chapter 24 summary (powerpoint)

Chapter

Ninth Edition

America: Past and Present

America: Past and Present, Ninth EditionDivine • Breen • Frederickson • Williams • Gross • Brands

Copyright ©2011, ©2007, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.All rights reserved.

The Nation at WarThe Nation at War

24



Toward War

• 1914: War in Europe• Assassination of Franz Ferdinand of

Austria • Nationalism – Imperialism – Militarism• Balance of Power/Secret Agreements• Central Powers headed by Germany,

Austria• Allied Powers headed by England, France

Russia



TOWARD WAR

• Austria issues ultimatum to Serbia• Germany backs up ultimatum with a “blank

check”• Russia backs Serbia and Europe stumbles

into WW I



The Neutrality Policy

• Wilson declares neutrality• Progressives saw war as wasteful,

irrational and an obstacle to reforms• Suspicion that business sought war for

profit • Immigrants preferred U.S. neutrality• Americans saw little national stake in war



Freedom of the Seas

• Neutrality proves difficult• England’s blockade of Germany restricts U.S.

trade with Germany• Wilson accepted English promise of

reimbursement at war’s end• Wilson protests trading blockades – trades

mostly with Allies• U.S. position changed toward Germany because

German U-boats interrupt trade with Allies



The U-Boat Threat

• German submarines violated international law by shooting without warning

• Wilson refused to ban trade or to ban Americans from foreign ships

• 1915: Lusitania sunk by U-Boat– Wilson demanded Germans pay for loss of

128 Americans



The U-Boat Threat

• April, 1916: Wilson issued ultimatum: call off attacks on cargo and passenger ships or U.S.–German relations would be severed

• May, 1916: Sussex Pledge—Germany pledges to honor U.S. neutrality and only shoot ships of the enemy’s navy

• Sussex Pledge postponed U.S. involvement in war



“He Kept Us Out of War”

• 1916: Wilson campaigned on record of neutrality

• Republican campaigned on tougher line against Germany

• Wilson won close election – people want to remain neutral



The Final Months of Peace

• February, 1917: Germany renewed U-Boat attacks

• Zimmerman Telegram and Germany sinks five American ships

• Wilson’s response: declare war on Germany

• War to end all wars and make the world safe for democracy

• Wilson’s speech – Peace among equals



Over There

• U.S. allies were in danger of losing war– Germans sunk 881,000 tons of Allied shipping

during April, 1917– Mutinies in French army– British drive in Flanders stalled– Bolsheviks signed separate peace with

Germany and left war – Italian army routed

• Allies braced for spring, 1918 offensive



Mobilization

• U.S. not prepared for war• Preparedness issue split country• 200,000 troops at war’s beginning• Selective Service Act created draft• John J. (Blackjack) Pershing - head American

Expeditionary Force (AEF)• American Expeditionary Force small and poorly

equipped–



European Alliances and Battlefronts, 1914–1917



War in the Trenches

• WW I – Trench Warfare represents vast devastation

• Battle of Verdun – over 600,000 casualties• Somme – over 1 million casualties • 1917: U.S. troops arrive in France• 1918: U.S. forces help halt final German

offensive• Germans stopped outside Paris



The Western Front: U.S. Participation, 1918



Over Here

• Victory on front depends on mobilization at home

• Wilson consolidates federal authority to organize war production and distribution

• War Industries Board in charge of production

• Food Administration run by Hoover



The Conquest of Convictions

• Wartime laws to repress dissent– Espionage Act: Outlawed acts to aid the

enemy, including encouraging disloyalty– Trading with the Enemy Act: Government can

censor foreign language press– Sedition Act: Criticism of the war made a

crime – violate freedom of speech– 1500 dissenters imprisoned, including Eugene

Debs – he denounced the war



The Conquest of Convictions

• 1917- Russian Bolshevik Revolution results in Russia signing treaty with Germany and leaving the war

• Germany could then concentrate on fighting in the West

• 1918–1919: Revolution resulted in “Red Scare” in U.S.

• Russia blocked from peace conference



A Bureaucratic War

• Wilson organizes a wartime economy• War Industries Board and other agencies

supervise production, distribution to maximize war effort

• Government seizes some businesses to keep them running

• Cooperation between government and business the norm

• Business profits from wartime industry



Labor in the War

• Union membership swells• Labor shortage prompts:

– Wage increase– Entry of Mexican Americans, women, African

Americans to war-related industrial work force



Labor in the War

• 200,000 blacks served in France– 42,000 combat troops

• Great Migration to northern factories– Blacks must adjust industrial work pace– Encounter Northern racism



The Treaty of Versailles

• 1918 U.S. help crush German Army • American contribution, although small in

comparison to European countries, was vital

• Wilson goes to Paris treaty with his Fourteen points calling for non-punitive settlement



The Treaty of Versailles

• England and France balk at Fourteen Points– Want Germany disarmed and crippled– Want Germany’s colonies– Skeptical of principle of self-determination



A Peace at Paris

• Wilson failed to deflect Allied punishment of Germany in treaty

• Wilson wants self-determination and League of Nations

• Treaty created Wilson’s League of Nations– Article X of League charter required members

to protect each others’ independence and territorial integrity – Collective Security



Europe After the Treaty Versailles, 1919



Rejection in the Senate

• Opponents in Congress oppose treaty on any grounds – some in Congress want compromise

• Some see League of Nations infringing on American autonomy

• Wilson unwilling to compromise with opponents

• 1919: Stroke disables Wilson• 1920 – Final defeat of Treaty in Senate



Rejection in the Senate

• Wilson hopes Democratic victory in 1920 election will provide mandate for League of Nations

• Landslide for Republican Warren Harding• Defeat of League of Nations brought

defeat of Progressive spirit



Postwar Disillusionment

• To the next generation, the war seemed futile, wasteful

• The progressive spirit survived but without enthusiasm or broad-based support

• Americans welcomed Warren G Harding

chapter 24 summary (powerpoint)

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