Download World War I: The Effects of the War at Home & Abroad

The Impact &
Effects of World
War I
The World
at War:
1914-1918
Effects of
Total War
What is Total War?
 A conflict of unlimited 
scope in which a
belligerent engages in a
mobilization of all
available resources at their
disposal, whether human,
industrial, agricultural,
military, natural,
technological, or otherwise,
 in order to entirely destroy
or render beyond use their
rival's capacity to continue
resistance.
The practice of total war has
been in use for centuries, but it
was only in the middle to late
19th century that total war was
identified by scholars as a
separate class of warfare.
– In a total war, there is less (or no)
differentiation between
combatants and non-combatants
(civilians) than in other conflicts,
as nearly every person from a
particular country (or opposing
area), civilians and soldiers alike,
can be considered to be part of
this belligerent effort.
War is HELL!!
Massive Casualties &
Death on the Battlefield
War is
HELL !!
Sacrifices
in War
Sacrifices in War
Dead French
soldiers in the
Argonne
German remains
at Verdun
Death of a French regiment near
Peronne
German dead in
frontline trench
on the Somme,
1916
Russian
soldier dead
on the wire
9,000,000 Dead
The Somme American Cemetary,
France
116,516 Americans Died
World War I Casualties
10,000,000
9,000,000
8,000,000
7,000,000
6,000,000
5,000,000
4,000,000
3,000,000
2,000,000
1,000,000
0
Russia
Germany
Austria-Hungary
France
Great Britain
Italy
Turkey
US
Approximate Comparative Losses in
World War I
Entente Powers
Military
Deaths
Total Deaths
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
h
Military
Wounded
Australia[1]
Belgium[2]
Canada[3]
61,928
42,987
64,944
61,928
104,987
66,944
152,171
44,686
149,732
France[4]
India[6]
Italy[7]
Romania[13]
1,397,800
74,187
651,010
250,000
1,697,800
74,187
1,240,010
680,000
4,266,000
69,214
953,886
120,000
Russia[14]
Serbia[15]
United Kingdom[17]
1,811,000
275,000
885,138
3,311,000
725,000
994,138
4,950,000
133,148
1,663,435
United States[18]
Total
(Entente Powers)
116,708
117,465
205,690
5,696,056
10,353,813
12,809,280
Central Powers
Austria-Hungary[19]
Bulgaria[20]
Germany[21]
Ottoman Empire[22]
Total
(Central Powers)
Military
Military Deaths Total Deaths
Wounded
1,100,000
1,567,000
3,620,000
87,500
187,500
152,390
2,036,897
2,462,897
4,247,143
800,000
5,000,000
400,000
4,024,397
9,415,397
8,419,533
The War Brings
Destruction to Europe
Avoncourt, France
The War brings forth mass destruction to civilians
The War brings forth mass destruction
to civilians
The War brings forth mass destruction
to civilians
Mt. Grappa
Rheims, France
Shell Craters On The Battlefield
Verdun: Cloister of the Hotel de la
Princerie
Village of Esnes
The Impact
of the War:
The United States
Adjusts to a
“Post War”
America
1918 Flu Pandemic:
Depletes All Armies
50,000,000 –
100,000,000 died
The Impact
of the War:
The Status of
Women
Women Make
Great Strides
 The war drew more than 1
million women into the
U.S. workforce & took a
variety of jobs such as:
– Factory jobs
– Operators & Secretaries
– Nurses & Teachers
– Public Works Jobs
– Military & Law Enforcement
jobs
 Women’s new role helped
Women gained the right to
vote:
– 19th Amendment (1920)
Women Face Setbacks
 Post-war recession
made jobs scarce
 As men returned
home from the war,
many women lost
their jobs
– Most women return to
domestic duties in the
home
– Those women who
remain employed were
paid less & treated
differently than their
male counterparts
The Impact of
the War:
New Opportunities
& Problems Faced
by AfricanAmericans
African-Americans Make
Significant Gains
 African-Americans serve in the
military during the war
 Great Migration
– African-Americans move to northern
cities & find economic opportunities
African-Americans Face
Hardships
 African-Americans
African American
experience
soldiers were
discrimination once
segregated and trained
in separate camps.
veterans returned from
the war
Many white officers
and southern
politicians feared
African Americans
would pose a threat
after the war so only
trained a few black
regiments.
