Transcript p. 365 The War Draws to an End

Winning the War;
WWI Draws to an End
p. 365
Industrial War Challenges Leaders
• World War I was fought on a titanic scale.
• Nations realized that victory would require
– new thinking
– commitment of incredible amounts of
resources.
• Including people.
Total war:
• The attitude that ALL a country’s resources
(including people) must be utilized to defeat the
enemy.
– This also meant that all the enemy’s resources must
be destroyed and were justifiable targets if they were
to be defeated.
• Government also saw the need to control their
citizens and resources very closely:
– took away rights and freedoms…..
Total war actions:
• Conscription:
– the legal forcing of military-aged men into armed
services.
• Also called “the draft”.
Contraband:
• Materials that help an enemy fight a war.
– a warring nation has the right under international law
to confiscate or destroy any contraband owned by
or traded with an enemy that helps it make war.
• The British blockade of Europe hurt Germany
• Germany retaliated with its own blockade using
“unrestricted submarine warfare”.
– Any vessels leaving or entering British waters were
considered legal targets.
– This blockade equally hurt the British war effort.
RMS Lusitania:
• One of Britain’s greatest
ocean liners.
• It was sunk while carrying
passengers from New
York to Liverpool, in 1915.
• Travelers had been
warned by Germany in
American newspapers.
– Germany considered it had
given fair warning.
RMS Lusitania:
• The U-20 had fired its last torpedo
• The Lusitania’s captain believed
his ship too fast for a U-boat to
catch
–He sailed in a straight line,
making it an easy target for the
torpedo to catch.
RMS Lusitania:
• Celebrations and awards abounded in
Germany for the returning U-20 crew.
• Shock, horror, and anger manifested in
crowds and the media in Britain and
America.
–Of the 1200 dead, 128 were American.
–Investigations in the late 20th and early
21st centuries proved that Lusitania was
also carrying contraband.
RMS Lusitania and
submarine warfare
–The United States threatened to
enter the war on the Allied side.
»Germany promised not to attack
American vessels.
»It also promised submarines
would surface and announce
their attacks
»This proved dangerous for the
submarines and soon was
stopped.
Propaganda:
• using biased, emotional, and sometimes untrue
information to form public opinion.
– The goal is to promote a cause or destroy an
opposing cause.
• In war, a government controls or disinforms the
media and the public for:
Propaganda:
• EC: Censoring (6)
– battle news
– casualties
• any discouraging news
– popular literature
– historical literature
– motion pictures
– the arts
• EC: encouraging militarism (4)
– recruitment
– support for military actions
– creating hate of the enemy
– raising money
Atrocity:
• brutal, often murderous, acts by soldiers against
innocent people.
• Armenian genocide by Turks.
• German massacres of and reprisals against Belgians,
even their cats and dogs.
– Edith Cavell, p. 367.
Women and World War I
• How did women contribute toward the war effort?
(4)
• Replaced men in the factories and other jobs
– Manufacturing weapons and supplies
• Joined women’s branches of their armed
services
• Grew food
• Nursing
Morale
• Morale in many warring nations began to
plummet by 1917. Reasons included: (7)
–
–
–
–
huge casualty lists,
the destruction of men by modern weapons,
military failures,
Germans were low on food and sending 15 year-olds
to war
– Britain was almost bankrupt
– French units mutinied rather than be sent to be
slaughtered trying to cross another “no man’s land”
• Many Italians respond likewise.
US Will Enter the War?
• What made Americans likely to
support entering the war on the Allied
side. Its reasons included: (4)
– British economic collapse would devastate the US
economy.
– Many Americans related to British.
– Most American newspapers spread anti-German
propaganda
– Britain and France were both democracies.
EC: Not all Americans liked the Allies:
(3)
• German-Americans:
– were split, some very loyal to the Kaiser
• Irish-Americans:
– hated the British for controlling their homeland
and mistreating the Irish people for centuries.
