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American Stories:
A History of the United States
Second Edition
Chapter
24
The Nation at War
1901–1920
American Stories: A History of the United States, Second Edition
Brands • Breen • Williams • Gross
A Fateful Torpedo With the sinking of the
Lusitania, the American people learned firsthand of
the horrors of total war. President Wilson’s decision
to protest the incident through diplomacy kept the
United States out of the war—but only temporarily.
The Nation at War
1901–1920
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A New World Power
Foreign Policy Under Wilson
Toward War
Over There
Over Here
The Treaty of Versailles
Conclusion: Postwar Disillusionment
The Sinking of the Lusitania
• Germans sink British luxury liner
• Americans sifted through British,
German claims and hoped for peace
• Wilson hated war but diplomacy failed
• April 1917, U.S. enters World War I
A New World Power
• American foreign policy aggressive,
nationalistic since late 19th century
• Colonialism drew U.S. into international
affairs
Building the Panama Canal
• 1903: Colombian senate refused to
allow U.S. to build Panama Canal
• Roosevelt abetted revolution to
separate Panama from Colombia
• Independent Panama permitted
construction
Building the Panama Canal
(cont’d)
• HayBunau–Varilla Treaty with Panama
granted U.S. control of canal zone;
1914: canal opened
• “Roosevelt Corollary”: U.S. would
ensure stability of Latin American
finance
• Roosevelt Corollary spurred
intervention in, Cuba, Panama,
Dominican Republic
Map 24.1 The Panama Canal Zone Construction
of the canal began in 1904, and despite landslides,
steamy weather, and yellow fever, work was
completed in 1914.
Ventures in the Far East
• 1905: Roosevelt mediated the RussoJapanese War
• Taft-Katsura Agreement
 Korea under Japanese influence
 Japan to respect U.S. control of Philippines
• 1907: “Gentleman's Agreement” Japan
promises to stop immigration
Ventures in the Far East (cont’d)
• 1908: Root-Takahira Agreement
 Maintain status quo in Far East
 Accept Open Door and Chinese
independence
• 1915: Japan seized German colonies in
China and claimed authority over China
Taft and Dollar Diplomacy
• Taft substituted economic force for
military
• American bankers replaced Europeans
in Caribbean
• Taft's support for U.S. economic
influence in Manchuria alienated China,
Japan, Russia
Foreign Policy Under Wilson
• Wilson inexperienced in diplomacy
• Tried to base foreign policy on moral
force
Troubles Across the Border
• 1913: Huerta led coup in Mexico
• Wilson denied Huerta recognition
 Revolutionary regimes must reflect “a just
government based upon law”
• Wilson blocked arms shipments to
Mexico
• 1914: U.S. seized Vera Cruz
• 1916: U.S. Army pursued “Pancho”
Villa across U.S., Mexican border
Map 24.2 Activities of the United States in
the Caribbean, 1898–1930 During the first
three decades of the twentieth century, the United
States policed the Caribbean, claiming the right to
take action when it judged Latin American
countries were doing a bad job of running their
affairs. During the first three
Toward War
• 1914: War in Europe
 Central Powers headed by Germany
 Allied Powers headed by England, France
• Wilson sympathized with England,
sought U.S. neutrality
The Neutrality Policy
• Progressives saw war as wasteful,
irrational
• Suspicion that business sought war for
profit
• Immigrants prefered U.S. neutrality
• A long tradition of U.S. neutrality
• Americans saw little national stake in
war
Freedom of the Seas
• England blockade of Germany
• U.S. ships to Germany seized
• Wilson accepted English promise of
reimbursement at war's end
Freedom of the Seas (cont’d)
• Germans used U-boats to interrupt
trade with Allies
• U.S. trade with Allies boomed, but was
increasingly financed by loans from
American banks
• Allies owed U.S. banks $2 billion by
1917
The U-Boat Threat
• German submarines violated
international law by shooting without
warning
• Bryan advised Wilson to ban travel,
Wilson refused
• 1915: Lusitania sunk by U-Boat
 Wilson demanded Germans protect
passenger ships and pay for losses
 Bryan resigned, replaced by Robert
Lansing, who favored Allies
The U-Boat A new and terrifying weapon of the
war was the German U-boat, which attacked
silently and without warning.
The U-Boat Threat (cont’d)
• April, 1916: Wilson issued ultimatum:
call off attacks on cargo and passenger
ships or U.S.-German relations would
be severed
• May, 1916: Sussex Pledge—Germany
pledges to honor U.S. neutrality
The Election of 1916
• 1916: Wilson campaigned on record of
neutrality
• Republican Charles Evans Hughes
campaigned on tougher line against
Germany
• Wilson won close election
 Won large labor, progressive vote
 Won majority of women's vote
The Final Months of Peace
• Feb., 1917: Germany renewed U-Boat
attacks
• Zimmerman Telegram
• Wilson's response
 Ordered U.S. merchant vessels armed
 Ordered U.S. Navy to fire on German UBoats
• April 6, 1917: War declared on
Germany
Over There
• U.S. allies were in danger of losing war
 Germans sunk 881,000 tons of Allied
shipping during April, 1917
 Mutinies in French army
 British drive in Flanders stalled
 Bolsheviks signed separate peace with
Germany; German troops to West
 Italian army routed
• Allies braced for spring, 1918 offensive
Map 24.4 European Alliances and
Battlefronts, 1914–1917 Allied forces suffered
early defeats on the eastern front (Tannenberg)
and in the Dardanelles (Gallipoli). In 1917, the
Allies were routed in the Alps (Caporetto); the
western front then became the critical theater of
the war.
