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THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
CREATING A NATION AND A SOCIETY
NASH  JEFFREY
HOWE  FREDERICK DAVIS  WINKLER  MIRES  PESTANA
7th Edition
Chapter 22: The Great War
Pearson Education, Inc, publishing as Longman © 2006
THE EARLY WAR YEARS
THE CAUSES OF WAR
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Many signs of international cooperation with agreements on
telegraphs in 1865, postage in 1875, copyright in 1880,
international time zones in the 1890s and the establishment of
the World Court in 1899
Improved technology and industrialization and also fostered a
new sense of nationalism among the countries of the world
There was also a growing rivalry over European trade, colonies,
and spheres of influence in Africa and Asia
The large European powers began an industrial arms race
followed by an intricate system of national treaties and alliances
that would compel most of the world to declare war at the
slightest incident
The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary
delivered such an incident
THE CAUSES OF WAR
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Austria-Hungary decided to punish Serbia
Russia mobilized in defense of Serbia
Germany, supporting Austria-Hungary, declared war on Russia and
France
Britain declared war on Germany after it marched through neutral
Belgium to get to France
The Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers
Italy joined the Allies after being secretly promised additional
territory after the war
Japan declared war on Germany because it wanted Shantung
province and a number of German controlled islands in the Pacific
Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden
and, initially, the U.S. remained neutral
Americans saw the outbreak of war in Europe as a form of
madness
European Empires in 1914
AMERICAN REACTIONS
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Social reformers worried the war would direct
energy away from reform
–
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Jane Addams organized the American Woman’s
Peace Party
While many Americans sought to end the war
through international mediation, others
wanted to join the great adventure
–
Many Americans viewed war as a romantic
struggle for honor and glory
THE NEW MILITARY
TECHNOLOGY

