American History Module Sixteen

World War I
WWI BEGINS:
Causes of WWI:
 Four indirect causes: nationalism, imperialism, militarism and formation of alliances.
NATIONALISM:
 Nationalism: a devotion to the interests and culture of one’s nation.
 It led to competitive rivalries among nations.
o Germany’s growing power.
o Ethnic groups wanted independence or looked for larger nation’s protection.
 Serbs had their independent country but were controlled by Austria-Hungry.
 Russia saw itself as the protector of Slavic people.
 Russia and A-H were rivals for influence over Serbia.
IMPERIALISM:
 Europeans were building empires which extended their economic and political
control of peoples of the world.
 Colonies supplied them with raw materials and markets for manufactured goods.
o Germany competed with France and Britain for colonies.
MILITARISM:
 Empires were expensive to build and defend.
 Increased military spending as all wanted stronger armed forces.
 Militarism: the development of armed forces and their use as a tool of diplomacy.
 1890: Germany was strongest nation in Europe.
o They developed an army system to draft and train young men.
 British relied on its navy for defense as their navy was the strongest.
ALLIANCE SYSTE:
 1907: two major defense alliances in Europe.
 Triple Entente: France, Britain and Russia.
o Later known as the Allies.
 Triple Alliance: Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungry.
o Central powers: Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungry and Ottoman Empire.
 European leaders believed alliances created balance of power that nations had equal
strength.
 They though alliance system would help decrease the chances of war.

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War Breaks Out:
AN ASSASINATION LEADS TO WAR:
 Balkan Peninsula is called “the powder keg of Europe”.
 There were ethnic rivalries among people there, Europe’s leaders had interests there.
o Russia wanted access to Mediterranean Sea.
o Germany wanted a rail link to Ottoman Empire.
o Austria-Hungry took control of Bosnia accused Serbia of destroying its control.
 June 1914: Archduke Ferdinand, heir of the Austrian throne, visited Sarajevo.
 Gavrilo Princip stepped from the crowd and shot him and his wife, Sophie.
 Princip was a member of the Black Hand, org promoting Serbian nationalism.
 July 28: Austria-Hungry declared war on Serbia.
 August 1: Germany declared war on Russia.
 August 3: Germany declared war on France (Russia’s ally).
 Britain declare war on Germany after its invasion of Belgium.
THE FIGHTING STARTS:
 August 3,1914: Germany invaded Belgium, using the Schlieffen Plan strategy.
 It called for attacking Russia, combined with a quick drive thru Belgium to Paris.
 After France’s fall, two German armies would defeat Russia.
 Kaiser Wilhelm II promised soldier of a short war.
 Allies retreated to the Marne River in France.
 Sep 1914: they stopped the German advance.
 Both sides dug in for a long siege.
 Spring 1915: two parallel deep, rat-infested trenches crossed France.
 Trenches stretched from Belgian coat to the Swiss Alps.
 July 1, 1916-Mid Nov: First Battle of the Somme, British suffered 60,000 casualties in
the first day, final causalities were 1.2 million and only even miles changed.
 This stalemate lasted for more than 3 years.
IN THE TRENCHES:
 Stalemate was an effect of trench warfare.
 Three main kinds of trenches: front line, support and reserve.
 Dugouts or underground rooms were officers’ quarters and command posts.
 Between the trench complexes was the “no man’s land”.
o It was filled with shell craters and barbed wires.
 Soldiers were mowed down by machine-gun fire.
 Life in the trenches was miserable.
 Soldiers were surrounded by filth, lice, rats and polluted water that caused dysentery.
 Soldiers suffered from trench foot caused by standing in cold wet trenches for long time
without changing socks or boots.
o Toes turn red or blue they numb and finally they start to rot.
 Only solution was to amputate toes or sometimes the entire foot.
 Trench mouth was an infection of gums and throat.
 They suffered from lack of sleep and battle fatigue.
 They also experienced shell shock which is a complete emotional collapse from which
many never recovered.
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Americans Question Neutrality:
 Woodrow Wilson declared the US would remain neutral.
DIVIDED LOYALTIES:
 Socialists criticized the war as a capitalist and imperialist struggle between Germany and
England to control markets and colonies.
 German Americans sympathized with Germany.
 Irish Americans saw the war as a chance for Ireland Ind.
 Immigrants created organizations to help the causes of their homelands.
 Americans felt close to Britain bc of the common ancestry, language, etc.
 Germany’s invasion of Belgium increased American sympathy for the Allies.
o They attacked civilians, destroying villages, churches, libraries, and hospitals.
 America’s transatlantic trade become more unbalanced.
 Allies ordered war supplies manufactured in America.
o Like: cannon powder, dynamite, copper wire, tubing, and armored cars.
 American banks loaned $2.3b to the Allies, but only $27m to the Central Powers.

