Download PreAPUnit12 - Chandler Unified School District

Transformations Around the Globe and
The Great War
Pre-AP Unit #12
Chapters 28 and 29
Opium War
• (1839-1842) Conflict between the Chinese Qing Empire and Great Britain; The
sale of highly-addictive Opium by British merchants in China led to a high tradedeficit, weakening the Chinese economy. When the Emperor ordered a ban on
the sale of Opium, the British responded by blockading major Chinese ports,
leading to an escalation of conflict. The defeat of the Qing by the British opened
the path for European imperial conquest of the Chinese mainland, making the
Qing subservient to European interests.
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Opium was grown in northern India under the sponsorship of the British East India Company and then shipped directly
to Chinese markets. Demand for opium – a highly addictive drug – in South China jumped dramatically. Soon, silver
was flowing out of China and into the pockets of the officials of the British East India Company. The Chinese reacted
strongly. The British were not the first to import opium into China. The Chinese government had already seen opium’s
dangerous qualities and had made its trade illegal. They appealed to the British government on moral grounds to stop
the traffic in opium. The British refused to halt their activity, however. As a result, the Chinese blockaded the foreign
area in Guangzhou to force traders to surrender their opium. The British responded with force, starting the Opium War
(1839-1842). The Chinese were not match for the British. British warships destroyed Chinese coastal and river forts.
When a British fleet sailed almost unopposed up the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) to Nanjing, the Qing dynasty made
peace. In the treaty of Nanjing in 1842, the Chinese agreed to open five coastal ports to British trade, limit taxes on
imported British goods, and pay for the costs of the war. China also agreed to give the British the island of Hong Kong.
Nothing was said in the treaty about the opium trade. Moreover, in the five ports, Europeans lived in their own
sections and were subject not to Chinese laws but to their own laws – a practice known as extraterritoriality. The
Opium War marked the beginning of the establishment of Western influence in China. For the time being, the Chinese
dealt with the problem by pitting foreign countries against one another. Concessions granted to the British were
offered to other Western nations, including the United States. Soon, thriving foreign areas were operating in the five
treaty ports along the southern Chinese coast.
Extraterritorial Rights
• Policy that Europeans living in Chinese ports were subject to their own laws, not
to Chinese laws; Under this system, if a British subject engaged in criminal activity
while in China, he or she could only be arrested by British authorities and would
have to be tried in British courts. Extraterritorial Rights was a condition of the
Treaty of Nanjing which ended the Opium War.
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One important reason for the abrupt decline and fall of the Qing dynasty was the intense external pressure that the
modern West applied to Chinese society. However, internal problems that the government was slow to address also
played a role. After an extended period of growth, the Qing dynasty began to suffer from corruption, peasant unrest,
and incompetence. These weaknesses were made worse by rapid growth in the country’s population. By 1900, there
were 400 million people in China. Population growth created a serious food shortage, and many people died of
starvation. The ships, guns, and ideas of foreigners highlighted the growing weakness of the Qing dynasty and probably
hastened its end.
By 1800, Europeans had been in contact with China for more than 200 years. Wanting to limit contact with outsiders,
the Qing dynasty had restricted European merchants to a small trading outlet at Guangzhou, or Canton. The merchants
could deal with only a few Chinese firms. The British did not like this arrangement. Britain had a trade deficit, or an
unfavorable trade balance, with China. That is, it imported more goods from China than it exported to China. Britain
had to pay China with silver for the difference between its imports – tea, silk, and porcelain – from China and its
exports – Indian cotton – to China. At first, the British tried to negotiate with the Chinese to improve the trade
imbalance. When negotiations failed, the British turned to trading opium.
Taiping Rebellion
•
(1850-1864) Convinced that the Christian God gave him the mission to destroy the
Qing Dynasty, Hong Xiuquan led armies of peasants to capture major northern
Chinese cities and establish a Christian government. However, by 1864, with
European aid, the forces of the Qing destroyed the rebel forces.
•
Joined by great crowds of peasants, Hong captured the town of Yongan and proclaimed a new dyansty, the Heavenly Kingdom
of Great Peace (Tai Ping Tianguo in Chiense – hence the name Tai Ping Rebellion). The Tai Ping Rebellion appealed to many
people because it called for social reforms. These reforms included giving land to all peasants and treating women as equals of
men. Women even served in their own units in the Tai Ping army.
Hong’s rebellion also called for people to give up their private possessions. Peasants were to hold lands and farms in common.
Money, food, and clothing were to be shared equally by all. Hong outlawed alcohol and tobacco, and eliminated the practice of
binding women’s feet. The Chinese Communist Revolution of the 20 th century would have similar social goals. In March 1853,
the rebels seized Nanjing, the second largest city of the empire, and massacred 25,000 men, women, and children. The revolt
continued for 10 more years, but gradually began to fall apart. Europeans came to the aid of the Qing dynasty when they
realized the destructive nature of the Tai Ping forces. As one British observer noted, there was no hope “of any good ever
coming of the rebel movement. They do nothing but burn, murder, and destroy.”
In 1864, Chinese forces, with European aid, recaptured Nanjing and destroyed the remaining rebel force. The Tai Ping Rebellion
was one of the most devastating civil wars in history. As many as 20 million people died during the 14-year struggle. China’s
ongoing struggle with the West prevented the Qing dynasty from dealing effectively with internal conflict. Beginning in 1856,
the British and the French applied force to gain greater trade privileges. As a result of the Treaty of Tianjin in 1858, the Chinese
agreed to legalize the opium trade and to open new ports to foreign trade. They also surrendered the Kowloon Peninsula to
Great Britain. When the Chinese resisted parts of the treaty, the British seized Beijing in 1860.
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Sphere of Influence
• A region of China where a European imperial power had exclusive trading rights.
As the Qing Dynasty began to decline, many European nations, as well as Japan,
staked claims to the rich natural resources and immense sources of labor
provided by China, carving up the country into different spheres of influence.
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By the late 1870s, the Qing dynasty was in decline. Unable to restore order themselves, government troops had relied
on forces recruited by regional warlords to help fight the Tai Ping Rebellion. To finance their armies, the warlords had
collected taxes from local people. After the revolt, many of these warlords kept their armies. With the support of the
local gentry, the regional warlords continued to collect local taxes for their own use.
In its weakened state, the Qing court finally began to listen to the appeals of reform-minded officials. The reformers
called for a new policy they called “self-strengthening.” That is, China should adopt Western technology but keep its
Confucian values and institutions. Some reformers wanted to change China’s traditional political institutions by
introducing democracy. However, such ideas were too radical for most reformers. During the last quarter of the 19th
century, the Chinese government tried to modernize China’s military forces and build up industry without touching the
basic elements of China’s civilization. Railroads, weapons factories, and shipyards were built. However, the Chinese
value system remained unchanged.
In the end, however, the changes did not help the Qing stay in power. The European advance into China continued
during the last two decades of the nineteenth century. Internal conditions also continued to deteriorate. In the north
and northeast, Russia took advantage of the Qing dynasty’s weakness to force China to give up territories north of the
Amur River in Siberia. Russia wanted both Manchuria and Mongolia and even had designs on Korea. Russia’s designs on
Korea threatened the Japanese. When Russia took military control of Manchuria, Britain signed an alliance with Japan.
In Tibet, a struggle between Russia and Great Britain kept both powers from seizing the territory outright. This allowed
Tibet to become free from Chinese influence.
The Open Door Policy
Open Door Policy
• U.S. policy towards China introduced by Secretary of State John Hay (1898-1905);
Hay sent a series of notes to European imperialist nations advising them that the
United States expected to have an equal opportunity for trade in China, even
though it did not have its own sphere of influence. Through the Open Door Policy
the U.S. advised imperialist nations in China that a) the U.S. had no interest in
establishing a colony in China, but b) the U.S. did want free trade to take place in
China.
•
As foreign pressure on the Qing dynasty grew stronger, both Great Britain and the United States feared that other
nations would overrun the country should the Chinese government collapse. The annexation of Hawaii and the
Philippines had encouraged the expansion of American interests in the Pacific. The United States now was fully
engaged in expanding its stake in the global marketplace. In 1899, U.S. Secretary of state John Hay wrote a note to
Britain, Russia, Germany, France, Italy and Japan. Hay asked each country to respect equal trading opportunities in
China. He also asked the powers with a sphere of influence not to set tariffs that would give an unfair advantage to the
citizens of their own country. This note was not shown to the Chinese government. When none of the other imperialist
governments expressed opposition to the idea, Hay proclaimed that all major states with economic interests in China
had agreed that the country should have an Open Door policy.
•
“The policy of the government of the United States is to seek a solution which may bring about
permanent safety and peace to China, preserve Chinese territorial and administrative entity, protect
all rights guaranteed to friendly powers by treaty and international law, and safeguard for the world
the principle of equal and impartial trade with all parts of the Chinese Empire.” –John Hay, 1900
Closure Question #1: Why did European nations agree to follow
the Open Door policy proposed by the U.S.? (At least 1 sentence)
• In part, the Open Door policy reflected American concern for
the survival of China. However, it also reflected the interests of
some U.S. trading companies. These companies wanted to
operate in open markets and disliked the existing division of
China into separate spheres of influence dominated by
individual states.
• The Open Door policy did not end the system of spheres of
influence. However, it did reduce restrictions on foreign
imports imposed by the dominating power within each sphere.
The Open Door policy also helped reduce imperialist hysteria
over access to the China market. The policy lessened fears in
Britain, France, Germany, and Russia that other powers would
take advantage of China’s weakness and attempt to dominate
the China market for themselves.
Boxer Rebellion
• In May 1900, the Boxers (nickname for Chinese nationalists) killed foreign
missionaries and besieged foreign diplomats in Beijing. A multinational force of
20,000 soldiers, including 2,000 Americans, united to defeat the Boxers. Chinese
nationalists remained hostile to outsiders and, in 1911, overthrew the emperor to
establish a new Chinese government.
