Transcript Powerpoint - Ms. Brown Apex High School

IMPERIALISM &
WORLD WAR I
American History II - Unit 3
Ms. Brown
Review
• What were the 4 long-term causes of WWI?
• Militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism
• The Allies and the Central Powers were made of which
countries?
• Allies – GB, France, Russia, later US
• Central Powers – Austria-Hungary, Germany, Ottoman Empire
• What were the 2 events that contributed to US entrance into
WWI?
• German sinking of the Lusitania
• The Zimmerman Note
• In what ways was combat (fighting) in WWI different than in
previous wars?
• “mechanized warfare” – newer machine guns, airplanes, tanks, poison
gas
• When and how did WWI end?
• 11/11/1918 at 11 am – Germany agreed to an armistice
3.6 – WORLD WAR I AT
HOME
Raising an Army
• Selective Service Act –
1917, required men (21-30)
to register with the gov’t in
order to be randomly
selected for military service
if needed
• Almost 3 million called to duty
• Some sought exemption –
conscientious objector – a
person who objects to serving
in the military for moral
reasons
Class I –
eligible for
service
Unmarried w/o
dependents; married with
independent spouse
no/over 16 children
Class II –
temporarily
deferred, but
available for
service
Married w/ dependent
spouse and/or children
under 16
Class III –
Exempted, but
available for
military service
Local officials; agricultural
or industrial laborer; those
who provide sole family
income for
parents/siblings under 16
Class IV –
Exempt due to
extreme
hardship
Married w/ dependent
spouse/children; w/
deceased spouse/parents
who provided sole income
Class V –
Ineligible for
military service
State/federal officials,
clergy, those deemed
either medically or
mentally unfit
Raising an Army
• 400,000 blacks served in segregated units, mostly non-
combat
• Women not allowed to enlist
• 13,000 served in noncombat positions – nurses, secretaries,
telephone operators – full military rank
Expanding the Navy
• Shipyard workers exempt or
deferred from the draft
• Public campaign to emphasis
the importance of shipyard
workers
• Ship parts made in factories,
assembled at shipyards 
reduced construction time
• Gov’t took over private ships,
used for military operations
US War Economy: Industry Regulation
• The entire economy had to focus on the
war effort  gave Wilson the power to
fix prices and regulate/nationalize
industries
• War Industries Board(WIB) – 1917,
headed by Bernard Baruch
• regulated business and industries during
WWI
• advocated for mass and standardized
production to eliminate waste and
increase efficiency
• set quotas and distributed raw materials
• Other agencies regulated the railroad
and oil industries
• Daylight savings time officially adopted
to conserve electricity
US War Economy: Labor
• Wages in most industries rose,
however so did hours and intensity of
production
• Wages undercut by rising food and
housing costs
• 1916-1919 - Union membership
increased from 2.5M to 4M  more
than 6,000 strikes
• National War Labor Board – 1918,
resolve issues between management
and unions, “work or fight,” worked to
improve conditions also
US War Economy: Food
• Food Administration – aimed
to help produce and conserve
food
• “clean plate gospel” – certain
foods on certain days of the
week
• Restaurants removed sugar
bowls and served less bread
• “Victory Gardens” – planted at
homes, schools, and public
parks; grew food for
personal/community use
• Farmers added millions of
acres into production
Selling the War: Financing
• ~$35.5 B on war
effort
• 1/3 - Taxes (income,
luxury, excise on
tobacco, liquor, etc)
• Sale of gov’t war
bonds
• Buy a $50 bond from
gov’t for $35,
eventually get paid $50
from the gov’t
Selling the War: Propaganda
• Propaganda – biased
communication designed to
influence people’s thoughts
and actions
• Committee on Public Information
(CPI) headed by George Creel
• Pamphlets, cartoons, posters,
sculptures
• Recruited speakers
• Increased patriotism 
increased anti-immigrant
sentiments, especially
Germans
Anti-Immigrant Hysteria
• Mainly directed at German
and Austria-Hungarian
immigrants
• Fired from jobs, towns changed
•
•
•
•
•
Germanic names, German
composers not played
Tar/feathering, flogging,
lynching
No German taught in school,
books banned by German
authors
Hamburgers  Liberty
Sandwiches
Sauerkraut  Liberty Cabbage
Dachshunds  Liberty Pups
Espionage and Sedition Acts (1917-18)
• Espionage and Sedition
Acts
• Fined up to $10,000 and 20
years in jail for speaking or
writing against the government
or war effort
• Newspapers lost mailing
privileges
• Politicians denied offices
• Targeted mainly socialists and
labor leaders (Eugene Debs,
10 year sentence)
• What about the First
Amendment?
