The United States in World War One (WWI)

1. The United States in World War One (WWI)

2. Before we start • Find the following countries on a map: • The United States • England • France • Russia • Germany • Austria • Turkey

3. Before we start • Name some of the new weapons and technology that existed around 1914.

4. chapter objectives By the end of this chapter, you will be able to… • Name the causes of World War One. • Explain how World War One was different from other wars. • Tell why the United States entered the war. • Explain how the war changed the United States both during and after the war. • Describe the Treaty of Versailles and state its results.

5. World War One was one of the largest and most destructive wars in the history of the world.

6. This war made major changes for most of the countries of the world. Most of this war was fought in Europe, but it was also fought all over the world. World War One started in 1914, but the United States joined in 1917. America didn’t have to join the war, but it did. In this chapter we will learn why America joined World War One. We will also learn how this war changed the United States forever.

7. How and why the war started in Europe --- the causes of the war The first cause of World War One was nationalism. • From 1850 to 1914, the small nations of Europe were joining together to form bigger nations. • For example, many small countries joined together to form Germany. • Russia was growing larger and larger, too. • People were very proud of their new nations.

8. Each person believed that his or her own nation was the best nation in the world. • This way of thinking is called nationalism.

9. In Europe, the nationalism was growing because the small nations of Europe were joining together to form bigger nations. For example, many small countries joined together to form Germany. The leaders of Germany were telling their people that Germans were better than other people. Germans were very proud of their new nation. They wanted to make Germany even bigger.

10. Russia was growing larger and larger, too. It was taking smaller territories and making them part of Russia. • The Ottoman Empire (Turkey) was trying to expand and control as many countries as possible.

11. Nationalism causes wars. • People want to see their country beat the other countries. • People are eager to go to war, to fight, and even to die for their countries. • They believe they will win because they are better. • People want their country to take stuff away from other countries. • Nationalist countries often become imperialist or expansionist. • They often fought over colonies and territory.

12. Ethnic divisionswithin nations were another cause of the war. • Ethnic groups are groups of people that have a different culture than the other people in their country. • Different ethnic groups hated each other. Some even wanted to kill each other. • Some of these ethnic groups wanted to have their own country.

13. In 1914, the big countries controlled territories that had ethnic groups which wanted independence. • Those ethnic groups were willing to fight or die to have their own nation. • The people of Poland wanted to be independent from Russia. • The people of Ireland wanted to be independent from Great Britain. • The people of Serbia wanted to be independent from Austria-Hungary.

14. In 1914, the big countries controlled territories that had ethnic groups which wanted independence. • Those ethnic groups were willing to fight or die to have their own nation.

15. The third cause of World War One was militarism. • Militarism is when people believe in having a strong military.

16. Militarism. • Militaristic people believe that the military can solve their problems. Because of militarism, the European nations built bigger armies and navies. They were eager to fight a war.

17. Each nationalist country in Europe wanted to prove they were the best. • They each wanted to have the biggest military, even if they didn’t need it. • For example, Germany and England were friends, but if England made its ships bigger, than Germany also wanted to build bigger ships. • For this reason, the military of each country got bigger and bigger before the war. • People didn’t realize how dangerous these new weapons were.

18. With militarism, people also thought that war was glorious and heroic. • People wanted to be soldiers and war heroes. • Many people really wanted to fight in a war.

19. Another cause of the war was imperialism. Countries like England, France, Russia, Turkey, and Germany were in a competition over colonies. Each country was ready to fight a war to get new colonies or take them from another country.

20. The fourth cause of World War One was the growth of military alliances. • A military alliance is a promise between two or more different nations. They agree to protect each other. If one of the nations in an alliance is attacked, the other countries will come to help.

22. In 1914, each European country had many different alliances with many other countries. • If two countries started fighting, many other countries would have to join. • This would cause a very simple and small war to turn into a major war with every country involved.

23. Comprehension check • What were the causes of World War I? • Do we still have those problems in our world today? Do they still cause wars?

24. For all these reasons, in 1914, Europe was like a bomb waiting to explode. • The spark that set off bomb was the assassination of Archduke Franz-Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary.

