End of WW1

1. End of WW1

2. Review of WW1 Beginnings • War started by Serbian assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary • Russia defended Serbia • Germany allied with Austria • German “Schlieffen Plan” attacked France through Belgium • Western Front & Eastern Front • Trench warfare “stalemate” • Naval blockades and U-Boats • Zimmerman Note: US Entrance

3. Implications of US Entrance • American troops used on western front; Russian exit made western front more important • War became a “world” war with entrance of US and Latin America • US needed soldiers: “Selective Service Act” created the first US draft of soldiers • “American Expeditionary Force” (AEF) fought in France, but only under American control • Black Americans served too, usually mixed with Whites • All-Black 369th Regiment fought under French control: highly decorated • Entrance of US politicized the goals of the war -- Wilson's "14 Points" gave ideological nobility to the highly destructive war

4. New Technologies • Machine guns: mostly mounted on land because they were heavy • “Howitzer” guns (large cannons) were sometimes on railways • Flamethrowers cleared trenches and rooms off trenches • Aircraft first used for surveillance, later used for attack • Germany’s Fokker planes timed propeller with machine gun fire • Battleships and convoys of battleships to protect merchant ships • Tanks: ended trench stalemate

5. Final Offensives • Germany made final large attack in northern France, trying to take Paris • French, British, and US forces defended Paris • “Meuse-Argonne Offensive”: Allies pushed through German lines to take key railway used to supply troops • After 6 weeks, Allies won battle • Germany surrendered after lines had been broken, even though Germany was not invaded • German generals agreed to an unconditional surrender, even though most Germans did not realize war had been “lost”