Download Ch11 WWI - Everglades High School

The First
World
War
LongTerm
Causes of
WWI
Nationalism
 The
term nationalism refers to
the strong feelings people have
for their own country.
 It may also refer to the desire
of people ruled by others to
throw off this foreign rule and
create their own nation.
Imperialism
 The
quest for new territories
led to intense competition
among the countries of
Europe.
 France, Great Britain, AustriaHungary, Germany, and Russia
all competed for influence in
Europe.
Militarism
 Militarism
is the policy of
maintaining a strong fighting force
in readiness for war.
 As Germany began to expand her
army and navy in the late 1890s,
other European nations, especially
Great Britain, tried to stay ahead of
this military expansion (arms race).
System of Alliances
 The
nations of Europe entered into a
series of alliances to maintain a
balance of power if war erupted.
 These alliances helped maintain a
balance of power, but they also
meant that a minor incident could
provoke a war.
 The prewar alliances, with a few
exceptions, became the belligerents,
or warring nations.
The Triple Alliance
 Germany, Austria-Hungary,
and Italy
belonged to the Triple Alliance, later
known as the Central Powers.
 The Ottoman Empire, an empire of
mostly Middle Eastern lands
controlled by the Turks, later joined
the alliance.
 In 1915, Italy would join the Allies
in return for promised territorial
gain.
The Triple Entente
 The
Triple Entente, later known
as the Allied Powers or the Allies,
consisted of France, Russia, and
Great Britain.
 Russia would withdraw in 1917
(we’ll talk more of this later).
 Eventually, some 30 nations would
take sides in the Great War.
The Spark
 Many
feared that an incident that
would lead to war could take place
in the Balkans, a region so unstable
that some called it the “powder
keg of Europe.”
 On June 28, 1914, Archduke
Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the
Austro-Hungarian throne, and his
wife were gunned down during a
visit to Sarajevo, the capital of
Bosnia, a province within the
Austro-Hungarian Empire.
 The
teenage gunman turned out to
be a member of a secret society
called the Black Hand, with aims
to unite all Serbs under one gov’t.
 Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for
the assassination, and declared war
on Serbia one month after the
assassination.
 The alliance system pulled one
nation after another into the
conflict.
The Fighting Begins
 Fighting
started on the western
front when Germany invaded
Belgium on Aug. 4, 1914.
 The German plan was to defeat
France quickly and then turn its
attention to Russia (Schlieffen
Plan).
 However, Belgium and France
were able to resist long enough for
Great Britain to come to the aid of
France.
 In
spite of heavy losses by the
Allies, the French finally stopped
the German advance at the Battle
of the Marne.
 At the same time, the Russians
were fighting the Germans on the
eastern front.
 By the end of 1914 troops from
both sides along the western front
had dug trenches that stretched
from the North Sea to
Switzerland.
The Trial of Neutrality
 At
the outset of the war in 1914,
President Wilson issued a
Proclamation of Neutrality and
urged Americans to remain“neutral
in fact as well as in name.”
 As the war progressed, the US
tended to favor the Allies due to a
cultural, ancestral, and language ties
to Britain.
 America’s
freedom of the seas
(right to trade with any country)
was again challenged.
 The British stopped American
ships and forced them into port
for inspection. Goods headed for
Germany were seized.
 German u-boats sank any ship it
suspected of carrying cargo for
the Allies.
 German
u-boats were
responsible for 75,000 deaths.
 Wilson and the American people
could stomach the loss of
property more than they could
the loss of life.
 On May 7, 1915, a German sub
torpedoed the British cruise ship
the Lusitania, killing 1,198
passengers (128 Americans).
 In
March 1916 a German sub
sunk the French ship, the Sussex.
 The US threatened to sever
diplomatic relations.
 Germany responded by issuing
the Sussex Pledge, promising to
sink no more merchant vessels
without warning, provided the
US also compelled the British to
observe international law
regarding blockade practices.
The Election of 1916
 Wilson
narrowly won reelection in
1916 with the slogan, “He Kept
Us Out Of The War.”