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In 1894 the Chinese went to war with Japan over Japanese inroads into Korea, a land that the Chinese had controlled
for a long time. The Chinese were soundly defeated in the First Sino-Japanese War. Japan demanded and received the
island of Taiwan (known to the Europeans as Formosa) and the Liaodong Peninsula. Fearing Japan’s growing powers,
however, the European powers forced Japan to give the Liaodong Peninsula back to China.
New pressures for Chinese territory soon arose. In 1897, Chinese rioters murdered two German missionaries. Germany
used this as a pretext to demand territories in the Shandong Peninsula. When the Chinese government approved the
demand, other European nations made new claims on Chinese territory.
The Boxer Rebellion was the next in a long line of violent uprisings, taking place in 1900. Response to the killings of
missionaries and Chinese Christians was immediate and overwhelming. When William II, emperor of Germany, learned
of the envoy’s fate, he sent German troops to China and declared: “Show no mercy! Take no prisoners!... The Huns of
King Attila made a name for themselves… impose the name of Germany in China… in such a way that no Chinese will
ever dare look askance at a German again.”
In August 1900, the allied army restored order and demanded more concessions from the Chinese government. The
Chinese government was forced to pay a heavy indemnity – a payment for damages – to the powers that had crushed
the uprising. The imperial government was now weaker than ever.
Closure Question #2: List the countries that supplied troops for the allied army,
which was formed to fight the Boxers in 1900.
• The Open Door policy came too late to stop the Boxer Rebellion. Boxer was
the popular name given to members of a secret organization called the
Society of Harmonious Fists. Members practiced a system of exercise – a
form of shadowboxing, or boxing with an imaginary opponent – that they
thought would protect them from bullets.
• The Boxers were upset by the foreign takeover of Chinese lands. Their slogan
was “destroy the foreigner.” They especially disliked Christian missionaries
and Chinese converts to Christianity who seemed to threaten Chinese
traditions. At the beginning of 1900, Boxer bands roamed the countryside
and slaughtered foreign missionaries and Chinese Christians. Their victims
also included foreign businessmen and even the German envoy in Beijing.
• Response to the killing of missionaries and Chinese Christians was
immediate and overwhelming. An allied army consisting of 20,000 British,
French, German, Russian, American, and Japanese troops attacked Beijing in
August 1900. The army restored order and demanded more concessions
from the Chinese government.
Closure Assignment #1
• Answer the following questions based on the information
covered in Chapter 28, Section 1:
1. Why did European nations agree to follow the Open Door
policy proposed by the U.S.? (At least 1 sentence)
2. List the countries that supplied troops for the allied army,
which was formed to fight the Boxers in 1900.
3. Why did foreign powers help the Chinese government put
down the Boxer Rebellion? (At least 1 sentence)
Treaty of Kangawa
• (1854) Agreement between Japan and the United States under which American
ships were allowed to take on supplies at two ports in Japan. The Japanese had
previously refused to allow any foreign ships to docks at its ports, but a massive
fleet of American steam-powered ships shocked the Tokugawa Shogun into giving
in to the Americans’ demands for free trade. By 1860, Japan, like China, had
granted foreigners permission to trade at several treaty ports.
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By the end of the 19th century, Japan was emerging as a modern imperialist power. The Japanese followed the example
of Western nations, while trying to preserve Japanese values. By 1800, the Tokugawa shogunate had ruled Japan for
200 years. The Tokugawa had maintained an isolationist policy, keeping formal relations only with Korea and allowing
only Dutch and Chinese merchants at Nagasaki. Western nations wanted to end Japan’s isolation, believing that the
expansion of trade on a global basis would benefit all nations.
The first foreign power to succeed with Japan was the United States. In the summer of 1853, Commodore Matthew
Perry arrived in Edo Bay with an American fleet of four warships. Perry sought “to bring a singular and isolated people
into the family of civilized nations.” Perry brought a letter from President Millard Fillmore, asking the Japanese for
better treatment of sailors shipwrecked on the Japanese islands. (Foreign sailors shipwrecked in Japan were treated as
criminals and exhibited in public cages.) He also asked to open foreign relations between the United States and Japan.
Perry returned about 6 months later for an answer, this time with a larger fleet. Having discussed the issue, some
shogunate officials recommended concessions, or political compromises. The guns of Perry’s ships ultimately made
Japan’s decision.
Meiji Era
•
Period from the mid to late 1800s in which Japan, under the leadership of a new, young
emperor, Mutsuhito, oversaw technological progress, the formation of an authoritarian
democracy, redistribution of land from the daimyo to peasants, the relocation of the
national capital from Kyoto to Edo (modern Tokyo), and the rise of Japan as an imperialist
power.
•
Once in power the new leaders moved first to abolish the old order and to strengthen power in their hands. To
undercut the power of the daimyo – the local nobles – the new leaders stripped these great lords of the titles to their
lands in 1871. As compensation, the lords were given government bonds and were named governors of the territories
formerly under their control. The territories were now called prefectures. The Meiji reformers set out to create a
modern political system based on the Western model. In 1868, the new leaders signed a Charter Oath, in which they
promised to create a new legislative assembly within the framework of continued imperial rule. Although the daimyo
were given senior positions in the new government, the modernizing leaders from the Sat-Cho group held the key
posts. The country was divided into 75 prefectures (The number was reduced to 45 in 1889 and remains at that
number today.)
During the next 20 years, the Meiji government undertook a careful study of Western political systems. A commission
under Ito Hirobumi traveled to Great Britain, France, Germany, and the United States to study their governments. As
the process evolved, two main factions appeared, the Liberals and the Progressives. The Liberals wanted political
reform based on the Western liberal democratic model, which vested supreme authority in the parliament as the
representative of the people. The Progressives wanted power to be shared between the legislative and executive
branches, with the executive branch having more control .
•
Closure Question #1: Illustrate the results of Western influence on Japanese culture
by using a diagram like this one:
Western Influence on
Japanese Culture
Closure Question #2: How did the Japanese land reform program
create internal problems? (At least 1 sentence)
• The Meiji leaders also set up a land reform program, which made the
traditional lands of the daimyo into the private property of the
peasants. The Meiji leaders then levied a new land tax, which was set
at an annual rate of three percent of the estimated value of the land.
The new tax was an excellent source of revenue for the government.
However, it was quite burdensome for the farmers. Under the old
system, farmers had paid a fixed percentage of their harvest to the
landowners. In bad harvest years, they had owed little or nothing.
Under the new system, the farmers had to pay the land tax every
year, regardless of the quality of the harvest. As a result, in bad years,
many peasants were unable to pay their taxes. This forced them to
sell their lands to wealthy neighbors and become tenant farmers who
paid rent to the new owners. By the end of the 19th century, about 40
percent of all farmers were tenants.
Russo-Japanese War
• (1904-1905) Japan destroyed Russia’s pacific fleet in northern China without
officially declaring war, then sent ground troops to drive Russia out of Manchuria
(northern China), causing more than 100,000 casualties. In 1905 President
Theodore Roosevelt facilitated negotiations between Russia and Japan to end the
conflict. Roosevelt was given the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.
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The Japanese began their program of territorial expansion close to home. In 1874, Japan claimed control of the Ryukyu
Islands, which belonged to the Chinese Empire. Two years later, Japan’s navy forced the Koreans to open their pots to
Japanese trade. The Chinese grew concerned by Japan’s growing influence there. In the 1880s, Chinese-Japanese
rivalry over Korea intensified. In 1894, the two nations went to war, and Japan won. In the treaty ending the war, China
recognized Korea’s independence. China also transferred Taiwan and the Liaodong Peninsula, with its strategic naval
base at Port Arthur, to Japan. In time, the Japanese gave the Liaodong Peninsula back to China. Rivalry with Russia over
influence in Korea had led to increasingly strained relations. The Russians thought little of the Japanese and even
welcomed the possibility of war. One adviser to Nicholas II said, “We will only have to throw our caps at them and they
will run away.”
The Russo-Japanese War began in 1904. Japan launched a surprise attack on the Russian naval base at Port Arthur,
which Russia had taken from China in 1898. The Russian commander in chief said, “It is impossible not to admire the
bravery and activity of the Japanese. The attack of the Japanese is a continuous succession of waves, and they never
relax their efforts by day or by night.” In the meantime, Russia had sent its Baltic fleet halfway around the world to East
Asia, only to be defeated by the new Japanese navy off the coast of Japan. After their defeat, the Russians agreed to a
humiliating peace in 1905. They gave the Liaodong Peninsula back to Japan, as well as the southern part of Sakhalin, an
island north of Japan. The Japanese victory stunned the world. Japan had become one of the great powers.
Closure Question #3: Compare the rights of Japanese women
before and after the Meiji Restoration. (At least 2 sentences)
• Before the Meiji reforms, women were especially limited by the “three
obediences”: child to father, wife to husband, and widow to son. Husbands
could easily obtain a divorce; wives could not. Marriages were arranged, and
the average marital age of females was 16 years. Females did not share
inheritance rights with males. Few received any education outside the
family.
• The Meiji Restoration had a marked effect on the traditional social system in
Japan. Special privileges for the aristocracy were abolished. For the first
time, women were allowed to seek an education. As the economy shifted
from an agricultural to an industrial base, thousands of Japanese began to
get new jobs and establish new social relationships. Western fashions and
culture became the rage. The ministers of the first Meiji government were
known as the “dancing cabinet” because they loved Western-style ballroom
dancing. A new generation of modern boys and girls began to imitate the
clothing, styles, eating habits, hairstyles, and social practices of European
and American young people. The game of baseball was imported from the
United States.
Annexation
• After defeating Russia and laying claim to Manchuria, Japan attacked Korea.
Unable to rally international support for his rule, the Korean king gave up
control of the country in 1907. In 1910, Japan officially annexed, or claimed
power to rule, the nation of Korea.
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From the start, a unique feature of the Meiji model of industrial development was the close relationship
between government and private business. The government encouraged the development of new industries by
providing businesspeople with money and privileges. Once an individual enterprise or industry was on its feet, it
was turned over entirely to private ownership. Even then, however, the government continued to play some role
in the industry’s activities.
