World War I: Woodrow Wilson, Causes & Consequences

1. FIGHTING WORLD WAR I

2. Fighting World War I

3. Woodrow Wilson • Woodrow Wilson was elected President in 1912. His theories on world peace included a belief in democracy and economic stability. One of his main goals was to keep the US out of conflicts in Europe.

4. Nationalism in Europe • Europe was divided into small nationalistic states, each seeking to assert power over the other.

5. Europe Today

6. Top 5 Causes of WWI (1914-1918) • Tangle of Alliances—mutual defense agreements • Imperialism—competition for greater empire • Militarism—arms race • Nationalism—each major nation tried to prove its superiority; desire for self-determination • Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

7. Tangle of Alliances • June 1914 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne) and his wife Sofie are killed in Sarajevo, Bosnia by a Serbian nationalist. • July 28th, Austria declared war on Serbia, a Slavic nation. • Russia, also Slavic, comes to the aid of Serbia, while Germany backs their ally, Austria-Hungary. • France is allied with Russia. France and Germany declare war on each other August 3.

8. The Great War begins • Europe begins to divide into two camps:

9. Names to Remember • The Great War • The War to End all Wars • The European War • World War I WWI was the first war to pit entire societies against one another.

10. American Response • American Neutrality- Influenced by trade • Preparedness Movement- Be ready for war. Patriotic education (propaganda) • Peace Movement- Progressives, social reformers and women. (Women marched proclaiming peace)

11. American Opinions • Isolationists- Stay out of war • Interventionists- U.S. should intervene on side of Allies • Internationalists- Get involved only to solve the problem and promote peace.

12. Lusitania • In 1915, a German U boat sank the British ship Lusitania. • The Germans claimed that the ship was carrying weapons (it probably was) • It held over 2200 passengers, including 128 Americans. Nearly 1200 died. • German unrestricted submarine warfare led the U.S. to join the Allies in the war http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-lusitania-disaster-a-maritime-grassy-knoll/

13. By spring of 1917, “The Great War” had devastated Europe and claimed millions of lives WWI was the first major war after the Industrial Revolution. Old strategies and new technologies resulted in heavy damage. (Where have we heard this before? Explain.)

14. Trench warfare demonstrated that troops who dug in and relied on modern rifles and machine guns could hold off an enemy for months.

15. On the Western Front, trenches stretched from the English Channel to the Swiss border. The land between the trenches was called “no man’s land”. The only way to win a trench war was to run across and drop grenades into other trenches after heavy artillery fire. This resulted in heavy losses and slow progress.

17. New Weapons U boats (submarines) machine guns grenades poison gas tanks airplanes

19. America Enters the War • Jan. 31, 1917, Germany informs U.S. that the Sussex pledge (agreement to give warning before sinking merchant and passenger ships) would be ended. • Feb. 3 U.S. cuts off diplomatic ties with Germany. • Zimmerman Note- Germany promises lost land to Mexico if they help to defeat the U.S. if it enters the war.

20. zimmerman cartoon

21. Over There 1917 – the U.S. enters the war after nearly 3 years of attempting to affect the outcome without becoming embroiled in it. New system of conscription : Selective Service Nearly 2 million “doughboys” join the Allies. U.S. troops were inexperienced but fresh. They boosted the morale of the Allies.

22. Minorities & Women in the War Effort • 400,000African-Americans were drafted, of which 42,000 served overseas as combat troops. Their units were racially segregated. • WWI was the first war in which women officially served in the armed forces. Women served in non-combat positions, • Women filled industrial jobs vacated by men. Nearly half a million African-Americans migrated from the South to northern industrial jobs (“Great Migration.) Over 100,000 Mexicans moved to America, providing farm/ranch labor and wartime factory workers.

23. War Effort on the Homefront • War Industries Board (WIB) coordinated the production of war materials, telling business leaders what they could and could not make. • Victory Gardens, Wheatless Mondays & Meatless Tuesdays, high prices on farm produce • Daylight Savings Time introduced to conserve energy • Money to pay for war was obtained by raising taxes and borrowing money from the American people through the sale of Liberty bonds and Victory bonds.

25. Ensuring Public Support • Committee on Public Information- hired authors, songwriters, entertainers, and “Four-Minute Men” to sway public opinion in favor of the war. • Espionage Act (1917)- provided penalties/prison terms for anyone convicted of spying or interfering with the war effort. • Sedition Act (1918)- made illegal any public expression of opposition to the war. Let officials prosecute anyone who criticized the government. • Many became concerned about intolerance

26. March, 1918 – Russia withdrew from the war after its Communist revolution. Germany launched a massive attack on the Western Front. American and French troops were able to stop the offensive before the Germans reached Paris.

27. Meuse-Argonne Offensive • The largest military engagement in U. S. history, involving 1.2 million American soldiers, of whom 117,000 were killed or wounded • It was one of a series of Allied attacks known as the Hundred Days Offensive, which brought the war to an end. • Began September 26, 1918 and lasted a total of 47 days. • The Meuse-Argonne was the principal engagement of the American Expeditionary Forces during WWI.

28. Battle of the Argonne Forest Gen. Pershing assembled over 600,000 American troops and 40,000 tons of supplies for a massive attack between the Meuse River and the Argonne Forest in France. After 6 weeks of fighting, the Americans broke through German lines. The Meuse-Argonne was one of the bloodiest battles in U.S. history, leaving over 26,000 U.S. forces dead.

29. The Great War Ends -A revolution arose in Austria-Hungary. -The Ottoman Empire surrendered. -With the loss of their allies, the German people forced the Kaiser to step down. Nov. 11, 1918 at 11:00 an armistice was was signed to end the war.

30. Treaty of Versailles • The “Big Four” (leaders of the victorious allied nations) met in Paris in 1919 for a peace conference. Germany was not included. • Pres. Wilson presented his plan, the “Fourteen Points,” based on “justice to all peoples and nationalities.” It called for the creation of a League of Nations to prevent future wars. • Many of Wilson’s proposals were discarded as too lenient. The final treaty required Germany to acknowledge guilt for the war, pay $33 billion in reparations to the Allies, and be stripped of its armed forces.

31. Treaty of Versailles • Four empires were dissolved and nine new countries were created (map pg.# 477) • The U.S. Senate, led by Henry Cabot Lodge, refused to ratify the Versailles Treaty. Wilson suffered a stroke after travelling 8,000 miles in 3 weeks trying to gain the public’s support. • The U.S. negotiated separate peace treaties with each of the Central Powers

32. Impact on United States • While devastating for Europe, WWI propelled the U.S. into a position of international leadership. • As a military struggle, it was brief, decisive, and without the massive casualties suffered by others. American deaths numbered 112,000 (half of them from influenza or non-combat causes.) • Economically, the war sparked an industrial boom that led to years of prosperity.

33. Sergeant Alvin C. York • One of the most decorated American soldiers in WWI. • He received the Medal of Honor for leading an attack on a German machine gun nest during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, taking 32 machine guns, killing 28 German soldiers, and capturing 132 others. • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmRRhxo0RHc

34. Impact at Home • Rapid inflation increases cost of living and leads to wave of labor strikes • Racial Unrest • “Red Scare” • Palmer Raids • Sense of disillusionment—desire for “return to normalcy” – end of Progressivism