The War Hits Home:

 1917: America mobilized for war with the Allies to prevent German threatening US shipping.

THE BRITISH BLOCKADE:

 Britain used its naval strength and blockaded the German coast.
o To prevent weapons and military supplies from getting through.
o Expanded it to Contraband to include food.
o Extended to neutral ports and mined the entire North Sea.
 American ships carrying goods for Germany refused to challenge the blockade.
 Germany found it difficult to import foodstuff and fertilizers for crops.
 1917: famine stalked the country.
o 750,000 German starved to death as a result of the British blockade.

GERMAN U-BOAT RESPONSE:

 Germany responded with a counterblockade by U-boats.
 Any British or Allied ship found in the waters around Britain would be sunk.
o It would not always be possible to warn crews and passengers of an attack.
 May 7, 1915: U-boat sank British Lusitania off the Irish coast.
o 128 of them were Americans
o Germans defended this that the ship carried ammunition.
 August 1915: U-boat sank British the Arabic drowning two Americans.
 US protested and Germany agreed not to sink any passengers’ ships.
 March 1916: Germany sunk French passenger steamer the Sussex.
 80 passengers including Americans were killed.
 Wilson threatened to end diplomatic relations with Germany.
 German officials feared the US might enter the war so they issued the Sussex Pledge.
o It promised no to sink merchant vessels without warning or saving human lives.

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 o Condition: the US couldn’t persuade Britain to lift its blockade against food and
fertilizers, Germany would renew unrestricted submarine warfare.
THE 1916 ELECTION:
 Democrats renominated Wilson.
 Republicans nominated Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes.

The US Declares War:

GERMAN PROVOCATION:
 Jan 31: Kaiser announced U-boats will sink all ships in British water.
 Zimmermann note, secret telegram from the German minister to the German
ambassador in Mexico that was intercepted and decoded by British agents.
o It proposed an alliance btw Mexico and Germany.
o It promised that if war with the US broke out, Germany would support Mexico in
regaining “lost territories”.
 They hoped American war with Mexico would keep the US out of war in Europe.
 Germans sank four unarmed American merchant ships with 36 losses.

A REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA:
 1915: Russia suffered 2.5m causalities in fight against Central powers and food shortage.
 Nation’s losses were blamed on the Russian Czar.
 March 1917: revolutionaries expelled him and established a provisional govt.
 Nov: Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional govt and set up a Communist state.
 New gov withdrew Russian army from eastern front and signed peace with Central P.
 With Russia out of conflict, Germany was free to focus on fighting in the west.

AMERICA ACTS:
 April 2, 1917: Wilson delivered his war resolution in Washington in the Capitol.
 Wilson and American believed that the US had to join the war to pave the way for a
future peace and freedom.

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THE US JOINS THE WAR:
America Mobilizes:
 The US wasn’t prepared for war as 200,000 men were in service only.

RAISING AN ARMY:
 May 1917: Selective Service Act which required men to register with the govt to be
randomly selected for military service.
 1918: 4m men had registered under the act.
 Almost 3m men were called up.
 2m troops reached Europe as three fourths of them saw the actual combat.
 Many didn’t go to high school and one in five was foreign-born.
 Eight-month training period in the US and Europe.
 Men were put 17-hour days on target practice, bayonet drill, kitchen duty, and
cleaning.
 Real weapons were in short supply so soldiers used fake weapons.