After the French stopped the German advance at the Battle of the
Marne in September 1914, the fighting bogged down into trench
warfare
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Rapid-firing rifles, improved explosives, incendiary shells and
tracer bullets added to the destruction
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Battle of the Somme: Germans lost 600,000, British lost 419,000 and
the French 194,000
Improved artillery was most devastating of all being able to hit targets
miles away
The machine gun neutralized the frontal assault yet generals refused
to abandon this tactic
War was both a traditional and a revolutionary struggle
–
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Last war to employ cavalry and the first to use new generation of
military technologies
By 1918, airplanes were dropping bombs and tanks, which first
appeared in 1916, were neutralizing the machine gun
Wireless radio, telephones and poison gas were all part of the war
THE NEW MILITARY
TECHNOLOGY
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While the Western front in France is the most famous,
there was an Eastern front that pitted Russia against
German and Austrian troops and a third front along the
northern Italian and Austrian border in 1915
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Submarines and battleships carried war around the world
Soldiers from the British Empire, New Zealand, Australia,
Canada, India, and French-speaking black Africans all fought
on the western front while the British and French battled the
Germans in Africa over their colonies
After the Turks entered the war, they systematically massacred
800,000 Armenians
Theodore Roosevelt and Leonard Wood started a
camp for college men in 1913 to prepare them for war
The Great
War in
Europe
and the
Middle
East
DIFFICULTIES OF NEUTRALITY
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Despite President Wilson’s call for American neutrality, many Americans
found old loyalties hard to give up
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Ultimately the ties of language and culture tipped the balance for most
Americans in the Allies’ favor though there were a variety of additional
factors
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8 million German and Austrian Americans lived in the US and some supported
their homeland
Some Irish Americans sided against Great Britain
A few Swedes distrusted the Russians too much to side with the Allies
Some American intellectuals, scholars and physicians who had studied in
Germany saw it as a center of culture, learning and social welfare
Export and import trade was more important with the Allies than with the
Central Powers
Wilson’s closest advisors as well as newspaper owners and editors supported
the Allies
Ultimately, most Americans believed that France and England were fighting to
preserve human culture against barbarians
Wilson hoped that by keeping the U.S. out of the war he might control the
peace
WORLD TRADE AND
NEUTRALITY ACTS
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Wilson closed the stock market on July 31, 1914
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Insisted on the rights of neutral trade which was made difficult after
Great Britain instituted an illegal blockade, mined the North Sea and
began seizing American ships
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Discouraged loans by Americans to belligerent banks
Wilson decided to accept the blockade while reacting more harshly to
German violations of international law
American trade with the Central Powers declined between 1914 and 1916
from $169 million to just over a million while trade with the Allies went from
$825 million to more than $3 billion
U.S. government eased restrictions on private loans to belligerents (mostly
to the Allies)
Germans retaliated to British blockade with submarine warfare which
technically violated international law requiring warning a merchant or
passenger ship before attacking it
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Announced submarine blockade of British Isles on 4 February 1915
Wilson warned they would be held to “strict accountability” for destruction of
American ships or lives
WORLD TRADE AND
NEUTRALITY ACTS
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March 1915, German U-boat sank British liner on the way to Africa
with a loss of 103 lives followed by the greater problem of the sinking
of the Lusitania in May with the loss of 1200 people, including 128
Americans
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Wilson refused to prohibit Americans from traveling on belligerent ships
and demanded reparations from Germany and a pledge that they would
stop attacking ocean liners without warning
William Jennings Bryan resigned as Secretary of State over the tone of the
notes
After a German U-boat sank the Arabic, the German ambassador
promised liners would not be sunk without warning
Crisis did cause books and articles to urge the nation to prepare for war
On the other side the American Union Against Militarism saw
preparedness as an attempt to destroy liberal social reform at home
Wilson asked for and received an enlargement of the army in June
1916 and an integration of the National Guard into the defense
structure
INTERVENING IN MEXICO AND
CENTRAL AMERICA
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Despite different rhetoric, Wilson also tried to maintain stability in Latin
American in order to promote American economic and strategic interests
1913: signed a treaty with Colombia paying them $5 million for loss of
Panama and virtually apologizing for the way Roosevelt had treated them,
but the Senate refused to ratify
Wilson sent marines to the Dominican Republic and they took control of the
government in May 1916
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Also sent marines to Haiti and kept marines in Nicaragua
In Mexico, after Victoriano Huerta overthrew and killed Francisco Madero in
1913 (Madero had overthrown dictator Porfirio Diaz), Wilson refused to
