The 20th Century: Depression and World Conflict

The Reasons for World War I

Nationalism, colonization, militarism, and the alliance system were all factors that led to the war.

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand sparked the war for Europe.

The United States was angered by the sinking of the Lusitania by a German submarine in 1915.

The last straw, however, was the Zimmerman Telegram.

This German message tried to get Mexico to ally with them and attack the United States.

Upon discovering this item, the US declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917.

Georgia’s WWI Contributions

Georgia provided more military training camps than any other state. They included:

1. Fort McPherson2. Camp Stewart3. Camp Benning4. Camp Gordon

Hey, that one sounds sorta familiar…

• Georgia’s Contribution to World War I

Military Personnel from Georgia

Textile Mills

Railroads

Farms

Sewing circles

Bond Drives

Red Cross

Victory Gardens

In addition, over 100,000 Georgians took part in the war effort.

Over 3,000 of Georgian soldiers died in the fight in Europe.

Many Georgians bought war bonds and grew “victory gardens” to help supply the troops.

• WWI ended with the signing of an armistice on November 11, 1918. This was known as Armistice Day, (Veterans Day)

homework

• Vocabulary in booklet• Read pages 510-518• (20.2) answer questions at the end of section• Read 516-517 ( pop quiz) • 518 READ AND UNDERSTAND (20.2 right side

of page)

After the first World War

After World War I, Americans celebrated throughout the nation.

This era is commonly known as the “Roaring 20s” where people listened to jazz, danced the Charleston, and invested in the stock market.

These good times were not happening for most Georgians, however…

Georgia Suffering

Georgia had always been primarily a rural state, and even when it was fully in the 20th century, little had changed.

Unfortunately at this time, Georgia was suffering one of the worst droughts in its history.

Why all of a sudden is this “rural” status a bad thing?

Georgia was also reeling from the devastating attacks of a tiny insect called the boll weevil.

The real problem was not the insect but its diet…

The Boll Weevil

The larva of this insect feeds on the cotton plant.

It is thought to have originated in Central America, but by the 1890s it had made its way into Mexico and then on to Texas.

By 1915 it had migrated to Georgia and drastically reduced the state’s core crop. Why is too much focus

a bad thing again?

Due to the destruction of the boll weevil, Georgia farmers went from producing 5.2 million acres of cotton in 1914 to 2.6 million acres in 1923.

The loss of the cotton acreage had ahuge impact on the economy and ruralpopulation.

The recruitment of northern companiesdropped, and millions of African-Americansmoved to northern cities.

In addition, many sharecroppers and tenant farmers – both black and white – left the farms and moved to Georgia cities like Atlanta and Macon.

The destruction of the cotton cropforced Georgians to diversify their economy.

Cotton ceased to be Georgia’s primary agricultural product.

Which person would best be represented by this image of a frustrated guy who had

said the EXACT SAME THING?!?

By 1983, Georgia only produced 115,000 acres of cotton.

With the population of Georgia largely moving to the cities, the state’s manufacturing industry continued to slowly develop.

but…

Drought

In addition to the damage caused by the boll weevil, Georgia farmers suffered through another natural disaster in the 1920s and 1930s: drought.

These eras of a lack of water severely impacted farmers’ abilities to produce agriculture of any kind.

Georgia began to suffer from an economic depression long before the rest of the United States.