From Neutrality to War

1. From Neutrality to War 19.1

2. Objectives • Identify the causes of World War I • Describe the course and character of the war • Explain why the United States entered the conflict on the side of the Allies

3. Key Parts • What Caused World War I • The Fighting Begins • Wilson Urges Neutrality • Neutrality Gives Way to War

4. Introduction • Read Section 19.1 • Answer critical thinking questions 4&5.

5. What Caused World War I • Until 1914 there had not been a large scale European conflict for nearly one hundred years. • However, Europe was sitting on a powder keg of nationalism, regional tensions, economic rivalries, imperial ambitions, and militarism. • Nationalism kick-started international and domestic tension.

6. Cont. • One example was France, they wanted to get their revenge on Germany from an incident that occurred in 1871. • Social Darwinism began to spread rapidly, people began to believe the best nation would come out ahead in the constant competition among countries. • For many European leaders, it was not if there was going to be a great war but when.

7. Cont.. • Leaders began to strengthen their armies and stockpiles of weapons. • The top of this list of course was Germany, by 1914 it had a huge standing army and the largest deadliest collection of weaponry in the world. • Germany also built up its Navy to keep up with Great Britain.

8. Cont… • Britain also increased its Navy to try and stay in Naval power. • Militarism began to spread in almost every country involved. (glorification of the military) • The competition was Germany and Britain at sea, and Germany, France, and Russia by land. • The most important factor to all of this is that the next war was going to be larger than any that these countries had seen and with more sophisticated weapons and technology.

9. Cont…. • European leaders also prepared for war by forming alliances. • This was a positive in some ways and a negative in others. • In 1914 two major ones emerged, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy joined together in the Triple Alliance. • The opposing Alliance was the Triple Entente, made up of France, Russia, and Great Britain.

10. The Fighting Begins • Everything was in place for a great conflict, nationalism, large armies, stockpiles of weapons, alliances and military plans. • Francis Ferdinand heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary was assassinated by some young Bosnians who believe that Bosnia rightfully belonged to Serbia. • This assassination is what triggered the Great War.

11. Cont. • Kaiser William II, the German Emperor assured Austria-Hungary that Germany would stand by its ally if war came. • The confident Austria-Hungary declared War on Serbia on July 28, 1914. • Because of the alliance system that was in place many other countries became involved. • If the alliances were not made then it would have been a local issue.

12. Cont.. • This conflict mobilized Russia to help its ally Serbia. • This caused Germany to declare war on Russia. • France, Russia’s ally declared war against Germany. • Then Germany declared war against Belgium, this caused Great Britain to declare war with Germany.

13. Cont… • After the initial battle of Marne the Germans began settling into trenches and so did the French and British. • Soon 450 miles of trenches stretched along the countryside from the coast of Belgium to the border of Switzerland. • The war dragged on for years and it was unbelievably deadly.

14. Cont…. • Trench warfare ended up being a heavy casualty producing war tactic. • The offensive side always was disadvantaged, leading to constant stalemates. • Men faced constant artillery, machine gun fire, sniper fire, poison gas, trench foot, lice, and overall lack of hygiene.

15. Cont….. • Casualties began to mount by the hundreds, then thousands, then hundreds of thousands, and finally in millions. • Once million French soldiers were killed or wounded in just the first three months of the war. (The Germans lost just slightly fewer) • The British suffered 60,000 casualties on the first day of battle alone.

16. Wilson Urges Neutrality • Wilson initially called Americans to be impartial to the European conflict. • 1/3 of the Americans were foreign born in 1914. • Wilson wanted to keep the Nation United. • One unifying theme was the hatred toward Germany for the killing of innocent people in Belgium.

17. Neutrality Give Way to War • In February of 1915 Germany began sinking Allied ships using its U-Boats, or submarines. • This affected America when a German U-Boat sank the British passenger liner the Lusitania off the Coast of Ireland (1260 were killed, a large number were Americans) • Germany then made a promise with United States that they wouldn’t sink anymore civilian ships.

18. Cont. • But in 1916 Germany violated that promise by sinking the unarmed French passenger ship Sussex. • This angered Wilson and he began preparing the nation for war. • Congress passed the National Defense Act, and the Naval Construction Act to gear up for war.

19. Cont.. • In January 1917 suffering a severe supply shortage due to the British Blockade Germany took action. • Arthur Zimmermann Germany’s Foreign Minister proposed an Alliance with Mexico. • The Zimmerman Note said Mexico should declare war on the United States and when the War was over Germany would give Mexico its land back that was lost in the Mexican American War.

20. Cont… • The telegram was intercepted by the British who gave it to American authorities. • This angered Wilson even further and on April 2, 1917 Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany.