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WWI/U.S.
Involvement/League of
Nations
• Nationalism
• Imperialism
• Militarism
• Balance of Power Politics: Alliances
• Causes Reading with Chart
• Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy,
Bulgaria
• Triple Entente: Great Britain, France, Russia, and secret
understanding with Italy
• Austria-Hungary declares war against Serbia
• Germany declares war against Russia, then France
• Germany sends troops into Belgium, Great Britain
declares war on Germany on August 1914
• Italy finally joins side of Great Britain and France
• In October 1915 Bulgaria enters the war as Germany’s
ally.
• Allied Powers: U.S., Japan, British Empire, France,
Portugal, Italy, Montenegro, Russia, Greece, Serbia,
Belgium, Romania
• Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria,
Ottoman Empire
• Neutral: Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Albania,
Denmark, Netherlands
• Supplied at least one million soldiers to the war effort:
U.S., Russia, British, France, Romania, Serbia, Germany
Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Italy
• When war broke out in Europe in 1914, President Wilson
recognized the difficulty of thinking logically when one’s
sympathies are aroused
• He urged Americans to remain “impartial in thought as well as in
actions.”
• In a nation with an Anglo-Saxon cultural heritage and millions of
hyphenated Americans who traced their ancestry to both sides in
the war, this strict neutrality proved impossible.
• Sympathy for Britain, Belgium, France, and their allies, coupled
with estrangement from Germany and her allies, eventually
brought the U.S. into the war in 1917 on the Allied side.
• FRQ Question/Docs
• Heightened trade with Allies due to British blockade
of Germany
• Effect of British Propaganda about German
Atrocities
• German’s attempted alliance with Mexico
• Resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare by
Germans
• Russian revolutionaries overthrow of the czarist
government, making it a war fought for democratic
ideals
• President Wilson argued that a declaration of war in 1917
would be “a war to end all wars.”
• Wilson’s idealism continued when he outlined his
Fourteen Points to serve as the basis for a peace
settlement (reading)
• He expected opposition from the British, French, and
Italian representatives at Versailles, and was prepared to
fight for his League of Nations (reading)
• But he did not expect strong and insurmountable
opposition from U.S. senators who had to ratify the Treaty
of Versailles.
• Reservationists: wanted changes in the League
Covenant
• Irreconcilables: opposed U.S. entry into any
international organization
• Might question Wilson regarding how to reconcile
possible League involvement in cases of aggression
with the provision in the Constitution giving Congress
the exclusive right to declare war
• Concerns about the possible League interference in
domestic matters: tariffs and immigration policy;
domination of Britain
• Wilson may have questioned their stalling techniques
• Example: reading the whole treaty aloud in the
Senate at a time when public support for ratification
was high
• Questions about allowing a foreign tribunal
to direct U.S. actions
• Abandoning our traditional isolation
• Reducing armaments
• Questioned using war to prevent war
• Wilson would question the wisdom of their
isolationism in the new circumstances of
globalism
• Wilson would challenge Reservationists regarding
preventing a chance to preserve peace by opposing
Article X
• He would question Irreconcilables on how the U.S.
could avoid taking its rightful role of leadership in
the world.
• Wilson’s own missteps: failure to consult the
majority Republicans during the writing of the
treaty
• Unwillingness to compromise during the ratification
process.
• Reading Overview
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The Fourteen Points: Plans for a general future
No secret Treaties
Freedom of the seas for all nations
Removal of all economic barriers such as tariffs
Reduction of national armaments
Adjustment of colonial claims to make them fair
Establishment of a “general association of nations”
• Germany canceled the Brest Litovsky Treaty with
Russia
• Germany had to give up a large part of its fleet
• Allies would occupy German territory West of the
Rhine
• France insisted on moving its border eastward to the
Rhine
• Italy claimed the Tirol region
• Belgium wanted two small portions of German
territory along the border
• GB wanted Germany’s colonies in the Americas
• Japan wanted German colonies in Pacific
• Allies felt Germany should bear cost of war
• Wilson wanted to set up an organization to maintain
peace
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Effects of the Treaty of Versailles:
Germany:
Abolish its military draft: army of only 10,000 men
Not allowed to manufacture artillery, tanks, military
airplanes
Navy could have a few warships, but not submarines
New nations formed from the Ottoman Empire:
Palestine
Transjordan
Syria
Iraq
• Provisions of the Covenant of the League of
Nations
• To promote international cooperation
• To keep peace among nations
• Three main agencies would conduct League
business: an assembly, council, and secretariat