The Meiji reformers also transformed other institutions. A key focus of their attention was the military. The
reformers were well aware that Japan would need a modern military force to compete with the West. A new
imperial army based on compulsory military service was formed in 1871. All Japanese men now served for three
years. The new army was well equipped with modern weapons. Education also changed. The Meiji leaders
realized the need for universal education, including instruction in modern technology. A new ministry of
education, established in 1871, adopted the American model of elementary schools, secondary schools, and
universities. It brought foreign specialists to Japan to teach, and it sent many students to study abroad. Much of
the content of the new educational system was Western in its inspiration. However, a great deal of emphasis was
still placed on the virtues of loyalty to the family and community. Loyalty to the emperor was especially valued.
Closure Assignment #2
•
Answer the following questions based on the information covered in
Chapter 28, Section 2:
1. Illustrate the results of Western influence on
Japanese culture by using a diagram like this one:
Western Influence on
Japanese Culture
2. How did the Japanese land reform program
create internal problems? (At least 1 sentence)
3. Compare the rights of Japanese women before and after the Meiji
Restoration. (At least 2 sentences)
Caudillo
• Strong military leaders who gained power in Latin America following the
revolutions against European rule in the 19th century.
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Most of the new nations of Latin America began with republican governments, but they had no
experience in self-rule. Soon after independence, strong leaders known as caudillos gained power.
Caudillos ruled chiefly by military force & were usually supported by the landed elites. Many kept
the new national states together. Some were also modernizers who built roads and canals, ports,
and schools. Others were destructive. Santa Anna misused state funds, halted reforms, & created
chaos. As one historian judged, “Any progress in Mexico achieved during the era of Santa Anna had
nothing to do with him.”
In 1835 American settlers in the Mexican state of Texas revolted against Santa Anna’s rule. Texas
gained its independence in 1836 and United States statehood followed in 1845. War between
Mexico and the United States soon followed (1846-1848). Mexico was defeated & lost almost onehalf of its territory to the United States in the Mexican War. Fortunately, for Mexico, Santa Anna’s
disastrous rule was followed by a period of reform from 1855 to 1876. This era was dominated by
Benito Juarez, a Mexican national hero. The son of Native American peasants, President Juarez
brought liberal reforms to Mexico. Some of Juarez’s Laws of Reform included separation of church
and state, toleration of all faiths, curbing the power of the military, an educational system for all of
Mexico, and the redistribution of land to the poor.
Monroe Doctrine
•
American foreign-policy issued in 1823 regarding Latin America which guaranteed the
protection of independent Latin nations, vowing that if any European nation attempted to
use military force in the Americas the United States would respond through the use of its
own military force.
•
In the early 1820s, only one major threat remained to the newly won independence of the Latin
American states. Members of the Concert of Europe favored the use of troops to restore Spanish control
in Latin America. The British, who wished to trade with Latin America, disagreed. They proposed joint
action with the United States against any European moves against Latin America.
Distrustful of British motives, James Monroe, the president of the US, acted alone in 1823. In the
Monroe Doctrine he guaranteed the independence of the new Latin American nations. The Monroe
Doctrine also strongly warned against any European intervention in the Americas. More important to
Latin-American independence than American words, however, was the British navy. Other European
powers feared the power of the British navy which stood between Latin America and any planned
European invasion force.
The new Latin American nations faced a number of serious problems between 1830 and 1870. The wars
for independence had resulted in a staggering loss of people, property, and livestock. Unsure of their
precise boundaries, the new nations went to war with one another to settle border disputes. Poor
roads, a lack of railroads, thick jungles, and mountains made communication, transportation, and
national unity difficult. During the course of the 19th century, the new Latin American nations would
become economically dependent on Western nations once again.
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Jose’ Marti
 Cuban patriot who launched a war for independence of Cuba from Spain in 1895; Many
Americans favored the Cubans because of the similarities between the Cuban and
American Revolutions, the brutality of the Spanish towards native Cubans, and the loss of
American property in Cuba as a result of the conflict.
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By 1897, American entrepreneurs had invested $50 million in sugar cane plantations and other ventures in Cuba, which lay just 90 miles
off the Florida coast. These businessmen saw Cuba as a growing market for American products. However, the island was very unstable.
Yearning for freedom, the Cubans repeatedly rebelled against Spanish rule. In 1895, Cuban patriot Jose’ Marti launched a war for
independence from Spain. With cries of “Cuba Libre!” (“Free Cuba!”), rebel fighters used guerrilla tactics of hit-and-run raids against
Spanish forces. In response, Spanish General Victoriano Weyler devised a plan to deprive rebels of food and recruits. He herded the rural
population into reconcentration camps, where tens of thousands died from disease and starvation.
In 1867, Secretary of State William Seward bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. Journalists scoffed at the purchase and referred to
Alaska as “Seward’s Folly” and “Seward’s Icebox.” They wondered why the United States would want a vast tundra of snow and ice 1,000
miles north of its border. But Seward’s purchase almost doubled the country’s size, and the “ice-box” turned out to be rich in timber, oil,
and other natural resources. Alaska also greatly expanded America’s reach across the Pacific. Scholars today see Seward’s purchase as a
milestone on America’s road to power.
U.S. businessmen saw Latin-America as a natural place to expand their trade and investments. Secretary of State James Blaine helped
them by sponsoring the First International Pan-American Conference in 1889. Blaine preached the benefits of economic cooperation to
delegates of 17 Latin American countries. The conference also paved the way for construction of the Pan-American Highway system,
which linked the United States to Central and South America. In 1895, tensions rose between America and Great Britain because of a
border dispute between British Guiana and Venezuela. Claiming that Britain was violating the Monroe Doctrine, President Cleveland
threatened U.S. intervention. After some international saber-rattling, the British accepted a growing U.S. sphere of influence in Latin
America.
Closure Question #1: Do you think the United States would have gone to war
with Spain without the explosion of the Maine? Why or Why not? (At least 1
sentence)
Spanish-American War
 (1898) Following several years of brutal warfare between Spain and Cuban
revolutionaries, the United States joined the conflict on the side of the
revolutionaries. However, American forces also used the war as an excuse to
attack and claim Spanish colonies in the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico also.
 American troops landed in Cuba in June, 1898. U.S. Marines captured Guantanamo Bay, and a force of 17,000 soldiers
under U.S. Army General William Shafter stormed ashore east of Santiago. In spite of their excitement for the war, the
troops faced deplorable conditions. They were poorly trained and supplied. As the assembled for duty around Tampa,
Florida, the soldiers were issued obsolete weapons and heavy wool uniforms that were unsuitable for Cuba’s tropical
climate. Corrupt and inefficient officials provided the men with rotting and contaminated food.
 General Shafter’s army consisted of state National Guard units and regular army units, including the African American
9th and 10th Cavalry regiments from the western frontier. Another cavalry unit was organized and commanded by the
future President Theodore Roosevelt. His Rough Riders consisted of rugged westerners and upper-class easterners who
relished what Roosevelt called the “strenuous life”.
 The Rough Riders and Roosevelt gained fame for the role they played in the battles for Kettle and San Juan hills outside
Santiago, Cuba. Joined by African American soldiers from the 9th and 10th regiments, the Riders stormed up those hills to
secure high ground surrounding Santiago. Two days after the battle of San Juan Hill, the Spanish navy made a desperate
attempt to escape from Santiago’s harbor. U.S. forces, which had blockaded the harbor, destroyed the Spanish fleet as it
tried to break out. Surrounded, outnumbered, and dispirited, Spanish forces in Santiago surrendered. Although a few
battles followed when U.S. troops forces occupied the island of Puerto Rico, another Spanish possession, the fighting
had come to an end. Although almost 3,000 Americans died during the war, only around 380 died in combat. Disease,
especially malaria and yellow fever, caused most of the deaths.
Panama Canal
 Waterway dug in Central America to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; the U.S.
supervised construction of the canal, which was completed in 1914, after instigating a
rebellion in Panama, which had been a province of Colombia. The new Panamanian
nation then sold the rights to the canal to the U.S., allowing America to gain profit from
the shipping companies who paid to use the canal.
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Although the plan to dig a canal across Central America did not originate with Roosevelt, he nevertheless played a crucial role in its
history. In the late 1800s, a French company had tried to link the Atlantic and Pacific across the Isthmus of Panama but failed. Afterward,
some suggested building a canal through Nicaragua. However, those plans came to nothing. Eventually, an agent from the French
company that had abandoned its canal attempt convinced the United States to buy the company’s claim. In 1903, the U.S. government
bought the Panama route for $40 million.
Before it could build a canal through Panama, however, the United States needed the consent of the Colombian government. At that time,
Panama was part of independent Colombia. American efforts to negotiate a purchase of land across the isthmus stalled when Colombia
demanded more than the United States was willing to provide. So Roosevelt stepped in. The President dispatched U.S. warships to the
waters off Panama to support a Panamanian rebellion against Colombia. The appearance of the U.S. Navy convinced the Colombians not
to suppress the uprising. Panama soon declared its independence from Colombia. The new nation immediately granted America control
over the “Canal Zone”. To secure this land for its vital trade link, America agreed to pay Panama $10 million and an annual rent of
$250,000.
More than 35,000 workers helped dig the Panama Canal, often in very difficult conditions. Completion of the canal depended on scientific
breakthroughs by doctors as they learned how to combat tropical diseases. Still, more than 5,000 canal workers died from disease or
accidents while building the canal. When the finished waterway opened in 1914, it cut some 8,000 nautical miles off the trip from the
west coast to the east coast of the United States.
Closure Question #2: What impact did the building of the Panama Canal
have on American trade? (At least 1 sentence)
Roosevelt Corollary
 Updating the Monroe Doctrine, Roosevelt argued that in the case of “chronic
wrongdoing” by a Latin American nation the U.S. would assume the role of police
power to restore order & keep other nations from intervening.
 “Big Stick” stemmed from Roosevelt’s admiration for an old African saying, “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go
far.” Roosevelt’s view that American needed to carry a big stick during the Age of Imperialism flowed from his adherence
to balance-of-power principles and from his responsibility to civilize weaker nations. In this sense, Roosevelt held similar
beliefs to those of other imperial powers in Europe and Asia. Roosevelt felt that America’s elite – its statesmen and
captains of industry – had to accept the challenge of international leadership.
