Transcript Significance of the Spanish American War (1898)

 NOTICE 

These slides are provided to
augment the lectures presented in
Dr. Hatley’s History 2493-US Since
1877 course. If you miss class, you
should not assume that merely
perusing these will provide you with
sufficient information to do well on
examinations.
The Great War (1914-1918)
Triple Entente
Great Britain, France, and
Russia
Central Powers
Germany, Austria-Hungary,
and Turkey
The Great War (1914-1918)
 Austro-Hungarian
Archduke Franz
Ferdinand and his wife Sophie
assassinated in Sarajevo, the
capital of Bosnia (28 June 1914)
 Austria-Hungary declared war on
Serbia
The Great War (1914-1918)
 Serbia
 Union
or Death—
Black Hand
 Gavrilo Princip
(1893-1918)
The Great War (1914-1918)
 Russian
Czar
Nicholas II
(1868-1918)
(r. 1894-1917)
The Great War (1914-1918)
 German
Kaiser
Wilhelm II
(1859-1941)
(r. 1888-1918)
The Great War (1914-1918)
 The
Schlieffen
Plan
 Designed to
prevent a twofront war (France
to the west and
Russia to the
east)
The Great War (1914-1918)
 Battle
of the Marne
(5-12 September
1914)
 armed stalemate
The Great War (1914-1918)
 In
1916, both sides launched major
offensives aimed at breaking the
deadlock:
 Verdun (21 Feb — 18 Dec)
 Somme (24 June — 13 Nov)
The Great War (1914-1918)
 Meanwhile,
Britain and France
blockaded Germany at Sea
(1915)
 Contraband
 Non-Contraband
The Great War (1914-1918)
 das
Unterseeboot
or U-Boat
The Great War (1914-1918)
 German
U-Boat
torpedoed RMS
Lusitania; of
1,962
passengers and
crew, 1,198 died,
including 128
Americans
(7 May 1915)
The Great War (1914-1918)
The Great War (1914-1918)
 RMS
Arabic — 44
people killed,
including 3
Americans (19
August 1915)
The Great War (1914-1918)
 US
President
Woodrow Wilson
protested
Germany’s
actions
The Great War (1914-1918)
 Germany
announced that passenger
liners would no longer be targeted
in the waters around Great Britain
(20 September 1915)
The Great War (1914-1918)
 Despite
Wilson’s efforts to keep
the US out of the Great War,
events of early 1917 convinced
him that America had to intervene:
 US already antagonized by
sinkings earlier in the war
The Great War (1914-1918)
 31
January, Germany announced
its policy of “unrestricted
submarine warfare” to starve
Britain into making peace.
 All shipping in the war zone
around Great Britain and in the
Mediterranean Sea was subject to
U-Boat attack.
The Great War (1914-1918)
German Foreign Minister
Arthur Zimmermann
(1864-1940)
 Zimmermann Telegram
(Sent 16 January 1917)
 Sent to the German
Ambassador in
Washington, DC
 Published 1 March 1917

