his 122 ch 24 america and the great war fall 2013
TRANSCRIPT
AMERICA AND THE GREAT WARCHAPTER 24
WILSON AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Idealistic Diplomacy
Wilson had 0 experience in foreign affairs
Wilson and Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan
“Spread democracy around the world”
Intervention in Mexico
Mexico Revolution
Tampico Incident
American soldiers captured while obtaining supplies in Tampico
American commander demanded that Mexican soldiers salute the U.S. Flag
Pancho Villa invaded Texas and New Mexico: 17 Americans killed
Army invasion of Mexico never captured Pancho Villa
INTRODUCTION
A twentieth-century war
The expectations and reality of war
THE JULY CRISIS
Alliances Triple Entente (Allied Powers): Britain, France, and Russia
Triple Alliance (Central Powers): Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy
Threats to peace Economic, military, and political advantage
Scramble for colonies
The arms race
EUROPEAN ALLIANCES ON THE EVE OF WWI
THE JULY CRISIS
Summer 1914 June 28, 1914: Franz Ferdinand and his wife assassinated at Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip
July: Austria issued an ultimatum
A punitive campaign to restore order in Bosnia and crush Serbia
The demands were deliberately unreasonable
THE JULY CRISIS
Summer 1914 The Serbs mobilized their army
July 28, 1914: Austria declared war
Austria saw the conflict as a chance to reassert its authority
Russia saw the conflict as a way to regain the tsar’s authority
July 30, 1914: Russia mobilized its troops to fight Austria and Germany
THE JULY CRISIS
Diplomatic maneuvers Germany
Detailed war plans
Kaiser Wilhelm II sent an ultimatum to Russia
Germany demanded to know French intentions
August 1, 1914: Germany declared war on Russia
THE JULY CRISIS
Diplomatic maneuvers August 3, 1914: Germany declared war on France
August 4, 1914: Germany invaded Belgium
The British response
Secret pacts with France
August 4: Britain reluctantly entered the war against Germany
THE JULY CRISIS
Diplomatic maneuvers August 7, 1914: Montenegrins joined the Serbs against Austria
July: the Japanese declared war on Germany
August: Turkey allied itself with Germany
A “tragedy of miscalculation”
Little diplomatic communication
Austrian mismanagement
The lure of the first strike
THE MARNE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
The Battle of the Marne September 5, 1914 The Western Front
The Great Powers dug in
Trench warfare
The importance of the Marne
Changed Europe’s expectation of war
The war would now be long, costly, and deadly
STALEMATE, 1915
The search for new partners Ottomans joined Germany and Austria in 1914
Italy joined the Allies in May 1915
Bulgaria joined the Central Powers in 1915
Expanded the war geographically
STALEMATE, 1915
A war of attrition The nature of modern war
The total mobilization of resources
The Allies imposed a naval blockade on Germany
Germany responded with submarine warfare
Germans sank the Lusitania (May 7, 1915)
Almost twelve hundred killed (128 Americans)
Provoked the animosity of the United States
Wilson refused to enter the war but asked the army and navy to prepare for war.
“Let Us Act without unnecessaryRisk.”
“Let us Act without unnecessary Delay”
STALEMATE, 1915
Trench warfare New weapons
Artillery, machine guns, and barbed wire
Exploding bullets and liquid fire
Poison gas
Physically devastating and psychologically disturbing
War: Old and New
SLAUGHTER IN THE TRENCHES: THE GREAT BATTLES, 1916–1917
Verdun (February 1916) Little strategic importance
Verdun as symbol of French strength
Germany’s goal was to break French morale
By June, four hundred thousand French and German soldiers were killed
The advantage fell to the French, but there was no clear victor
SLAUGHTER IN THE TRENCHES: THE GREAT BATTLES, 1916–1917
The Somme (June–November 1916) Britain on the offensive
The idea was to destroy the German trenches
German trenches withstood the attack
Brutal fighting
Hand-to-hand combat
Neither side won—“the war had won”
AN UNEASY NEUTRALITY
The Election of 1916
Woodrow Wilson won re-election “He Kept us out of war”
Last Efforts for Peace
Wilson attempted to broker a peace deal between the European powers
Germany broke pledge for restricted submarine warfare
Wilson armed merchant ships
Zimmerman Telegram (February 1917)
German foreign minister to Mexico: if Mexico joins German war effort, following victory, Germany will force U.S. to give back to Mexico land taken in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona.
THE HOME FRONT
The costs of war: money and manpower
Mobilizing the home front Single goal of military victory
Civilians were essential to the war economy
Produced munitions
Purchased war bonds
Tax hikes, inflation, and material privation (rationing)
THE HOME FRONT
Women in the war Women as symbols of change
Massive numbers entered the munitions industry
Women entered clerical and service sectors
New opportunities
Breaking down restrictions
The “new woman”
Symbol of freedom and a disconcerting cultural transformation
THE HOME FRONT
Women in the war Long-term changes
Women sent home after the war
Governments pass “natalist” policies
Encouraging women to marry and raise children
Birth control
Universal suffrage: Britain (1918), United States (1919), France (1945)
THE HOME FRONT
Mobilizing resources Propaganda
Important in recruitment
Films, posters, postcards, newspapers
The absolute necessity of total victory
Committee on Public Information: Conveyed the Allies’ war aims
Witch hunt against German Americans
Sauerkraut =liberty cabbage; German Measles= liberty measles;
Espionage and Sedition Acts – 1,000 convictions of disloyalty
Financing the war
Military spending rose to half a nation’s budget
Allies borrowed from Britain, who borrowed from the United States
Germany printed its own money
THE HOME FRONT
The strains of war, 1917 Declining morale of the troops
Troops saw their commanders’ strategies as futile
Rise in number of mutinies
On the home front
Shortages of basic supplies (clothing, food, and fuel)
Price of bread and potatoes soared
German Kaiser as theBeast of Berlin (1918Universal Studios)
RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONS
February 1917 Tsar Nicholas forced to abdicate and Duma (Congress) took power Russian military was losing badly against the Germans and was basically in a state of mutiny
Between February and October there was some sharing of power between the liberals, republicans and the socialists/communists.
