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L12: Russia Exits, The U.S. Enters, and the War Takes a Turn in 1917

L12: Russia Exits, The U.S. Enters, and the War Takes a Turn in 1917. Agenda Objective : To understand… Possible strategies for ending the war in 1916. How and why Russia exits the war in 1917. How and why the United States enters the war in 1917.

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L12: Russia Exits, The U.S. Enters, and the War Takes a Turn in 1917

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  1. L12: Russia Exits, The U.S. Enters, and the War Takes a Turn in 1917 • Agenda • Objective: • To understand… • Possible strategies for ending the war in 1916. • How and why Russia exits the war in 1917. • How and why the United States enters the war in 1917. • Possible strategies for ending the war in 1917. • Schedule: • Lecture & Discussion • Homework • Creative Project Due L17 (Tues 1/29)

  2. Now What? • By 1916, World War One had settled into a war of attrition. • Attempts to end the war through massive creeping barrage assaults (Verdun and the Somme) had both failed. • How do we end this war?

  3. Triple Entente’s Strategy… • Persist with the fighting of an offensive war, despite causalities, and despite the failure to have a major victory or success with the war of attrition. • What does this say about the rationality of this war?

  4. Soldiers’ Reject this Strategy • French troops desert and mutiny in the early months of 1917 • Approximately 30,000 refuse orders to go to the Front • Russian soldiers and civilians begin an all out revolt…

  5. Conditions in the Russian Army • Problems on the Eastern Front • Irregular leave, bad food • Problems on the Home Front • High inflation • Inequality in military service: skilled workers out, the poor in • Massive fuel and food shortages • Merge to create particularly problematic conditions for peasants • Low wages, high inflation, mandated war service, no fuel, and no food.

  6. February Revolution (1917) • Protests over food shortages break out in Petrograd • Workers join in the protests • Soldiers stationed in Petrograd are ordered to fire on the crowd, they refuse, and join the riots. • Revolution begins! • Tsar Nicholas II stepped down.

  7. Russia Forms a Provisional Government • A provisional democratic government is formed under the leadership of Alexander Kerensky • Government continues to support Russia’s involvement in World War One • However, soldiers no longer support the war effort. There is massive looting and desertion at the front. • Support began to grow for a new political party, who was challenging the provisional government: The Bolsheviks.

  8. Germany Strikes at Russia with Its Secret Weapon In 1917, the Germans sent a train from Switzerland to Russia. It was heavily armored and guarded by soldiers with orders to shoot to kill anyone who approached the train too closely. The train carried a weapon that Germany hoped would knock the Russians out of World War One. What is inside the train?

  9. Bolsheviks Gain in Power • The return of Lenin to Russia in April of 1917, strengthened the Bolshevik party and they began to advocate their platform: • Peace (End Russia’s involvement in WWI) • Land (Nationalize land) • Bread (End food shortages)

  10. The October Revolution (1917) • Lenin and the Bolsheviks launch a coup against Kerensky and the provisional democratic government. • The Bolsheviks declare themselves the new leaders of Russia.

  11. Russia Exits the War • In March of 1918 the Bolsheviks sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany. • The treaty ends Russian involvement in World War One. • Treaty required Russia give Germany territory in the West that contained: • 25% of Russia’s population • 25% of Russia’s industry • 90% of its coal mines

  12. The Eastern Front Closes and Germany is Reinvigorated • With Russia’s exit from the war, the Eastern Front closes. • The Germans’ secret weapon worked--they are now fighting a one front war. • The Germans now turn their attention to the war along the Western front and they believe that victory is now within their reach.

  13. Germany’s Strategy to Win on the Western Front: Unrestricted Submarine Warfare • By 1917, after a failed attempt to break the stalemate at Verdun, Germany began to believe more firmly that their victory on the Western front lay in the total war strategy of unrestricted submarine warfare. • German generals began to argue that a deepening of the practice, begun in 1915, would within 5 months bring Britain to the brink of starvation, while also depriving France of British coal essential to the working of their economy.

  14. Unrestricted Submarine Warfare • In the spring of 1917, Germany ordered 100 submarines to sink 20 million tons of British shipping. • As part of this strategy the Germans also started sinking American ships on the grounds that the Americans were supplying the British military with weapons. • In March of 1917, Germany sank 3 American merchant ships, these sinkings, coupled with the 1915 sinking of the Lusitania, began to push the American public toward supporting US entry into the war.

  15. The Zimmermann Telegram • In March 1917 a telegram sent from Germany to Mexico was intercepted by the British and released to the Americans. • The telegram stated…

  16. Zimmermann Telegraph • FROM 2nd from London # 5747. "We intend to begin on the first of February unrestricted submarine warfare. We shall endeavor in spite of this to keep the United States of America neutral. In the event of this not succeeding, we make Mexico a proposal of alliance on the following basis: make war together, make peace together, generous financial support and an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The settlement in detail is left to you. You will inform the President of the above most secretly as soon as the outbreak of war with the United States of America is certain and add the suggestion that he should, on his own initiative, invite Japan to immediate adherence and at the same time mediate between Japan and ourselves. Please call the President's attention to the fact that the ruthless employment of our submarines now offers the prospect of compelling England in a few months to make peace." Signed, ZIMMERMANN

  17. The United States Enters the War • The escalation of unrestricted submarine warfare against American ships and the release of the Zimmermann telegram lead American President Woodrow Wilson to request a declaration of war against Germany from Congress. • In April of 1917, the United States enters World War One.

  18. The American Army Heads for Europe • In April 1917, the United States Army had only 108,000 soldiers and the U.S. Marine Corps had only 15,000 men. • The United States thus enacted a draft in order to raise 2 million troops to send to France by 1918.

  19. How Do We End This War? • By early 1918, both the Germans and the French/British/Americans were clear that the war was heading toward its end, but… • How do we end this war?

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