the Allies.
U.S. manufacturers
such as Remington
Arms and Westinghouse
Electric produced and
sold millions of rifles to
England and Russia.
Top: Lewis Machine Guns
Left: Russian Mosin-Nagant Rifles
4
Americans Were Not Ready to Join the War
Most Americans wanted
to remain NEUTRAL
because:
They felt that the
war was a European
problem.
The war would be
expensive.
America was a
country of immigrants.
The largest ethnic
group was German.
Many Americans
had loyalties to
Germany, Great Britain
or France.
5
Americans became divided over the war.
Anti-war sentiments
included:
Very large populations
of German-Americans did
not want to fight against
Germany.
Irish-Americans did not
want to help the British,
who had suppressed the
Irish Independence
Movement in 1916.
Pro-war sentiments
included:
Anger at German actions in
Samoa and Manila Bay in the
Pacific.
Competition over trade in
China, the East Indies, the Pacific
and Africa.
German dominance of naval
and army power over the U.S.
Anger over Germany’s invasion
of neutral Belgium.
British propaganda was
effective in influencing many
Americans.
6
British
Propaganda
Posters
7
TOTAL U.S. POPULATION IN 1910: 91,972,266
U.S. POPULATION BY ETHNIC GROUP FROM BOTH SIDES
OF THE WAR: 32,243,282
9000000
8000000
7000000
6000000
5000000
4000000
3000000
2000000
1000000
0
GERMAN
AUSTRIANHUNGARIAN
BRITISH
IRISH
RUSSIAN
ITALIAN
POPULATION BY ETHNIC GROUP
IN MILLIONS
8
The Zimmermann Note
In 1917, British decoders
intercepted a coded message
between Germany and the
German ambassador in
Mexico proposing an alliance
and support for a Mexican
invasion of the U.S.
It was called the
Zimmermann Note after its
author, German foreign
minister Alfred Zimmermann.
9
WHY DID THE U.S. ULTIMATELY JOIN THE WAR
ON THE SIDE OF THE ALLIES?
The U.S. had more money invested in England than in Germany.
Part of the motivation was racial: A preference for British AngloSaxons over Germans.
The elite in the East still had strong ties with England.
Uncertainty of U.S. interests in a German-dominated Europe.
France was a friend since the U.S. war for independence.
The U.S. supported Britain because its government was closest to
a democracy.
Wilson’s “moral diplomacy” policy.
British propaganda.
The sinking of the Lusitania.
The Zimmermann Note.
10
The U.S. Congress Declares War, April 6, 1917
Excerpt from the declaration of war:
“Whereas the Imperial German Government has committed
repeated acts of war against the Government and the people of
the United States of America; Therefore be it Resolved by the
Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress Assembled, that the state of war between
the United States and the Imperial German Government which
has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally
declared…”
11
U.S. Army Expansion Act of May 1, 1917
The U.S. Army grew from 200,000 to
4,791,172 men.
2,800,000 men were drafted through the
Selective Service Act of May 19.
42 U.S. divisions, totaling 2,084,000 men,
were sent to France.
Camp Kearney, Fremont, California
12
U-boats in America’s Waters
The first U-boat came to America on May 21, 1918.
U-151 laid mines in the harbors of Baltimore and Delaware,
then set out for New York.
U-151 also cut underwater telegraph lines.
U-151 patrolled between New York and Puerto Rico, sinking
ships virtually unchallenged.
U-151 returned on July 10, 1918, after having traveled
17,570 kilometers and sinking 27 ships.
U-151
13
The United States Army Air Service
Americans first flew
in support of the Allies
in the Aviation Section,
U.S. Signal Corps.
It was part of the
United States Army.
On May 24, 1918,
the Aviation Section
became the U.S. Army
Air Service, a
forerunner of today’s
U.S. Air Force.
Eddie Richenbacker,
Top American Flying
Ace, with His
Nieuport 28.
14
15
The German Spring Offensive
The 1918 Spring Offensive was the final series of
German attacks along the Western Front.
German military leaders realized that their only
remaining chance of victory was to win the war before the
Americans arrived.
They also had the advantage of nearly 50 divisions
freed up by the Russian surrender.
German Soldiers Pulling Artillery Through Mud
16
Western Front: Spring Offensive
17
Germany did not achieve a quick victory.
The Germans lost almost a million men over six months.
German leaders predicted that they would need 200,000
men per month to sustain the war, but they had only
300,000 new 18-year-old recruits for the entire year.
The Firing Line
Dead German Soldiers
German boys and
middle-aged men
were sent to war
18
The Allies Were Ready to Fight
French Marshal Ferdinand Foch was the supreme
commander of the Allied forces.
In August 1918, Foch decided it was time to go on the
offensive.
General John Pershing, commander of American forces,
and Field Marshal Douglas Haig, commander of the British
Expeditionary Force, were ready to fight.
John Pershing
Speaks
Pershing
Foch
Haig
19
The Hundred Days Offensive
The Hundred Days Offensive was the final offensive of
World War I by the Allies against the Central Powers on the
Western Front.
It lasted from August 8 to November 11, 1918.
The offensive led to the final demoralization and retreat of
the German armies and the end of World War I.
Demoralization: Loss of morale and confidence
Senator Warren Harding Speaks Below: U.S. Soldiers Bury
the Dead
About the American Soldier
20
Map of the Western Front in 1918
21
After heavy fighting,
the Allies broke through the
Hindenburg Line.
The Allied victory forced
the German Supreme
Command to recognize that
the war was lost.
The German army
managed to retreat into
Germany.
The battle cost over one
million lives.
Australians at Somme
German POWs
22
Hundred Days Offensive Casualties
1,200,000
1,069,636
1,000,000
785,733
Casualties
800,000
600,000
531,000
411,636
400,000
200,000
127,000
0
American
British Empire
French
Participants
German Empire
Total
Total
Allies
Casualties
23