Transcript US enters war

Gallipoli
Campaign:
UK, France,
Australia,
New Zealand
vs.
Ottoman Empire
1) Gallipoli assault: a new front by Britain (w/ Australia &
New Zealand) and France on the Ottoman Turks, to
try and break the stalemate of WWI.
An attempt to:
- Capture the Ottoman capital (Constantinople)
- Knock the Turks (and a German ally) out of the war
- Control the Dardanelles & Bosporus Straits for
access to the Black Sea, to help supply Russia,
reinforce the Eastern Front, and take
pressure off
the Western Front.
Result: total failure.
Stalemate, trench
warfare, 250,000
Allied casualties.
2) Soldiers recruited from imperial colonies:
- Most “wanted nothing to do with their European
rulers’ conflicts” (not their fight!)
- Some volunteered to fight in support of their
colonial rulers, seeking respect…
and independence after the war???
3) German navy relied on SUBMARINE warfare.
Goal was to “starve”
Allies (esp. Britain)
out of the war, by
depriving them of
necessary war materiel
and resources.
4) German “unrestricted submarine warfare”:
The targeting and sinking of any and all ships around
Britain, without warning, and regardless of which nation’s
flag the ship might be sailing under.
The Germans initially had this naval strategy, but backed
off it in 1915, after strong protests (from the U.S.) for
sinking the passenger ship Lusitania.
Though the Germans knew they were risking the entry of
the U.S. into the war against them as an Allied power by
returning to this strategy in 1917, they gambled that they
could starve Britain out of the war before the U.S. had
time to mobilize troops to Europe.
(By then Russia was out of the war, and the Germans
hoped to deliver knock-out blow on Western Front before
U.S. arrived).
5) Reasons for U.S. entry into WWI:
- Unrestricted submarine warfare on all shipping
to Britain (including U.S. ships)
- Zimmerman Telegram: Germans attempt to
get Mexico to join Central Powers, to tie up
U.S. military in North America (and delay U.S.
support of Allies)... Mexico would
(in theory) get SW U.S. states back (lost in
Mexican-American War of 1846-1848)
in return for support.
- U.S. economic ties (trade) w/ Allied Powers
6) Total War = all national resources (economic,
political, social) are poured the into war effort...
… no longer any distinction between “combatant”
and “non-combatant”... everything and everyone
becomes a target… including civilians.
7) Economic impact of “total war” by governments:
Government takes control of the economy, directs
all major industrial production…
… AND consumption, in the form of RATIONING
consumer goods toward the war effort.
8) Governments also try to actively manage
public perceptions about the war:
I. Limit public disapproval:
- “Suppress anti-war activity” (with violent
force, if necessary).
- Censorship
- State controlled media (i.e. newspapers)
- “Sedition” laws (prohibiting anti-war speech)
- Propaganda
Keep citizens intimidated (afraid) or ignorant
(misinformed)!
8) Governments control of public perceptions (cont.):
II. Encourage public approval of war:
Propaganda, designed to persuade the public
to continue their support of the war effort.
Propaganda = one-sided information presented to
influence popular thinking toward a point of view.
GOALS:
1. demonize & dehumanize the enemy
2. provide hope, inspiration, & justification for
actions (“we're winning, they're losing!”)
3. Recruit soldiers
4. encourage purchase of government war bonds
to help fund the cost of war
QUALITIES of EFFECTIVE propaganda:
1. Simple (uncomplicated, brief)
2. Emotional (no thinking required… only reaction)
3. Repetitive!
Control of the media, and propaganda, creates the
ability to manage information that informs peoples'
opinions & emotions, and their resulting behavior.
Danger to democratic societies:
Citizen decisions (voting!) determine the quality of
government... a poorly or mis-informed public will
make poor and mis-informed decisions, resulting in
bad leaders & bad policies!
(Problems of modern democratic societies:
propaganda comes as much – or more – from
corporate media as it does from the government!)
9) Government propaganda & censorship are not
always effective… the truth always leaks out:
- casualty lists in newspapers
- letters home from the front
- first-hand stories of wounded soldiers back from
the front
- Physically (and psychologically) injured soldiers
returning from the front (visible evidence of war
trauma)
- fighting in your town?!
