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Dulce et Decorum Est : The Tragedy of the first world war. Lecture By: Robert Rennie (Graduate Teaching Assistant: The University of Tennessee). U.S. as Industrial Power. The U.S. Before The Great War: 1900-1914. Roosevelt Corollary.
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Dulce et Decorum Est: The Tragedy of the first world war. Lecture By: Robert Rennie (Graduate Teaching Assistant: The University of Tennessee)
U.S. as Industrial Power The U.S. Before The Great War: 1900-1914 • Roosevelt Corollary United States manufactures 1/3 of world’s goods. The United States is on the verge of becoming a World Power. U.S. increasingly involved in international affairs. U.S. Marines land in Caribbean countries twenty times between 1900-1920. United States has a right to exercise “International Police Powers.” Ignores Monroe Doctrine. Groundwork for U.S. Foreign Policy to this day. Use of trade and investment to further diplomatic aims. Democracy = Capitalism and Trade for American companies.
The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand ignites underlying tensions created by… An entangling “Alliance System.” Austro-Hungarian aggression. Colonial Expansion and a Military Arms Race. Franco-Russian Alliance. German-Austro-Hungarian Alliance. Exacting, Inflexible Military Planning: The Schlieffen Plan / Plan XVII. Overpowering Currents of Nationalism and Ethnic Identity. Underlying tensions…
American “Neutrality…” President Wilson re-elected on platform of “He kept us out of the war.” The United States loans money to England and France during the war. American civilians divided. Lusitania and Zimmerman Note. Unrestricted German Submarine Warfare. Sinking of the Lusitania. Interception of the Zimmerman Note. United States Declares War: April 2, 1917.
Russian Collapse Combat is more fluid in the East – Trenches never truly develop High causalities: Russian Dead: 682,213 German Dead: 1,150,000 War wears down Russian morale. Unrest with Czarist Government increases. Revolution of 1917 • Russian Economy near collapse. • Bolshevik agitators fuel unrest at home. • November 29, 1917: Communist Bolsheviks take power. • Russia withdraws from war: March 1918 (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk).
Wilson’s Fourteen Points… Wilson’s idea of a new international order. Strictly an American Idea. Not endorsed by the Allies. Progressive Ideals. United States fails to ratify the Fourteen Points. Self-Determination Freedom of the Seas Open Diplomacy Free Trade Colonial Readjustment League of Nations
The Treaty of Versailles… The Treaty of Versailles officially ended World War I… Wilson’s Fourteen Points Not Fully Realized. Establishes the League of Nations: The forerunner to the United Nations. Self-Determination “Stillborn.” Reshapes European Continent. Creates Seething Discontent that will Spark World War II. Germany Assigned “War Guilt.” (Ar.231) German War Reparations. German Military Power Destroyed. “Stab in the Back.” A Second World War in a Generation.
Why World War I Matters… World War I signaled the end of the Victorian Era and the Old Order. It creates the world we now live in. International Trouble In… Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, the Middle East. Even the Cold War finds its roots in The Great War. 37,000,000 Military and Civilian Causalities. 16,000,000 Deaths. 21,000,000 Wounded 9 in 10 French Soldiers killed or maimed. 100,000 U.S. Casualties in 10 months.
Let’s Not Forget the Spanish Flu: Kills 50-100 Million People! Worldwide!
A Destructive Decade… Germany virtually destroyed. European Monarchies Extinct. 40,000,000 Dead or Wounded in The Great War. 50 – 100,000,000 Die in Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918.
A TumultuousDecade… Eugenics. Americanization. Repression of Liberty. Racial and Ethnic Discrimination.
A Transformative Decade… European World Order Transformed. European economy in turmoil. The United States: World Power. Victorious in The Great War.