DIVERSITY IN THE MILITARY:

 America needed the cooperation of its minority population.
 Pamphlet: “black, yellow, white men from all quarters of the globe and fighting side
by side to free the world”.
 Minorities hoped that by fighting, they would gain respect and be treated equal to whites.
o All-black 369th Infantry Regiment or the Harlem Hell Fighters.
 400,000 A.A served in the armed forces.
o They didn’t get equal treatment.
o They served in segregated units and were excluded form navy and marines.
o White officers objected to training them to use weapons.
o Most of them were assigned to noncombat duties.
o 369th saw duty on the front lines than any other American regiment.
o Two of them, Johnson and Roberts, were first A. to receive France’s highest
military honor “the cross of war” or the Croix de Guerre.
 N.A were required to register as 10,000 served in military.
o Army used Choctaw Indians to transmit messages in their native language.
 A.A and Hispanic A. saw military service as a way to gain equal rights.
 Jewish Welfare Board established centers for Jewish servicemen in the US and
overseas.
 Women weren’t allowed to enlist, army accepted women in the Army Corps of
Nurses.
o It denied them army rank, pay and benefits.
o 13,000 women accepted noncombat position in the navy and marines.
o They served as nurses secretaries, and telephone operators with military rank.

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 o French-speaking women served in US Army Signal Corps as switchboard operators.
 “Hello Girls” had important role in keeping communications btw front lines
and military headquarters.
o Some served as volunteer ambulance drivers.

MASS PRODUCTION:
 US had to transport men, food and equipment over thousands of miles of ocean.
 German U-boats attacks were a serious threat to the Allied war effort.
 1917: German submarines sunk twice as much ship tonnage as the Allies built.
 US govt took several steps to expand its fleet.
o Govt exempted shipyard workers from the draft.
o US Chamber of Commerce joined public relations campaign to emphasize the
importance of shipyard work.
o Shipyards used prefabrication techniques.
 Instead of building an entire ship, standardized parts were built and assembled in the yard.

The Fight “Over There”:

THE CONVOY SYSTEM:
 Mass production increased the number of ships sent to Europe.
 US needed to figure out a way to protect its transatlantic shipping from U-boats.
 Sims convinced British to try the convoy system.
o It involved a heavy guard of destroyers with merchant ships back and forth across the
Atlantic in groups.
o Fall 1917: shipping losses has been cut in half.
 US navy helped lay a 230-mile barrier of mines across the North Sea.
o Barrier was designed to bottle up U-boats and keep them out of Atlantic Ocean.
 Of the 2m Americans who sailed to Europe, only 637 were lost to U-boat attacks.
THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE:
 June 1917: first US troops arrived in France.
 American soldiers went overseas formed the American Expeditionary Force (AEF).
o It was led by General John J. Pershing.
o It included soldiers from regular army, National Guard, volunteers and draftees.
 American infantrymen were nicknamed “doughboys”.
 Main contributions American troops made was their freshness and enthusiasm.

A NEW KIND OF WAR:

 Trench warfare & new weapons like the machine gun could hit targets that were miles away.
o Capable of firing 600 rounds a minute.
o It was responsible for 90% of allied causalities at the Battle of Somme 1916.
 Most innovative weapons were the tank and the airplane.
 Mechanized warfare: warfare that relies on machines powered by gasoline and diesel.
 Tanks were built of steel so that bullets bounced off.
 1917: British learned how to drive tanks thru wire defenses that cleared path for infantry.
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 o They were not damaged by machine-gun or rifle fire.
 Congress put $675m to build air force.
 Pilots sat in their open cockpits and shot each other with pistols.
o It was hard to shoot and fly a plane, planes began carrying machine guns.
 Dreadnought: new type of battleship where ships were very armed.
 Observation balloons were used by both sides and often protected with aircrafts.
 Chemical warfare, like: poison gas, toxic tear gas, mustard gas, chlorine, and phosgene.
American Troops Go on the Offensive:
 US troops send Germany back at Chateau-Thierry and Belleau Wood.
 July 15, 1918: Germans launched offensive at the 2nd Battle of the Marne.
 Germany suffered 150,000 causalities and retreated on August 3.
 AEF defeated German troops at Mihiel.
 Allies pushed northward thru Argonne Forest.
o American suffered 120,000 causalities in the Battle of the Argonne Forest.

