“It was one of the most significant elections in all of American history because it involved a philosophical debate about the nature of government, rarely seen in American politics.”

-David Kennedy, historian

Election of 1912

Key issues: Election of 1912

ECONOMIC POLICY

ROOSEVELT

DEBS

TAFT

WILSON

Monopolies are fine, as long as the government regulates them.

What’s good for business is good

for America.

Break up the trusts.

It’s time to let workers run the nation.

Keep the tariffs: they protect wages

Raise tariffs to help big business

Get rid of tariffs: they protect monopolies

The debate over tariffs is a “sham battle” aiming to distract from the plight of labor.

Nationalize money policy via the Federal Reserve System and

a federal income tax

Key issues: Election of 1912

DOMESTIC POLICY

ROOSEVELT

DEBS

TAFT

WILSON

Women should be able to vote now.

Women should stay at home and

not worry about politics.

Women’s right to vote? It’s up to

the states.

Equality knows no gender or color.

Vague appeals to racial equality

Straight up segregation

HONORSHISTORY 9

PERIOD 6B

JASZCAR

FORREST

BOSWORTH

BARRYSMITH

WARDEN

PICCIONE

O’CONNOR

PETTNER

PELKA

HUSTON

THOMAS

GARDNER

MERRY

LONG

DALTONSMITH

McGAFFICK

DAVIS

CERIANI

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

-John McCrae, 1915

THE GREAT WARBACKSTORY

1. Imperialism

European “carving up” of Africa, South America, Polynesia

CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR

Backstory

1. Imperialism

“Carving up” of Africa, South America, Polynesia

No major war since 1871 (Franco-Prussian War)

Old guard on European mainland is fading

2. Nationalism

Belief in cultural superiority

Unites a newly armed Germany

Germany on the rise

Backstory

1. Imperialism

“Carving up” of Africa, South America, Polynesia

No major war since 1871 (Franco-Prussian War)

Old guard on European mainland is fading

2. Nationalism

Belief in cultural superiority

Unites a newly armed Germany

Divides the growing Austro-Hungarian Empire

Germany on the rise

Backstory

3. Comrades in arms

Fin de siècle Europe: the rise of alliances

THREE EMPERORS LEAGUE1873

United in maintaining feudal monarchy, suppressing rebellion

DUAL ALLIANCE1879

Alliance of defensive aid; protecting against a presumptive French or Russian invasion

TRIPLE ALLIANCE1882

Defensive alliance born of fear of rising great powers

REINSURANCE TREATY1887

German goals: isolate France, prevent two-front war

Russian goal: seize more of the Balkans

FRANCO-RUSSIAN ALLIANCE1894

Russia wanted to extend its credit with France, who in turn wanted to end its isolation, hedge against Germany

ENTENTE CORDIALE1904

• Formal end to a millennium of hostilities

• Settles longstanding issues of sovereignty in Africa, Siam

• Long-overdue recognition of common interests

Backstory

3. Comrades in arms

Fin de siècle Europe: the rise of alliances

Europe : parity : : America : “Big Stick”

Triple Alliance:

Austria-Hungary, Germany, Italy

Triple Entente:

Great Britain, France, Russia

Backstory

3. Comrades in arms

Fin de siècle Europe: the rise of alliances

Europe : parity : : America : “Big Stick”

Triple Alliance:

Rise of militarism

Goal: Balance of power

Result: Escalation of tension

Austria-Hungary, Germany, Italy

Triple Entente:

Great Britain, France, Russia

There is no need to carry

me to prison.

My life is already ebbing

away. I suggest that you nail

me to a cross and burn me

alive. My flaming body will

be a torch to light my

people on their path to

freedom.

Gavrilo Princip

June 28, 1914

1878

1914

Austria-Hungary declares war with Serbia on 28 July 1914

Germany declares war with Russia on 1 August 1914

France invaded by Germany on 2 August 1914

Germany declares war with France on 3 August 1914

Belgium is invaded by Germany on 3 August 1914

Germany declares war with Belgium on 4 August 1914

Liberia declares war with Germany on 4 August 1914

Great Britain declares war with Germany on 4 August 1914

New Zealand enters war together with Britain on 4 August 1914

Australia enters war together with Britain on 4 August 1914

Canada enters war together with Britain on 4 August 1914

Montenegro declares war with Austria-Hungary on 5 August 1914…Serbia declares war with Germany on 6 August 1914