 In the early 1900s, the inability of Latin American nations to pay their debts to foreign investors raised the possibility of
European intervention. In 1903, for example, Germany and Britain blockaded Venezuelan ports to ensure that debts to
European bankers were repaid. Roosevelt concluded “If we intend to say hands off to the powers of Europe, then
sooner or later we must keep order ourselves.” So in a 1904 message to Congress, he announced a new Latin American
policy: The Roosevelt Corollary. This change, Roosevelt argued, merely reasserted America’s long-standing policy of
keeping the Western Hemisphere free from European intervention.
 Many Latin Americans resented America’s role as the hemisphere’s police force. They disagreed with Roosevelt’s belief
that Latin Americans could not police themselves. Francisco Garcia Calderon, a Peruvian diplomat, contended that the
Monroe Doctrine had taken on an “aggressive form with Mr. Roosevelt.” Like Calderon, Nicaraguan spokesman Augusto
Sandino felt that the U.S. threatened the “sovereignty and liberty” of his people. Sandino eventually led an army of
guerrillas against U.S. Marines in Nicaragua in the 1920s.
Closure Question #3: How do the Monroe Doctrine and the Roosevelt
Corollary reflect similar assumptions about the governments of Latin
American nations? (At least 1 sentence)
Closure Assignment #3
• Answer the following questions based on what you have
learned from Chapter 28, Section 3:
1. Do you think the United States would have gone to war
with Spain without the explosion of the Maine? Why or
Why not? (At least 1 sentence)
2. What impact did the building of the Panama Canal have
on American trade? (At least 1 sentence)
3. How do the Monroe Doctrine and the Roosevelt
Corollary reflect similar assumptions about the
governments of Latin American nations? (At least 1
sentence)
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
• Caudillo who ruled Mexico from 1833 to 1855; Calling himself the ‘Napoleon of
the West’, Santa Anna misused state funds, halted reforms, & led losing military
campaigns, weakening Mexico’s economy & losing territory.
•
•
•
•
In 1834, the charismatic but ruthless general Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna seized power in Mexico City. Santa Anna
favored a centralized, authoritarian government dominated by the military. His coup troubled those liberal Mexicans
who preferred a decentralized federal system like that of the United States. Santa Anna’s rule especially angered the
people of Texas, both Anglo-Texans and Tejanos, who wanted greater autonomy. One Anglo-Texan protested that Santa
Anna would “give liberty to our slaves and make slaves of ourselves.”
Santa Anna led Mexican forces in war and defeat, first to the American Texans in 1836 and then to the Americans in
1847. Santa Anna favored a centralized, authoritarian government dominated by the military. His military coup
troubled liberal Mexicans who preferred a decentralized federal system of government like the United States.
In 1829 Santa Anna led Mexican forces to victory over the Spanish in their attempt to return Mexico to colonial status.
After this victory Santa Anna became a Hero. He gave himself the title of “The Napoleon of the West”. In 1838,
following his defeat in Texas, Santa Anna restored his honor by leading Mexico to defend it territory against French
forces in what came to be known as the Pastry War. In the battle Santa Anna lost his leg, which was buried with full
military honors.
In 1835 Anglo-Texans seized the Mexican garrisons at Goliad and San Antonio, gradually building their military power.
Texas was not the only Mexican state to revolt against Santa Anna; 11 other states did so in response to Santa Anna’s
order to dissolve the Federal System of government. Texas, however, was the only state to maintain its Independence.
Texas was officially recognized as an independent nation by the United States in 1837. It was annexed by the United
States in 1845, making it the 28th state in the Union, officially ending the existence of the Lone Star Republic.
Benito Juarez
• Mexican national hero who dominated the reform era in Mexico from 1855 to
1876, encouraging religious tolerance, establishing an educational system, and
giving land to the poor.
•
•
•
The son of Native American peasants, President Juarez brought liberal reforms to Mexico. Some of
Juarez’s Laws of Reform included the separation of church and state, toleration of all faiths, curbing the
power of the military, an educational system for all of Mexico, and the redistribution of land to the poor.
Caudillos such as Juan Manuel de Rosas in Argentina, were supported by the masses. These caudillos
became extremely popular and brought about radical change. Unfortunately, the caudillo’s authority
depended on his personal power. When he died or lost power, civil wars for control of the country often
erupted.
Political independence brought economic independence, but old patterns were quickly reestablished.
Instead of Spain and Portugal, Great Britain and the United States now dominated the Latin American
economy. Great Britain dominated trade in Latin America for most of the 19th century. British merchants
moved into Latin America in large numbers, and British investors poured in funds. By the late 1920s, the
United States replaced Europe as the source of loans and investments. Direct U.S. investments in Latin
America reached $3.5 billion, out of a world total of $7.5 billion.
American, British, and other foreign investors built transportation and communication systems and
power plants. These investors also introduced new technologies such as refrigeration, steam engines,
and mining equipment. These innovations led to increased production of export commodities such as
wheat, tobacco, wool, sugar, coffee, and hides. At the same time, Latin American countries imported
finished consumer goods, especially textiles, and had limited industry.
Closure Question #1: Why might Benito Juarez’s rise to power be considered surprising?
La Reforma
• Mexican liberal reform movement organized by Benito Juarez in the 1840s and
1850s. Its major goals were redistribution of land, separation of church and state,
and increased educational opportunities for the poor. Santa Anna opposed the
movement and sent its leaders, including Juarez, into exile. When Santa Anna
was overthrown in 1855, Juarez returned and served as President of Mexico from
1861 to 1872.
•
•
•
After 1870, Latin America began an age of prosperity based to a large extent on the export of a few basic items. These
included wheat and beef from Argentina, coffee from Brazil, coffee and bananas from Central America, and sugar and
silver from Peru. These foodstuffs and raw materials were largely exchanged for finished goods – textiles, machines,
and luxury items – from Europe and the United States. After 1900, Latin Americans also increased their own
industrialization. They built factories to produce textiles, foods, and construction materials.
One result from the prosperity of increased exports was growth in the middle sectors (divisions) of Latin American
society. Lawyers, merchants, shopkeepers, businesspeople, schoolteachers, professors, bureaucrats, and military
officers increased in numbers. After 1900, these middle sectors of society continued to expand. Middle-class Latin
Americans shared some common characteristics. They lived in cities and sought education and decent incomes. They
also saw the United States as a model, especially in regard to industrialization. The middle-class sought liberal reform,
not revolution. Once they had the right to vote, they generally sided with the landholding elites.
Juarez was reelected president of Mexico in 1867. He returned to the reforms he had proposed more than ten years
earlier. He began rebuilding the country, which had been shattered during years of war. He promoted trade with
foreign countries, the opening of new roads, the building of railroads, and the establishment of a telegraph service. HE
set up a national education system separate from that run by the Catholic Church. In 1872, Juarez died of a heart
attack. But after a half century of civil strife and chaos, he left his country a legacy of relative peace, progress, and
reform.
Closure Question #2: How did persistent inequality contribute to the
failure of democracy in the young Latin American nations? (At least 1
sentence)
• A fundamental problem for all of the new Latin American nations was
the domination of society by the landed elites. Large estates
remained a way of life in Latin America. By 1848, for example, the
Sanchez Navarro family in Mexico possessed 17 estates made up of
16 million acres. Latin American estates were often so large that they
could not be farmed efficiently.
• Land remained the basis of wealth, social prestige, and political
power throughout the 19th century. Landed elites ran governments,
controlled courts, and kept a system of inexpensive labor. Those landowners made enormous profits by growing single cash crops, such as
coffee for export. Most of the population had no land to grow basic
food crops. As a result, the masses experienced dire poverty.
Porfirio Diaz
• Mexican caudillo and pure-blooded Native American who rose through the ranks
of the Mexican army during the years of civil war in the 1850s and the fight to
oust the French, who had invaded in 1862. After being refused a government
position during Juarez’s presidency, Diaz came to oppose Mexico’s liberal
government. In 1876, Diaz took control of Mexico through a military coup d’etat
and ruled Mexico as a dictator until 1911.
•
•
During the Diaz years, elections became meaningless. Diaz offered land, power, or political favors to anyone who
supported him. He terrorized many who refused to support him, ordering them to be beaten or put in jail. Using such
strong-arm methods, Diaz managed to remain in power until 1911. Over the years, Diaz used a political slogan adapted
from a rallying cry of the Juarez era. Juarez had called for “Liberty, Order, and Progress.” Diaz, however, wanted merely
“Order and Progress”.
For decades, Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz had benefited his country’s small upper class of wealthy landowners,
clerics, and military men. With Diaz’s encouragement, foreign investments in Mexico grew. As a result, Americans
business people owned large portions of Mexico's industries. While foreign investors and Mexico’s aristocracy grew
rich, Mexico’s large population of farmers struggled in poverty. In 1911, Francisco Madero led the Mexican Revolution
that toppled Diaz. Madero was committed to reforms but was a weak administrator. In 1913, General Victoriano Huerta
seized power and executed Madero. Under “dollar diplomacy”, Taft probably would have recognized Huerta as the
leader of Mexico because Huerta promised to protect American investments. But under “moral diplomacy”, Wilson
refused to do so, declaring that he would not accept a “government of butchers”. Instead, Wilson favored Venustiano
Carranza, another reformer, who had organized anti-Huerta forces.
Francisco Madero
• Born into one of the richest families in Mexico and educated in the United States
and France, Madero announced his candidacy for president of Mexico in 1910.
Soon after, Diaz had Madero arrested and exiled to the United States. From exile,
Madero called for an armed revolution against Diaz, sparking the Mexican
Revolution.
•
•
Madero was elected president in November 1911. However, his policies were seen as too liberal by some and not
revolutionary enough by others. Some of those who had supported Madero, including Villa and Zapata, took up arms
against him. In 1913, realizing that he could not hold onto power, Madero resigned. This military leader General
Victoriano Huerta then took over the presidency. Shortly after, Madero was assassinated, probably on Huerta’s orders.
Huerta was unpopular with many people, including Villa and Zapata. These revolutionary leaders allied themselves
with Venustiano Carranza, another politician who wanted to overthrow Huerta. Their three armies advanced, seizing
the Mexican countryside from Huerta’s forces and approaching the capital, Mexico City. They overthrew Huerta only 15
months after he took power.
Carranza took control of the government and then turned his army on his former revolutionary allies. Both Villa and
Zapata continued to fight. In 1919, however, Carranza led Zapata into a trap and murdered him. With Zapata’s death,
the civil war also came to an end. More than a million Mexicans had lost their lives. Carranza began a revision of
Mexico’s condition. It was adopted in 1917. A revolutionary document, that constitution is still in effect today. As
shown in the chart above, it promoted education, land reforms, and workers’ rights. Carranza did not support the final
version of the constitution, however, and in 1920, he was overthrown by one of his generals, Alvaro Obregon.
“Pancho” Villa / Emiliano Zapata
•
•
•
•
Emiliano Zapata – Revolutionary leader from southern Mexico. Zapata came from a
poor family. He was determined to see that land was returned to peasants and small
farmers and wanted laws to protect their rights. “Tierra y Libertad” (Land and Liberty)
was his battle cry. Victories by Zapata’s and Villa’s armies against Diaz’s army led Diaz
to step down in 1911.
“Pancho” Villa - Angered by American involvement in Mexican government, Villa led
an attack on Columbus, New Mexico in 1916, killing 18 Americans. 10,000 U.S.
soldiers were sent into Mexico to capture Villa, but were unable to capture Villa
before the hunt was called off due to U.S. involvement in World War 1.
Between 1910 and 1920, the Mexican Revolution caused great damage to the Mexican economy. Finally, a new constitution was
enacted in 1017/. This constitution set up a government led by a president. It also created land reform policies, established
limits on foreign investors, and set an agenda to help the workers. The revolution also led to an outpouring of patriotism
throughout Mexico. National pride was evident, for example, as intellectuals and artists sought to capture what was unique
about Mexico, with special emphasis on the past.
In 1914, the president used the Mexican arrest of American sailors as an opportunity to help Carranza attain power. Wilson sent
marines to occupy the Mexican port of Veracruz. The action caused Huerta’s government to collapse, and Carranza assumed the
presidency. Huerta’s fall from power cheered many Mexicans and appeared to validate Wilson’s “moral diplomacy”. However,
Wilson soon discovered that he faced more trouble in Mexico. The new Carranza government was slow in bringing about
reforms, and rebels again rose up, this time under the leadership of Pancho Villa. For a while, Wilson courted Villa. After
American support disappeared in 1916, Villa’s forced crossed into New Mexico and raided the town of Columbus, leaving 18
Americans dead. President Wilson responded by sending General John J. Pershing and more than 10,000 troops on a “punitive
expedition” to Mexico. Pershing’s forced chased Villa for several months but failed to capture the rebel leader. Wilson
eventually withdrew American troops from Mexico in 1917, mostly because of his concerns about World War 1 raging in
Europe. Not long afterward, the United States declared war on Germany, and Pershing was given command of the American
Expeditionary Force in France.
Closure Question #3: The revision of Mexico’s constitution is considered
revolutionary. Do you agree with this characterization? Why or Why not?
•
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
•
Carranza began a revision of Mexico’s constitution. It was adopted in 1917. A
revolutionary document, that constitution is still in effect today. It promoted education,
land reforms, and workers’ rights. Carranza did not support the final version of the
constitution, however, and in 1920, he was overthrown by one of his generals, Alvaro
Obregon.
Reforms of Mexican Constitution of 1917
Land: Breakup of large estates, restrictions on foreign ownership of land,
government control of resources (oil).
Religion: State takeover of land owned by the Church.
Labor: Minimum wage for workers, right to strike, institution of labor unions.
Social Issues: Equal pay for equal work, limited legal rights for women (spending
money and bringing lawsuits).
Although Alvaro Obregon seized power violently, he did not remain a dictator. Instead,
he supported the reforms the constitution called for, particularly land reform. He also
promoted public education. Mexican public schools taught a common language –
Spanish –and stressed nationalism. In this way, his policies helped unite the various
regions and peoples of the country. Nevertheless, Obregon was assassinated in 1928.
Closure Assignment #4
• Answer the following questions based on what you
have learned from Chapter 28, Section 4:
1. Why might Benito Juarez’s rise to power be
considered surprising?
2. How did persistent inequality contribute to the
failure of democracy in the young Latin American
nations? (At least 1 sentence)
3. The revision of Mexico’s constitution is considered
revolutionary. Do you agree with this
characterization? Why or Why not?
Militarism
 Militarism – Glorification of the military; The belief held by European Imperialist
nations that their respective militaries were the best was another cause of World
War I
 Nationalism, or devotion to one’s nation, kick-started international and domestic tension. In the late 1800s, many
Europeans began to reject the earlier ideas of a nation as a collection of different ethnic groups. Instead, they believed
that a nation should express the nationalism of a single ethnic group. This belief evolved into an intense form of
nationalism that heightened international rivalries. For example, France longed to avenge its humiliating defeat by a
collection of German states in 1871 and regain Alsace-Lorraine. Nationalism also threatened minority groups within
nation states. If a country existed as the expression of “its people”, the majority ethnic group, where did ethnic
minorities fit in?
 The spread of the theory of Social Darwinism did not help soothe the competitive instinct. Social Darwinism applied
biologist Charles Darwin’s ideas of natural selection and “survival of the fittest” to human society. Social Darwinism
believed that the best nation would come out ahead in the constant competition among countries.
 Nationalism also destabilized old multinational empires such as Austria, Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. This was
particularly true in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe. For example, when Serbia emerged as an independent
nation in 1878, it challenged the nearby empire of Austria-Hungary in two ways: by trying to gain territory controlled by
the empire, where Serbia lived, and by the example it offered to Austria-Hungary’s diverse peoples. The Nationalist
sentiment of the period sometimes spilled over into the economic goals of each nation. Industrial output, trade, and the
possession of an overseas empire were the yardsticks of wealth and greatness. The leading industrial nations competed
for lands rich in raw materials as well as for places to build military bases to protect their empires.
Closure Question #1: Which of the forces at work in Europe played the
greatest role in helping to prompt the outbreak of war?
• While peace and harmony characterized much of Europe at the beginning of the
1900s, there were less visible – and darker – forces at work as well. One such
development was the growth of nationalism, or a deep devotion to one’s nation.
Nationalism can serve as a unifying force within a country. However, it also can
cause intense competition among nations, with each seeking to overpower the
other. By the turn of the 20th century, a fierce rivalry indeed had developed among
Europe’s Great Powers. Those nations were Germany, Austria-Hungary, Great
Britain, Russia, Italy, and France.
• Another forces that helped set the stage for war in Europe was imperialism. The
nations of Europe competed fiercely for colonies in Africa and Asia. The quest for
colonies sometimes pushed European nations to the brink of war. As European
countries continued to compete for overseas empires, their sense of rivalry and
mistrust of one another deepened.
• Yet another troubling development throughout the early years of the 20th century
was the rise of a dangerous European arms race. The nations of Europe believed
that to be truly great, they needed to have a powerful military. By 1914, all the
Great Powers except Britain had large standing armies.
Triple Alliance / Triple Entente
• Triple Alliance – Pact between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy formed in
1882.
• Triple Entente – Pact between France, Great Britain, and Russia formed in 1907.
•
•
•
19th-century liberals believed that if European states were organized along national lines, these states would work
together and create a peaceful Europe. They were wrong. The system of nation-states that emerged in Europe in the
last half of the 19th century led not to cooperation but to competition. Rivalries over colonies and trade grew during an
age of frenzied nationalism and imperialist expansion. At the same time, Europe’s great powers had been divided into
two loose alliances.
In the early years of the 20th century, a series of crises tested these alliances. Especially troublesome were the crises in
the Balkans between 1908 and 1913. These events left European states angry at each other and eager for revenge.
Self-interest and success guided each state. They were willing to use war to preserve their power. Nationalism in the
19th century had yet another serious result. Not all ethnic groups had become nations. Slavic minorities in the Balkans
and the Hapsburg Empire, for example, still dreamed of their own national states. The Irish in the British Empire and
the Poles in the Russian Empire had similar dreams.
National desires were not the only source of internal strife at the beginning of the 1900s. Socialist labor movements
also had grown more powerful. The Socialists were increasingly inclined to use strikes, even violent ones, to achieve
their goals. Some conservative leaders, alarmed at the increase in labor strife and class divisions, feared that European
nations were on the verge of revolution. This desire to suppress internal disorder may have encouraged various leaders
to take the plunge into war in 1914.
Closure Question #2: Who were the members of the Triple Alliance? The Triple Entente?
World War I Alliances
Kaiser Wilhelm
• Leader of Germany who joined with Austria-Hungary in declaring war on Serbia
on July 28th, 1914 following the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand.
•
•
•
•
The growth of mass armies after 1900 heightened the existing tensions in Europe. These large armies made it obvious
that if war did come, it would be highly destructive. Most Western countries had established conscription, a military
draft, as a regular practice before 1914. (The United States and Britain were exceptions.) European armies doubled in
size between 1890 and 1914. Militarism – the aggressive preparation for war – was growing. As armies grew, so too did
the influence of military leaders. They drew up vast and complex plans for quickly mobilizing millions of soldiers and
enormous quantities of supplies in the event of war.
Fearing that any changes would cause chaos in the armed forces, military leaders insisted that their plans could not be
altered. This left European political leaders with little leeway. In 1914 they had to make decisions for military instead of
political reasons. Militarism, nationalism, and the desire to stifle internal dissent may all have played a role in the
starting of World War I. However, it was the decisions that European leaders made in response to a crisis in the Balkans
that led directly to the conflict.
By 1914, Serbia, supported by Russia, was determined to create a large, independent Slavic-state in the Balkans.
Austria-Hungary, which had its own Slavic minorities to contend with, was equally determined to prevent that from
happening. On June 28, 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife
Sophia visited the city of Sarajevo in Bosnia. A group of conspirators waited there in the streets.
