World War I Comes to America

“The Great War” 1914-1919

Notes Quiz1) Which was not a reason that the US had

difficulty maintaining neutrality?1) U-Boat sinking of the Lusitania.2) French crimes against German civilians.3) British blockade.

2) What was promised in the Zimmerman Telegram?1) Mexico would get lost territory back.2) Ireland would be granted independence.3) Mexico would attack German colonies.

3) What was Wilson’s campaign slogan for 1916?1) “He avenged the Lusitania!”2) “He took us to war!”3) “He kept us out of war!”

World War I Comes to America

“The Great War” 1914-1919

World War I

“The War to End All Wars”

Schlieffen Plan & Beyond in 1914

Sept. 5-10 – 1st Battle of the Marne – halt German invasion of France

To avoid a 2 front war, 1st Germany had to defeat France quicklyTo avoid French entrenchments German armies would attack neutral Belgium 1st

August 26-30 – Germans defeat Russians at the Battle Of Tannenberg (250,000 Russians killed)

Trench Warfare• After September

1914, both sides dug in.

• Trenches ran from Switzerland across France to the English Channel.

• The war bogged down and millions died.

Battle of Ypres introduces Chemical Warfare

Treating Mustard Gas burns

Preparing for Poison Gas Attacks

U.S. Declares Neutrality

“No entangling alliances!”

Economic Ties Increaseas the U.S. trades supplies and offers loans to warring nations

$2.25

Billion

$27 Million

Submarine Warfare• Germans declare submarine warfare with u-

boats surrounding England to cut-off supplies

May 7, 1915 Sinking of the Lusitania

American Passenger Ship accused by Germans of transporting military supplies illegally to Great Britain

Feb. 21-Dec. 18, 1916The Battle of Verdun

• 300,000 dead, 770,000 wounded• Lines never changed positions

July 1-November, 1916The Battle of the Somme

• 1 million Casualties for 7 miles of ground

1917

• Germany needed to cut off Britain’s supplies—attacks all ships around Great Britain.

• Americans die in U-Boat attacks.• Tsar of Russia overthrown, Democratic

government takes over (for a few months).• Zimmerman Telegram—Germany promised to

give Mexico California, Texas and other states if it attacked the US (Keep America out of the European War).

“That it means to stir up enemies against us at our very doors the intercepted note to the German Minister at Mexico City is eloquent evidence”

“We will not choose the path of submission and suffer the most sacred rights of our

nation and our people to be ignored or violated.”

America Goes to War

• US declared war on Germany and the Central Powers on April 2, 1917.

• Took the US time to mobilize its might—not fully prepared for the war.

• 2 million men drafted into the army—whites and blacks segregated in the military too.

Mobilization

• US factories run at full production—workers in short supply.– Women enter the workforce in large numbers.– Thousands of blacks leave the south to take

jobs in northern factories—known as “The Great Migration.”

• War Industries Board oversaw businesses.– Controlled prices, production, wages, and

worked to eliminate waste at work & home.

“It will involve the organization and mobilization of all the material resources of the country to supply the materials of war”

The Will to Fight

• Creel Committee publishes propaganda to explain why America was fighting and to help the war effort.

• Speeches, war bond drives to pay for the war, recruitment posters, etc.

“Our object now, as then, is to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the world as against selfish and autocratic power and to set up amongst the really free and self-governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose and of action as will henceforth ensure the observance of those principles.”

Fear of the Enemy

• Many Americans were afraid that they would be attacked.• Immigrants were targets of hate and discrimination, accused of

being “spies” and worse—more race riots & lynchings.

• As a result of these fears and a feeling that the nation had to take measures to protect itself, Congress passed the Espionage Act (1917) and Sedition Act (1918)

“One of the things that has served to convince us that the Prussian autocracy was not and could never be our friend is that from the very outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities and even our offices of government with spies”

Wartime Civil Liberties

• Espionage & Sedition Acts allowed the government to jail those who spoke out against the war or criticized the government.– Sound like laws you’ve already learned?– 1798’s Alien & Sedition Acts.

• Are Civil Liberties (1st Amendment Rights) different during a war?– Can you be arrested for anti-war speeches?– Schenck v. US (1919)

The Contradiction?

“The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them.”

Schenck v. United States (1919)

• Pages 396-397.• Why was Schenck jailed?• Did he win his appeal?• What type of speech is not considered to

be protected by the 1st Amendment?• What is symbolic speech?

– Is it protected by the 1st Amendment?

End of the War

• American soldiers arrive in Europe by late 1917, help turn the tide in 1918.

• Allies push the Germans back, Armistice (end fighting) declared at 11:00am, November 11, 1918.

• Germany declared the loser, despite the fact that the war was almost entirely fought on Allied territory.

“But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts -- for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free.”

Results of the War

• Wilson went to Versailles peace treaty conference to try to get a fair peace.

• Allies wanted revenge.• Wilson had 14 points for peace—all but

one are ignored by France & Britain.• League of Nations was created to have a

forum where countries could solve their differences without bloodshed.– Idealistic, but not very effective.– US did not join.

Results of the War

• More blacks come north for factory jobs.• Women enter the workforce in greater

numbers than ever.• Women received the right to vote with the

19th Amendment (1919), in part because men recognized their part in the war effort.

• Millions killed in the war.• Flu epidemic sweeps the globe in 1919,

killing 30 million—more deaths than caused by the war.