WWI Notes

1. WWI Notes Chapter 30

2. The War Begins • Austrian Archduke, and heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand visited the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo in June 1914 • A man shot the Archduke and his wife and the Serbian government knew about it • They wanted a war to bring down the Austro-Hungarian Empire • Austria-Hungary joined Germany against France, Russia, and Serbia • Germany declared war on Russia who had been sending troops to the German border and WWI began

3. American Neutrality • President Wilson believed that the US should avoid being drawn into a foreign war by remaining neutral • American citizens were on both sides of the fence • Some supported Britain because of our strong English heritage • Some supported France because of our historic links to them and their aid to us during our Revolution

4. Pro-British Sentiment • President Wilson’s cabinet and military leaders supported the British • British officials worked to win American support by using propaganda to influence the public • Britain cut the transatlantic telegraph cable from Europe to the US so we could only get British reports • American banks began lending money to the Allies, so Americans had an interest in their success

5. Moving Toward War • Germans knew Allies depended on food, equipment, and other supplies from the US • To get around the British blockade of the North Sea, Germany used their U-boats (submarines) and announced they would attempt to sink any ship they found near Britain without warning • This violated an international treaty • The Lusitania, a British passenger ship, entered the war zone and a German submarine sunk it • 1200 passengers, including 128 Americans, were killed • Germany attacked a French ship and President Wilson demanded that the German government stop using these methods of submarine warfare or risk war with the US

6. The United States Declares War • A German official, Arthur Zimmermann sent a telegram to the German ambassador in Mexico (which was already involved in conflict with the US) proposing an alliance that would give Mexico its lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona after the war • British intelligence intercepted the telegram and leaked the information to American newspapers • The next month Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare and sank 6 US merchant ships within 45 days • President Wilson finally had no other choice but to declare war

7. WWI Propaganda Posters

16. Preparing for War • Army had 100,000 men, but General Pershing said it needed 1 million within a year and 3 million the following year • Selective Service Act authorized the draft • 11,000 women served as volunteers in America, 14,000 served abroad in government agencies • Training was often cut short to save time • All ships began to travel in convoys (a group of unarmed ships surrounded by a ring of destroyers, torpedo boats, etc.)

17. African Americans in WWI • The more than 300,000 African American volunteers/draftees served in segregated units and most never saw combat • The marines did not accept African Americans at all and the navy only accepted them for basic tasks and manual labor • An entire unit known as the Harlem Hell Fighters convinced their officers to loan the regiment to the French • The French integrated them and allowed them to serve • All men in the regiment received France’s highest combat medal: Croix de Guerre

18. Turning the Tide of War • Germans negotiated a peace agreement with Russia after helping Vladimir Lenin gain control there • They could now focus on conquering the western front and taking Paris • The Americans stepped in and began to push the Germans back

19. New Technology • The tank was a new weapon that allowed the Allies to cross trenches and roll through barbed wire to break German lines • We manufactured hundreds of planes to keep up with the technology of the Allies • Airplanes were used to scout enemy positions, but later flyers engaged in dogfights with pistols and machine guns • German zeppelins (blimps) killed more than 1500 civilians in London alone • Later, planes would be used to drop bombs to destroy railroads and enemy targets

20. Ending the War • The Allies pressed on and Germany’s allies (Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire, and Austria-Hungary) began to fall apart and make peace individually with the Allied powers • German commanders begged for peace, but the Allied refused • German naval command ordered the fleet to leave the port and confront the British Navy for one last battle, but the sailors mutinied and this revolt quickly spread to other ships, ports, factories, and industrial cities until Kaiser Wilhelm fled to Holland and the government of Germany signed an armistice

21. The Influenza Epidemic • Flu killed more people worldwide than all of the wartime battles • A strand first detected at a training camp in Kansas was taken overseas by American Troops • It caused severe pneumonia within a couple days and people literally suffocated • The virus spread easily in crowded, unsanitary conditions • The death rate in some units reached 32% • Before it ended, over 500,000 Americans and nearly 30 million people worldwide died of the flu

22. Results of the War • Americans lost 50,000 soldiers in battle and many more to disease • Total European death toll is over 8 million soldiers and sailors (more than 5,000 every day) • Many soldiers had their feet amputated because they developed “trench foot” • Soldiers were permanently blinded and had lung damage from poison gas attacks • Millions of civilians died of starvation, disease, or war-related injuries

23. Setting the Scene • Wilson’s Fourteen Points were a way to make and keep peace after the war • He hoped they would be the basis of peace negotiations and Germany assumed they would as well • Allies cooperated in the beginning but they started coming up with their own plans and discarding his

24. The Paris Peace Conference • Wilson shared power with the leaders of Britain, France, and Italy who wanted to make the Central Powers pay for their part in the war with land, livestock, goods and money • They also wanted to divide up Germany’s colonies in Africa, China, and the Pacific • Wilson’s only goal was to create an agency to allow countries to work together to resolve disputes peacefully • Wilson convinced the other powers to create the League of Nations and came back to the US to convince us of his plan • Part of the plan pledged that members would regard an attack on one country as an attack on all • The plan was rejected because 39 senators feared the plan could be used to drag the US into wars

26. The Versailles Treaty The conference created 9 new countries out of he territory of Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Germany New borders created new ethnic minorities in several countries, causing new problems The Ottoman Empire was all but destroyed and what was left became Turkey Germany was forced to pay reparations in the form of $33 billion, which they were unable to pay Germany never forgot or forgave this humiliation The Germans at first refused to sign the treaty, but gave in when threatened with French invasion

27. Reactions at Home • Many Americans, including politicians, were unsure of the League of Nations provision of the Versailles Treaty • Wilson toured the country to get support and suffered a stroke that paralyzed one side of his body, leaving him an invalid for the rest of his term • The Senate voted on the treaty in several forms, but could not agree • On May 20, 1920 Congress voted to disregard the Treaty of Versailles and declare the war officially over • Wilson vetoed it and the next year another resolution was passed, but this time with Warren G. Harding in office (who signed it)

28. An Economy in Turmoil • Inflation after the war was rampant because businesses that had been regulated by the government were no longer regulated • Workers wanted higher wages because of inflation, companies wanted lower wages • This led to strikes

29. Boston Police Strike 75% of the police force walked off the job, riots erupted, and the governor had to send in the National Guard Strikers tried to return to work and the police commissioner fired them and hired new workers instead

30. Racial Unrest • Thousands of American soldiers returned from Europe and needed to find jobs • White and African American soldiers returned to a hero’s welcome, but African American soldiers were discriminated against when it came to housing and jobs • Many African Americans who had moved north during the war were also competing for jobs and housing • In the summer of 1919 over 20 race riots broke out across the nation • The worst violence happened in Chicago • African Americans had gone to a whites-only beach and both sides began throwing stones at each other, setting off a riot that lasted for 2 weeks and left 38 people dead and over 500 injured

31. The Red Scare • Labor riots did not help the fear of communism • People became afraid of anarchy • The postal service intercepted more than 30 parcels addressed to leading businesspeople and politicians that were triggered to explode when opened • In June, 8 bombs in 8 cities exploded within minutes of one another, suggesting a nationwide conspiracy • The agency that would eventually become the FBI was created to conduct raids on the headquarters of radical organizations • Most raids were unsuccessful and did not turn up hard evidence

32. An End to Progressivism • Warren G. Harding ran on a platform of a return to normalcy, the simple days before progressive reforms • This struck a chord with voters and he won by a landslide against the ticket of Ohio governor James M. Cox and Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt who ran on the platform of continued Progressivism