On June 28th, 1914 Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie left for what they thought would be a routine visit to Sarajevo,
the capital city of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia. But a handful of young Bosnians had other plans for the
archduke and his wife. These men were ethnic Serbs who believed that Bosnia rightfully belonged to Serbia, and they
saw Francis Ferdinand as a tyrant. After the archduke’s driver made a wrong turn, Gavrilo Princip, one of the
conspirators, noticed the couple in the car, pulled a pistol from his pocket, and fired it twice. First Sophie and then
Francis Ferdinand died. People around the world were shocked by the senseless murders.
Closure Question #3: Do you think World War I was avoidable? Use information from the text
to support your answer.
Closure Assignment #5
• Answer the following questions based on what you
have learned from Chapter 29, Section 1:
1. Which of the forces at work in Europe played the
greatest role in helping to prompt the outbreak of
war? Explain your answer.
2. Who were the members of the Triple Alliance? The
Triple Entente?
3. Do you think World War I was avoidable? Use
information from the text to support your answer.
Central Powers / Allies
• Central Powers – The combined forces of Germany and Austria-Hungary in WWI;
Their name comes from their location in the heart of Europe.
• Allies – The combined forces of France, Great Britain, Russia, and, eventually,
Japan, Italy, and the United States in WWI.
•
•
In the group of conspirators in Sarajevo was Gavrilo Princip, a 19-year-old Bosnian Serb. Princip was a member of the
Black Hand, a Serbian terrorist organization that wanted Bosnia to be free of Austria-Hungary and to become part of a
large Serbian kingdom. An assassination attempt earlier that morning by one of the conspirators had failed. Later that
day, however, Princip succeeded in fatally shooting both the archduke and his wife. The Austro-Hungarian government
did not know whether or not the Serbian government had been directly involved in the archduke’s assassination, but it
did not care. Austrian leaders wanted to attack Serbia but feared that Russia would intervene on Serbia’s behalf. So,
they asked for – and received – the backing of their German allies. Emperor William II of Germany gave AustriaHungary a “blank check,” promising Germany’s full support if war broke out between Russia and Austria-Hungary. On
July 28th, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.
Soon after the assassination, Kaiser William II, the German emperor, assured Austria Hungary that Germany would
stand by its ally if war came. Confident in German’s support, Austria-Hungary then sent a harsh ultimatum to Serbia
demanding Serbia’s total cooperation in an investigation into the assassination. When Serbia did not agree to all of the
demands, Austria-Hungary declared war on July 28th, 1914. Because of the alliance system, what otherwise might have
been a localized quarrel quickly spread. In early August, Russia mobilized for war to help its ally Serbia against Austria.
This caused Germany to declare war against Russia. France, Russia’s ally, promptly declared war against Germany. The
very next day, German declared war against neutral Belgium, so that it could launch an invasion of France through that
small country. Great Britain, which had a treaty with France and Belgium, immediately declared war against Germany.
Western Front
•
The key battlefront in WWI, located along the border between France and Belgium; 450
miles of trenches extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the Swiss Alps, with both sides
taking high casualties (soldiers killed or wounded in battle) without gaining any territory.
•
German soldiers fought through Belgium and moved southwest into France toward Paris. Then in September, with
the German advance only 30 miles from Paris, the French and the British counterattacked and stopped the German
forces near the Marne River. After the battle of the Marne, the Germans settled onto high ground, dug trenches, and
fortified their position. When the French and British attacked, the German troops used machine guns and artillery to
kill thousands of them. The French and British then dug their own trenches and used the same weapons to kill
thousands of counterattacking Germans. Soon, 450 miles of trenches stretched like a huge scar from the coast of
Belgium to the border of Switzerland. Although fighting went on in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and in other
parts of the world, this Western Front in France became the critical battlefront. The side that won there would win
the war.
The war dragged on for years, and it was hideously deadly – much more so than anyone had expected. The primary
reason for the length of the war and its deadly nature was the simple fact that the defensive weapons of the timer
were better and more devastating than the offensive ones. Generals on each side threw their soldiers into assaults
against the enemy without fully considering the new technology. Charging toward trenches that were defended by
artillery, machine guns, and rifles was futile. In virtually every battle on the Western Front, the attacking force
suffered terribly. Even the use of poison gas did nothing to benefit the offense, despite its horrifying effects. The
stalemate led to gruesome conditions for the men in the trenches of the Western Front. The soldiers battled the
harsh conditions of life often as fiercely as they attacked the enemy. They developed “trench foot” from standing for
hours in wet, muddy trenches. Dug into the ground, the soldiers lived in constant fear, afraid to pop their heads out
of their holes and always aware that the next offensive might be their last.
•
Closure Question #1. Why did a stalemate develop on the Western Front?
(At least 1 sentence)
Schlieffen Plan
• The battle strategy used by Germany in WW1; Germany fought on two sides, or
fronts. In the east, they would hold the line with Russia; on the west, they would
send the majority of their troops to quickly invade France.
•
•
•
Russia was determined to support Serbia’s cause. On July 28th, Czar Nicholas II ordered partial mobilization of the
Russian army against Austria-Hungary. Mobilization is the process of assembling troops and supplies for war. In 1914,
mobilization was considered an act of war. Leaders of the Russian army informed the czar that they could not partially
mobilize. Their mobilization plans were based on a war against both Germany and Austria-Hungary. Mobilizing against
only Austria-Hungary, they claimed, would create chaos in the army. Based on this claim, the czar ordered full
mobilization of the Russian army on July 29th, knowing that Germany would consider this order an act of war.
Indeed, Germany reacted quickly. The German government warned Russia that it must halt its mobilization within 12
hours. When Russia ignored this warning, Germany declared war on Russia on August 1. Like the Russians, the
Germans had a military plan. General Alfred von Schlieffen had helped draw up the plan, which was known as the
Schlieffen Plan. It called for a two-front war with France and Russia since the two had formed a military alliance in
1894.
According to the Schlieffen Plan, Germany would conduct a small holding action against Russia while most of the
German army would carry out a rapid invasion of France. This mean invading France by moving quickly along the level
coastal area through Belgium. After France was defeated, the German invaders would move to the east against Russia.
Under the Schlieffen Plan, Germany could not mobilize its troops solely against Russia. Therefore, it declared war on
France on August 3. About the same time, it issued an ultimatum to Belgium demanding that German troops be
allowed to pass through Belgian territory. On August 4, Great Britain declared war on Germany for violating Belgian
neutrality. In fact, Britain, which was allied with France and Russia, was concerned about maintaining its own world
power. As one British diplomat put it, if Germany and Austria-Hungary won the war, “what would be the position of a
friendless England?” By August 4, all the Great Powers of Europe were at war.
Trench Warfare
• Style of war fought in World War I; both sides dug trenches which reached from
the English Channel in the north to the borders of Switzerland, holding the same
positions for four year.
•
•
•
Trench warfare baffled military leaders who had been trained to fight wars of movement and maneuver. At times, the
high command on either side would order an offensive that would begin with an artillery barrage to flatten the
enemy’s barbed wire and leave the enemy in a state of shock. After “softening up” the enemy in this fashion, a mass of
soldiers would climb out of their trenches with fixed bayonets and hope to work their way toward the enemy trenches.
The attacks rarely worked because men advancing unprotected across open fields could be fired at by the enemy’s
machine guns. In 1916 and 1917, millions of young men died in the search for the elusive breakthrough. In just ten
months at Verdun, France, 700,000 men lost their lives over a few miles of land in 1916.
The German advance was halted a short distance from Paris at the First Battle of the Marne (September 6-10). To stop
the Germans, French military leaders loaded 2,000 Parisian taxicabs with fresh troops and sent them to the front line.
The war quickly turned into a stalemate as neither the Germans nor the French could dislodge each other from the
trenches they had dug for shelter. These trenches were ditches protected by barbed wire. Two lines of trenches soon
reached from the English Channel to the frontiers of Switzerland. The Western Front had become bogged down in
trench warfare. Both sides were kept in virtually the same positions for four years.
On the Western Front, the trenches dug in 1914 had by 1916 become elaborate systems of defense. The Germans and
the French each had hundreds of miles of trenches, which were protected by barbed wire entanglements up to 5 feet
high and 30 yards wide. Concrete machine-gun nests and other gun batteries, supported further back by heavy
artillery, protected the trenches. Troops lived in holes in the ground, separated from each other by a strip of territory
known as no-man’s land.
Closure Question #2: What were the characteristics of trench warfare? (At
least 1 sentence)
Eastern Front
• A stretch of battlefield along the German and Russian border. Here, Russians and
Serbs battled Germans and Austro-Hungarians. The was in the east was a more
mobile war than in the west, though here, too, slaughter and stalemate were
common. The end result of fighting in the east was a truce between Russia and
the Central Powers following a violent revolution within Russia which overthrew
the Czar and established a Communist government.
•
•
Unlike the Western Front, the war on the Eastern Front was marked by mobility. The cost in lives, however, was equally
enormous. At the beginning of the war, the Russian army moved into eastern Germany but was decisively defeated at
the Battle of Tannenberg on August 30 and the Battle of Masurian Lakes on September 15. After these defeats, the
Russians were no longer a threat to Germany. Austria-Hungary, Germany’s ally, fared less well at first. The Austrians
had been defeated by the Russians in Galicia and thrown out of Serbia as well. To make matters worse, the Italians
betrayed their German and Austrian allies in the Triple Alliance by attacking Austria in May 1915.Italy thus joined
France, Great Britain, and Russia, who had previously been known as the Triple Entente, but now were called the Allied
Powers, or Allies.
By this time, the Germans had come to the aid of the Austrians. A German-Austrian army defeated the Russian army in
Galicia and pushed the Russians far back into their own territory. Russian casualties stood at 2.5 million killed,
captured, or wounded. The Russians had almost been knocked out of the war. Encouraged by their success against
Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary, joined by Bulgaria in September 1915, attacked and eliminated Serbia from the
war. Their successes in the east would enable the German troops to move back to the offensive in the west.