AMERICAN WAR HERO:

 Alvin York sought exemption as a conscientious objector bc he opposed war.
 He decided to accept fighting if the cause was just.
 Oct 8, 1918: he -with 6 doughboys- killed 25 German and captured 132 prisoners.
 Pershing called him the outstanding soldier of the AEF.
 He was promoted to sergeant.

THE COLLAPSE OF GERMANY:

 Food and supplies lacked among civilians in Germany.
 Revolutions swept across Austria-Hungry.
 Nov 36,1918: Austria-Hungry surrendered to the Allies.
o Same day, German sailors rebelled against govt authority.
 Nov 9: socialist leader established a German republic in Berlin.
o The Kaiser gave up the throne.
 At the 11th hour, on the 11th day, on the 11th month on 1918: Germany agreed to a
cease-fire and signed an armistice or truce to end war.

THE FINAL TOLL:

 Deaths: 22 million, with 20 million wounded and 10 million became refugees.
 Economic costs of the war: $338 billion.
 The US lost 48,000 men in battle, 62,000 died of disease and 200,000 wounded.

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THE WAR AT HOME:
Government Oversees the War Effort:
CONGRESS GIVES POWER TO WILSON:
 The shift from consumer goods to producing war supplies was too complicated.
 Congress gave Wilson direct control over the economy.
o Gave him power to fix prices, regulate and nationalize war-related industries.
 Shipping was the first industry to be nationalized.
 Govt took over commercial and private ship to convert them for transatlantic war use.
 War Industries Board (WIB) was the main regulatory body.
o 1918: it was reorganized under Bernard Baruch.
o It encouraged companies to use mass-production to increase efficiency.
o It urged them to eliminate waste by standardizing products.
 By making only 5 colors of ribbons instead of 150
 The WIB set production quotas and allocated raw materials.

ECONOMY GROWS:
 Under WIB, industrial production increased by 20%.
 WIB applied price controls at the wholesale level so retail prices soared.
 Wages rose in most of the industries during war.
 Corporate profits soared like industries of chemicals, meatpacking, oil and steel.
o Ex: the DuPont Company.
 Union boomed because of salary and increasing work hours, child labor and the
dangerous conditions.
 Union membership went from 2.5m to 4m.
 Wilson established the National War Labor Board in 1918.
 Some workers refused to obey the board could lose their draft exemptions.
 “Work or fight” was the board’s response.
 The board improved factory conditions that it pushed for an 8-hour workday, banned
child labor and promoted safety inspections.

OTHER AGENCIES:
 Railroad Administration controlled railroads.
 Fuel Administration monitored coal supplied and rationed gasoline and heating oil.
 People adopted “gasless Sundays” and “lightless nights” to conserve fuel.
 Wilson created the Food Administration to produce and conserve food.
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 o He declared one day a week “meatless” other “sweetless” etc.

American Troops Go on the Offensive:

 The govt controlled the economy but faced two problems: raising money and
convincing the public to support the war.

WAR FINANCING:
 US spent $35.5 billion on the war effort.
 Govt raised about one third of this amount thru taxes.
o Progressive income tax, it taxed high incomes at a higher rate than low incomes.
o War-profit tax.
o Higher excise taxes on tobacco, liquor, and luxury goods.
 Made the public borrow “Liberty Loan” and “Victory Loan” bonds.
 The govt sold bonds thru tens of thousands of volunteers.
INFLUENCING PUBLIC OPINION:
 Committee on Public Information (CPI) was the nation’s first propaganda agency.
 Propaganda is a biased communication designed to influence people’s thoughts and
actions.
 George Creel was the head of CPI.
o He persuaded artists and ad agencies to create posters, cartoons, … promoting
war.
o He recruited 75,000 men to serve as “Four-Minute Men”.
 They spoke about the war like why they are fighting and the meaning of
America.
o He printed 25m copies of “How the War Came to America”.
o He distributed 75m pamphlets, booklets, and leaflets.

