Transcript WORLD WAR I Chapter 22: From Neutrality to War

Was it in the best interests of the United
States to stay neutral or declare war in 1917?
 Militarism - policy of building up strong
military forces to prepare for war
 Alliances - agreements between nations to aid
and protect one another
 Nationalism - pride in or devotion to one’s
country
 Imperialism - when one country takes over
another country economically and politically
 Assassination - murder of Austrian Archduke
Franz Ferdinand
CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I:
ASSASSINATION
Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary)
and Duchess Sophie at Sarajevo, Bosnia on June 28th, 1914.
European Alliances as World War I Begins
Nations
Britain
France
Germany
1914
1915
1916
$594,271,863 $911,794,954 $1,526,685,102
$159,818,924 $364,397,170
$628,851,988
$344,794,276 $28,863,354
$288,899
•Immigrants (foreign born) in the U.S.
•Germany 2.5 million
•Austria-Hungary 1.6 million
•Ireland 1.2 million
•Great Britain 1.2 million
•Russia 1.7 million
•Italy 1.3 million foreign
•The United States must be neutral in
fact, as well as in name.
-Woodrow Wilson’s Statement on
Neutrality (1914)
 “Neutrality is no longer feasible.”
 “The right is more precious than peace.”
 82 – 6/Senate
 373 – 50/House
 The United States joins the Allies
 Lafayette, we are here!
 First time the U.S. government committed to
sending large numbers of troops across the sea
 Most Americans thought we’d only send supplies
or food
 Selective Service
 National draft (all men ages 21-30 had to register)
 American Expeditionary Force under Pershing
 “doughboys” (the first infantry to reach Europe)
 Separate unit not joined to the Allies because
Pershing disagreed with the defensive, trench
warfare
 Give the U.S. a greater voice in the after war peace
 Thanks to Russian
involvement, the Germans
had to fight a two front war
 In 1918 the Treaty of BrestLitovsk was signed
 Communist Russia (now the
U.S.S.R.) was out of the war
 Central Powers gained
territory given up by the
Russians
 No more war on the
Eastern Front
 Pacifists- people who oppose all war for political,
moral, or religious reasons
 Conscientious Objectors- people who opposed
war for religious or moral reasons and therefore
refused to serve in the armed forces (often risking
going to prison)
 Women’s Peace Party
(led by Jane Addams)
 Feared that U.S.’s entry
into war would diminish
support for their reform
 How is America’s
democracy looking these days?
 Committee on Public Information (CPI)
 George Creel led this government created
committee in attempt to sell the war to the public.
 Films, Books, and Four Minute Men (speakers
around the country)
 Raising money for the war effort came through taxes
and liberty bonds
 Taxes funded ¼ of the cost (War Revenue Act)
 Increased income taxes (16th Amendment) during WWI
 War Industries Board- headed by
Bernard Baruch coordinated the work
of government agencies, and industry
groups
 To make sure supplies and equipment were produced
and delivered to the military
 National War Labor Boardgovernment worked to ensure the cooperation of unions
 Food and Fuel
 Food Administration- oversaw the production and
distribution of food and fuel
 Meatless Mondays, Wheatless Wednesdays, Gasless
Sundays, and Heatless Mondays
 Victory Gardens (one in front of the White House)
 Most supported the war effort and the NAACP
encouraged people to serve in the military
 WEB Du Bois wrote, “Let us, while this war lasts, forget
our special grievances and close our ranks shoulder to
shoulder with our own white fellow citizens and the
allied nations that are fighting for democracy.”
 Great Migration
 Mass movement of African Americans to the North.
 Chicago, New York City, Cleveland saw an explosion of
black residents
 Race Riots broke out in 1919
 A St. Louis factory owner brought in black workers to break
up a strike and a riot broke out causing 30 African-Americans
to die and 9 whites
 Immigrants needed to appear “americanized”
 Most immigrants supported the war
 American Protective League-self appointed
patriot group that targeted immigrants for being
disloyal
 German Americans were often attacked and
targeted
 Espionage Act (1917)- “spying”- made it a crime to
try and interfere with the military draft and set
penalties for spying, sabotage, and “obstruction of
the war effort.”
 Sedition Act (1918)- made it a crime to say
anything that was disloyal, profane, or abusive
about the government
 Wobblies- members of the Industrial Workers of
the World spoke out against the war.
