The Great WarThe Great War

World War I &World War I &Its AftermathIts Aftermath

1914-19301914-1930

““MAIN” MAIN” Causes of Causes of

the Warthe War

“MAIN” Causes of WWIMMilitarismilitarism - competition in - competition in building the biggest, most building the biggest, most aggressive militaryaggressive military

AAllianceslliances - complex network of - complex network of “backup” between European nations “backup” between European nations if one went to warif one went to war

IImperialismmperialism - competition between - competition between European empires for resources, European empires for resources, markets & colonies in Africa & markets & colonies in Africa & AsiaAsia

NNationalismationalism - rivalry between - rivalry between European nations; also certain European nations; also certain ethnic groups want to unite & ethnic groups want to unite & establish their own nationsestablish their own nations

Militarism

Increase in Defense Spending(1910-1914)

France 10%Britain 13%Russia 39%

Germany 73%

Did the emperor of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II, encourage the start of World War as a way to increase

Germany’s power and dominate Europe and the world?

AlliancesAllied Powers

BritainKing George V

FrancePresident Poincare

RussiaCzar Nicholas II

ItalyKing Emmanuel III

AlliancesCentral Powers

GermanyKaiser Wilhelm II

Austria-HungaryEmperor Franz Josef

Ottoman EmpireEnver Pasha

(Prime Minister of War)

Alliances

Imperialism

Central Powers (orange), particularly Germany, want more colonies and power overseas in Africa

and Asia.

At the time, most of the world is dominated by the Allied Powers (dark green).

Nationalism

European nations focus on their country’s self-interests and fight to increase power.

Ethnic groups begin to fight the powerful empires to establish their own nations.

Nationalism in the Balkans 1914 The

“Powder Keg”of Europe:

Various groups want their own nations, but live mixed up

together.

Bosnians, Slovaks & Czechs in the

Austro-Hungarian empire want their

own nations.

Poles want to reclaim their homeland from

Germany, Austria-Hungary & Russia.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne.

Assassinated on June 28, 1914 by Serbian radicals who believed that Bosnia belonged to Serbia rather than Austria-Hungary.

Austria-Hungary accuses Serbia of plotting the assassination and threatens to go to war.The most direct, or

immediate, cause of World War I

The AssassinGavriloPrincip

The Assassination in Sarajevo

America:America:

From From Neutrality Neutrality

to to InvolvemenInvolvemen

tt

The Schlieffen Plan

The German army bulldozes through neutral Belgium to attack France

and threaten Britain across the waters.

Atrocities committed against

the neutral country cause

many Americans to see Germany as an aggressor nation that should be

stopped.

IsolationismAlthough Germans seem aggressive, many Americans want to stay isolated from the war in Europe.

Peace activists work to keep America neutral.

Immigrant families have ties to both sides in Europe.

Wilson’s 1916 slogan: “He kept us out of war!”

Jeanette RankinFirst CongresswomanVoted against war

Americans Want NeutralityUnder the leadership of Woodrow Wilson, most Americans want to stay out of the fighting in Europe.

Let Europe solve its own problems.

Businesses do not want to upset trade and investments around the world.

Supplying materials to both the Allied and Central Powers created a boost for the US economy.

Neutrality Becomes Difficult

Britain blocks US ships to Germany and confiscates materials onboard as contraband. Owners of the goods onboard lose money.

Germany uses new U-boats to blow up US ships headed to Britain. Lives and money are lost.

The loss of lives adds to the public opinion that murderous Germany is responsible for the war.

U-boat hits before April 1917

U-boat hits after April 1917

Reconstruction of a German U-boat

A U-boat surfacing in the deep sea

Effects of a U-boat attack

The Sinking of the Lusitania

A British cruise liner carrying war materials and American passengers is

torpedoed by the Germans. Twelve hundred people die, including 128 Americans.

From Isolationism to Involvement

1. US bankers loan more money to Britain and France

2. US government increases military spending & practices a policy of “prepardness”

3. Germans engage in unrestricted submarine warfare

4. Zimmermann telegram is intercepted, sparking outrage across America

The Kaiser tries to make a deal with Mexico.