25. Archduke Franz-Ferdinand was the heir to the throne of the Austria-Hungarian Empire. • He married the Queen of Serbia, so he was controlling Serbia for Austria-Hungary. • Serbia would soon become part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

26. Some Serbians were angry. • They didn’t want to become part of Austria-Hungary. • They were an ethnic group that was different from the Austrians and Hungarians. • They wanted Serbia to be controlled by Serbian people.

27. The Assassination of the Archduke • A secret group of Serbian nationalists killed the Archduke Ferdinand. • They shot him while he was riding in his car. • This kind of murder is called • an assassination.

28. Austria-Hungary was angry about the assassination. They wanted to punish the whole Serbian nation. • The Serbian government apologized and offered money to Austria-Hungary, but Austria-Hungary was not satisfied. They invaded Serbia and did as much damage as they could.

29. Serbia had an alliance with Russia, so Russia had to declare war on Austria. Germany had an alliance with Austria-Hungary, so even though Germany and Russia were close friends, Germany had to declare war on Russia. France had an alliance with Russia, and it was very happy to declare war on Germany. Now, Russia, France, and Serbia were at war with Germany and Austria-Hungary.

30. Germany was afraid that its enemies were too strong. It was surrounded, so it needed to do something tricky. Germany knew that the French troops were protecting the French border, but not expecting Germany to come and attack through Belgium. So, Germany moved quickly through Belgium to surprise France.

31. Unfortunately, England had an alliance with Belgium, so England had to declare war on Germany when they invaded Belgium. • Now almost every country in Europe was in the war!

32. Germany and Austria-Hungary were called the Central Powers. They were fighting against Russia, England, and France. They were called the Allied Powers.

33. After the war started, many other countries all over the world joined the war and made it one of the biggest wars in history. • Turkey joined the Central Powers just because they thought they would win. They wanted to be on the winning side so they could take more land. They also joined the war because they hated the Greeks and wanted to fight them. • Italy joined the Allied Powers because it wanted to take land from Austria-Hungary while Austria-Hungary was busy fighting Russia. • Japan joined the Allied Powers because it wanted to take away Germany’s colonies in Asia.

34. Comprehension check • How did the war begin? • Why did so many countries join the war?

35. When the war first started, many people were really happy. They thought the war would be over quickly. They were sure that they would win because the believed their country was the best. They thought their country would benefit from the war. They were eager to fight in a war, wear uniforms, and become heroes.

36. The French and English stopped the German invasion of France. This was called the Battle of the Marne.

37. The Germans realized that they couldn’t successfully capture France, so they changed their strategy. Instead of attacking, they dug deep trenches on high ground and waited for the French and English to attack them. Their soldiers could sit in the trenches and be safe from enemy fire. The trenches had lines of barbed wire in front of them to slow down enemy charges. They had machine guns, so when the enemy attacked them, they could shoot them down quickly.

38. The French and English attacked the German trenches, and many died. They could not break the Germans and they had lost many soldiers.

39. The French and the English also built trenches to stop a German counter-attack. When the Germans attacked the French trenches, they also could not win. Neither side could win because of the trenches and the machine guns. This was the beginning of trench warfare.

40. The war was terrible for the soldiers. Each side took turns attacking the other sides trenches and losing many soldiers.

41. The trenches stretched hundreds of miles across Europe for four years. They stretched across Belgium and France. This area was called the Western Front. They stretched across Russia. This was called the Eastern Front.

42. Neither side could win an attack. In many places, they were fighting over only 100 yards.

43. The area in between the trenches was called the no man’s land. It was an empty area full of mud and dead bodies.

44. The soldiers lived in the trenches, even in the winter. Sometimes, the trenches were full of water from rain. They were full of rats. The soldiers had very little food.

45. Sometimes enemy artillery would shell them, and they had to hide in tunnels. Sometimes the shelling didn’t stop for days. Soldiers went crazy because they couldn’t sleep.

46. If they weren’t careful, then they could get shot by a sniper.

47. Sometimes the enemy shot shells full of poison gas. The poison gas was a terrible way to die. Because of gas attacks, soldiers had to wear gas masks. The soldiers were very unhappy.

48. Comprehension check • Why couldn’t either side win the war? • What made life so terrible for soldiers in the war?

49. In World War One, nations used many new weapons. • They used submarines to sink other nations’ ships.

50. They used different kinds of poison gas.