GUIDED READING ACTIVITY ANSWERS

Americans at War, 1917 - 1918

As of April, 1917, 844 Allied vessels had been sunk by German U-Boats.

The German Blockade of England, WW I

Germany was able to set up an effective blockade of England during World War I by using its U-Boats to sink trade vessels approaching or leaving England. Unable to receive food and supplies from abroad, the English population suffered and the war effort seemed doomed.

In 1917, Germany had just forced the Russians to quit the war, and seemed to be close to victory.

The Convoy System – large groups of merchant vessels accompanied by cruisers and destroyers for safety – was used with great effect starting in 1917.

Ships were also painted with “Dazzle Camouflage” which made them more difficult targets for German U-boats.

General John J. “Blackjack” Pershing

General John Pershing had gained fame for his role in subduing Mexican Revolutionary “Pancho” Villa during the early 1910s. During World War I, he was the commander of the American Expeditionary Force – and cooperated closely with the French Commander Ferdinand Foch.

At the start of American participation in the war effort, Pershing was opposed to any American troops serving under foreign commanders. Soon, however, he had relinquished African-American soldier to French commanders, and by the end of the war, Americans routinely served under French commanders.

Americans Fighting under French Command

The US Troops Arrived in France, June, 1917World War I started in Europe in the fall of 1914. Americans were resolved to stay out of the war – which they considered a European affair – but were eventually dragged in. Even after President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war in April of 1917, it took several months to mobilize the AEF (American Expeditionary Force) to join the fight.

Doughboys

Because most American soldiers were inexperienced farm boys out in the world for their first time – and perhaps a little pudgy until they had been through basic training – they were referred to as “Doughboys.”

The Bolshevik Party: Russian Communism

Communism is an economic and political system based on the idea that social classes and the right to private property should be eliminated.

The Bolshevik Party in Russia, led by Vladimir Lenin, used violent force to take over the government of Russia, then seized and redistributed land to collective farmers.

During a murderous, bloody Civil War between 1917 and 1923, the Tsar and hundreds of thousands of citizens who opposed the Bolsheviks’ plans were killed in the fighting.

COMMUNISM:

Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks were so busy fighting a Civil War at home that they could not fight against the Germans – and therefore quit the war. In the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Russia ceded hundreds of thousands of square miles of land to Germany.

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Forty Divisions of German Soldiers Moved to the Western Front.

When fighting against Russia came to an end, virtually the entire Eastern Front collapsed and military confrontation ceased. German Soldiers were redeployed to the Western Front, and the Allies braced themselves for a massive assault.

The Battle of Chateau-Thierry

The Spanish

Influenza

More men and women died of the Spanish Flu during the winter of 1918-1919 than died during all of World War I. The epidemic hit German and Allied Soldiers so hard during 1918 that it interfered with troop movements during World War I.

The Battle of Argonne ForestIn September of 1918, the weakened German lines were forced to retreat by Allied Soldiers who had been reinforced by American “doughboys.” Crossing the Meuse River, over 1 million American soldiers pressed forward through heavily fortified regions of the Argonne Forest. German soldiers continued to retreat all the way back into Germany.

An armistice is an agreement to halt fighting between enemy combatants so that peace talks can begin.

Germany asked for an armistice, or cease-fire, during the fall of 1918 so that peace talks could begin between their nation and the Allied Powers.

Allied leaders, however, were not willing to halt their progress right way. Germany would have to endure more brutal punishment before the Allies would acquiesce.

ARMISTICE -

Kaiser Wilhelm Abdicates his Throne.

Kaiser Wilhelm II, the monarch who was considered the leader of Germany throughout World War I, was forced to abdicate his throne, or give up leadership, before the Allies would accept a cease fire with Germany. He left Germany to live in exile in Holland. The once proud emperor, pictured to the left, would live in exile for the rest of his life, and watch Germany descend into madness under Adolf Hitler before the nation was destroyed again during the Second World War.

The leaders of the Allied Powers wanted for the war to end dramatically, and thus chose the memorable date we now know as Armistice Day.

The war ended at exactly 11 O'clock AM on November the 11th: The Eleventh hour of the Eleventh day of the Eleventh month.

Why? For no reason at all. And the killing continued until that date and that hour, although it might have stopped days earlier.

Armistice Day: November 11, 1918

“In Flanders Fields,” by Lt. Col. John McCrae of the Royal Canadian Army

“In Flanders Fields” In Flanders Fields the poppies blow Between the crosses row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.

France 1.3 Million Men

Britain 900,000 Men

Russia 1.7 Million Men

Germany 1.6 Million Men

The United States 50,000 (less than 1 yr.)

The Dead: World War I

By the end of World War I, there were entire villages in France whose populations were wiped out. These cities simply disappeared from the map in the aftermath of the war.

Uncounted Millions died of disease (especially Influenza), starvation, and other war related causes.

Soldiers were frequently blinded, dismembered, or the victims of poison gassing that left their lungs permanently scarred.

Psychological trauma plagued men and women after the war – as it does the participants of all wars.

Other Implications of World War I