The Zimmermann Telegram

The Zimmermann Telegram

America Goes to War

IMPORTANT: Why did America join the fighting in World War I?

Although the Zimmermann note gave the President and Congress the public support to declare war, the REASON for the US to go to war was to protect its trade and shipping rights on the high seas. Germany’s use of unrestricted submarine warfare was taking lives and interfering with the American economy.

Wilson makes an idealistic case for war: the US should “Make the world safe for democracy”

Congress passes the Selective Service Act to draft soldiers into the army

Wilson chooses General John J. Pershing to train and lead the American Expeditionary Force (AEF)

Recruitment Posters

US “Doughboys” Go To War

Posters:Posters:

WartimeWartimePropagandPropagand

aa

Germany As a Bloodthirsty Monster

Be a Man - Join the Fight!

Citizens - Work Hard & Buy War Bonds

Grow a Victory Garden

Even Children Can Help Win the War!

A Woman’s Duty - Heal the Wounded…

…Guard the Food Supply, Make Munitions

The Western The Western Front:Front:

America Joins America Joins the Warthe War

US Goes To War

US warships escort supply ships

Revolution Changes the Game

In March of 1917, the Russian Revolution overthrew the czar and established a republic.

By November, the communist Bolshevik party took over the government and signed a peace treaty with Germany to end the fighting on the Eastern Front.

German forces were now freed up to fight the war-weary Allied Forces on the Western Front.

Bolshevik leaderVladimir Lenin

Revolution Changes the Game

German forces leave Russia and head to the Western Front, where worn-out British and

French soldiers are starting to give up hope.

Trench WarfareNew military technology: machine guns, hand grenades, mustard gas, flame throwers

Both sides dug into miles of trenches on the Western Front between France and Germany.

Soldiers lived under constant fire for years in the wet, dirty, rat-infested trenches with a “no man’s land” between the two sides.

Heavy losses continued as the stalemate dragged on.

Trench Design

In the Trenches

“No Man’s Land”

Trenchfoot

“Over the Top”

“Those Who Have Lost Their Names”Albin Eggar-Linz, 1914

New Weapons of War•Mustard Gas•Machine Guns•Tanks•Heavy Artillery

Krupp’s “Big Bertha”

French Renault Tank

Soldiers now fought inside machines instead of on horseback.

British Tank at Ypres

FlameThrowers

GrenadeLaunchers

The Airplane

“Squadron Over the Brenta”

Max Edler von Poosch, 1917

U. S. Aircraft Plant

Women began working in factories to produce supplies. After the war, they would push harder

for the right to vote.

Pilots: The New War Hero

Manfred von Richtofen“The Red Baron” Eddie Rickenbacker

WWI Flying AcesGermany US

A hero in pursuit of the “Red Baron”

The Zeppelin

Originally designed as a bomber, the zeppelin proved to be too slow and flammable to do much

damage.

“Oppy Wood” – John Nash, 1917

“Paths of Glory”C. R. W. Nevinson, 1917

“Gassed and Wounded”Eric Kennington, 1918

11 a.m., November 11, 1918

Armistice - Germany Surrenders

Effects of the Great War

9,000,0009,000,000 DeadDead

World War I Casualties

01,000,0002,000,0003,000,0004,000,0005,000,0006,000,0007,000,0008,000,0009,000,000

10,000,000RussiaGermanyAustria-HungaryFranceGreat BritainItalyTurkeyUS

With nine million dead and over thirty-six million casualties, many will ask the

question, “What was it all for?”

World War I was total war. Nearly 45% of deaths were

civilian.

The Somme American Cemetary, France

116,516 Americans Died in 116,516 Americans Died in WWIWWI

1918 Flu Pandemic

20,000,000 – 20,000,000 – 100,000,000 died?100,000,000 died?

Effects of the War Deaths

– 9,000,000 military– 7,000,000 civilian– 50,000,000 flu epidemic

Destruction– Railroads, farmlands and factories were destroyed across Europe

– Economies crumbled and food was scarce Worldviews

– Loss of innocence: What was the point? How did progress and technology produce such horrible results?