recognize Huerta’s government
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Wilson then used a minor excuse to land troops in Veracruz, outraging European
and Latin American countries, driving Huerta from office and leading to a civil war
between Venustiano Carranza and Pancho Villa
US sent weapons to Carranze who defeated Villa
Vila then attacked Columbus, New Mexico in March 1916 causing Wilson to order
General John Pershing and US troops to pursue Villa into Mexico where they
roamed around until January 1917 when they were recalled
THE UNITED STATES ENTERS
THE WAR
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A significant minority of Americans opposed
joining the war in 1917 but once the U.S. was
involved, the war became a patriotic crusade
THE ELECTION OF 1916
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Wilson realized he had to win progressive voters and
in January 1916, he appointed Louis D. Brandeis to
the Supreme Court
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Put heavy pressure on Congress in August and achieved
passage of the Worker’s Compensation Bill and the KeatingsOwen Child Labor Bill, which was later declared
unconstitutional
Pushed for passage of the Federal Farm Loan Act and
supported the Adamson Act which established the 8-hour
workday for all interstate railroad workers
The Republicans nominated Charles Evans Hughes
and prepared a platform calling for neutrality and
preparedness
–
Wilson won by a slim margin when he carried California by
4000 votes
DECIDING FOR WAR
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Wilson’s reelection in 1916 seemed to be a national mandate for further
attempts at American neutrality
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News reached the U.S. of a revolution in Russia that had deposed the Czar
in March 1917
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Wilson outlined a plan for “peace without victory” through a negotiated settlement
in January 1917
The German leaders thought they could win a world war and rejected Wilson’s
attempt at negotiation
Germans announced at the end of January that they were resuming unrestricted
submarine warfare and the U.S. severed diplomatic relations
Interception of the Zimmerman telegram, in which Germany promised to help
Mexico regain its lost territory if Mexico would attack the U.S., led many
Americans to demand war with Germany
In November, the moderate government of Alexander Kerensky was overthrown
by the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin
Lenin immediately signed a separate peace with the Russians and withdrew from
the war releasing thousands of Germans to fight on the western front
In the North Atlantic, u-boats sank five American ships in 9 days in March
On 2 April, Wilson urged Congress for a declaration of war which he got
A PATRIOTIC CRUSADE
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While pacifists, socialists and a few others opposed U.S. entry into the
war, for most Americans, the war was remote
George Creel headed a Committee of Public Information designed to
flood Americans with nationalistic propaganda and convince them the
U.S. had gone to war to promote the cause of freedom and democracy
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June 15, 1917, Congress passed the Espionage Act which provided
imprisonment or a fine or both for people who aided the enemy or
caused disloyalty or refusal to do one’s duty
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Authorized the postmaster general to prohibit from the mails any material he
thought advocated treason or forcible resistance to U.S. laws
Used to stamp out dissent
Congress later added Trading With the Enemy and the Sedition Acts
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Patriotic campaign soon became stridently anti-German and anti-immigrant
Latter prohibited disloyal, profane, scurrilous and abusive remarks about the
form of government, flag or uniform of the U.S.
Government tried 2168 under these acts and convicted about half
Prompted the early Civil Liberties Bureau
RAISING AN ARMY
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While initially opposing the draft, Wilson
decided that it was the most efficient way to
organize military personnel
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June 5, 1917: 9.5 million men between 21 and 31
registered for the draft
In August 1918, Congress extended the act to men
between the ages of 18 and 45
More than 24 million men registered and 2.8 million
(75% of those who served) were inducted
THE MILITARY EXPERIENCE
THE AMERICAN SOLDIER
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Typical soldier stood 5 feet 7.5 inches tall, weighed 141.5
pounds and was 22 years old
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Women contributed to the war effort as telephone operators and
clerk typists in the navy and marines
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Took a physical exam, an intelligence test and a psychological test
Majority had not attended high school with a median white education
of 6.9 years, 4.7 for immigrants and 2.6 years for southern blacks
31 percent were declared illiterate though intelligence tests probably
mostly tested social class
Some went overseas as army and navy nurses
Others volunteered for a tour of duty with the Red Cross, the
Salvation Army, or the YMCA
Army changed the lives of soldiers
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Introduced the safety razor
Led to growing popularity of cigarettes and the wristwatch
THE BLACK SOLDIER
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Most black leaders supported the war in the hopes that it would
help overcome prejudice but that did not happen
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Some southern draft boards inducted most blacks but almost no
whites while others worried about too many armed blacks
August 1917, violence erupted in Houston, Texas, involving black
soldiers who had been overly harassed by Jim Crow laws and went
