 NOTICE 

1.  NOTICE  These slides are provided to augment the lectures presented in Dr. Hatley’s History 2493-US Since 1877 course. If you miss class, you should not assume that merely perusing these will provide you with sufficient information to do well on examinations.

2. The Great War (1914-1918) Triple Entente Great Britain, France, and Russia Central Powers Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey

3. The Great War (1914-1918) • Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie assassinated in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia (28 June 1914) • Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia

4. The Great War (1914-1918) • Serbia • Union or Death—Black Hand • Gavrilo Princip (1893-1918)

5. The Great War (1914-1918) • Russian Czar Nicholas II (1868-1918) (r. 1894-1917)

6. The Great War (1914-1918) • German Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941) (r. 1888-1918)

7. The Great War (1914-1918) • The Schlieffen Plan • Designed to prevent a two-front war (France to the west and Russia to the east)

8. The Great War (1914-1918) • Battle of the Marne (5-12 September 1914) • armed stalemate

9. The Great War (1914-1918) • In 1916, both sides launched major offensives aimed at breaking the deadlock: • Verdun (21 Feb — 18 Dec) • Somme (24 June — 13 Nov)

10. The Great War (1914-1918) • Meanwhile, Britain and France blockaded Germany at Sea (1915) • Contraband • Non-Contraband

11. The Great War (1914-1918) • das Unterseeboot or U-Boat

12. The Great War (1914-1918) • German U-Boat torpedoed RMS Lusitania; of 1,962 passengers and crew, 1,198 died, including 128 Americans (7 May 1915)

13. The Great War (1914-1918)

14. The Great War (1914-1918) • RMS Arabic — 44 people killed, including 3 Americans (19 August 1915)

15. The Great War (1914-1918) • US President Woodrow Wilson protested Germany’s actions

16. The Great War (1914-1918) • Germany announced that passenger liners would no longer be targeted in the waters around Great Britain (20 September 1915)

17. The Great War (1914-1918) • Despite Wilson’s efforts to keep the US out of the Great War, events of early 1917 convinced him that America had to intervene: • US already antagonized by sinkings earlier in the war

18. The Great War (1914-1918) • 31 January, Germany announced its policy of “unrestricted submarine warfare” to starve Britain into making peace. • All shipping in the war zone around Great Britain and in the Mediterranean Sea was subject to U-Boat attack.

19. The Great War (1914-1918) • German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann (1864-1940) • Zimmermann Telegram (Sent 16 January 1917) • Sent to the German Ambassador in Washington, DC • Published 1 March 1917

20. The Great War (1914-1918) “. . . lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.”

21. The Great War (1914-1918) • German U-Boats sank three US merchant ships in the Atlantic (March) • German agents fomented strikes and planted bombs in US munitions factories

22. The Great War (1914-1918) • German Max Weber (1864-1920) • “It is as though we are being ruled by madmen. . . .”

23. The Great War (1914-1918)

24. The Great War (1914-1918) • German military leaders did not wish to antagonize the US further, so what were they thinking? • The Germans determined that the US military would need at least one year to mobilize; Britain would be out of the war in six months―so they thought

25. The Great War (1914-1918) Congress approved Wilson’s request for a declaration of war, “to make the world safe for democracy.” (6 April 1917)

26. The Great War (1914-1918) The US declared war. Now what?

27. The United States in the Great War (1917-1918) • Selective Service Act (1917) established a draft, ending the time-honored volunteer system; men 21 to 30, later 18 to 45 • US government sold $5 Billion in bonds; $3 billion loaned to the Allies

28. The United States in the Great War (1917-1918) • War Industries Board — directed activities of US industries for the war effort. • Food Administration — rationed grain and sugar. • Americans observed “Meatless Tuesday” each week.

29. The United States in the Great War (1917-1918) • Kaiser Bill; Willy the Witless • Hamburg • Frankfurt • Wien • Dachshund

30. The United States in the Great War (1917-1918) 14,000 men of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) arrived in France (June 1917); who was in command?

31. The United States in the Great War (1917-1918) General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing (1860-1948)

33. Pershing and his staff in France

34. General Ferdinand Foch French demanded that Americans be parceled out to French units as replacements

35. The United States in the Great War (1917-1918) Pershing refused, stating that Americans would serve in US units commanded by US officers and NCOs; why?

36. The United States in the Great War (1917-1918) American “doughboys” were untrained Americans did not speak French For the US to have a voice at the eventual peace conference, it would have to play a major role on the battlefield

37. The United States in the Great War (1917-1918) With Russia out of the war, the Germans commenced “peace offensive” (March 1918) First American offensive—4,000 US troops captured the French village of Cantigny (28 May 1918)

38. The United States in the Great War (1917-1918) Château-Thierry and Belleau Wood (30 May-17 June 1918) Salient at St. Mihiel (12-16 September 1918)

39. French President Poincaré (left) and wife visit St. Mihiel the day after its liberation

40. The United States in the Great War (1917-1918) Meuse-Argonne Offensive (26 September-11 November 1918) Armistice

41. The United States in the Great War (1917-1918) “For a lasting victory, we must drive in Germany and dictate the terms of peace in Berlin.”

42. The Post-War Settlement • What to do about Germany: • Italy (joined the Allies in 1915) • France • Great Britain • In 1919, leaders of various nations met in Paris, France, including the “Big Four”

43. President Wilson heads to Paris aboard the transport George Washington

44. Paris Peace Conference (1919) • David Lloyd George, Vittorio Orlando, Georges Clemenceau, and Woodrow Wilson

45. Paris Peace Conference (1919) • Wilson’s Fourteen Points: • Open diplomacy: no secret or entangling alliances • No trade barriers: no tariff • Armaments reductions for all nations • National self-determination

46. Paris Peace Conference (1919) • The League of Nations: “A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.”

47. Treaty of Versailles (1919) • Map of Europe redrawn in accordance with Wilson’s national self-determination: • Austria-Hungary divided into Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia; other parts went to Bulgaria and Romania

48. Treaty of Versailles (1919) • Germany lost all colonies and Alsace-Lorraine • Rhineland (Rheinland) demilitarized (DMZ) • Territory in eastern Germany, including the “Polish Corridor,” given to Poland.

49. Treaty of Versailles (1919)

50. Treaty of Versailles (1919) • ARTICLE 231 — War Guilt Clause “. . . Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage. . . .” • Reparations. No total amount given by 28 June 1919, but set at $33 Billion in 1921