October 1917 Bolshevik Party (Lennin) and the workers’ militias (Red Brigades) overthrew the provisional government in Petrograd
Treat of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918) Bolsheviks signed a peace treaty with Germany and ended Russia’s participation in WWI
Germans now free to turn full military resources to the Western Front
AMERICAN OPINION BEFORE 1917
Strongly favored staying out of WWI
Changing perspectives Sinking of Lusitania
German atrocities in Belgium
Zimmerman Note
German submarines sank 7 U.S. Merchant ships
April 6, 1917 Congress voted to declare war against Germany
1918 Liberty Bonds (PD)
U.S. Soldiers fire artillery gun in Argonne, France
AMERICAN PREPAREDNESS
American troops played little role in WWI prior to 1918
October 1917 Italian forces overrun by Austrian forces
“Race for defense of France”
March 21, 1918 German Spring Offensive
May 1918 1 million fresh U.S. troops in France
June 1918 U.S. Forces (Marines) blocked German advance at Belleau Wood
U.S. Army took Vaux and opposed Germans at Chateau-Thierry
September 1918 U. S forces participate in the Meuse-Argonne offensive
1.2 million U.S. troops (117,000 American casualties, including 26,000 dead)
Salvation Army worker writing a letter home for woundedSoldier (1918, PD)
AMERICA AT WAR
The Fourteen Points
Wilson’s idealistic proposal to prevent future wars and spread democracy
Allies viewed these points as a starting point only
Bulgaria, Turkey, Austria-Hungary and Italy dropped out of the war in September, October and early November 1918
Armistice (November 11, 1918) cessation of hostilities at 11:00 AM (11/11/11)
THE FIGHT FOR THE PEACE
Domestic Unrest
Wilson hailed as the victor of the Allies when he traveled to Paris Peace Conference
January 18, 1919 6 months abroad
Told Americans to vote only for Democrats in 1918 Congressional elections alienating Republicans who had supported the war effort.
Did not appoint a prominent Republican to the staff of peace commissionaers
Republicans took back both the House and the Senate
Wilson discovered that the allies not interested in the 14 points
The League of Nations
U.S. Senate refused to ratify the League of Nations
Key piece to Wilson’s post war program
“The League of Nations Argument in aNutshell”
THE FIGHT FOR PEACE
Territory and Reparations
France demands
Germany pay reparations
German territory reduced and new nations created as buffers
Wilson’s Loss at Home
League of Nations proposal
Article 10 pledged member nations to impose economic and military sanctions against “aggressors”
Executive Council: US Britain, France, Italy, Japan + 4
Teddy Roosevelt opposed “substitute internationalism for nationalism means to do away with patriotism!”
Henry Cabot Lodge: “League would usurp Senate’s Constitutional authority to declare war.” Signed by 39 Senators or Senators-elect
SELF DETERMINATION
Wilson’s ideal that ethnicities in Europe be permitted to determine it’s own fate proved unworkable
4 Empires fell following WWI: Germany, Austria Hungary, Ottoman, Russian Hundreds of millions of people clamoring for self determination unworkable
Victors drew borders based on their own best interests rather than ethnic or cultural similarities
War guilt clause: Germany accepted responsibility for the war and for its entire expense
Treaty of Versailles presented to Germany on May 7, 1919 Allies continued naval blockade
French threaten to move troops to the Rhine valley
German population starving because of Allied blockade
June 28, 1919 Germany signed
THE FIGHT FOR PEACE
IRRECONCILABLES & RESERVATIONISTS
Irreconcilables: 14 Republicans and two Democrats who refused to support American membership in the League of Nations on any terms
Reservationists: mainstream Republicans who wanted to limit American participation in the League
October 2, 1919 President Wilson suffered a severe stroke which left him paralyzed on his left side, delusional and emotionally unstable Wilson’s wife Edith, aides and cabinet members ran the Executive office
Original Treaty of Versailles failed (38 to 53)
Revised Treaty failed (38 to 53)
LURCHING FROM WAR TO PEACE
The Spanish Flu
Began in Army barracks in Kansas January 1918
500 million people infected
50-100 million people died
Flu killed healthy young adults rather than very young or very old
The Economic Transition
Workers strikes
U.S. Steel Strike (340, 000 workers)
LURCHING FROM WAR TO PEACE
Racial Friction
Race riots
367,000 African American veterans moved to new areas, developed careers
White fears
Whites in Longview Texas invaded black side of town to search for a man accused of dating a white woman (July 1919)
Washington D.C. riots started by false claims of sexual assaults on white women (July 1919 African Americans fought back and whites claimed a race war.
Chicago riot (July 1919) 38 African Americans killed, 537 people injured
Elaine Arkansas: up to 100 African Americans killed
25 race riots and 80 lynchings in 1919
The Red Scare
What had occurred in Russia could occur in the U.S.
Militant bombs (Italian Anarchists)
November 7, 1919 Immigration agents rounded-up 450 “alien radicals” (Russian immigrants looking for work) deported to Russia without trial or judicial review
January, 1920 Police arrested 5,000 more suspects without warrants
100% Americanism and restriction on immigration