– Competition for jobs &
housing
– Resurgence of the KKK
 Racial Tensions
Increased & led to
violence
– Chicago Race Riot
(1919)
The Impact
of the War:
Immigration
During WWI and
in Post-War
America
Restricting Immigration During WWI
1917:
1917-1924:

 Congress enacts a literacy
requirement for immigrants over
President Woodrow Wilson's veto.
– The law requires immigrants to be 
–
A series of laws were enacted to
further limit the number of new
immigrants.
These laws established the quota
able to read 40 words in some
system and imposed passport
language.
requirements.
The law also specifies that
immigration is prohibited from Asia,  They expanded the categories of
excludable aliens and banned all
except from Japan and the
Asians except Japanese.
Philippines.
– The law also imposed a literacy test
and aliens who were unable to meet 1918:
the minimum mental moral, physical,  Congress passes the Anarchist
and economic standards were
Act of 1918 which expands the
excluded, as were anarchists and
provisions for the exclusion of
other subversives, from the U.S.
subversive aliens.
Immigration in Post-War America
 Americans become distrustful
of immigrants in fear of rise of
anarchy, socialism, &
communism
– Nativism prompts Americans to
discriminate against immigrant
groups
– Immigrant groups targeted by
government & deported
(suspected anarchists or
socialists)
 Returning veterans competed
for jobs with immigrants
(immigrants lost their jobs)
– Facing discrimination and
violence, many immigrants
return home
 1917: Congress enacts a
literacy requirement for
immigrants over President
Woodrow Wilson's veto.
– The law requires
immigrants to be able to
read 40 words in some
language.
– The law also specifies that
immigration is prohibited
from Asia, except from
Japan and the Philippines.
 The Immigration Act of
1917 not only expanded
the classes of foreigners
Restricting Immigration After WWI
1921: Quota Act
 Limited annual European
immigration to 3 % of the
number of a nationality group
in the United States in 1910.
1923: Cable Act
 Partially repeals the
Expatriation Act, but declares
that an American woman who
marries an Asian still loses her
citizenship.
1923: United States vs.
Bhaghat Singh Thind
 In this landmark case, the
Supreme Court ruled that
Indians from the Asian
subcontinent could not become
naturalized U.S. citizens.
1924: Johnson-Reed Act
 Limited annual European
immigration to 2 % of the
number of nationality group in
the United States in 1890.
Restricting Immigration After WWI
1924: Oriental
Exclusion Act
 Prohibited most immigration
from Asia, including foreignborn wives and children of
U.S. citizens of Chinese
ancestry.
1924: Quota Systems
Changed
 Quotas based on the
desirability of various
nationalities
 For example, immigrants from
northern and western Europe
were consider much more
desirable than those of southern
and eastern Europe and more
adapt to "fit in."
 Consequently, countries like
Great Britain, Germany, and
Ireland were given generous
quotas, while nations like
Russia, the source of most
Jewish immigrants, and Italy
were cut back.
 Almost all Asian were
excluded from the U.S.
Government Excess & Threats
to the Civil Liberties of
Americans
Post-war labor unrest:
 Coal Miners Strike of 1919.
 Steel Strike of 1919.
 Boston Police Strike of 1919.
Anti-Labor
“If Capital & Labor Don’t Pull Together”
– Chicago Tribune
Consequences of Labor Unrest
“While We Rock the Boat” – Washington Times
The Impact
of the War:
The Boom &
Bust of the
Post-War
Economy
America Faces Post-War Economic Problems
• WWI devastated European
economies, giving the U.S. the
economic lead.
 During the war, inflation was kept
in check.
– Following the war, consumers raced
to buy consumer goods instead of
buying war bonds.
• The U.S. still faced problems such
as inflation, which left people
 A scarcity of goods coupled with
struggling to afford ordinary items. widespread demand, caused mass
• Farmers, whose goods were less in inflation
demand than during the war, were Industrial workers also felt pain of
hit hard.
inflation
– Prices of farm goods (corn, wheat,
– Wages didn’t increase with increase
cotton) rose dramatically
– Farmers had difficult time paying off
debts and buying essential
equipment for next growing season
in price of consumer goods &
services (rents)
– 20 % (more than 4 million workers)
went on strike for higher wages &
shorter work days
• Even Boston Police Department went on
strike
Coal Miners’ Strike - 1919
“Keeping Warm” – Los Angeles Times
Steel Strike - 1919
“Coming Out of the Smoke” – New York World
The “Red
Scare”
“What a Year Has
Brought Forth” – NY
World
“Red Scare” -- Anti-Bolshevism
“Put Them Out & Keep Them Out” –
Philadelphia Inquirer
Boston Police Strike - 1919
“He gives aid & comfort to the enemies of
society” – Chicago Tribune
Boston Police Strike - 1919
“Striking Back” – New York Evening World
Government Excess & Threats
to the Civil Liberties of
Americans
“The First Red Scare”:
 1919 - 3rd International goal  promote
worldwide communism.
 Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer (The
Case Against the Reds): He stated his belief that
Communism was "eating its way into the homes of the
American workman," and that socialists were responsible
for most of the country's social problems.
 Palmer Raids - 1920
Congressman Victor
Berger (WI)
 Born in Austria-Hungary, he
settled in Milwaukee in 1891
– He taught school before becoming a
prominent newspaper editor.
 He was one of the founders
of the American Socialist
movement, particularly
popular in Milwaukee.
 In 1910, he became the first
Socialist ever elected to the
U.S. Congress.
A. Mitchell Palmer: Attorney General
 Served as Attorney General from
March 5, 1919, until March 4, 1921.
– One of Palmer's first acts was to release
10,000 aliens of German ancestry taken
into custody during the war.
– Before assuming office, he had
opposed some of the actions of the
American Protective League, which
had participated in numerous raids and
surveillance activities,
• Actions directed primarily against those
who failed to register for the draft, but also
against immigrants of German ancestry
who were suspected of sympathies for the
German Kaiser and his government.
A. Mitchell Palmer: Attorney General
 However, the APL had also directed its
attention to anarchists and their
sympathizers in the Industrial Workers of
the World (I.W.W.), who were intensely
opposed to the U.S. entry into World War I.
– Palmer initially ignored demands by the press
and congressional leaders for federal arrests
and/or deportation of radical or revolutionary
activists and agitators.
– The new Attorney General's lack of response
was criticized by various political leaders and
former APL members, as well as journals such
as the New York Times
– NYT editorials had characterized striking
immigrants who had joined anarchist movements
as "seditionaries, anarchists, plotters against the
Government of the United States"
A. Mitchell Palmer & the Palmer Raids
 Convinced that the menace
posed by anarchists and the
radical left was real, and
armed with a clear mandate
for action from President
Wilson, Palmer became a
zealous opponent of anarchist
communists, insurrectionary
anarchists, and other radicals
who advocated revolution
and/or the violent overthrow
of the Federal government of
the United States.
“Red Scare” –
Palmer Raids
A. Mitchell Palmer’s Home
Bombed, 1920
In late April 1919, Galleanists, violent
anarchist followers of Luigi Galleani
mailed a booby trap bomb to Palmer's
home; it was intercepted and defused.
Three months after becoming Attorney
General, Palmer narrowly escaped
death when Carlo Valdinoci, a
Galleanist and anarchist placed a bomb
on Palmer's porch; the bomb went off
and killed Valdinoci. Palmer had been
home at the time of the explosion, with
his wife and child recently put to bed,
though he and his family were not
harmed from the blast.
A. Mitchell Palmer & the Palmer Raids
 Palmer's campaign against
radicalism culminated in
what came to be called the
Palmer Raids and the
commencement of what
would later be termed the
First Red Scare.
– These were a series of police
roundups, warrantless wiretaps
(authorized under the Sedition
Act), and mass arrests of
suspected leftists and radicals,
during which a total of at least
10,000 individuals were
arrested.
“Red Scare” – Palmer Raids
Police Arrest “Suspected Reds’ in Chicago, 1920
The Palmer Raids
 Under the 1918 Anarchist Exclusion Act, which
allowed the deportation of resident aliens who
were anarchists or who had advocated violence
or the revolutionary overthrow of the
government, 556 resident aliens were eventually
deported, including prominent radical leaders
such as:
– Luigi Galleani, Emma Goldman, and Alexander
Berkman.
 Fearful of extremist violence and revolution, the
American public widely supported the raids;
outside of protests by some civil libertarian
groups and the radical left, condemnation of the
raids did not surface until many years later.
