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Americans on the European Front: WWI Engagement and Impact

Explore US troops' preparations for WWI, including training, African Americans in Europe, turning tide of war, ending the conflict, and the deadly influenza epidemic.

jillian-bernard
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Americans on the European Front: WWI Engagement and Impact

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  1. CHAPTER 22 AMERICANS ON THE EUROPEAN FRONT

  2. Preparing for War • Despite Preparedness, US was not ready to enter war w/ troops • Sent Allies naval support, supplies, arms, and $3 billion. • Congress passed the SELECTIVE SERVICE ACT -authorized draft. • Wide acceptance. • American Expeditionary Force (AEF)-volunteers. • 11,000 women served in uniform • 14,000 women served abroad working for govn’t.

  3. Training for War • Camps opened to train men in trench warfare and told them the crimes of the central powers • CONVOY SYSTEM-all ships traveled together to protect them from German U-boats • Safely transported troops.

  4. African Americans in Europe • 300,000 African Americans volunteered, kept segregated. • Most never saw combat • Marines would not accept African Americans • Harlem Hell Fighters, integrated into the French army, received combat medal Croix de Guerre

  5. Turning Tide of the War • 1917, followers of Vladimir Lenin, called Bolsheviks, overthrew Republican govn’t in Russia. • Russia signed a peace treaty w/ Germany. • Freed Germany up to focus on French and British • Germans crossed deep into Allied territory

  6. Americans save Paris • Americans under General Pershing stopped German attacks and began to turn the war in favor of the Allies.

  7. Allied Counter Attack • Using a new weapon, the tank, could roll across trenches and barbed wire. • Began crossing German lines. • German wanted peace talks • Allies wanted total surrender before peace talks.

  8. War in the Air • WWI planes were built from wooden frames covered w/ cloth. Open air contact. • 1st used to scout opposition. • Began firing on opposition and dropping bombs

  9. Ending the War • German commanders begged for peace. • Nations crumbled • Germany signed an armistice-cease fire in 1918.

  10. Influenza epidemic • Killed more people worldwide than all the wartime battles • American troops brought the virus to France in 1918 • 1st, 2nd and 3rd wave • Could kill w/in days • Grave diggers could not build graves quick enough. • Schools, churches, theaters closed • Masks in public • Half million Americans died. 30 million worldwide.

  11. Results of the War • 50,000 Americans died in battle • American losses were small compared w/ Europeans. • 8 million soldiers total. • Lots lost limbs, trench foot, amputated feet that were in muddy water too long • Poison gases caused blindness and lung disease • Genocide by Ottomans of Armenians.

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