America and

1
America andThe Great War

• 1914 1919

2
World War I

• What were the causes?
• How/why did it start?
• Who are the two major sides?
• What was the fighting like?
• New ways of fighting?

3
Timeline of World War I

• 1870s Germany unified and quickly becomes an
  industrial and military power
• 1888 Wilhelm II (29 year old) becomes Kaiser of
  Germany after his fathers death
• 1905 Russia loses Russo-Japanese War causes
  unrest in Russia

4
1914

• Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the
  Austria-Hungary throne, assassinated in Sarajevo
• Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, Russia
  declares war on Austria-Hungary
• Germany declares war on Russia, France, invades
  neutral Belgium (to get to France quicker)
• Great Britain declares war on Germany
• Arent alliances fun?

5
1915

• German Zeppelins begin air raids on Great Britain
• Germany begins submarine blockade of Great
  Britain
• Germans use the first chemical weapons in the
  Second Battle of Ypres
• HMS Lusitania sunk more on that later
• Italy declares war on Austria-Hungry

6
1916

• Battle of Verdun
• Draw with _at_ 1 million casualties!
• Battle of Jutland
• Only major naval engagement of the war
• No real winner, Germanys navy weakened some
• Battle of the Somme
• Allied breakthrough with _at_ 1 million casualties!
• Woodrow Wilson re-elected
• Remember, he kept us out of the war ?

7
1917

• Germans declare unrestricted submarine warfare
• Great Britain releases the Zimmerman Note
• Do tacos and sauerkraut go together?
• Czar of Russia falls to the Bolshevik Revolution
• April 6, U.S. declares war on Germany
• Russia drops out of the war in December

8
U.S. Neutrality

• Prior to April, 1917, Wilson proclaimed U.S.
  Neutrality
• Both sides try to gain U.S. support
• British propaganda
• German-Americans
• Antiwar sentiments
• U.S. trade with Europe
• U.S. recession, then economic boost
• British blockade of Germany

9
German Submarine Warfare

• U-boats
• Lusitania
• House-Grey Memorandum
• Sussex Ultimatum (pledge)
• unrestricted submarine warfare
• Zimmerman Note
• German-Mexican Alliance?

10
5 Reasons Wilson wants a Declaration of War

• Unrestricted submarine warfare
• Zimmerman Note
• Russian Revolution
• End war quickly and get a hand in peace
• Wilsons 14 points already created
• Moral Germany mass-killing civilians

11
Wilsons Idealism

• U.S. isolationism
• Use war to make America safer, more isolated?
• Twin goals
• Make the world safe for democracy
• A war to end war
• Fourteen Points
• Peace plan for after the war
• Wilson becomes moral leader of the Allies

12
The War at Home (Economy)

• Liberty Bonds
• Bond drives (cover 2/3 cost of war)
• 1/3 through taxes (16th Amendment)
• War Industries Board
• Labor will win the war
• 19th Amendment
• Work or fight
• War Trade Board
• National War Labor Board
• Progressive

13
The War at Home (Economy)

• Lever Food and Fuel Control Act (1917)
• 18th Amendment
• Herbert Hoover and the Food Administration
• Gospel of the clean plate
• Victory gardens
• Fuel Administration
• Heatless Mondays, Lightless Tuesdays,
  Gasless Sundays
• Daylight savings time

14
The War at Home (Social)

• Committee of Public Information or CPI (Creel
  Committee)
• Created to gain support of war at home and
  support of America abroad
• Voluntary censorship of the press
• Liberty Leagues spy on your neighbors!
• Restriction on Immigration
• Fear of spies
• Literacy tests for immigrants
• Progressive victory

15
Restrictions of Civil Liberties

• Anti-German hysteria Hate the Hun
• Espionage Act (1917)
• Eugene V. Debs
• Sentenced to a decade in prison
• Sedition Act (1918)
• Prohibited criticism of the government, flag, or
  military
• IWW
• Schenck v. U.S. (1919)
• Schenck tried to interfere with a draft office
• Upheld Sedition Act clear and present danger

16
American Propaganda Posters
17
Mobilizing the Army

• Before war, U.S. army had less than 200,000 men
• Selective Service Act (1917)
• 18 to 45
• Few draft dodgers
• 400,000 blacks drafted or enlisted (segregated
  units)
• Women admitted for the first time
• 4 million American soldiers after only a few
  months (Doughboys)

18
American Involvement in the War

• War at Sea
• Brits and U.S. navies work together
• Convoy system to get around U-boats
• Communist Russia
• Russian Revolution continues
• Red (communist) vs. White (democratic)
• U.S. unknown war against communists
• Russia withdraws from the war (December 1917)

19
Western Front

• American Expeditionary Force (AEF)
• General Pershing the doughboys
• Eventually over 1 million Americans in Europe
• Chateau-Thierry
• Americans help save Paris
• Second Battle of Marne
• Meuse-Argonne offensive (9/26/18-11/11/18)
• Alvin York

20
German Surrender

• Germany encouraged by Wilsons 14 points
• Armistice
• 1100 a.m., 11/11/1918 Germans sign
• Shortly followed by Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary,
  the Ottoman Empire
• Casualties
• 8-10 Million soldiers killed
• _at_ 5 million allies
• _at_ 3 million central powers
• _at_20 Millions of civilians die as result of war
• 120,000 Americans killed, 200,000 missing
• Ottoman genocide on the Armenians

21
Country Men Mobilized Dead Injured Missing/Prisoners
Allied Powers Allied Powers Allied Powers Allied Powers Allied Powers Allied Powers
Russian Empire 12,000,000 1,700,000 4,950,000 2,500,000 76
France 8,410,000 1,357,800 4,266,000 537,000 73
British Empire 8,904,500 908,400 2,090,200 191,700 36
Italy 5,615,000 650,000 947,000 600,000 39
United States 4,355,000 126,000 234,300 4,500 8
Romania 750,000 335,700 120,000 80,000 71
Serbia 707,300 45,000 133,100 153,000 47
Belgium 267,000 13,700 44,700 34,700 35
Greece 230,000 5,000 21,000 1,000 12
Portugal 100,000 7,000 13,800 12,300 33
Montenegro 50,000 3,000 10,000 7,000 40
Central Powers Central Powers Central Powers Central Powers Central Powers Central Powers
Germany 11,000,000 1,773,700 4,216,100 1,152,800 65
Austria-Hungary 7,800,000 1,200,000 3,620,000 2,200,000 90
Ottoman Empire 2,850,000 325,000 400,000 250,000 34
Bulgaria 1,200,000 87,500 152,400 27,000 22
German Cemetery in Belgium