 In Jan. of 1917, Wilson gave a
speech that expressed his hope that
the war could end with a “peace
without victory.”
 That was not the intentions of the
belligerents in Europe.
 Believing
that they now
possessed enough u-boats to
starve Britain into
submission, the German
leaders took the risk of war
with the US and renewed
their unrestricted
submarine warfare.
The Zimmerman Note
 A few
weeks later, British agents
intercepted a note, written by
German Foreign Secretary Arthur
Zimmerman, suggesting to
Mexico that a German-Mexican
alliance might be arranged which
would enable Mexico to recover
TX, NM, and AZ.
 It was hinted that Japan might also
join in an attack on the US.
The US Enters the War
 More American
ships were sunk
by the Germans.
 On April 2, 1917, Wilson asked
Congress to declare war, stating
that, “The world must be
made safe for democracy.”
 Congress declared war on
Germany on April 6, 1917.
American Power
Tips the Balance
Chapter 11: Section 2
Military Expansion
 The
US’s armed forces was
small when the US declared
war.
 There were about 200,000 men
in the army when the US
entered the war.
 The Selective Service Act of
1917 required all men 21-30 to
register with draft boards (later
extended to 18-45).
 By
the end of the war more than 2
million men had gone overseas, of
whom some 1.4 million engaged in
active fighting.
 Women could not serve in the army,
but the navy allowed them to serve as
nurses, secretaries, and telephone
operators.
 Most of the 200,000 black Americans
sent to Europe served in
noncombatant roles and were met
with discrimination.
 By
the end of the war the
navy consisted of 500,000
men and 2,000 ships.
 The US navy was
instrumental in aiding in the
British blockade, attacking
German u-boats, and
participating in the convoy
system (a group of vessels
sailing under the protection of
an armed escort).
America in France
 12
weeks after war had been
declared, the 1st US troops
landed in France.
 Leading the American
Expeditionary Force (AEF)
was General John J. Pershing.
 American soldiers were called
“Yanks” or “doughboys”by
their allies.
The Eastern Front
 After
the Russian people overthrew
the czar in March, 1917, political
turmoil continued until Nov., when
the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir
Lenin, seized power.
 The Bolsheviks opposed the war and
signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
with the Central Powers in march
1918, ending the fighting on the
eastern front.
The Marne Revisited
 The
turning point in the war
occurred in July-Aug. 1918, with
the Second Battle of the Marne,
in which the last great German
offensive was repulsed decisively
by the Allied armies.
 Roughly 85,000 American troops
took part in this fighting.
 It
was during this fighting
that America’s greatest war
hero became famous.
 On Oct. 8, 1918, Corporal
Alvin York, armed only with
a rifle and a revolver, killed
25 Germans and -- with 6
other doughboys -- captured
132 prisoners.
 As
it became evident that
the Allies were headed for
German territory, resistance
collapsed and
representatives of a newly
established republican
gov’t in Germany signed an
armistice on the 11th hour
of November 11, 1918.
Casualties of the War
Roughly
110,000
Americans died during
WWI, half of which were
killed by Spanish
influenza.
Approximately 8.5
million people died
during the Great War.
New Weapons
 New
weapons made fighting
in WWI very destructive.
 The Germans developed a
cannon called Big Bertha
that could fire a shell 75
miles.
 Zeppelins, gas-filled
airships, were used to drop
bombs on English cities.
 Machine
guns could spray 600
rounds of ammo per minute.
 The 2 most important new weapons
were the tank and the airplane.
 Dogfights were air battles between
2 airplanes. Aces were pilots who
shot down 5 or more enemy planes.
 Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was
the leading American ace (26
downed planes).
 WWI
saw the 1st modern use
of chemical warfare.
 Both sides made use of
chlorine, or mustard gas, as a
weapon. Mustard gas burns the
skin and attacks the nervous
system.
 By 1918, between 20 and 30%
of all deaths were caused by
this chemical warfare.
The War at Home
Chapter 11: Section 3
 To
fight the war, the US needed the
help of industry.
 The economy had to change from
making consumer goods to making
weapons and war supplies.
