America Tips Balance of Power (Ch. 11, Sec. 2)

1. America Prepares to Enter War2. New Weapons Change Face of War3. Casualties & Cost of World War I

How did America prepare for the war?

• Congress passed Selective Service Act (draft) & 3 million men were selected for service

• 13,000 women served as nurses & secretaries• Government began mass production of ships &

took over commercial & private ships • Convoy system escorted merchant ships

(heavily armed destroyers)• 230-mile mine barrier (North Sea) kept German

u-boats contained

What new weapons were introduced during WWI?

• Machine guns had been improved to become mass killing machines (500 rounds per minute)

• Tanks became an important weapon of war (clearing barbed wire defenses)

• Airplanes were transformed into killing machines & battled for control of the skies

• Long-range artillery could shower the trenches with shells from miles away

• Poison gas (mustard & chlorine) was used to sicken, blind, & kill enemy soldiers

What was the outcome of WWI?

• In 1918, a flu epidemic killed 500,000 Americans & 30 million people worldwide

• German soldiers & sailors simply decided to give up the fight, end the war, & signed an armistice

• Bloodiest war ever (at that time) left 22 million dead (at least half civilians)

• 20 million people were wounded & it left 10 million people as refugees

• The total estimated cost of WWI was about $338 billion