- the reality that stalemate – and the war - is not
ending!
(Today: e-mail, cell-phone cameras, internet,
Wikileaks, etc.)
10) Impact of WWI on women:
- With citizen armies of drafted men, women take
on non-traditional roles in the labor force (i.e.
working in factories, manufacturing
munitions &
weapons).
- Served as nurses at the war front
This changes traditional perceptions of what
women were capable of in society… this will lead
to women’s SUFFRAGE immediately after WWI!
11) Russian withdrawal from WWI:
Suffering from war-related shortages of food and
fuel, combined with massive casualties, starving
civilians and suffering soldiers both turn on the
Czar, forcing him to step down from his throne
(abdicate).
There‘s no longer any
nationalist sense of
“duty” to king & country;
only a desperate sense
of survival takes over
Russia!
12) Russia’s government changes:
From absolute monarchy (Czar)…
… to a PROVISIONAL (temporary,
interim) government (1917)…
… to a COMMUNIST DICTATORSHIP,
following a revolution & civil war (1917- 1922)
13) Russian withdrawal from WWI helps Germany:
This ends the “two-front war” for Germany;
Germans can then redeploy troops from
Eastern front to Western front, against France &
Britain…
(and the U.S.?)
14) WHY GERMANY LOSES… AND WWI ENDS:
1. After major German offensives in 1918, the Allies
keep fighting; the German military is weakened
after 4 years of fighting; Germany is unable to
replenish lost war supplies or soldiers…
= Germany loses war of attrition
[Also: ongoing British naval blockade of Germany
limits German resources… German civilians are
going hungry]
2. U.S. enters war (gives Allied Powers decisive
advantage, including ability to replenish supplies,
troops… = WIN “war of attrition”)
14) WHY GERMANY LOSES… AND WWI ENDS:
3. Central Powers collapse:
Bulgarians & Ottoman Turks surrender, AustriaHungary experiences ethnic unrest within their
borders, collapses into multiple republics.
4. Governments collapse, monarchies are toppled:
- Austro-Hungarian monarch steps down
- Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates following loss of
public support (Germans are starving) and
military mutinies (in the navy). He is no longer
viewed as the legitimate German ruler.
Collapse of Ottoman Empire:
Allies stir up Arab nationalist groups in the Ottoman
Empire to weaken, and ultimately destroy it from within
(be careful what you wish for?)
Lawrence of Arabia!
15) Following the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II
(and the end of the Second Reich), Germany
forms a REPUBLIC. The Kaiser lives out his
days in exile, in Holland.
16) WWI “ends” on November 11, 1918:
Armistice = “an agreement to stop fighting”
(aka, a “cease-fire”).
Treaty = document that officially ends war,
with signed terms & conditions
17) Effects of WWI:
- Massive casualties (death, physical
injuries, psychological injuries), from combat,
starvation, and disease (including
the
Spanish Influenza
epidemic of 1918)…
affects soldiers
AND civilians (total war!)
= Europe’s “lost generation”
17) Effects of WWI (continued):
- Physical destruction along war fronts (farms,
homes, villages, towns, infrastructure)
- Economic collapse of European nations
(drained public treasuries, consumer
shortages, high
unemployment)
… nations drained of “blood and treasure”
- For survivors, a sense of “disillusionment,
insecurity, despair”, hopelessness, futility
(further reflected in the art and literature of
that era)
WWI DEATHS (numbers rounded):
military
civilian*
total
Russia
3,300,000
1,800,000
Ottoman Empire (Turkey) 772,000
1,500,000
2,150,000**
2,900,000
Germany
2,500,000
2,050,000
426,000
France
1,700,000
1,400,000
300,000
Austria-Hungary
1,100,000
467,000
1,600,000
Italy
651,000
589,000
1,240,000
UK (Great Britain)
887,000
109,000
1,000,000
USA
118,000
117,000
TOTAL ALL***
9,700,000
757
6,800,000
*includes deaths from military action, famine, and disease
** includes at least 1 million deaths from the Armenian Genocide
16,500,000