Transcript The United States and World War I

The United States and
World War I
CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I
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MANIA
Militarism- the build up of a nation's military
Alliances- formal agreements between nations
(defensive, economic, political)
Nationalism- extreme pride in one’s country,
desire for self-rule
Imperialism- A stronger nation takes over a
weaker territory for economic, political, or moral
reasons
Assassination of Austro-Hungarian Archduke
Ferdinand by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip
in June of 1914
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, his
family, and Gavrilo Princip
How did it get so involved?
1. Austria Hungary wanted
the assassins and
threatened to attack
Serbia if they didn’t give
them A-H asked Emperor
William II of Germany for
back up and declared war
on Serbia on July 28, 1914
2. Russia was determined to
protect Serbia (protector of
the Slavic peoples) and
mobilizes army
3. Germany declares war of
Russia b/c it mobilized
4. Germany devised
Schlieffen Plan
5. Germany declares war on
France August 3, 1914.
6. Germany issues
ultimatum to Belgium to
allow its military access.
7. Belgium is a neutral
nation.
8. England declares war on
Germany for violating
Belgian neutrality.
The Schlieffen Plan
• Germany’s military
plan to defeat
France and Russia.
• “Knock out blow”
aimed at France
first.
• Avoid French
defences by
invasion of Belgium.
• Germans thought
Britain would not
intervene.
Britain’s Reaction
• 1838- UK had signed a
Treaty to protect
Belgium.
• Britain also scared of
Germany controlling
Channel ports.
• Did not want Germany
to defeat France and
dominate Europe.
Britain next?
• UK issued ultimatum to
Germany to withdraw
troops from Belgium.
War declared August 4
1914
US Neutrality
• 1914 there was no need for the US to join
someone else’s fight 3000 miles away
• No threat to US property
• No threat to US lives
• No national concern
US Opposition to War
• Naturalized citizens were against the war
in general because many had family back
in Europe
– Irish and Germans
• Socialists criticized war as imperialist
struggle between England and Germany
• Pacifists (William Jennings Bryan) thought
was just evil and the US should set
example for peace
• Many Americans didn’t want to send kids
to war
Two Alliance Systems
• Central Powers
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Germany
Austria-Hungary
Ottoman Empire
Bulgaria
*** Italy   
• Allies
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Great Britain
France
Russia
US
***Italy
Japan
etc
2 Front War
• Western Front
• Germany thought it
could sweep around
Paris and surround
French army
• 1st Battle of the Marne
• Trench warfare
• Quickly became a
stalemate (4 years)
• Eastern Front
• More mobile than WF
• Many battles  huge
losses (R 2.5m)
• Italy switches sides
• Bulgaria joins Axis
(Sept. 1915)
US Sympathy for the Allies
• Much sympathy for Great Britain and France
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Common heritage
Common languages and literature
Similar democratic systems
Similar legal systems
• US turned off by stories of German aggression
– Leveling towns
– Killing innocents
– Destroying cathedrals, libraries, hospitals
• US economy tied closed to Allies than Central Powers
(especially w/Great Britain and France)
British Blockade
• Britain used navy to blockade German coast to
stop contraband (weapons, military goods) from
getting through
• This also included food
• US ships refused to cross blockades into
Germany
• Germany couldn’t get food and fertilizer (nitrates
from domestic fertilizer already used up in
ammunition)
• Famine spread. 750,000+ Germans died.
German Reactions
• Counter blocked with unterseeboots (U-Boats) or
submarines
• Germany declared all cargoes heading to Great
Britain as contraband and could be sunk without
warning
• UNRESTRICTED SUBMARINE WARFARE
• 75,000 died
• More people heard about this than German
famine b/c of spread propaganda
• US outraged!!!!
Lusitania
• May 17, 1915
• British passenger liner sunk by U-Boats off
coast of Ireland
• 1198 died, including 128 Americans
• Germans claimed boat was carrying
munitions and explosives
• US agreed to stay neutral b/c Germany
agreed to stop
• Germany ultimately went back on word
1916 Election
• “He kept us out of
war!”
• Slogan used by
President Woodrow
Wilson to win the
election.
• People wanted to stay
out of war and
believed that Wilson
would continue to
keep them out of it.
Zimmerman Note
• January 31, 1917, Germany declares that
U-Boats will sink ALL ships in British
waters
• Wilson waits for OVERT act to declare war
on Germany
• British agents intercept a telegraph from
the German Foreign Minister to the
German ambassador in Mexico
Zimmerman Note (cont’d)
• Telegram suggests that Mexico and
Germany should set up an alliance.
• If Mexico can help keep the US out of the
war, Germany, upon completion of the
war, would come and help Mexico reclaim
its ‘lost’ lands (Texas, New Mexico, etc)
It All Adds Up:
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Unrestricted submarine warfare
The sinking of the Lusitania
The Zimmerman Note
Democracy vs. Brutal Regimes
US GOES TO WAR ON APRIL 6, 1917
(three years after it began in Europe)
We’ve Declared War, Now What?
Problem #1: We need to
raise an ARMY
• We only have
200,000 men, most
have never seen
combat
• 55 planes
• 130 pilots
We’ve Declared War, Now What?