on a rampage killing 17 whites
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More than 100 soldiers were court-martialed, 13 were condemned to
death and hanged before appeals could be heard
Government policy was complete segregation and careful
distribution of black units throughout the country
African Americans were prohibited from the joining the marines
and restricted to menial jobs in the navy
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Only 6 black nurses went to France and they were assigned to black
units
Most black soldiers worked as stevedores and common laborers
under the supervision of white, noncommissioned officers
OVER THERE
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The United States entered the World War in the spring of 1917
after three years of European fighting
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A few token American regiments arrived in France in the summer
of 1917 under General “Black Jack” Pershing
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British and French armies were down to their last reserves and Italy’s
army had nearly collapsed
First Americans saw action at Verdun in October 1917
By March 1918, more than 300,000 American soldiers had reached
France and by November 1918, more than 2 million
Pershing insisted that American troops, with the exception of four
black units assigned to the French, be segregated from French and
British divisions
Germany launched an all out offensive the spring of 1918 and
drove within 50 miles of Paris where American troops helped stem
the tide
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Half a million Americans fought in their first major battle in September
OVER THERE
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In the fall of 1918, combined British, French and American troops
drove the Germans back
Faced with low morale among the soldiers, the mutiny of the
German fleet, and the surrender of Austria, Kaiser Wilhelm II
abdicated on November 8 and an armistice was signed on
November 11
Despite the problems shown by the “lost battalion” and the
difficulties suffered by the Ninety-Second Division, the war
produced a few American heroes
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Joseph Oklahombi, Choctaw
Sergeant Alvin York
US lost 48,000 service personnel and has many more wounded
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Disease claimed 15 of every 1000 soldiers each year
British lost 900,000; the French 1.4 million and the Russians 1.7
million
Financial burden was also much less for the Americans
A GLOBAL PANDEMIC
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The fall of 1918 brought the end of the Great
War and the beginning of the Spanish Flu
pandemic that claimed the lives of an
estimated 50 million people, with 675,000
deaths in the United States in little more than
a year
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Flu seems to have started at the same time in
Europe, Asia, America, and even remote Eskimo
villages
Hit hardest among young adults
More than 43,000 servicemen died from flu
DOMESTIC IMPACT OF WAR
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For 30 years a debate had raged over the
proper role of the federal government in
regulating industry and protecting people who
could not protect themselves
Controversy also centered on the question of
how much power the federal government
should have to tax and control individuals and
corporations and the proper relation of the
federal government to state and local
governments
FINANCING THE WAR
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World War I cost the United States over $33 billion while interest
and veterans’ benefits brought the total to nearly $112 billion which
had to be paid for by borrowing and taxes
After the war, Americans learned that their liberty bonds had lost 20
percent of their face value
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War Revenue Act of 1917 boosted the tax rate sharply, levied a tax
on excess profits, and increased estate taxes
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Because the interest rate on bonds was tax exempt, wealthy citizens
benefited more than ordinary ones
Following year another bill raised the tax on the largest incomes to
77%
WWI was mostly financed by inflation with food prices doubling
between 1917 and 1919
INCREASING FEDERAL POWER
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The need for more centralized control and authority led Wilson to create
a series of federal agencies
First crisis was food, especially for Europe
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National Research Council and the National Advisory Committee on
Aeronautics helped mobilize scientists to produce strategic materials
formerly imported from Germany
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Herbert Hoover was appointed director of the Food Administration and
instituted “wheatless” and “meatless” days
Made women the most important group of consumers
War stimulated research and development and made the United States less
dependent on European science and technology
War Industries Board, led by Bernard Baruch, controlled scarce
materials and occasionally set prices and priorities
Cooperation among government, business, and university scientists to
promote research and develop new products was one legacy of the war
Government went into shipbuilding industry and the business of running
railroads
WAR WORKERS
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Wilson administration sought to protect and extend the rights of organized
labor during the war
National War Labor Board insisted on adequate wages and reduced hours
and tried to prevent exploitation of women and children working under
government contracts
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War opened industrial employment opportunities for black men
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Favored AFL whose membership increased to more than 4 million in 1917
