Imperialism and WWI

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November 20th, 2008
Do-Now The marathon is named for a town in Greece the site of the battle of Marathon in 490 BC. This battle was won by the Athenian army which defeated the Persians. A fter the victory, a messenger named Philippides ran from Marathon to Athens (a distance of 26.2 miles) to announce the victory. As the story goes, upon his arrival and announcement, he keeled over and died.
Agenda Do-Now / Check HW Review Test Preview Notes on US involvement and the end of WWI HomeworkRead Chapter 19, Section 4 Compose 3 questions which you might expect to see on the unit test
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Even God has only ten!

• In 1918 President Wilson issued the Fourteen
  Points.
• This was basically Wilsons statement of plans
  for peace after World War I, including ideas to
  eliminate the causes of war.
• The key ideas of the Fourteen Points included the
  principles of
• National self-determination - each national group
  should be in charge of its own destiny. For
  example, Polish people should live under a Polish
  government, if that was what they wanted.
• Freedom of the seas - all nations ships would be
  able to sail in international waters without
  threat of attack by another countrys ships.
• League of Nations - an organization of nations
  established at the end of World War I to maintain
  world stability and peace.

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An honorable cause?

• Woodrow Wilson declared the US wanted to
• make the world safe for democracy.
• Americas military resources, soldiers and war
  materials tipped the balance of WWI and led to
  Germanys defeat in 1918.

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• Versailles
• Peace
• Conference
• Led by a Council of Four nicknamed
• The Big Four
• American President, Woodrow Wilson
• British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George
• French Premier, George Clemenceau
• Italian Prime Minister, Vittorio Orlando

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World War I

• Treaty of Versailles-
• 1. Ended WWI
• 2. Recognized most of Wilsons key principles,
  i.e.
• freedom of the seas
• a League of Nations
• 3. Included a mandate system
• this violated the idea of national
  self-determination.

• Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, a
  mandate is a region administered (overseen,
  governed) by another country until it was judged
  ready for independence. ?Sound familiar???
• The Versailles Treaty divided the Ottoman Empire
  (Turkey) into mandates, lands to be supervised or
  governed by the Allies under the direction of the
  League of Nations.
• France received Syria, and Britain received
  Palestine and Iraq.

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• The Treaty of Versailles also
• 4. Provided for the punishment of Germany.
• Went against the wishes of President Wilson, GB
  and FR insisted that the treaty hold GER
  responsible for the war.
• 5. Also re-drew national boundaries in Europe
• created many new nations including
• Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland
• In short, heres the controversy
• The Treaty of Versailles recognized the principle
  of national self-determination in Europe, BUT not
  in the Middle East, Africa, or Asia!

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World War I

• After President Wilson negotiated the Treaty of
  Versailles, he sent it to the US Senate for
  ratification (approval).
• Under the Constitution,
• the President is the
• nations chief diplomat
• with the sole power to
• make treaties.

However
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A hitch in the treaty process

• HOWEVER
• For treaties to become law, need Senate approval
  (2/3 vote)
• Republicans controlled the US Senate after the
  1918, and they questioned the wisdom of the
  Treaty of Versailles.
• They particularly objected to having US foreign
  policy decisions made by an international
  organization like the League of Nations, rather
  than by American leaders.
• After a long debate, the Senate failed to approve
  the Versailles Treaty.
• This Senate rejection of the Treaty of Versailles
  after World War I demonstrated the historical
  influence of isolationism on American foreign
  policy.

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Hoping to win support for the treaty by appealing
directly to the people, Wilson set off on a
cross-country speaking tour in the fall of 1919.
At the end of the tour, however, he fell gravely
ill from a stroke.
Wilsons Legacy?

• Isolated by his well-meaning family from
  political advisors, he nevertheless refused to
  give up the reins of power, and refused to
  compromise on the issue. When the Treaty, and
  with it the League, was brought to a vote, it was
  defeated. The U.S. technically remained at war
  with Germany until 1921, and did not join the
  League of Nations.

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Something to think about

• Had Wilsons health lasted, and had his speaking
  campaign successfully rallied American support
  for a League of Nations, how might US History, as
  well as world history, have been altered?

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World War I

• At home the war led to a growth in intolerance.
  German Americans were persecuted for their
  ancestry.
• The Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of
  1918 imposed a prison sentence for any anti-war
  activities, including the speaking of any other
  language than English. These Acts were directed
  at Socialist and labor leaders.
• The Supreme Court ruled that the suppression of
  the Freedom of Speech in war time is
  constitutional because of a clear and present
  danger.

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World War I
A unit of the Women's Defense League drills in
its camp at Washington, D.C. Although some in the
women's suffrage movement refused to support the
war effort until women were granted the right to
vote, other suffragists took a role in mobilizing
women into the war effort and used women's
support as an argument in favor of their
enfranchisement.
Just as women used their participation in the war
effort to fight for their rights, African
Americans also hoped to use the war to improve
their status. Leaders like W. E. B. Du Bois and
the NAACP officials protested strongly when
initial mobilization plans did not include
African Americans.