The First World War- War at Home & Abroad & Treaty of Versailles & Fourteen Points

1. The First World War- War at Home & Abroad & Treaty of Versailles & Fourteen Points

2. Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (June 1914) • The following is an eyewitness account of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s bodyguard. • He was one of those in the car when the Archduke of Austria-Hungary was shot. • “At that, I seized the Archduke by the collar of his uniform, to stop his head dropping forward and asked him if he was in great pain. He answered me quite distinctly, 'It's nothing!' His face began to twist somewhat but he went on repeating, six or seven times, ever more faintly as he gradually lost consciousness, 'It's nothing!' Then, after a short pause, there was a violent choking sound caused by the bleeding. It was stopped as we reached the Konak."

3. Woodrow Wilson: U.S. Declaration of Neutrality (August 19, 1914) • Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia in July, 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. • This one declaration of war brought many other world powers into war because of the alliances each country had made prior to the outbreak of war. • President Wilson declared the United States neutral at the outset of war.

4. German Declaration of Naval Blockade Against Shipping to Britain (February 4, 1915) • The following is the declaration by the German government informing countries around the world that Germany was establishing a war zone • Germany did this in response to Britain’s naval blockade of Germany. • “The waters round Great Britain and Ireland, including the English Channel, are hereby proclaimed a war region. On and after February 18th every enemy merchant vessel found in this region will be destroyed, without its always being possible to warn the crews or passengers of the dangers threatening.”

5. President Wilson: U.S. 'Strict Accountability' Warning to Germany (February 10, 1915) • After World War I started Great Britain blockaded Germany. • In response Germany declared a War Zone around Great Britain and used unrestricted submarine warfare sinking all ships regardless if they were belligerents or neutral countries. • In the following Wilson warned that the US would hold Germany accountable for any harm done to Americans or their property on the seas. • “the Imperial German Government can readily appreciate that the Government of the United States would be constrained to hold the Imperial Government of Germany to a strict accountability…and to take any steps it might be necessary to take to safeguard American lives and property and to secure to American citizens the full enjoyment of their acknowledged rights on the high seas.”

6. The Lusitania and Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

7. Propaganda Leaflettes from World War I • The following excerpts include examples of leaflets dropped over enemy lines from planes and balloons. • These are great examples of the types of psychological tricks employed by the combatants during the war. • * British leaflet dropped into German trenches by balloon: FOR WHAT ARE YOU FIGHTING, MICHEL? They tell you that you are fighting for the Fatherland. Have you ever thought why you are fighting? You are fighting to glorify Hindenburg, to enrich Krupp. You are struggling for the Kaiser, the Junkers, and the militarists....

8. U.S. Propaganda Posters

10. German Ambassador Count Johann von Bernstorff: letter to Robert Lansing, U.S. Secretary of State (January 31, 1917) • This is a response from The German Ambassador to the Secretary of State regarding President Wilson’s stance on unrestricted submarine warfare • “The German people also repudiate all alliances which serve to force the countries into a competition for might and to involve them in a net of selfish intrigues.  On the other hand, Germany will gladly cooperate in all efforts to prevent future wars.”

11. President Wilson: Address to Congress (February 3, 1917) • This is President Wilson’s response to Germany’s decision to resume unrestricted submarine warfare. • “Unless the Imperial Government should now immediately declare and effect an abandonment of its present methods of submarine warfare against passenger and freight carrying vessels, the Government of the United States can have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with the German Empire altogether.”

12. Arthur Zimmermann: Decoded message text of the Zimmermann Telegram • The following is a letter the German foreign minister Arthur Zimmermann wrote to Mexico. • Germany wanted to try and beat the Allied Powers before the U.S. joined. • Germany thought if the U.S. were to be fighting a war against Mexico in the U.S. they would not send troops to fight in Europe. • This note was published in U.S. newspapers and angered most Americans. A month later the U.S. declared war on Germany, April 4, 1917. • “keep the United States of America neutral. In the event of this not succeeding, we make Mexico a proposal or alliance on the following basis: make war together, make peace together, generous financial support and an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory”

13. The Espionage Act (May 16, 1917) • The following act was passed by Congress shortly after the United States declared war on Germany in April, 1917. • Congress passed this to silence people who did not support the war in the U.S. • “and whoever shall wilfully advocate, teach, defend, or suggest the doing of any of the acts or things in this section enumerated and whoever shall by word or act support or favor the cause of any coun try with which the United States is at war or by word or act oppose the cause of the United States therein, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both”

14. Woodrow Wilson: Fourteen Points (January 8, 1918) • The following is President Wilson’s plan to end World War I; The Fourteen Points. • He delivered this plan to congress January 8, 1918 after an armistice was signed to stop the war in Europe November 11, 1918. • “What we demand in this war, therefore, is nothing peculiar to ourselves. It is that the world be made fit and safe to live in; and particularly that it be made safe for every peace-loving nation which, like our own, wishes to live its own life, determine its own institutions, be assured of justice and fair dealing by the other peoples of the world as against force and selfish aggression”

15. Peace Treaty of Versailles: Articles 159-213; Military, Naval and Air Clauses • After World War I ended a peace conference was held in Paris. • At this peace Conference the Big 4 (President Wilson from the U.S., Prime Minister David Lloyd George from Great Britain, Premier Georges Clemenceau from France, and Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando from Italy) dominated the peace talks. • The Treaty of Versailles was the treaty that Germany signed. • The terms of the treaty were very harsh and disliked by Germans. • The Treaty of Versailles made many German soldiers, like Adolf Hitler, bitter about the results of World War I.