Chapter 27 World War I and Its Aftermath

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Chapter 27 World War I and Its Aftermath
Section 4 Winning the War
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• Setting the Scene
• By 1917, European societies were cracking under
  the strain of war. Instead of praising the
  glorious deeds of heroes, war poets began
  denouncing the leaders whose errors wasted so
  many lives. British poet and soldier Siegfried
  Sassoon captured the bitter mood in "Suicide in
  the Trenches"
• "You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
• Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
• Sneak home and pray you'll never know
• The hell where youth and laughter go
• In 1917, a revolution in Russia and the entry of
  the United States into the war would upset the
  balance of forces and finally end the long
  stalemate.

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I. Total War

• Total war is the channeling of a nation's entire
  resources into the war effort

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I. Total War

• All nations except Britain imposed a draft
  Germany set up a system of forced civilian labor

Protect Your Children! Protect Your Women!
Protect Yourself! Join the Army Today!
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I. Total War

• Governments raised taxes and borrowed money,
  rationed products, and established economic
  controls

Ration Coupons
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I. Total War

• Special boards censored the press to keep
  casualty figures and defeats from reaching the
  people

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I. Total War

• Both sides waged a propaganda war, spreading
  stories that were exaggerated or made up

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I. Total War

• Women played a critical role in total war by
  working in factories, on farms, or by joining the
  military

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II. Collapsing Morale

• By 1917, the morale of both the troops and
  civilians reached a low point

"To the memory of the brave lads who fell at
Gallipoli, 1915." The bag is captioned "Interest
on war loans".
British soldiers - victims of a poison gas attack
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II. Collapsing Morale

• In March 1917, bread riots in St. Petersburg grew
  into a revolution that brought down Czar Nicholas

Lenin
Czar Nicholas and Family
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II. Collapsing Morale

• In 1918, Lenin signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
  with Germany, ending Russian participation in the
  war

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III. The United States Declares War

• In May 1915, a German U-boat torpedoed the
  British ship Lusitania, killing 128 Americans

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III. The United States Declares War

• Because of US threats, Germany stopped
  unrestricted submarine warfare until December 1916

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III. The United States Declares War

• In 1917, the British intercepted a telegram from
  German foreign minister Arthur Zimmermann

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III. The United States Declares War

• Zimmermann promised Germany would help Mexico "to
  re-conquer the lost territory in New Mexico,
  Texas, and Arizona

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III. The United States Declares War

• In April 1917, President Wilson asked Congress to
  declare war on Germany by 1918 two million US
  soldiers had entered the war

Wilson before Congress
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III. The United States Declares War

• Wilson issued the Fourteen Points, his list of
  terms for resolving WWI and future wars

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III. The United States Declares War

• In March 1918, the Germans launched a huge
  offensive that pushed the Allies back 40 miles

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III. The United States Declares War

• The Allies counterattacked and pushed the
  Germans out of France and Belgium

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III. The United States Declares War

• When the German people began rioting, Kaiser
  William II stepped-down and fled into exile

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III. The United States Declares War

• The new German government sought an armistice and
  at 11 am on November 11, 1918, the Great War came
  to an end

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