Solution:
• Selective Service Act may 1917
– Required men to register for military service
– No riots like Civil War times
– 10 million registered immediately
– 24 million by 1918
– 18-45 years old, most 21-23 years old and
never attended high school
– 1out of 5 were born in foreign countries
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Training
You’re in the Army Now!
• Training
– 9 months
– 17 hour days
– Target practice, bayonet drills
– Kitchen and cleaning duty
– Few real weapons practices
with rocks (grenades) and
poles (bayonets), carved rifles
What About the Women?
• Women not drafted
• Navy and marines
allowed women in noncombat roles (secretaries,
nurses, operators)
• Less pay, lower ranks,
less benefits
• Proud to serve
nonetheless
African American Roles
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Segregated units
Segregated facilities
Excluded from Marines and Navy
Some African Americans were trained as
officers
• Most African Americans saw non-combat
roles for the majority of the war
Harlem Hellfighters
369th Infantry, awarded the Croix
de Guerre for gallantry in action
Now that we’ve declared war,
how do we get there?
• Problem #2: How do we transport troops,
machinery, weapons, and food supplies overseas
in the face of German submarine attacks?
Now that we’ve declared war,
how do we get there?
• Solution:
1. Shipyard worked became exempt from draft
2. US used public relations to emphasize the
importance of ship workers
3. Shipyards used fabrication technology
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Standardized parts built elsewhere and assembled
at the ship yard (decreased construction time)
4. US took control over private and Great Lakes
ship production
USS Pennsylvania
How do we get there without
getting blown up?
• Convoy System
– Merchant vessels
traveled with large
groups of destroyers
and cruisers
– Like an armed escort
• US lay 230 miles of
mines from North Sea
to Norway
USS South Carolina
What happened when we got
there?
• We brought new enthusiasm since the war
had already been going on for THREE
YEARS!!!
• New men
• New weapons
• More supplies
• Shot in the Arm mentality
Why did they call us “Doughboys”
• It had nothing to do with food!
• American infantrymen (foot soldiers) wore white
belts they cleaned with pipe clay or “dough”
Who was
General John J. Pershing
• American
Expeditionary Force
(AEF) commander
What kinds of techniques and
weapons did we use?
• The Europeans had
been using Trench
Warfare
– Two opposing
trenches with “no
man’s land” in
between.
– Took a long time, very
difficult, very dirty and
unsanitary
Trench Warfare
Cross Section of a trench
French Trench Kitchen
Trench Periscope
Trench Foot
What kinds of techniques and
weapons did we use?
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Poison gasses *Gas masks
Mustard gas
Barbed wire
Machine guns
Grenades
Anti-aircraft Guns
Don’t believe everything you see..
“Calamity Jane," a US 11th Field Artillery howitzer
credited with the last US-fired shot of the war,
10:59 AM, 11 Nov 1918
Mustard Gas
US Soldier with Gas Mask
What kinds of techniques and
weapons did we use?
• Mechanized Warfare
(powered by gas or diesel engines)
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Zeppelins (blimps)
Airplanes
Tanks
“Big Bertha”
Weapons Cont’d
Airplanes and Dogfights
Submarines
How did the soldiers handle
warfare?
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Lice
Rats
Polluted water
Dysentery
Poison gasses
Lack of sleep
Smell of dead bodies
How did the soldiers handle
warfare?
• “Shell Shock” (emotional collapse)
• “Trench Foot”
– wet trenches  wet feet  foot rot  amputation)
Peace Settlement
• 1919 reps of 27 nations met in Paris to
make final settlement of Great War
• Woodrow Wilson: US Pres 14 Points
– Democratic principles, no secret alliances,
League of Nations
• Other nations (Esp GB and FR) wanted
revenge and reparations
• People were tired of war
Paris Peace Conference
• AKA: Treaty of Versailles (1919)
• Big Four: George, Wilson, Clemenceau,
Orlando
• Russia not included (had w/d b/c of Rev)
Overall
• Germany lost:
–13% of its national territory
–All of its overseas colonies (including
Cameroon, German East Africa,
German SW Africa, Togo, and German
New Guinea 12.5% of its population
–16% of its coalfields, and 48% of its iron
and steel industry.
Territorial restrictions
– Alsace-Lorraine yielded to France.
–Saar coal fields placed under French
control for 15 years.
–Annexation of Austria was prohibited.
–Annexation of Czechoslovakia
prohibited.
–Annexation of Poland and Danzig
prohibited.
–Japan received German landholdings in
northern China
Military Limitations
• The Rhineland to be a demilitarized zone.
• The German armed forces cannot number more
than 100,000 troops and no conscription.
• Manufacturing of weapons is prohibited.
• Import and export of weapons is prohibited.
• Manufacture or stockpiling of poison gas is
prohibited.
• Tanks, submarines and military aircraft are
prohibited.
War Guilt Clause
• Article 231 (out of 440)
• “The Allied and Associated Governments affirm
and Germany accepts the responsibility of
Germany and her allies for causing all the loss
and damage to which the Allied and Associated
Governments and their nationals have been
subjected as a consequence of the war imposed
upon them by the aggression of Germany and
her allies.”
The 14th Point
• The treaty provided for the creation of the
League of Nations, a major goal of U.S.
President Woodrow Wilson.
• The League of Nations was intended to
arbitrate international disputes and thereby
avoid future wars.
• The US Senate refused to ratify the Treaty
in 1919