The Great War (1914-1918)
“. . . lost territory in
Texas, New Mexico,
and Arizona.”
The Great War (1914-1918)
 German
U-Boats sank three US
merchant ships in the Atlantic
(March)
 German agents fomented strikes
and planted bombs in US munitions
factories
The Great War (1914-1918)
 German
Max Weber
(1864-1920)
 “It is as though we
are being ruled by
madmen. . . .”
The Great War (1914-1918)
The Great War (1914-1918)
 German
military leaders did not
wish to antagonize the US further,
so what were they thinking?
 The Germans determined that the
US military would need at least one
year to mobilize; Britain would be
out of the war in six months―so
they thought
The Great War (1914-1918)
Congress
approved Wilson’s
request for a
declaration of
war, “to make the
world safe for
democracy.”
(6 April 1917)
The Great War (1914-1918)
The US declared war. Now
what?
The United States in the
Great War (1917-1918)
 Selective
Service Act (1917)
established a draft, ending the timehonored volunteer system; men 21
to 30, later 18 to 45
 US government sold $5 Billion in
bonds; $3 billion loaned to the Allies
The United States in the
Great War (1917-1918)
 War
Industries Board — directed
activities of US industries for the
war effort.
 Food Administration — rationed
grain and sugar.
 Americans observed “Meatless
Tuesday” each week.
The United States in the
Great War (1917-1918)
 Kaiser
Bill; Willy
the Witless
 Hamburg
 Frankfurt
 Wien
 Dachshund
The United States in the
Great War (1917-1918)
14,000 men of the American
Expeditionary Forces (AEF)
arrived in France (June 1917);
who was in command?
The United States in the
Great War (1917-1918)
General John J.
“Black Jack”
Pershing
(1860-1948)
Pershing and his staff in France
General
Ferdinand
Foch
French demanded
that Americans be
parceled out to
French units as
replacements
The United States in the
Great War (1917-1918)
Pershing refused, stating that
Americans would serve in US units
commanded by US officers and
NCOs; why?
The United States in the
Great War (1917-1918)
American “doughboys” were
untrained
Americans did not speak French
For the US to have a voice at the
eventual peace conference, it
would have to play a major role
on the battlefield
The United States in the
Great War (1917-1918)
With Russia out of the war, the
Germans commenced “peace
offensive” (March 1918)
First American offensive—4,000 US
troops captured the French village
of Cantigny (28 May 1918)
The United States in the
Great War (1917-1918)
Château-Thierry and Belleau Wood
(30 May-17 June 1918)
Salient at St. Mihiel
(12-16 September 1918)
French President Poincaré (left) and wife
visit St. Mihiel the day after its liberation
The United States in the Great
War (1917-1918)
Meuse-Argonne
Offensive
(26 September-11
November 1918)
Armistice
The United States in the
Great War (1917-1918)
“For a lasting victory,
we must drive in
Germany and
dictate the terms of
peace in Berlin.”
The Post-War Settlement
 What
to do about Germany:
 Italy (joined the Allies in 1915)
 France
 Great Britain
 In 1919, leaders of various nations
met in Paris, France, including the
“Big Four”
President Wilson heads to Paris aboard
the transport George Washington
Paris Peace Conference
(1919)

David Lloyd George,
Vittorio Orlando,
Georges Clemenceau,
and Woodrow Wilson
Paris Peace Conference
(1919)
 Wilson’s
Fourteen Points:
 Open diplomacy: no secret or
entangling alliances
 No trade barriers: no tariff
 Armaments reductions for all
nations
 National self-determination
Paris Peace Conference (1919)
 The
League of Nations: “A general
association of nations must be
formed under specific covenants
for the purpose of affording mutual
guarantees of political
independence and territorial
integrity to great and small states
alike.”
Treaty of Versailles (1919)
 Map
of Europe redrawn in
accordance with Wilson’s national
self-determination:
 Austria-Hungary divided into
Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary,
and Yugoslavia; other parts went to
Bulgaria and Romania
Treaty of Versailles (1919)
 Germany
lost all colonies and
Alsace-Lorraine
 Rhineland (Rheinland) demilitarized
(DMZ)
 Territory in eastern Germany,
including the “Polish Corridor,”
given to Poland.
Treaty of Versailles (1919)
Treaty of Versailles (1919)
 ARTICLE
231 — War Guilt Clause
“. . . Germany accepts the
responsibility of Germany and her
allies for causing all the loss and
damage. . . .”
 Reparations. No total amount
given by 28 June 1919, but set at
$33 Billion in 1921
Treaty of Versailles (1919)
 Disarmament
4,000 officers and
100,000 soldiers
 No U-Boats, tanks,
heavy artillery, nor
military aircraft
Treaty of Versailles (1919)
 League
of Nations formed in
Geneva, Switzerland
 Wilson brought the Treaty home
for US Senate ratification, but the
Senate failed to ratify. Why?
 Rapid military demobilization
Treaty of Versailles (1919)
Wilson had
alienated most
Republican Senators
Wilson Seeks Ratification
 Isolationism
 Fear
of a loss of
American
sovereignty
Wilson Seeks Ratification
 Summer
and fall of 1919, Wilson
traveled 8,000 miles in 22 days,
giving 32 major speeches.
 He suffered exhaustion and finally a
stroke that paralyzed the left side of
his body for life.
Wilson Seeks Ratification
 For
six weeks, his
wife, Edith, isolated
the president in the
White House and
made decisions for
him.
Wilson Seeks Ratification
 November
1919, US Senate refused
to ratify the Treaty of Versailles.
 Wilson called the presidential
election of 1920 a referendum on
the League of Nations.
 So, what happened?
Presidential Election of 1920
 James
M. Cox (D)
(1870-1957)
Presidential Election of 1920
 Vice
Presidential
running mate,
Franklin D.
Roosevelt
(1882-1945)
Presidential Election of 1920
 Warren
G.
Harding (R)
(1865-1923)
(1921-1923)