World War I

1914-1918

Causes of World War I

• Nationalism• Imperialism • Military Alliances• Checks and Balances

Sequence of Events:

• June 1914 Serbian terrorist assassinated Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand –heir to throne

• July 1914 Austrian government declares war against Serbia and invades

• August 1914 (1st) German government declares war against Russia (3rd)Germany declares war against France then begins invasion of Belgium

• August 4th Great Britain an ally of France declares war against Germany

U.S. Neutrality?• Wilson will issues a proclamation

of American neutrality- America will continue trade with both sides

• British mine the North Sea – Interfered with American trade with Germany

• Germany’s response – Germany also interfered with

American trade with Great Britain– The Submarine – warned that ships

attempting to enter the “war zone” risked being sunk on sight

Challenging American Neutrality• Torpedoing and sinking of

British passenger liner, Lusitania May, 1915

• 128 Americans died • Wilson warned Germany of a

“strict accountability”• August 1915- submarine

attack on Arabic- two more Americans died

• March 1916 – Sussex a merchant ship was attacked injuring several Americans – Germany backed down – Sussex Pledge

Economic Ties to Allies

• Economy in the U.S. rebounded after the outbreak of war – Great Britain and France in need of war supplies

• U.S. policy was one sided• J.P. Morgan and other bankers extended credit of

over $3 billion in secured credit to Great Britain and France

Decision for War

Unrestricted submarine warfare-Germany sank several American merchant ships – hoping to cut off supplies and win before U.S. entered war

Zimmerman Telegram- Germany made Mexico secret offer

Russian Revolution- over throw of Tsar – bothered Wilson that Russia had a autocratic ruler

Zimmerman

Mobilizing the Country

• Wilson created a number of war agencies staffed by volunteers:– Bernard Baruch, wall street broker, headed the War

Industries Board- set production priorities and established control over raw materials and prices

– Harry Garfield headed the Fuel Administration-closed nonessential factories and daylight savings time went into effect

– William Howard Taft arbitrate disputes between workers and employees as head of National War Labor Board.

Rally around the Flag

• 1917, Wilson created the Committee on Public Information – George Creel

• Four-Minute Men toured the country giving stump speeches – celebrate successes

• Film industry cranked out short films about home front heroes

Liberty Bonds

• Americans were encouraged to support the war

• Movie stars of the era such as Charlie Chapin made speeches extolling the virtues of Liberty Bonds

Over There – Popular WWI Song

• In 1917, George M Cohan composed his greatest hit song. America had just entered the war. The story goes that Cohan (pictured left) was travelling by train from New Rochelle into New York, when the headlines in the papers being read by everyone on the train gave him inspiration:

•  "I read those war headlines, and I got to thinking and humming to myself, and for a minute, I thought I was going to dance. I was all finished with both the chorus and the verse by the time I got to town, and I also had a title." 

Regulation of food

• Poor harvests in 1916-1917 made it necessary to regulate food production and consumption for the war effort

• Lever Food and Fuel Control Act- gave government control- headed by Herbert Hoover- increase production decrease consumption

• “Wheatless Mondays” and “Meatless Tuesdays”

• Citizens were encouraged to plant “victory gardens”

The Home Front

• Government used both patriotic propaganda and intimidation to ensure public support

• War hysteria and patriotic enthusiasm provided nativist groups to take prejudices on disloyal minorities

• “Hate the Hun” – attacked all things German

• Liberty Leagues – report suspicious actions by anyone to local authorities

• Newspapers were asked only to print articles that would be helpful to the war effort

• 1917 Espionage Act – illegal to obstruct the draft process in any way and material sent through mail was seized

• 1918 Sedition Act – illegal to criticize the government, the Constitution, the U.S. Army or Navy

Armed Forces

• Selected Service Act (1917) – required all men between the ages of 21 and 30 (later between 18 and 45) to register with the government for possible induction

• African Americans – racial segregation applied to army – 400,000 African Americans served in WWI W.E.B. DuBois hoped that by serving in the military African Americans were earn equal rights at home when the war ended

Women’s Role in WWI

• 30,000 enlisted in the military to aid in the war effort – while their role was not front line combat they served as support staff

Effects on American Society• More jobs for women – as men

left for the armed services women filled their jobs – their contributions to the war effort convinced Wilson to and Congress to support the 19th Amendment

• Migration of Mexicans - job opportunities caused thousands of Mexicans to cross the border and work in agriculture

• African Americans and the “Great Migration” – many thousands of African Americans moved north into cities to work in factories

Fighting the War

• Trench warfare• Machine gun fire• Poison gas attacks

Treaty of Versailles• The Big Four

– Did not share Wilson’s idea of a peace without victory

– Terms of Peace Treaty• Germany would disarm, loose

colonies, admit guilt for war, accept French occupation of Rhineland, and pay huge sums of reparations to Great Britain and France

• New nations were established from Germany’s territories

• Signers of treaty would join a international peacekeeping organization, the League of Nations

Treaty and the U.S.

• Republicans had huge reservations about the treaty– “Irreconcilables” opposed membership of in the League of

Nations under any circumstances– “Reservationists” wanted restrictions on American membership

in the League– Henry Cabot Lodge (reservationist)stated he would agree to

passage of the treaty with certain reservations, but Wilson rejected the reservations

– Senators felt the U.S. should pursue an isolationists policy after the war.

– The League of Nations was never the organization it could have been without American involvement – eventually led to WWII