Transcript World War I US Homefront

World War I:
The US
Homefront
IB History Americas
America at the Outbreak of War
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Isolationist
Woodrow Wilson
elected in 1912 &
1916
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‘Americans thanked
God for the ocean
moats…and
congratulated
themselves having
had ancestors wise
enough to have
abandoned the hell
pits of Europe.’
A
Precarious
Neutrality
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Wilson issues
neutrality
proclamation
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His wife, Ellen, had
just died on Aug
6th, 1914
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Wilson calls on
Americans to be
neutral ‘in thought
and deed’
America Wooed
Germany
Britain
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Stronger cultural & linguistic
ties
Stronger economic ties
Controlled most transatlantic
cables
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Censors deleted negative
stories of Allies but passed on
all tales of German atrocities
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US huge population of
transplanted Germans &
Austro-Hungarians
Kaiser had a poor image
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Germany seen as aggressor
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Mustache like a villain
Ruthless autocrat
Helpless, innocent for
Belgium
German spy left documents
on a NY elevated train
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Documents detailed
industrial sabotage
US Population Statistics
Central
Powers/Allies
Country
Total Foreign Born
or 2nd generation in
US (in millions)
Central Powers
Germany
8.3
Central Powers
Austria-Hungary
2.7
Allied Powers
Great Britain (including Ireland)
7.7
Allied Powers
Russia
2.8
Allied Powers
Italy
2.1
Allied Powers
France & Others
?
The Business of War
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British & French war orders
pull US out of recession
US bankers loan Allies
money to purchase US
goods
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$2.3 billion
Germany complained but
the trade was legal
Germany could not trade
because of British blockade
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Britain controlled sea lanes
Britain blocked German ports
Britain forced US ships to go to
British ports
Trade Between US & War Powers
Belligerent
1914
1915
1916
Britain
$594,271,863
$911,794,954
$1,526,685,102
Germany
$344,794,276
$ 28,863,354
$

1916 as %
of 1914
288,899
257%
0.08%
While trade with Britain > doubles from 1914 to
1916, trade with Germany becomes negligible
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Germany announces submarine war area
around Britain in Feb 1915 in response
to blockade
Unterseeboat, or U-Boat
 Under international law a warship is required
to stop & board a commercial vessel to
search
 But subs could easily be sunk if they surfaced
(shot or rammed)
Few options
except to sink
or leave alone
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US warns Germany
it will be held
accountable for
attacks on US ships
or citizens
War on the
Seas
German
Submarine
War Zone
Declared
February 1915
German U-boats go to Work
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1st months sank ~90 ships in war zone
World War I era
U-9 U-boat
German
Warning
Printed in
NY
Newspapers
German U-Boat Damages
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May 7, 1915
Lusitania
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Ship carried war
supplies
manufactured in US
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British ship
1200 drowned
128 Americans
4,200 cases of smallarms bullets
US swept by wave of
shock at act of ‘mass
murder’ & ‘piracy’
US Response
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Wilson remains committed to neutrality
But sent a series of stern notes to Germany
 Strongly criticized
Deep division in US feelings towards war
Sec of State Bryan resigned
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Ex-President Teddy Roosevelt said the
‘pacifistic professor’ used ‘weasel words’
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Felt Wilson was encouraging war
Strongly desired US to go to war
East Coast in favor (closer to Europe)
Rest of US against war
US Response
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August 1915 Germans sink British ship Arabic
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2 US deaths
Wilson gets Germany’s promise to not fire ‘without
warning’ first
March 1916 French passenger ship Sussex torpedoed
Wilson ultimatum: no passenger ships or US will sever
relations
Germany agreed & unsteady neutrality remained for
another year (until unconditional sub warfare declared)
HMS Sussex 1916
Election of 1916
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Wilson is re-elected in
November 1916 in close race
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Defeats war hawk Charles
Evans Hughes
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TR supported Evans Hughes
Evans Hughes ran an ineffective
campaign
Wilson campaigned little on
the theory:
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(277 to 254)
‘One should not try to murder a
man who is committing suicide
Slogan, ‘he kept us out of
war’
Wilson Attempts Peace
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‘Peace without victory’
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1917
Beginning of 14 Points
Germany announces they
will begin unlimited
submarine warfare
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Speech given January 22,
Sink all ships, including US,
in the war zone
Wilson calls for arming US
merchant ships
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Isolationists in Senate
blocked measure
US still not completely ready
for war
Zimmerman Note
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Telegram
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From German Foreign Affairs
Secretary Arthur Zimmerman
To German ambassador to
Mexico
Intercepted by British
Delivered to US government
Printed in US newspapers
If Mexico joins Germany in
fighting the US
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Then, Mexico receives:
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TX, NM, & AZ
Brings US closer to war
Germany Ups the Ante
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Germany declares unrestricted submarine warfare to
resume February 1, 1917
Germany knew US would very likely now declare war
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Militarists believed it would take US 1 year to mobilize (correct)
Militarists believed they could defeat Britain / France in 6 months
(incorrect)
Germany Ups the Ante
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Germany sinks several more ships (military & commercial)
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Feb 1917: Germans sank 540,000 tons of shipping
March 1917: 578,000 tons
April 1917: 874,000 tons
Many ships are US -chipping away at
American neutrality
Philadelphia newspaper:
‘the difference between
war and what we have
now is that now we
aren’t fighting back.’