 Congress gave Wilson direct control
over much of the economy, with the
power to fix prices and regulate
war-related industries.
 Other
federal agencies also
regulated the economy.
 The Railroad
Administration controlled
the nation’s railroads.
 The Fuel Administration
watched over the use of coal,
gasoline, and heating oil.
 Another
new agency, the Food
Administration, headed by
Herbert Hoover, was established to
help produce and conserve food
supplies.
 Hoover encouraged Americans to
clean their plates, eat less (“meatless
Mondays” and “wheatless
Tuesdays”), and grow their own
food (“victory gardens”).
 As a result, more food could be sent
to the Allies.
Selling the War
 The
gov’t raised money to finance
the war by raising taxes (1/3) and by
selling war bonds (2/3).
 All told, the gov’t ran four great
“Liberty Loan” drives and one
“Victory Loan” drive raising about
$21 billion.
 Women were very influential in the
success of these drives.
Attack on Civil Liberties
 The
war brought out antiimmigrant feelings, especially
against all things German.
 Americans with German-sounding
names lost their jobs.
 Orchestras refused to play German
music.
 The
Espionage Act made it a
crime to aid enemy nations or to
interfere with the recruiting of
soldiers.
 The Sedition Act made it a crime
to speak or write anything critical
of the government’s war effort.
 Penalties for breaking either law
were severe, and there was little
war opposition.
 Creel
organized Loyalty
Leagues, which encouraged
Americans to spy on their
neighbors and report those who
might be “disloyal.”
 Thousands were imprisoned for
opinions expressed in private
conversations.
 Eugene Debs was arrested and
sentenced to 10 years in prison
for telling an audience to “resist
militarism wherever found.”
Social Changes During the War
 The
war sped up the Great
Migration, the movement of
thousands of African
Americans from the South to
cities of the North.
 They wanted to escape racial
discrimination and to find
jobs in northern industries.
Women’s Roles Expand
 American
women played new roles
during the war.
 They worked as truck drivers, cooks,
dock workers, and builders.
 They were not paid the same as men,
but their expanded roles made them
more visible, and Congress passed a
women’s suffrage amendment
shortly after the war.
Wilson Fights for Peace
Chapter 11: Section 4
The Fourteen Points
 In
Jan. 1918, Wilson went before
Congress with his Fourteen
Points to present his goals and
objectives for a lasting peace.
 Wilson hoped to establish a new
world order with his plan which
was based on “the principle of
justice to all peoples and
nationalities.”
 In
the 14th point, Wilson proposed
an international peacekeeping
organization called the League of
Nations.
 Although Wilson’s plan appealed
to a world weary of war, the other
Allied leaders did not support the
League.
 They wanted German territory and
to see Germany punished.
On
June 28, 1919, the
leaders of the Allies (the
Big Four: Great Britain,
France, Italy, and the US)
and the Central Powers
met at the Palace of
Versailles outside of
Paris, France to sign the
Treaty of Versailles.
The Treaty
 The
treaty created new national
boundaries by:

1) establishing 9 new nations
including Poland, Yugoslavia,
Czechoslovakia

2) shifting boundaries of other
nations

3) carving out parts of the Ottoman
Empire to create colonies
(mandates) in the Middle East for
Great Britain
and France
 The
treaty also took away
Germany’s army and navy.
 It forced Germany to pay
reparations, or war damages,
to the winners.
 In addition, the treaty contained
a war-guilt clause -- Germany
had to admit that it was
responsible for causing the war.
 The
main opposition to the treaty
was over the League of Nations.
 Conservative senators, headed by
Henry Cabot Lodge, did not like
the idea of working with other
countries to take economic and
military action against aggression.
 They wanted the treaty to include
the constitutional right of
Congress to declare war.
 Wilson
refused to compromise on
the League, and wouldn’t accept
amendments proposed by
Republican leaders.
 As a result, the Senate failed to
ratify the treaty and the US never
entered the League of Nations.
 The US finally signed a separate
treaty with Germany in 1921,
when Wilson was no longer
President.