Austria-Hungary declares war with Russia on 6 August 1914

Montenegro declares war with Germany on 8 August 1914

Great Britain declares war with Austria-Hungary on 12 August 1914

France declares war with Austria-Hungary on 12 August 1914

Japan declares war with Germany on 23 August 1914

Japan declares war with Austria-Hungary on 25 August 1914

Austria-Hungary declares war with Belgium on 28 August 1914

1914

Murder in Sarajevo: The Fallout

Cause for caution: Serbia’s powerful ally

Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia July 28

Triple Alliance: Central Powers

Austria-Hungary, Germany

Triple Entente: Allied Powers

Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy…

The dominoes fall

Italy drops out, switches sides

and just about everyone else.

1915

The Western Front

1915

The Western Front

Military border between France, Germany

Fortified with lines of troops

Establishment of trench warfare

Tech/1915

“A new kind of war”

Trenches and no-man’s-land

Machine guns

400-600 rounds of ammo per minute

Artillery cannons

mustard gas, chlorine gas

birth of biological warfare

Tech/1915

“A new kind of war”

Trenches and no-man’s-land

Machine guns

400-600 rounds of ammo per minute

Artillery cannons

mustard gas, chlorine gas

birth of biological warfare

Psychological advantages of poison gas

Unterseeboot

U-Boats (submarines)

mostly for mercantile sabotage

Airplanes first used in combat

Tech/1915

“A new kind of war” (cont.)

Not just German militarism…

Early tanks: “water-carriers”

rolled out by France, Britain

very hard to maneuver

equally hard to take down

“Little Willie”

1915

A bloody stalemate

Question: Why would the U.S. even consider getting involved in this mess?

U.S. Isolationism• Washington, Jefferson

warn against “entanglingalliances”

• 1823: Monroe Doctrine

• 1898: Spanish-AmericanWar results in first instanceof American “colonialism”

• 1916: Voters to dictatepolicy at the polls

• 1915: RMS Lusitania

Election of 1916

GOP had split in 1912

Moderate tapped to headthe ticket:

Charles Evans Hughes

Sitting Supreme Court Justice, once governor of New York

Reformer; ambivalent about entering war

“The President is sleeping.”

Election of 1916

Democrats nominate incumbent U.S. President:

Woodrow Wilson

Great War in Europe dominates campaign rhetoric

“He kept us out of war.”

“We have been deeply wronged upon the seas, but we have not wished to wrong or injure in return…”

Woodrow WilsonSecond inaugural address, 1917

The Zimmermann Note

Sent by Foreign Secretary of the German Empire, Arthur Zimmermann

• Received by German ambassador inMexico, Heinrich von Eckardt

• January 16, 1917

• Cracked by “Room 40”, secret Britishcodebreaking crew

• Disclose, or don’t disclose?

February 3, 1917

1915

1917-1918

“Over There”: America enters the war

U.S. Army enrollment:

• January 1917: 107,641

• April 1917: 750,000

Selective Service Act (1917)

(17th in the world)

• Summer 1918: 4,000,000

3,000,000 deployed

(national population ~102m)General John J. Pershing

Head of AEF

1918: Hundred Days Offensive

August 8 – November 9, 1918

September 1918: 10,000 fresh American troops daily

260,000 Americans “over the top”

1917-1919

ARMISTICE

Armistice does not equal peace treaty

• Temporary end to hostilities: November 11, 1918

• Germans approach US for peace

Adds to American diplomatic power

30-day armistice, regularly renewed

Russian Revolution (October 1917) changes balance of power

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918) ends war for USSR

1917-1919

FOURTEEN POINTS

Wilson’s plan for peace

Key points:

• Freedom on the seas and general disarmament

• Reduction of trade barriers

• Evacuation of France, Belgium, Russian front

• Independence for Balkan nations, Poland, former Austro-Hungarian groups

• Protection for minorities in Turkey

• A league of nations to protect against another war

1919

TREATY OF VERSAILLESJune 28, 1919

Key points:

• Germany surrenders 13.5% of all territory

• Alsace-Lorraine returned to France

• Germans to pay reparations equivalent to $462 billion in 2013 US dollars

• Threatens to bankrupt Germany

• Would take till 1988 to pay off

Terms of peace interpreted as punishment of Germany

(inadvertantly causes World War II)

1919