The Great WarPart One

Leading to War

After the Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand

1. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia2. Russia mobilized its army on the Austrian

border3. Russia ignored Germany’s request to stop…

Germany declared war on Russia4. Germany declared war on France for

violating its territory 5. Great Britain declared war on Germany for

not leaving Belgium

Great Britain was also afraid of an increasingly powerful Germany

upsetting the ‘balance of power’ in Europe

Steps To War : The Great War 1914 1918

Step One: 1914 --Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of

Austro-Hungarian empire, in Sarajevo, Bosnia

Europe exploded into war

--U.S. President Woodrow Wilson declared a policy of neutrality

Step Two: 1915--Germany declared a blockade of Great Britain: U.S. saw this as a threat to U.S. businesses trading with Britain. --The Lusitania was sunk by a German u-boat--President Wilson drafted defense plans

Step Three: 1916--President Wilson launched a nationwide ‘peace plan’ to

generate support for ‘preparedness’

--Sussex Pledge: Germany states it will not sink ship without a warning

--Wilson re-elected. His slogan… ”He Kept Us Out of War”

Step Four: 1917--Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in an

attempt to end the war before the U.S. entered --U.S. severed diplomatic ties with Germany

--Zimmermann Telegram is passed to the US by Britain--U.S. declared war on Germany

--Selective Service Act… the draft… signed by Wilson

Nationalism

A feeling of pride and loyalty people have for their country or for a shared language and customs

• Example: a common language, religion, history, culture, institutions

•

Central Powers v. Allied PowersThe Central PowersGermany

Austria-Hungary

The Ottoman Empire

Bulgaria

Italy Entered the Triple Alliance with

Germany and Austria-Hungary

in 1913, but declared it only a

defensive treaty when war broke out.

Central Powers Deaths in the War

The Allies

• Entente Powers or the Triple Entente

• France • Britain • Russia• Italy 1915

• Empire of Japan • United States 1917

Allied Deaths in the War

██ Allies (some entered the war or dropped out later)

██ Central Powers██ Neutral Countries

American Neutrality

Most Americans don’t want war

But German-Americans and Irish-Americans hoped Germany won

Wilson leans toward Great

Britain, but endorses neutrality

"The effect of the war upon the United States will depend upon what American citizens say and do. 

Every man who really loves America will act and speak in the true spirit of neutrality, which is the

spirit of impartiality and fairness and friendliness to all concerned."

Arbitration Treaties

Agreements between nations to try and settle differences and avoid war

Many had a one year cooling

off period Both countries must wait one year before

going to war

Taft and Wilson signed dozens of them with a number of nations.

Wilson’s Foreign Policy

1. United States did not need any new territory2. U.S. had no enemies3. U.S. did not want to injure any foreign country4. Being rich and powerful, U.S. should help less

fortunate (International Progressivism)5. U.S. should not control other countries, but

encourage democracy6. America’s past Imperialism was a mistake

Pre-War Problems in Mexico

Mexico Revolution began 1910

1. Revolutionary leader Francisco Madero, a progressive type reformer, forced out dictator Porfirio Diaz in 1911

2. In 1913,Madero is killed by Gen. Victorano Huerta, who sets up military dictatorship.

3. Wilson called Heurta’s government a “government of butchers”.

He refused to recognize Huerta as President.

Wilson proclaimed a new doctrine of nonrecognition

4. Led by Venustiano Carranza, a new Mexican revolt erupted in 1914

Carranza

The Tampico Affair American sailors in Veracruz

1914 a. On shore leave at

Tampico, Mexico, U.S. sailors ‘strayed’ into a restricted area and were arrested

b. They are soon released, but Wilson was angry.

c. Wilson made a show of force to punish Huerta.

Sent a naval force to occupy Veracruz.

d. Battle erupted.. 19 Americans and 126 Mexicans were killed before Veracruz was taken

ABC Powers (Argentina, Brazil and Chile) intervened, offered to settle the dispute.

Huerta abdicated Carranza, with his generals

Villa and Zapata, took power

Zapata 1919Zapata 1919

Pancho Villa

a. Villa soon turned on Carranza

b. Wilson supported Villa over Carranza.

He was angry Carranza won’t be a puppet to the U.S.

c. Carranza drove Villa into the hills of Mexico

d. Wilson finally decided to recognize Carranza as the proper leader of Mexico

Villa Attacked Americans

• Killed 17 Americans on a train in Mexico in an attempt to

--provoke a US intervention --discredit Carranza, and --build himself up in the eyes

of Mexicans

• That failed...so he crossed the border, killed another 17 Americans, burnt the town of Columbus, New Mexico

General John J. Pershing

• Sent by Wilson to capture Villa with 11,000 men

• This meant invading Mexico

• Chased him around Mexico for 9 months....never caught him

• Within a few years both Villa and Carranza both killed by assassins

• Company M from Adams was sent to guard the Mexican border from invaders

Zimmermann Note

• Foreign Secretary of the German Empire, Arthur Zimmermann sent a telegram to the German Ambassador in the U.S. to be forwarded to the German Ambassador in Mexico

• The telegram instructed the ambassador that if the U.S entered the war he was to approach the Mexican government with a proposal for military alliance.

• The Offer: If Mexico sided with Germany, and they won the war, Mexico would get back land lost to the U.S

• Specifically the states of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona

RMS Lusitania

• A British luxury ocean liner torpedoed by the German submarine U-20 on May 7, 1915.

• The great ship sank in just 18 minutes, eight miles off the Ireland, killing 1,198 of the people aboard.

The sinking turned public

opinion against Germany

It probably was a

major factor in the

eventual decision

of the U.S. to

join the war in 1917.

The ship was in fact blockade runner, and thus a legitimate target, which the German embassy pointed out in a public advertisement prior to sailing in a New York paper.

It was carrying war munitions for use against Germany

RMS Lusitania Today

Sussex Pledge 1916

• Early in 1916, Germany had instituted a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare

• This allowed armed merchant ships - but not passenger ships - to be torpedoed without warning.

• Despite this, a French cross-channel passenger ferry, the Sussex, was torpedoed without warning on About 50 lives were lost.

• Although no U.S. citizens were killed in this attack, it prompted President Wilson to threaten to break diplomatic relations with Germany.

• Fearing the entry of the United States into the war, Germany attempted to appease the United States by issuing the Sussex Pledge, which promised a change in Germany’s naval warfare policy.

Sussex Pledge

1. Passenger ships would not be targeted

2. Merchant ships would not be sunk until the presence of contraband on the boats had been established, if necessary by a search of the ship

3. Merchant ships would not be sunk without provision for the safety of passengers and crew.

Election of 1916• President Wilson vs.

Charles Evan Hughes

• Hughes was a Progressive Governor of New York, like Teddy Roosevelt.

• Wilson a powerful advocate for American neutrality in the war in Europe.

“…The United States must be neutral in fact, as well as in name…….We must be impartial in thought, as well as action, must put a curb upon our sentiments, as well as upon every transaction

that might be construed as a preference of one party to the struggle before another.”

• Election was close....Wilson went to bed on election night believing he had lost

• Election comes down to state of California

• Wilson Campaign Slogan:

“He Kept Us Out Of War”

End of Part One