American View
of European
Anarchists
 This cartoon, published in
the Memphis Commercial
Appeal in 1919 depicts a
monstrous "European
Anarchist" seeking to blow
up the Statue of Liberty.
Sacco & Vanzetti Background
 Ferdinando Nicola
Sacco and Bartolomeo
Vanzetti were two
Italian-born laborers
and anarchists
– Arrested in connection
Sacco & Vanzetti (in handcuffs)
to the 1920 armed
robbery and murder of a
pay-clerk and a security
guard in Braintree,
Massachusetts.
– Both tried, convicted
and executed via
electrocution on August
23, 1927
Sacco & Vanzetti Background
Sacco & Vanzetti
 Both men were followers of Luigi Galleani, an
Italian anarchist who advocated revolutionary
violence, including bombing and assassination.
 Sacco: a shoe-maker
born in
Torremaggiore,
Foggia, who
immigrated to the
United States at 17.
 Vanzetti: a
fishmonger born in
Villafalletto, Cuneo,
who arrived in the
United States at 20.
– Both men arrived in
the U.S. in 1908,
although they did
not meet until mid1917.
Sacco & Vanzetti: The Trial
 Both men are believed
to have been involved
at some level in the
Galleanist bombing
campaign, although
their precise roles have
not been determined.
 In particular, the
Galleanist's chief
bombmaker, Mario
Buda, reportedly told a
friend in 1955, "Sacco
Sacco & Vanzetti
c'era" (Sacco was
 The judge in the case, Webster Thayer, allegedly stated to there).
the jury "This man, (Vanzetti) although he may not have  This fact could account
for their suspicious
actually committed the crime attributed to him, is
activities and behavior
nevertheless culpable, because he is the enemy of our
on the night of their
existing institutions.“
arrest, May 5, 1920.
– There is no record of this statement in the full trial transcript.
Why Target Sacco & Vanzetti?
Sacco & Vanzetti (in handcuffs)
 With circumstantial
evidence found and
inconsistent
testimonies, why were
these two men
targeted?
 What political
motivations could the
government (and the
judge) have in
securing a conviction
in this case?
Appealing the Conviction & Protesting the Sacco
 Appeals, protests, and denials
& Vanzetti Execution
continued for the next 6 years.
– While the prosecution staunchly
defended the verdict, the defense, led
by radical attorney Fred Moore, dug up
many possible reasons for doubt.
– 3 key prosecution witnesses stated that
they had been coerced into identifying
Sacco at the scene of the crime. But
when confronted by DA Katzmann,
each changed their stories again,
denying any coercion. Other appeals
focused on the jury foreman and a
prosecution ballistics expert.

– In 1923, the defense filed an affidavit
from a friend of the jury foreman who
1921 Protest in London, England
swore that prior to the trial, the man
had said of Sacco and Vanzetti, "Damn
A worldwide outcry arose and Governor Alvin T. them, they ought to hang them
Fuller finally agreed to postpone the executions
anyway!"
and set up a committee to reconsider the case.
 Why would there be an international outcry
against the conviction and impending
execution of Sacco & Vanzetti?
On April 8, 1927, their appeals
exhausted, Sacco and Vanzetti were
finally sentenced to death in the
electric chair.
The Aftermath of the Sacco
& Vanzetti Execution
The funeral of Sacco and Vanzetti,
Boston 1927
 Sacco & Vanzetti were executed
in Massachusetts on August 23,
1927 for their role in the 1920
murder of the pay clerk in
Braintree, Massachusetts
 On December 24, 1927, the headquarters of the Citibank and of the
Bank of Boston in Buenos Aires were blown up by the Italian
anarchist Severino Di Giovanni, in apparent protest of the execution.
– Di Giovanni, one of the most vocal supporters of Sacco and Vanzetti in
Argentina, had already bombed the U.S. embassy in Buenos Aires a few hours
after Sacco and Vanzetti were condemned.
– Later, Di Giovanni and his comrades would unsuccessfully attempt to bomb the
train in which president Herbert Hoover travelled during his stay in Argentina,
in December 1928.
The Aftermath of the Sacco &
Vanzetti Execution
 Fellow Galleanists did not take news of the executions with
equanimity. One or more followers of Galleani, especially Mario
Buda, were suspected as the perpetrators of the infamous and deadly
Wall Street bombing of 1920 after the two men were initially
indicted.