Mobilization
• No U.S. contingency plans for war
• 200,000 troops at war's beginning
• Selective Service Act created draft
 Conscripted 2.8 million by war's end
 African Americans drafted as well
War in the Trenches
• Teaming of U.S., English navies halved
Allied losses to submarines
• June, 1917: U.S. troops arrived in
France
War in the Trenches (cont’d)
• Spring, 1918: U.S. forces helped halt
final German offensive
 Battle of Chateau Thierry
 Battle of Belleau Wood
• September: Germans out of St. Mihiel
Map 24.5 The Western Front: U.S.
Participation, 1918 The turning point of the war
came in July, when the German advance was
halted at the Marne. The “Yanks,” now a fighting
force, were thrown into the breach. They helped
stem the tide and mount the counteroffensives that
ended the war.
Over Here
• Victory depended on economic,
emotional mobilization at home
• Wilson moved quickly to organize war
production
• Recognized need to enlist American
emotions
The Conquest of Convictions
• Wartime laws to repress dissent
 Espionage Act: Outlawed acts to aid the
enemy, even encouraging disloyalty
 Trading with the Enemy Act: Government
can censor foreign language press
 Sedition Act: Criticism of the war made a
crime
 1500 dissenters imprisoned, including
Eugene Debs
The Conquest of Convictions
(cont’d)
• Summer, 1918: Anticommunism
prompts deployment of U.S. troops to
Russia
• 1918–1919: “Red Scare” resulted in
domestic suppression of “radicals”
A Bureaucratic War
• War Industries Board and other
agencies supervised production,
distribution to maximize war effort
• Government seized some businesses to
keep them running
• Cooperation between government and
business the norm
• Business profits from wartime industry
Labor in the War
• War Labor Board standardizes wages,
hours, offered women equal pay
• Corporations recruited Southern blacks
• Growing competition for housings, jobs
increased racial tensions and blacks
fought back
Women at Work Housewives did not leave home
for the factory en masse in 1917 as they did during
World War II, but many women already employed
outside the home found new, well-paying
opportunities in jobs previously held by men.
Labor in the War (cont’d)
• Labor shortage prompts entry of
Mexican Americans to war-related work
force
• U.S. emerged from war strongest
economic power in the world
Heroes of the War The 369th infantry regiment
returning from the war on the Stockholm in
February 1919. France awarded them its highest
medal for valor, the Croix de Guerre, for bravery in
the Meuse-Argonne.
The Treaty of Versailles
• Common concern about Bolshevik
revolution
• Wilson's 14 Points call for non-punitive
settlement
• England and France balk at 14 Points
 Want Germany disarmed and crippled
 Want Germany's colonies
 Skeptical of principle of self-determination
TABLE 24.1 Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points,
1918: Success and Failure in Implementation
Sources: Data from G. M. Gathorne-Hardy, The
Fourteen Points and the Treaty of Versailles
(Oxford Pamphlets on World Affairs, no. 6, 1939),
pp. 8–34 ; Thomas G. Paterson et al., American
Foreign Policy: A History Since 1900, 2nd ed., vol.
2, pp. 282–293 .
A Peace at Paris
• Wilson failed to deflect Allied
punishment of Germany in treaty
• Treaty created Wilson's League of
Nations
 Article X of League charter required
members to protect each others' territorial
integrity
• League's jurisdiction excluded member
nations' domestic affairs
Map 24.7 Europe after the Treaty of
Versailles, 1919 The treaty changed the map of
Europe, creating new and reconstituted nations.
(Note the boundary changes from the map on p.
618.)
Rejection in the Senate
• William Borah (R-ID) led “irreconcibles”
who opposed treaty on any ground
• Senator Henry Cabot Lodge (R-MA) led
“strong reservationists” demanded
major changes; “Article X”
• Wilson takes case to the people;
October, 1919: Stroke disables Wilson
• November: Treaty fails in Senate
Rejection in the Senate (cont’d)
• Wilson hopes democratic victory in
1920 election would provide mandate
for League of Nations
• Harding wins election
• January, 1920: Final defeat of Treaty
• July, 1921: U.S. peace declared by joint
Congressional resolution
Conclusion: Postwar
Disillusionment
• To the next generation the war seemed
futile, wasteful
• The progressive spirit survived but
without enthusiasm or broad based
support
• Americans welcomed Harding's return
to “normalcy”
Timeline
Timeline (continued)