Attacks on Civil Liberties Increase:

 Propaganda promoted patriotism but also inflamed hatred and violations.
ANTI-IMMIGRANT HYSTERIA:
 2m German Americans suffered:
o They lost their jobs.
o Orchestras refused to play Mozart, Bach and Beethoven.
o German towns’ names were changed.
o School stopped teaching German language.
o A mob wrapped a German flag around a German miner Prager and killed him.
o German measles was changed into liberty measles.
o Hamburger became Salisbury steak or liberty sandwich.

ESPONIAGE AND SEDITION ACTS

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 Espionage and Sedition Acts: a person could be charges with $10,000 and sentenced
to 20 years in jail for
o interfering with the war effort
o or saying anything disloyal, profane, or abusive about the govt or the war effort.
 These laws violated the First Amendment.
 It led to over 2000 prosecutions for antiwar activities.
 Newspapers and magazines that opposed war lost their mailing privileges.
 The Acts targeted socialists and labor leaders.
 Eugene Debs was put in 10-year prison for speaking against war and draft.
 Many after leaving jail were deported to Russia.
 Leaders of the Industrial Workers of the World were accused of destroying war
effort because they urged workers to strike for better conditions and higher pay.
The War Encourages Social Change:
THE GREAT MIGRATION:
 Great Migration: large scale movement of hundreds of thousands of southern blacks
to cities in the North.
o It was one of the greatest effects of WWI on A.A. lives.
 Factors that contributed to the increase in black migration:
o A.A. wanted to escape racial discrimination in the South.
 Discrimination made it hard for them to live.
o Many of the South’s cotton fields were destroyed bc of droughts and floods
o In the North, there were more job opportunities.
 Btw 1910 and 1930: A.A migrated to cities like Chicago, NYC and Philadelphia.
 Racial prejudice against A.A existed in North as it had in the South.
o Some cities passed zoning laws to segregate city streets by race.
o New migrants caused overcrowding and intensifies racial tensions.
 Race riots erupted where a child was drowned because he swam in the “white beach”.
 Race riots also bc A.A. were hired which caused 40 blacks deaths.

THE GREAT MIGRATION:

 Women began doing men’s jobs.
 They became railroad workers, cooks, dockworkers and bricklayers.
 They mined coal and took part in shipbuilding.
 They continued to be nurses, clerks and teachers.
 1nm women entered the work force during WWI.
 They worked as volunteers, serving at the Red Cross facilities.
o Jane Addams was active in peace movement and help found the Women’s Peace
Party.
 Contribution women made didn’t go unnoticed.
 1919: Congress passed the 19th Amendment granting women to vote.
 1920: the amendment was ratified by the states.

THE FLU EPIDEMIC:

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  1918: International epidemic affected one-quarter of the US population.
o It had devastating effect on the economy
 Mines shut down, telephone service was cut in half and factories and offices
minimized working hours to avoid contagion.
 Cities ran out of coffins and corpses of poor people lay unburied for weeks.
 Death came to people in days.
 Doctors didn’t know what to do, they recommended cleanliness and quarantine.
 Army living conditions made contagious illnesses to spread rapidly.
 One third of the American troops died.
 The illness may have been spread around the world by soldiers.
 The epidemic killed 500,000 Americans before it disappeared in 1919.
 It is believed that the influenza virus killed 30m people worldwide.

WILSON FIGHTS FOR PEACE:

Wilson Presents His Plan:
FOURTEEN POINTS:
 Before the end of war, Wilson presented his vision of the postwar world.
 Jan 8, 1918: he presented his Fourteen Points plan to Congress.
o First several points were issues to prevent another war.
o He suggested banning secret org between nations.
o He proposed lower tariffs to facilitate free trade.
o He called for military cutbacks and freedom of the seas.
o He called for the need to resolve the national border disputes.
o He proposed settlements for colonial peoples who wished to be independent.
o He suggested that colonial policies should consider interests of the colonial
people ad well as the interests of the imperialist powers.
o He believed in self-determination.
 The right of people to choose their own political status.
o He wanted groups of enthnic identities to be able to form their own nation-states
or decide for themselves to what nations they would belong.
o He called for the creation of an international org.
 Its purpose to address diplomatic crises like those who sparked the war.
 League of Nations would provide a forum for nations to discuss and settle their
difference without wars.