US Declares War
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News from Russia of revolution
Cruel regime of the tsars ended
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US now fighting on side of
democracy against despotism
Sub warfare + Zimmerman +
Russian revolution = US entry
into WWI
April 6, 1917
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US declares war
Wilson Selling the War
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Wilson had to sell the war
to many who remained
isolationist
He used idealism
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‘Crusade’
“to make the world safe for
democracy”
‘a war to end war’
‘peace without victory’
US quickly converted to
war mentality
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‘Hang the Kaiser’
Wilson Issues 14 Points
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January 8, 1918
At this point Congress
enthusiastic
Inspired allies to
make a greater effort
Demoralized Central
Powers by inspiring
their dissatisfied
minorities
Wilson Issues 14 Points
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Abolish secret
treaties
Freedom of seas
Remove trade
barriers
Reduce arms
Adjust colonial
claims
Self-determination
League of Nations
US Psychological Effects of
Declaring War for Allies
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Germans believe US will
take 12 months to
mobilize
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Basically correct
Allies must hold out until
help arrives
British & French must
continue to hold the line
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“I am waiting for the
Americans and the tanks” -French Marshall Philippe
Petain
U-Boat Countermeasures
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Allies respond with UBoat
countermeasures
Sonar, mine barges,
depth charges,
airplane recon, &
convoy
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Convoy--100 or more
commercial ships
escorted by military
ships
End of 1917 U-boats
lose effectiveness
Manipulating Minds
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Lyrics to ‘Over There’
Over there, over there
Send the word, send the
word over there,
That the Yanks are
coming, the Yanks are
coming
The drums rum-tumming
ev’rywhere
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CPI formed
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150,000 employees
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Committee on Public
Information
Led by George Creel
Basically large-scale
propaganda
Including 75,000 ‘4-minute
men’: patriotic speechgivers
Posters, leaflets,
pamphlets, movies, songs
Stifling Dissent
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German-Americans
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Rumors
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Spying, sabotage, etc
No:
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8 million (8%) of
Americans
Overwhelmingly loyal
Beethoven or Wagner
German language in
schools
Sauerkraut became
‘liberty cabbage’
Hamburger became
‘liberty steak’
Stifling Dissent
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Espionage Act 1917
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Sedition Act of 1918
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Spying
Inciting rebellion
1,900 prosecutions
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Socialists
Labor unions
Eugene V. Debs
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Received ~1,000,000
votes for president in
1920 from prison
Censorship
US Preps for War
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US army slowly grew to
100,000 men
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15th in the world
About the size of Persia’s
US had resources but did
not know how to ‘tap’ them
War Industries Board
(WIB), 1917
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Headed by Bernard Baruch
Encouraged:
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Mass production, especially
ships (from 1 to 10 million
tons)
Elimination of waste
Standardization
Established price controls
War & Industry
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‘Labor Will Win the War’
slogan
‘work or fight’
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Any unemployed male
available for immediate
draft
National War Labor Board
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Led by former President
Taft
Cooperation with unions
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8 hour day
Higher wages
War Production & Unions
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Most unions supported war
Union membership doubled
Some radical groups
sabotaged industry
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Industrial Workers of the World,
‘Wobblies’ or IWW
Despite gains in wages,
inflation ran high
Strikes were numerous &
often severe
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1919, 250,000 workers went on
strike in steel
Steel companies replaced with
African Americans
Violence killed more than a
dozen
War & African Americans
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Massive northern
migration
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Ex-plantation slave
descendants
Extreme racial tensions
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Many northern cities were
almost all-white
Race riots
Many deaths sparked by
blacks at beaches or
breaking strikes
The Great Migration
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From 1910 to 1930
~4.1 million African-Americans moved out of the
southern US
12 states largest net loss (red) and net gain (blue)
Women in Factories
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1,000s enter factories to
replace men who went to
war
Contribution convinced
Wilson to support woman
suffrage
19th amendment right to
vote for women
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Passed in 1920
In reality after WWI most
women went back to
housewife role
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But Constitution allowed
the vote & precedent had
been set
Forging the Economy
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Gov’t encouraged voluntary:
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Some items also rationed
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Meatless Tuesdays
Wheatless Wednesdays
Heatless Mondays
Lightless nights
Victory Gardens
Canned meat, milk,
vegetables
Chocolate
Alcohol production limited
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Many German owned
Led to prohibition amendment
in 1919
Victory Loan Campaign
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Government promoted
purchase of war bonds
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Netted $21 billion
Citizens also pressured
others, especially
German-Americans to
contribute
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House painted in yellow if
no bonds
One man signed for bond
with a rope around his
neck
Canadian
German
Selective Service Act
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Conscription or draft
Males 18-45 must register
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Draft went smoothly
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No violence
Few ‘dodgers’
Army #s:
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24 million men registered
1916 130,000
1918 4,000,000
2 million to Europe
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Many with little training due
to necessity
Famous British ‘Join the War’
Campaign Poster w/Lord Kitchener
Uncle Sam recruiting poster modeled after Lord Kitchener’s poster
Created 1917
Irish
Germany
France
Encouraging US
pilots to come
to France to
fight Germany
(Flyboys)
US Troops to Europe
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Bolsheviks surrender to
Germans
German focuses on
western front
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American ‘doughboys’
begin pouring in
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Massive assault reaches ~40
miles from Paris in spring
1918
‘an inexhaustible flood of
fresh and gleaming youth’
Late summer 1918
Germany on the defensive
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Germany never recovered
Leadership
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Allies accept Marshall
Foch as supreme
commander
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‘to make war is to
attack’
US allowed separate
army
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Attacking 85 mile front
near Switzerland
Led by General John J.
‘Blackjack’ Pershing
Sergeant Alvin York
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US infantry
Originally from antiwar sect
Single-handedly killed
20 Germans &
captured 132 more
Made a movie (of
course)
Victory
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It was the US reserves
moreso than actual US
military men fighting that
discouraged Germany
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Germans running out of
supplies
German allies fell apart
Propaganda rained down
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i.e., they knew what was
coming
Extolling ‘Wilsonian peace’
Surrendered November
11, 1918