 165 arrested, 1 hanged, viewed as disloyal
 Schenck v. United States
 Charles Schenck, a socialist, was charged with
espionage for distributing leaflets to recent
draftees, urging them to resist the military draft.
 First Amendment? Freedom of Speech?
 Unanimous decision- Schenck’s publications
created a clear and present danger to a nation
engaged in war.
 From “Lafayette, we are here! -1917…
 …To on the Eleventh day, of the Eleventh month at
the Eleventh hour = armistice -1918
 The U.S.’s main contributions to the ultimate victory:
 Foodstuffs and munitions
 Oil for this first mechanized war
 And manpower, but not battlefield victories
 Yanks found only two major battles—at St. Mihiel and
the Meuse-Argonne, both in the last two months of
the four-year war
 It was the prospect of endless U.S. troop reserves
rather than America’s actual military performances
that eventually demoralized the Germans
Countries
Total
Mobilized
Killed
& Died
Wounded
Prisoners
&
Missing
Total
Casualties
Casualties % of
Mobilized
Allied Powers
Russia
12,000,000
1,700,000
4,950,000
2,500,000
9,150,000
76.3
France
8,410,000
1,357,800
4,266,000
537,000
6,160,800
76.3
British Empire
8,904,467
908,371
2,090,212
191,652
3,190,235
35.8
Italy
5,615,000
650,000
947,000
600,000
2,197,000
39.1
United States
4,355,000
126,000
234,300
4,500
364,800
8.2
Japan
800,000
300
907
3
1,210
0.2
Romania
750,000
335,706
120,000
80,000
535,706
71.4
Serbia
707,343
45,000
133,148
152,958
331,106
46.8
Belgium
267,000
13,716
44,686
34,659
93,061
34.9
Greece
230,000
5,000
21,000
1,000
17,000
11.7
Portugal
100,000
7,222
13,751
12,318
33,291
33.3
50,000
3,000
10,000
7,000
20,000
40.0
42,188,810
5,152,115
12,831,004
4,121,090
22,104,209
52.3
11,000,000
1,773,700
4,216,058
1,152,800
7,142,558
64.9
Austria-Hungary
7,800,000
1,200,000
3,620,000
2,200,000
7,020,000
90.0
Turkey
2,850,000
325,000
400,000
250,000
975,000
34.2
Bulgaria
1,200,000
87,500
152,390
27,029
266,919
22.2
Total
22,850,000
3,386,200
8,388,448
3,629,829
15,404,477
67.4
Grand Total
65,038,810
8,538,315
21,219,452
7,750,919
37,508,686
57.6
Montenegro
Total
Central Powers
Germany
 Fourteen Points- Wilson’s blueprint for peace
 Do you remember what caused World War I in the
first place? Woodrow Wilson remembered.
 End to Secret Alliances
 Freedom of Seas
 European Reduction of Armaments (weapons)
 Right to Self Determination
 Creation of the League of Nations –an
international peace keeping organization in
which countries would protect territorial
integrity
Big Four-: W. Wilson (US), D. Lloyd George (GB),
G. Clemenceau (France) and V. Orlando (Italy)
 The European victors were not really buying what
Woody was selling…
 Germany will respect the independence of Austria, the complete
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independence of Czechoslovakia and of Poland.
Germany surrenders all her rights and titles over her overseas countries.
The German military forces shall be demobilized and reduced not to
exceed 100,000 men.
The German navy must not exceed 6 battleships, 6 light cruisers, 12
destroyers, and 12 torpedo boats. No submarines are to be included.
The Armed Forces of Germany must not include any military or naval air
forces.
Germany and her Allies accept the responsibility for causing all the loss
and damage to the Allied Powers.
Germany will pay for all damages done to the civilian population and
property of the Allied Governments. [The figure was later set at $33
billion].
The German territory situated to the west of the Rhine River will be
occupied by Allied troops for fifteen years.
 Wilson (a Democrat) needed 2/3 vote to ratify
the treaty but the Republicans were hesitant
 Partisanship (rivalry between the parties)
defeats the treaty
 Many Senators felt the treaty would drag us into
world affairs (the League of Nations) and war
 Some Democrats turned on Wilson and voted
the treaty down.
 The treaty is rejected by 7 votes
 Wilson takes his case to the public in hopes of
saving his treaty in the election of 1920 (a
“solemn referendum”) and suffers a massive
stroke
 By 1921 the League of Nations was running without the
U.S. as a member (whose president had created it)
 A return to isolationism
 Could WWII have been avoided if the US joined the
League of Nations?