Justice Department put IWW “out of business”
Northern labor agencies and railroads actively recruited southern blacks
resulting in a “great migration” to northern cities
Thousands of Mexicans also headed north as the US relaxed immigration
regulations because of the need for farm labor
War also created new employment opportunities for women
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Only about 5 percent of women employed during the war were new to the
workforce and almost all of them were unmarried
War accelerated trends already underway
War did not change perception that women’s place was in the home
THE CLIMAX OF PROGRESSIVISM
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After the declaration of war, many social
progressives began to see the possibilities for
social planning it offered
Commission on Training Camp Activities was
set up to solve the problem of mobilizing,
entertaining and protecting American
servicemen with the idea that the military
experience would produce better citizens who
would vote for reform
–
Also incorporated progressive campaigns against
alcohol and prostitution
SUFFRAGE FOR WOMEN
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In fall 1918, Wilson asked the Senate to support
woman suffrage, which was “vital to the winning of the
war”
Some who opposed the vote argued it would make
women less feminine while others claimed only
radicals wanted the vote
Carrie Chapman Catt, president of NAWSA since
1915, coordinated state campaigns with office in
Washington
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In 1916, militant reformers broke with NAWSA and formed
the National Women’s Party under the leadership of Alice
Paul and picketed the White House demanding the vote
War accelerated the passage of the Nineteenth
Amendment which was ratified by the states in 1920
PLANNING FOR PEACE
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Woodrow Wilson turned U.S. participation in the war
into a religious crusade to change the nature of
international relations
January 8, 1918, in part to counteract the Bolshevik
charge that the war was a struggle among imperialist
powers, Wilson announced his Fourteen Points, a
plan to organize the peace
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Open covenants of peace openly arrived at
Freedom of the seas
Equality of trade
Self-determination for all peoples
A League of Nations to preserve peace
THE VERSAILLES PEACE
CONFERENCE
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Wilson headed the delegation to the peace conference at Versailles
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Delegation did not include any Republicans despite the fact the Republicans
controlled Congress
Wilson’s self-confidence grew during a triumphal tour of Europe prior to the
conference
David Lloyd George of England, Georges Clemenceau of France and Vittorio
Orlando of Italy were less impressed with the president and his plans
From Austro-Hungarian empire, conference created Austria, Hungary
and Yugoslavia.
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Also created Poland, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
France was to occupy the industrial Saar region of Germany for 15 years
Italy gained the port of Triest but not Fiume
All these decisions made without the input of small European nations or of
Soviet Russia
Wilson gave into demand for German reparations, lost much of its oil and
coal territory and had to admit war guilt
Wilson also accepted a mandate system to deal with former colonies and
refused to support a call for racial equality introduced by Japan
THE VERSAILLES PEACE
CONFERENCE
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German people felt betrayed
Japan felt slighted
Italians were angry because received less territory
than expected
Wilson also did not win approval for freedom of the
seas or the abolition of trade barriers
Did win approval of the League of Nations
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Council of five great powers
Elected delegates from smaller countries
World Court to settle disputes
Article X which pledged all members to help preserve other
members against external aggression
Europe
and the
Near
East
After
World
War I
WILSON’S FAILED DREAM
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Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF),
formed during conference, denounced the treaty’s harsh terms
Hate and intolerance were legacies of the war
Fears of the Bolsheviks led Wilson, the Allies and the Japanese
to send troops into Siberia in 1919 though most troops left by
1920
Most Americans supported the concept of the League of Nations
in the summer of 1919 though the Senate refused to endorse the
treaty
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Lodge refused to accept Article X
Wilson refused to compromise to attract moderate Senators
During a national tour to win support for the treaty, Wilson
collapsed, was rushed back to Washington and suffered a
massive stroke
–
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For a year and a half the country limped along without a president
Senate killed the league treaty in March 1920
DISCOVERING U.S. HISTORY
ONLINE
The World War I Document Archive
http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/

Lusitania Online
http://www.lusitania.net/

Letters of World War I
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/10/98/world_war_i/d
efault.stm

Great War Series
http://wtj.com/wars/greatwar/

The Balkan Causes of World War I
http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/balkan_causes.htm

World War I Trenches
http://www.worldwar1.com/

DISCOVERING U.S. HISTORY
ONLINE
Election of 1916
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/

Influenza, 1918
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influenza/

Art of the First World War
http://www.art-ww1.com/gb/index2.html

Women’s Suffrage
http://www.rochester.edu/SBA/history.html

The Versailles Treaty
http://history.acusd.edu/gen/text/versaillestreaty/vercont
ents.html