• Russian-American Jews:
– hated the Czar for the pogroms (anti-Jew
program to kick out all Jews from Russia)
EC: American Reasons for Joining the
Allies against Germany (2)
• Zimmermann Telegram
– Germany tried to get Mexico to attack the US.
• Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
– German submarines resumed sinking
American-flag shipping.
Fourteen Points:
• Woodrow Wilson’s list of terms to end World War I and
ensure peace for all in the future. They included:
–
–
–
–
Freedom of the seas
Free trade
Large-scale weapon reductions
An end to secret treaties (end suspicion and fear between
nations)
– An international “association” to keep peace in the future.
– Self-determination:
• the right of a people to have their own form of government.
– end the need for genocide and terrorism
Overthrow from Within
• In many German cities, including
Berlin, public rioting broke out.
– It encouraged a group of liberals and generals
to overthrow the Kaiser…..
• A new government was formed
– EC: The new German government requested
an _______________ with the Allies.
– Armistice
Western Front
Armistice:
• an agreement to end fighting
– Does notAllies
end
a war, however.
and Germany
Sign the Armistice
– The Allies
agreed to Germany’s offer.
London celebrates
–Paris
Shooting
stopped
celebrates
• on the 11th hour
• of the 11th day
• of the 11th month,
• of 1918.
Self-determination:
• the right of a people to have their own
form of government.
• One of Woodrow Wilson’s fourteen-point
peace plan.
• Under this policy, many new nations were
created in Europe.
– Other nations lost land.
EC: Total war actions taken by
governments: (7)
• Raising taxes
• Borrowing huge amounts of money with war
bonds
• Rationing:
– Food
• Fat
• Meat
• Sugar
• Wheat
– Petroleum products
Total war actions:
•
•
•
•
Controlling prices
Forbidding strikes
Forbidding anti-war talk or protest
the British blockaded Europe to prevent
Germany from trading with
– outside colonies
– Foreign powers, including the neutral United States.
Image, p. 366
• How does the poster use emotion to
encourage men to enlist?
• It uses emotion by giving men something
to fight for
• Appeals to men’s sense of family, safety,
and moral obligation
Standards Check, p. 367
• Why was it important for both sides to
keep morale high during the war?
• Total war demanded that civilians work
tirelessly to produce and conserve goods
needed to keep the war going.
• If civilians were not happy, they might not
work well
– Or they might protest against the war
• This would demoralize the soldiers.
Biography, p. 367
• Why do you think the British government
spread the story of Edith Cavell?
• They could (and did) use the story as
propaganda against the Germans.
• Germans would be shown as brutal villains
who executed an heroic Englishwoman.
Fall of the Tsar
• EC: By 1917, most Russians
had had enough (2)
–Food riots by starving city
dwellers
–Russian soldiers deserted
• Some killed their officers
• Many joined revolutionary forces
EC: Two Revolts Shake Russia
• March, 1917 Revolution
– Liberal forces, led by Alexander Kerensky,
• wanted a constitutional monarchy,
• but also wanted to continue the war against
Germany
Two Russian revolts
EC: and later the…..
October, 1917 Revolution
–Led by Communists who promised
“Peace, Land, Bread!”
»Their leader was V.I. Lenin.
–EC: Lenin ended the war with
Germany by signing…..
»The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Standards Check, p. 368
• How did Russia’s loss of morale affect the
strategic position of the Allies in World
War I?
• Poor morale, among other factors, led to
revolution in Russia
• And Russia quitting the war, which
weakened the Allies.
Image, p. 368
• How was the experience of American
soldiers different from that of other Allied
soldiers?
• American soldiers came into the war
supplied with resources and training,
• but hadn’t experienced war on their home
soil.
Standards Check, p. 369
• What are three factors that led the United
States to enter the war?
• Unrestricted submarine warfare
• Cultural ties
• The Zimmermann Note
• Woodrow Wilson’s desire to “make the
world safe for democracy”
Standards Check, p. 369
• Why did Germany ask the Allies for an
armistice in November 1918?
• Its last drive failed because the Allies were
renewed by American troops.
• In Germany, domestic violence disrupted
the government.