– At the funeral parlor in Hanover Street, a wreath announced Aspettando l'ora
di vendetta (Awaiting the hour of vengeance).
 Anarchists in other countries had been conducting a campaign of
violent retaliation ever since the mens' indictment.
– In 1921, a booby trap bomb mailed to the American ambassador in Paris
exploded, wounding his valet.
– Other bombs sent to American embassies were defused.
– In 1926, Samuel Johnson, the brother of the man who had called police the
night of Sacco and Vanzetti's arrest (Simon Johnson), had his house destroyed
by a bomb.
The Aftermath of the Execution of
Sacco & Vanzetti
 Following the sentencing of Sacco and Vanzetti in 1927, a package
bomb addressed to Governor Fuller was intercepted in the Boston
post office.
 Three months later, bombs exploded in the New York subway, in a
Philadelphia church, and at the home of the mayor of Baltimore.
 One of the jurors in the Dedham trial had his house bombed,
throwing him and his family from their beds.
 Less than a year after the executions, a bomb destroyed the front
porch of the home of executioner Robert Elliott.
 As late as 1932, Judge Thayer himself was the victim of an
attempted assassination when his home was wrecked in a bomb
blast.
– Afterwards, Thayer lived permanently at his club in Boston, guarded 24
hours a day until his death.
The Sacco & Vanzetti Controversy:
The Mystery Continues Today
 Today, the case
continues to incite
controversy based on
questions regarding
culpability, the
question of the
innocence or guilt of
Sacco and Vanzetti,
and conformance, the
question of whether
the trials were fair to
Sacco and Vanzetti.
Sacco & Vanzetti
 On August 23, 1977, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis signed a
proclamation declaring, "Any stigma and disgrace should be forever removed from
the names of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. We are not here to say whether
these men are guilty or innocent. We are here to say that the high standards of
justice, which we in Massachusetts take such pride in, failed Sacco and Vanzetti."
The Lasting
Effects of
World War I:
What are the
Unresolved Issues &
Home and Abroad?
The 1920 Election
 Woodrow Wilson originally tried to run for a 3rd term
– He lost the Democratic Party’s nomination
– Wilson supported Democratic Candidate James M.
Cox of Ohio
• If Cox won, Wilson was convinced it would prove that
Americans supported his vision of peace and the League
of Nations
– Election of Warren G. Harding served as the final
rejection of the League of Nation
• Harding ran on platform rejecting both Wilson’s idealism
& joining the League of Nations
• He campaigned on a “Return to Normalcy”
– Republicans also won majority in Congress, which
proved Americans wanted to take a different path
in foreign affairs and isolate themselves from
European affairs/wars
The 1920 Election
America Returns to “Normalcy”
The U.S.“Returns to Normalcy” & Adjusts to the
New World Order
Political Issues
• The 1920 Presidential
& Congressional
elections signaled that
Americans rejected
Wilson’s vision for the
future
• Americans wanted to
return to “normalcy”
• The United States
withdrew from the
world by refusing to
join the League of
Nations and retreat to
a policy of
isolationism
Economic Issues
Social Issues
• The United States
became an economic
giant and emerges as
the richest nation in
the world
• Many women lost
their jobs once
veterans returned
• U.S. becomes a
creditor nation,
meaning that foreign
nations owed the U.S.
more money than it
owed them
• World War I shifted
the economic center
of the world from
London to New York
City
• Many AfricanAmericans lost their
jobs once veterans
returned &
experienced harsh
treatment and
discrimination
• Distrust for
immigrants breeds
Nativism &
restriction of
immigration
The World Adjusts to a New Order &
Unresolved Issues…
• The New Europe:
– German & Russian monarchies toppled and new governments created (Russia
becomes a Communist nation U.S.S.R.)
– Austria-Hungary & Ottoman Empire ceased to exist & new countries and
mandates created (European nationalism still alive)
– Britain & France victorious, but economically & politically weakened
• Too Many Unresolved Issues Lead to World War II:
– Too much anger and hostility remained among nations.
– Germany: humiliation for war-guilt clause and reparations crippled its economy
& bred resentment for the Allies
– Russia: Angry for exclusion from peace talks and vows to seek revenge for
being punished and for losing territory
– Instability in Middle Eastern & African mandates & colonies cause problems for
European nations
– League of Nations: Because the U.S. didn’t join the League, it proved to be
weak, ineffective, and failed to keep peace