THE PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE:

 Jan 1919: Wilson planned to present his 14points to world leaders in Paris.
 Leaders from 32 nations attended this peace
conference.
 The peace conference didn’t include defeated Central
powers or Russia (under communist state).
 The negotiations were dominated by the Big Four:
US, GB, France and Italy.
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  French Clemenceau wanted to prevent future invasions.
 British PM Llyod George wanted to may German pay.
 Italian PM Orlando wanted control of Austrian-held territory.
 Those differences created tensions btw the Big Four.
 In order to get others to agree to establish the League of Nations, Wilson had to give
up most of his Fourteen Points.

Debate over the Treaty of Versailles:

 June 28, 1919: the Big Four and leaders of the defeated nations gathered in the Halls
of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles to sign a peace treaty.

PROVISIONS OF THE TREATY:

 Treaty of Versailles:
o established new nations like:
 in Europe: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia,
Yugoslavia, Austria, Hungry and Luxembourg.
 in Asia: Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Trans-Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon.
 In Africa: Egypt, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Libya, and Eritrea.
o Carved areas of the Ottoman Empire and put it under British and French
mandates.
 They would administer the areas until they are ready for self-rule.
o It banned Germany from maintaining an army.
o It required Germany to return the Alsace-Lorraine region to France.
o It compelled Germany to pay reparations or war damages of $33b.

THE TREATY’S WEAKNESSES:

 Treatment of Germany weakened the ability of the treaty to provide peace in Europe.
 Following problems will eventually lead to WWII:
o Treaty humiliated Germany and it contained a war-guilt clause:
 Forced it to admit sole responsibility for starting the war and resulting damage.
 While German militarism played a role in igniting the war, other nations are
guilty of provoking diplomatic crises before the war.
o There was no way that German could pay the huge financial reparations.
o Russia fought with Allies and had the most causalities
 It was excluded from the peace conference.
 It lost more territory than Germany did.
 Soviet Union wanted to regain its former territory.
o Treaty ignored claims of colonized people for self-determination.
 Southeast Asia like in Vietnam.

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 OPPOSITION TO THE TREATY:
 Wilson returned with great opposition to the treaty bc people believed it was too
harsh.
 Some believed it was a sell-out to imperialism
o They thought it exchanged one set of colonial rulers for another.
 Some objected the new national boundaries established by the treaty.
o They argued that new boundaries didn’t satisfy their self-determination demands.
 Main opposition was the League of Nations.
o People believed it threatened the US foreign policy of isolationism.7

WILSON REFUSES TO COMPROMISE:

 Wilson ignored the Republican majority in the Senate.
 Oct 2: Wilson suffered a stroke.
 Nov 1919: the treaty came up for a vote in the Senate.
 It was rejected.
 March 1920: it came up for a vote again and was also rejected.
 US signed a separate treaty with Germany after death of Wilson.
 US never joined the League of Nations.

The Legacy of the War:

 Harding wanted everything back to “normalcy”.
 US and the rest of the world were completely transformed.
 Legacy of the war on the US:
o It revealed the military and industrial potential of the US.
o The US emerged from the war as a new world power.
o It strengthened the power of govt in the US.

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 o It accelerated social change especially for women and A.A.
o Propaganda provoked powerful fears and antagonism that were left
unchanneled when the war ended.
 Legacy of the war on Europe:
o It devastated many European economies.
o Destruction and massive loss of life damaged social and political systems.
o It created political instability and violence that persisted for decades.
o Communism became a power in Russia (first Communist state).
o Militant fascist org seized control in Italy, Germany and Spain.
o Hatred between Germany and the rest of the world.
 The Treaty settled nothing.
 The redrawn maps of Europe and European colonial possessions created new
problems.

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