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Essential Question. What were the causes of World War I?. The U.S. and World War I. The Balkans. Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, and Slovenes pushed for independence Called themselves the Yugoslavs. The Assassination. June 1914
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Essential Question • What were the causes of World War I?
The Balkans • Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, and Slovenes pushed for independence • Called themselves the Yugoslavs
The Assassination • June 1914 • Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife visited the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo
The Assassination • Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian revolutionary, shot the couple in their car
Beginning of World War I • July 28, 1914 – Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia • Russia mobilized to support the Serbs
Beginning of World War I • August 1 – Germany declared war on Russia, then France • France supported Russia
Allies • England • France • Russia • Italy (after 1915)
Central Powers • Germany • Austria-Hungary • Ottoman Empire • Bulgaria
Western Front • Network of trenches (2500 miles) • Space between opposing trenches was known as “the no man’s land”
Trench Warfare • Troops used modern rifles and the rapid-fire machine gun
Poison Gas • First used by the Germans in 1915 • Fumes cause vomiting, blindness, suffocation
Tanks • Introduced by the British in 1916 • Slow, easy to destroy • Rolled over barbed wire and trenches
Airplanes • First use of airplanes in combat • Observation • Small bombs, machine guns for dogfights
U.S. Response • Wilson tried to keep the U.S. neutral • “We must be impartial in thought as well as in action.”
German U-Boats • German subs used to get around British blockades • 1915 – announced they would sink any boat in British waters
Lusitania • May 7, 1915 – British passenger liner • Sunk by the Germans • 1200 passengers, 128 Americans killed
Sussex Pledge • Germany promised to sink no more merchant ships
Zimmerman Telegram • British intelligence intercepted the message • Contents leaked to the press
Zimmerman Telegram • January 1917 • In a telegram, Germany proposed that if Mexico became an ally, Germany would help the country regain lost territory in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona
German U-Boats • Feb. 1, 1917 • Resumed unrestricted submarine warfare • Sank six American merchant ships
U.S. Declares War • April 2, 1917 • Wilson asked Congress for a special declaration of war
Wilson before Congress “It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war . . . But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest to our hearts – for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations.”
Selective Service Conscription = forced military service Required all men between 21 and 30 to register for the draft
Food Administration Run by Herbert Hoover Responsible for increasing food production while reducing civilian consumption
Fuel Administration Introduction of Daylight Savings Time Manage nation’s coal and oil use to conserve energy