Power Structure– US alone as an international superpower

Who’s To Blame?

PeacePeaceConferenceConference

::

The The TreatyTreaty

“The Big Four”

Leaders of the Allied Powers meet at the Palace of Versailles in France to negotiate the terms of a peace agreement with Germany

and Austria-Hungary.

Peace Talks at Versaill

es

King Louis XIV’s “Hall of Mirrors”

“The Big Four”

“The Big Four”What do they want?

War Guilt Clause - The treaty should say that Germany is responsible for starting the war

Reparations - Germany should have to pay billions in damages

Security - Germany should have to disarm its military and set up a demilitarized zone on its border with France

Borders - Land divided up to weaken Germany and dissolve Austria-Hungary

Georges ClemenceauFrance

David Lloyd GeorgeBritain

“The Big Four”

Vittorio OrlandoItaly

What did they want?

The least powerful of the “Big Four” Allied Powers, Italy joined the peace negotiations to get back land that had been taken by Austria-Hungary.

Italy felt humiliated about being ignored at

Versailles, and this would contribute to resentment

leading up to WWII.

“The Big Four”

Woodrow WilsonUS

What did they want?

Fourteen Points1. Open diplomacy - no secret

deals between nations to help each other take over the world

2. Freedom of the seas in peace & war

3. Reduce arms & militaries4. Self-determination - ethnic

groups that want independence should have their own nations

5. Nations should cooperate & respect each other’s territory

6. League of Nations - a place to settle disputes without going to war

Wilson’s Idealism RejectedThe League of Nations was the only one of Wilson’s Fourteen Points to make it into the Treaty of Versailles. Britain and France could not go home to their publics with an idealistic treaty that let Germany off the hook.

Ironically, the US did not join the League of Nations. Senators such as Henry Cabot Lodge felt that it would bind the US into alliances and drag it into another war.

Isolationism returned in a big way among the American public. The Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles and join the League of Nations.

International CooperationAlthough the US did not want to become involved in

international affairs after World War I, the nation did engage in two important agreements:

1. A US banker named Charles G. Dawes came up with the Dawes Plan to loan money to Germany so it could maintain its payments to Britain and France. This would help keep Europe stable and allow Britain and France to continue to buy products from the US.

2. At the Washington Naval Conference, the US, Britain, and Japan agreed to keep their navies from becoming too threatening.

Effects of Effects of War:War:

American American SocietySociety

Federal Power Increases

Wilson established the War Industries Board, led by Bernard Baruch, to control the national economy and make sure enough supplies were produced.

Wilson appointed Herbert Hoover to head the Food Administration to conserve food for the soldiers. Americans participated in “Meatless Mondays” and “Wheatless Wednesdays” and grew “Victory Gardens.”

George Creel, head of the Committee on Public Information, used all types of propaganda to encourage public support for the war - movies, posters, parades, songs.

Congress passed the Espionage and Sedition Acts to make it illegal to speak out against the government or interfere with the draft.

The “Red Scare”

The success of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Revolution scared many Americans, who feared that revolution would spread to the US.

As workers began to

strike again after the war, some Americans

became convinced that unions were

being encouraged by

the Communists.

The “Red Scare”Socialist Party leader Eugene V. Debs - previously a candidate for president - was sentenced to ten years in prison for criticizing the government’s war efforts.

From jail, Debs ran for president again in 1920, gaining almost one million votes.In Schenck v. US (1919) the Supreme Court

ruled that the government could silence free speech when there is a “clear and present danger” involved.

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The “Red Scare”

US Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer authorized the Palmer Raids to round up suspected communists and “subversives.”

Over 500 immigrants were deported.

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The “Red Scare”

Sacco and Vanzetti were two Italian immigrants believed to be anarchists. Although the evidence was questionable, the two men were convicted of murder and executed.

Were Sacco and Vanzetti convicted based on political or ethnic

prejudice?

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The fear of immigrants spreading communism and anarchy led to one of the nation’s most controversial trials.

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