Closure Question #3: How was war on the Western and Eastern fronts
different? How was it the same? (At least 2 sentences)
Closure Assignment #6
• Answer the following questions based on what you
have learned from Chapter 29, Section 2:
1. Why did a stalemate develop on the
Western Front? (At least 1 sentence)
2. What were the characteristics of trench
warfare? (At least 1 sentence)
3. How was war on the Western and
Eastern fronts different? How was it the
same? (At least 2 sentences)
Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
• Policy adopted by the German navy in 1917 under which any ship sailing in the
waters around Britain would be sunk without warning. Germany adopted this
policy in an effort to cut off supplies to Great Britain; however, in doing so several
American ships, which had previously sold war supplies to both the Central and
Allied Powers came under German attack.
•
•
The Allies immediately felt the impact of the renewed unrestricted warfare. German U-Boats sank merchant ships in
alarming numbers, faster than replacements could be built. As one merchant ship after another sank to the bottom of
the sea, the Allies lost crucial supplies. Together, the Allies addressed the problem of submarine warfare by adopting
an old naval tactic: convoying. In a convoy, groups of merchant ships sailed together, protected by warships. The
arrangement was designed to provide mutual safety at sea. Convoys made up of British and American ships proved to
be an instant success. Shipping losses from U-Boat attacks fell as sharply as they had risen. Germany’s gamble had
failed.
Meanwhile, the situation on land began to swing in favor of the Central Powers. The Allies were exhausted by years of
combat. Russia was torn by revolutions. In March 1917, a moderate, democratic revolution overthrew Czar Nicholas II
but kept Russia in the war. In November 1917, radical communists led by Vladimir Lenin staged a revolution and gained
control of Russia. Russia stopped fighting in mid-December, and on March 3, 1918 the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ended the
war between Russia and Germany. The end of the war on the Eastern Front allowed Germany to send more soldiers to
the Western Front. In the spring of 1918, Germany launched an all-out offensive on the Western Front. The fierce
attack threatened to break through Allied defenses and open a path to Paris. The hard pressed Allies organized a join
command under French General Ferdinand Foch.
Total War
• Total War – A complete mobilization of resources and people within a country for
the war effort. Every citizen of a country was expected to contribute in some way
to the military. As a total war, WWI became a war of attrition, one based on
wearing the other side down by constant attacks and heavy losses.
•
•
By the end of 1915, airplanes had appeared on the battlefront for the first time in history. Planes were first used to
spot the enemy’s position. Soon, planes also began to attack ground targets, especially enemy communications. Fights
for control of the air occurred and increased over time. At first, pilots fired at each other with handheld pistols. Later,
machine guns were mounted on the noses of planes, which made the skies considerably more dangerous. The
Germans also used their giant airships – the zeppelins – to bomb London and eastern England. This caused little
damage but frightened many people. Germany’s enemies, however, soon found that zeppelins, which were filled with
hydrogen gas, quickly became raging infernos when hit by antiaircraft guns.
As World War I dragged on, it became a total war involving a complete mobilization of resources and people. It affected
the lives of all citizens in the warring countries, however remote they might be from the battlefields. Masses of men
had to be organized and purchased for years of combat. (Germany alone had 5.5 million men in uniform in 1916.) This
led to an increase in government powers and the manipulation of public opinion to keep the war effort going .The
home front was rapidly becoming a cause for as much effort as the war front.
Closure Question #1: Illustrate, by using a diagram
similar to the one below, the ways in which government
powers increased during the war.
•
Government
Powers
Most people had expected the war to be short. Little thought had been given to long-term
wartime needs. Governments had to respond quickly, however, when the new war machines
failed to achieve their goals. Many more men and supplies were needed to continue the war
effort. To meet these needs, governments expanded their powers. Countries drafted tens of
millions of young men, hoping for that elusive breakthrough to victory. Wartime
governments throughout Europe also expanded their power over their economies. Freemarket capitalistic systems were temporarily put aside. Governments set up price, wage,
and rent controls. They also rationed food supplies and materials; regulated imports and
exports; and took over transportation systems and industries. In effect, in order to mobilize
all the resources of their nations for the war effort, European nations set up planned
economies – systems directed by government agencies. Under conditions of total war
mobilization, the differences between soldiers at war and civilians of home were narrowed.
In the view of political leaders, all citizens were part of a national army dedicated to victory.
Woodrow Wilson, president of the United States, said that the men and women “who
remain to till the soil and man the factories are no less a part of the army than the men
beneath the battle flags.
Rationing
• System adopted by most of the nations involved in WWI under which people
could buy only small amounts of those items that were also needed for the war
effort. Rationing covered a wide range of goods, from butter to shoe leather.
•
A new set of illusions also fed the enthusiasm for war. In August 1914, almost everyone believed that the war would be
over in a few weeks. After all, almost all European wars since 1815 had, in fact, ended in a matter of weeks. Both the
soldiers who boarded the trains for the war front in August 1914 and the jubilant citizens who saw them off believed
that the warriors would be home by Christmas. German hopes for a quick end to the war rested on a military gamble.
The Schlieffen Plan had called for the German army to make a vast encircling movement through Belgium into northern
France. According to the plan, the German forces would sweep around Paris. This would enable them to surround most
of the French army.
 What Bernard Baruch did for industry, future U.S. president Herbert Hoover achieved for agriculture. As head of the
Food Administration, he set prices high for wheat and other foodstuffs to encourage farmers to increase production. He
also asked Americans to conserve food as a patriotic gesture. If the American people ate less, then more food could be
shipped overseas. To this end, Hoover instituted wheatless Mondays and Wednesdays, meatless Tuesdays, and porkless
Thursdays and Saturdays. Before the war, some American women campaigned for women’s suffrage. They won the vote
in several western states, and still hoped to gain the franchise nationally. Many feared that the war would draw
attention away from their efforts. In fact, the war gave women new chances and won them the right to vote.
 As men entered the armed forces, many women moved into the workforce for the first time. Women filled jobs that
were vacated by men who had gone to fight. They worked in munitions factories, on the railroads, as telegraph
operators and trolley conductors, and in other jobs that were previously open only to men. Others labored on farms.
Some joined the Red Cross or the American Women’s Hospital Service and went overseas. They worked as doctors,
nurses, ambulance drivers, and clerks. Thousands enlisted when the Army Corps of Nurses was created in 1918.
Propaganda
•
Propaganda – Ideas spread to influence public opinion for or against a cause; During
WW1, governments used propaganda to stir up national hatreds to win support for
the war effort.
•
Because of the stalemate on the Western Front, both sides sought to gain new allies. Each side hoped new allies would provide
a winning advantage, as well as a new source of money and war goods. Bulgaria entered the war on the side of the Central
Powers, as Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire were called. Russia, Great Britain, and France – the Allied
Powers – declared war on the Ottoman Empire. The Allies tried to open a Balkan front by landing forces at Gallipoli, southwest
of Constantinople, in April 1915. However, the campaign proved disastrous, forcing the Allies to withdraw. In return for Italy
entering the war on the Allied side. France and Great Britain promised to let Italy have some Austrian territory. Italy on the side
of the allies opened up a front against Austria Hungary.
By 1917, the war had truly become a world conflict. That year, while stationed in the Middle East, a British officer known as
Lawrence of Arabia urged Arab princes to revolt against their Ottoman overlords. In 1918 British forces from Egypt mobilized
troops from India, Australia, and New Zealand and destroyed the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East. The Allies also took
advantage of Germany’s preoccupations in Europe and lack of naval strength to seize German colonies in the rest of the world.
Japan, a British ally, beginning in 1902, seized a number of German-held islands in the Pacific. Australia seized German New
Guinea.
At first, the United States tried to remain neutral. As World War I dragged on, however, it became more difficult to do so. The
immediate cause of the United States involvement grew out of the naval war between Germany and Great Britain. Britain had
used its superior naval power to set up a blockade of Germany. The blockade kept war materials and other goods from reaching
Germany by sea. Germany had retaliated by setting up a blockade of Britain. Germany enforced its blockade with the use of
unrestricted submarine warfare, which included the sinking of passenger liners.
•
•
Closure Question #2: What methods did governments use to counter the loss of enthusiasm
and opposition to the war at home? (At least 2 sentences)
Armistice
• Armistice – A truce or agreement to end fighting; On November 11th, 1918
representatives of the new German government signed an armistice with Allied
officials.
•
•
•
Before 1914, many political leaders believed war to be impractical because it involved so many political and economic
risks. Others believed that diplomats could easily prevent war. At the beginning of August 1914, both ideas were
shattered. However, the new illusions that replaced them soon proved to be equally foolish. Government propaganda
had stirred national hatreds before the war. Now, in August 1914, the urgent pleas of European governments for
defense against aggressors fell on receptive ears in every nation at war. Most people seemed genuinely convinced that
their nation’s cause was just.
On May 7, 1915, German forces sank the British ship Lusitania. About 1,100 civilians, including over 100 Americans,
died. After strong protests from the United States, the German government suspended unrestricted submarine warfare
in September 1915 to avoid antagonizing the United States further. Only once did the Germans and British engage in
direct naval battle – at the Battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916, when neither side won a conclusive victory.
By January 1917, however, the Germans were eager to break the deadlock in the war. German naval officers convinced
Emperor William II that resuming the use of unrestricted submarine warfare could starve the British into submission
within six months. When the emperor expressed concern about the United States, Admiral Holtzendorf assured him, “I
give your Majesty my word as an officer that not one American will land on the continent.” The German naval officers
were quite wrong. The British were not forced to surrender, and the return to unrestricted submarine warfare brought
the United States into the war in April 1917. U.S. troops did not arrive in large numbers in Europe until 1918. However,
the entry of the United States into the war gave the Allied Powers a psychological boost and a major new source of
money and war goods.
Closure Question #3: Which of the non-European countries had the greatest impact on the war
effort? Explain.
Closure Assignment #7
• Answer the following questions based on what you
have learned from Chapter 29, Section 3:
1. Illustrate, by using a diagram the ways in which
government powers increased during the war.
2. What methods did governments use to counter
the loss of enthusiasm and opposition to the war
at home? (At least 2 sentences)
3. Which of the non-European countries had the
greatest impact on the war effort? Explain.