"(W)hoever . . . shall willfully utter, print,
write or publish any disloyal, profane,
scurrilous, or abusive language about the
form of government, . . . Constitution, . . .
military or naval forces, . . . flag, . . . or the
uniform of the Army or Navy of the United
States . . . shall be punished by a fine of
not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for
not more than twenty years, or both.“
- Sedition Act (1918)
Schenck v. US (1919)
• Case background:
• Charles Schenck - official in the US
Socialist Party
• Distributed leaflets calling the draft a
“deed against humanity” and citizens
should “assert their rights.”
• Arrested, convicted, and sentenced to
prison
• Arguments:
• Schenck – E&S Acts violates the First
Amendment’s free speech clause
• “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging
the freedom of speech, or of the press.”
• US Gov’t – A nation at war is justified in
taking steps to insure the success of its
effort to defend itself. The E&S Acts are
legitimate and appropriate in a time of
war.
Schenck v. US (1919)
• Ruling: 9-0 votes for US Gov’t
• In times of war, reasonable limits can be
placed on Constitutional rights  rights
are not absolute all the time
• Under wartime conditions, Schenck’s
words were dangerous and panic-inciting
 not protected by the 1st Amendment’s
right of free speech
• “The most stringent protection of free speech
would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in
a theatre and causing panic. The question in
every case is whether the words used are used in
such circumstances and are of such nature as to
create a clear and present danger that they will
bring about the substantive evils that Congress
has a right to prevent.” – Chief Justice Oliver
Wendell Holmes
African Americans and the War
• Blacks divided on war (most
supported)
• Du Bois – African American support of
war would strengthen the argument for
racial equality
• William Monroe Trotter – founder of the
Boston Guardian, victims of racism
should not support a racist government
• The Great Migration
• Mass movement of African Americans
from the rural south to urban northern
cities
• Increased job opportunities (WWI 
decrease in immigration)
• Escape Jim Crow South
• Increased racial tensions in cities 
race riots
Women and the War
• Traditional avenues: nurses,
teachers, secretaries, clerks,
Red Cross volunteers
• New avenues: railroad
workers, miners, shipbuilders,
bricklayers, cooks
• Support of war and display of
patriotism helped the passage
of the 19th Amendment
(women’s suffrage) in 1919
The Flu Epidemic (1918)
• 25% of US population
died of a rapid flu
epidemic
• Economy suffered due to
loss of production
• Thought to be spread by
soldiers, killed as many
as 30 million worldwide
Working with Propaganda
• Each group will be assigned a WWI anti-German propaganda poster.
Your group will work together to analyze the poster and complete the
analysis sheet. Each group will present their poster and findings to
the class.
• On July 27, 1900, during the Boxer
Rebellion in China, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany gave the order to
act ruthlessly towards the rebels: "Mercy will not be shown, prisoners
will not be taken. Just as a thousand years ago, the Huns under Attila
won a reputation of might that lives on in legends, so may the name
of Germany in China, such that no Chinese will even again dare so
much as to look askance at a German.“
• The term "Hun" from this speech was later used for the Germans by
British propaganda during World War I. The comparison was helped
by the Pickelhaube or spiked helmet worn by German forces until
1916, which would be reminiscent of images depicting ancient Hun
helmets, some British found. This usage, emphasizing the idea that
the Germans were barbarians, was reinforced by Allied propaganda
throughout the war.
http://www.indianahistory.org/teachers-students/plan-a-field-trip/German%20Americans%20and%20WWI%20Web%20version.pdf