Woodrow Wilson
• President of the United States during WWI; Wilson kept the U.S. out of the war
from 1914 to 1917 before coming in on the side of the Allies. After the war’s end,
Wilson was an architect of the Treaty of Versailles & League of Nations.
•
•
•
Delegates met in Paris in early 1919 to determine the peace settlement. At the Paris Peace Conference, complications
became obvious. For one thing, secret treaties and agreements that had been made before the war had raised the
hopes of European nations for territorial gains. These hopes could not be ignored, even if they did conflict with the
principle of self-determination put forth by Wilson. National interests also complicated the deliberations of the Paris
Peace Conference. David Lloyd George had won a decisive victory in elections in December 1918. His platform was
simple: make the Germans pay for the dreadful war.
France’s approach to peace was chiefly guided by its desire for national security. To Georges Clemenceau, the French
people had suffered the most from German aggression. The French desired revenge and security against future
German attacks. Clemenceau wanted Germany stripped of all weapons, vast German payments to cover the costs of
war, and a separate Rhineland as a buffer state between France and Germany. The most important decisions at the
Paris Peace Conference were made by Wilson, Clemenceau, and Lloyd George. Italy, as one of the Allies, was
considered one of the Big Four powers. However, it played a smaller role than the other key powers – the United
States, France, and Great Britain, who were called the Big Three. Germany was not invited to attend, and Russia could
not be present because of its civil war.
In view of the many conflicting demands at the peace conference, it was no surprise that the Big Three quarreled.
Wilson wanted to create a world organization, the League of Nations, to prevent future wars. Clemenceau and Lloyd
George wanted to punish Germany. In the end, only compromise made it possible to achieve a peace settlement.
Wilson’s wish that the creation of an international peacekeeping organization be the first order of business was
granted. On January 25, 1919, the conference accepted the idea of a League of Nations. In return, Wilson agreed to
make compromises on territorial arrangements. He did so because he believed that the League could later fix any
unfair settlements.
Georges Clemenceau
• Georges Clemenceau – Premier of France in 1918 who participated in the Paris
Peace Conference; Clemenceau argued that Germany alone was responsible for
WWI and should be forced to pay for the damages caused by the war.
•
•
•
In January 1919, representatives of 27 victorious Allied nations met in Paris to make a final settlement of World War I.
Over a period of years, the reasons for fighting World War I had changed dramatically. When European nations had
gone to war in 1914, they sought territorial gains. By the beginning of 1918, however, the were also expressing more
idealistic reasons for the war. No one expressed these idealistic reasons better than the president of the United States,
Woodrow Wilson. Even before the end of the war, Wilson outlined “Fourteen Points” to the United States Congress –
his basis for a peace settlement that he believed justified the enormous military struggle being waged.
Wilson became the spokesperson for a new world order based on democracy and international cooperation. When he
arrived in Europe for the peace conference, Wilson was enthusiastically cheered by many Europeans. President Wilson
soon found, however, that more practical motives guided other states.
The principle of self-determination supposedly guided the Paris Peace Conference. However, the mixtures of peoples in
eastern Europe made it impossible to draw boundaries along strict ethnic lines. Compromises had to be made,
sometimes to satisfy the national interests of the victors. France, for example, had lost Russia as its major ally on
Germany’s eastern border. Thus, France wanted to strengthen and expand Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and
Romania as much as possible. Those states could then serve as barriers against Germany and Communist Russia.
Closure Question #1: Although Woodrow Wilson came to the Paris Peace Conference with high
ideals, the other leaders had more practical concerns. Why do you think that was so? (At least
1 sentence)
Fourteen Points / Self-Determination
•
•
•
•
Fourteen Points – Outline of U.S. goals in WW1 outlined by Woodrow Wilson; the heart
of the 14 points was the idea of “peace without victory.”
Self-Determination – The right of people to choose their own form of government; Part
of Wilson’s 14 Points, argued that after the war ethnic groups in the former German and
Austro-Hungarian Empires should have the right to establish their own independent
governments and countries.
The Fourteen Points sought to fundamentally change the world by promoting openness, encouraging
independence, and supporting freedom. Critical of all secret treaties. Wilson called for open
diplomacy. He insisted on freedom of the seas, free trade, a move toward ending colonialism, and a
general reduction of armaments. In early 1919, the victorious Allies held a peace conference in
Versailles, a suburb of Paris, in the former palace of Louis XIV. President Wilson believed that the
peace conference was too important to be left to career diplomats and lesser politicians, so he crossed
the Atlantic Ocean himself to represent the United States at the conference, something no President
had ever done.
Wilson did not invite any leading Republicans to join him in his peace delegation. This decision angered
Republicans, who had won control of Congress in the 1918 elections. However, when the American
President arrived in France, adoring crowds greeted him. “Never has a king, never has an emperor
received such a welcome,” wrote one journalist.
Closure Question #2: Compare and contrast Wilson’s 14 Points
to the Treaty of Versailles. (At least 2 sentences)
•
•
Wilson’s 14 Points: Wilson’s proposals for a truly just and lasting peace included reaching
the peace agreements openly rather than through secret diplomacy. His proposals also
included reducing armaments (military forces or weapons) to a “point consistent with
domestic safety” and ensuring self-determination (the right of each people to have their
own nation). Wilson portrayed World War I as a people’s war against “absolutism and
militarism.” These two enemies of liberty, he argued, could be eliminated only by creating
democratic governments and a “general association of nations.” This association would
guarantee “political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.”
The Treaty of Versailles: The Germans considered it a harsh peace. They were especially
unhappy with Article 231, the so-called War Guilt Clause, which declared that Germany and
Austria were responsible for starting the war. The treaty ordered Germany to pay
reparations for all damages that the Allied governments and their people had sustained as a
result of the war. The military and territorial provisions of the Treaty of Versailles also
angered Germans. Germany had to reduce its army to 100,000 men, cut back its navy, and
eliminate its air force. Alsace and Lorraine, taken by the Germans from France in 1871, were
now returned. Sections of eastern Germany were awarded to a new Polish state.
Treaty of Versailles
• Official treaty ending WWI for Germany which was signed in 1919 by and
declared that Germany was responsible for starting the war and would have to
pay reparations to the governments of the Allied countries.
•
•
German officials soon found that the Allies were unwilling to make peace with the autocratic imperial government of
Germany. Reforms for a liberal government came too late for the tired, angry German people. On November 3, 1918,
sailors in the northern German town of Kiel mutinied. Within days, councils of workers and soldiers formed throughout
northern Germany and took over civilian and military offices. Emperor William II gave into public pressure and left the
country on November 9. After William II’s departure, the Social Democrats under Friedrich Ebert announced the
creation of a democratic republic. Two days later, on November 11, 1918, the new-German government signed an
armistice.
The war was over, but the revolutionary forces set in motion in Germany were not yet exhausted. A group of radical
socialists, unhappy with the Social Democrats’ moderate polices, formed the German Communist Party in December
1918. A month later, the Communists tried to seize power in Berlin. The new Social Democratic government, backed by
regular army troops, crushed the rebels and murdered Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, leaders of the German
Communists. A similar attempt at Communist revolution in the city of Munich, in southern Germany, was also crushed.
The new German republic had been saved. The attempt at revolution, however, left the German middle-class with a
deep fear of communism.
League of Nations
• League of Nations – Part of Wilson’s 14 Points; A world organization where
countries could gather and peacefully resolve their quarrels. Though the
American President proposed the establishment of the League, the American
people refused to support U.S. involvement in the organization.
•
•
Wilson’s idealism did not inspire the other Allied leaders at the peace conference. They blamed Germany for starting
the war, reminded Wilson that they had suffered more in the war than the United States, and insisted that Germany
pay reparations. They wanted to weaken Germany so that it would never threaten Europe again. British prime minister
David Lloyd-George and French premier Georges Clemenceau knew that the citizens of their countries expected both
peace and victory. Lloyd-George insisted on protecting the existing colonial status quo and punishing Germany.
Clemenceau wanted to make Germany pay dearly for what it had done to France. In addition to reparations, he
demanded the return of Alsace-Lorraine and several key German colonies.
Once the Versailles Conference began, Clemenceau, Lloyd-George, Italian Premier Vittorio Orlando, and other Allied
leaders began to chip away at Wilson’s 14 Points. Onto the scrap heap of failed proposals they piled freedom of the
seas, free trade, the liberation of colonial empires, a general disarmament, and several other ideas. Wilson lost a
number of battles but kept fighting to salvage the League of Nations. On this point, Wilson refused to compromise. The
other delegates finally voted to make the League of Nations part of the treaty. In the end, the various peace treaties
created almost as many problems as they solved. In the new map that emerged from the conference, national selfdetermination was violated almost as often as it was confirmed. In Europe, several populations of Germans found
themselves attached to non-German nations. The same was true for several Austrian populations.
Closure Question #3: Explain why the mandate system was created. (1
sentence) Which countries became mandates? (At least 3) Which
countries governed them? (At least 2)
• After World War I, the Ottoman Empire was broken up by the peace
settlement. To gain Arab support against the Ottoman Turks during
the war, the Western Allies had promised to recognize the
independence of Arab states in the Ottoman Empire. Once the war
was over, however, the Western nations changed their minds. France
took control of Lebanon and Syria and Britain received Iraq and
Palestine.
• These acquisitions were officially called mandates. Woodrow Wilson
had opposed the outright annexation of colonial territories by the
Allies. As a result, the peace settlement created the mandate system.
According to this system, a nation officially governed another nation
as a mandate on behalf of the League of Nations but did not own the
territory.
Closure Assignment #8
• Answer the following questions based on what you have
learned from Chapter 29, Section 4:
1. Although Woodrow Wilson came to the Paris Peace
Conference with high ideals, the other leaders had more
practical concerns. Why do you think that was so? (At least 1
sentence)
2. Compare and contrast Wilson’s 14 Points to the Treaty of
Versailles. (At least 2 sentences)
3. Explain why the mandate system was created. (1 sentence)
Which countries became mandates? (At least 3) Which
countries governed them? (At least 2)