HIST+383+Prep+S18


 * WORLD WAR I:**

Video: The Great War (8:21) []

Video: Over There (7:58) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijEiwsmlLvg&sns=em

FirstWorldWar.com http://www.firstworldwar.com/index.htm


 * War Beginnings**

1. Large armies (web of alliances) dominated European continent

[See section below: War Lineup]

2. In Sarajevo, Archduke Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated.

3. America's initial reaction: Wilson urged "impartiality in thought and action

4. America not sure whom to root for: we had immigrants from many places


 * War Lineup:**

European Alliances and battlefronts http://wps.ablongman.com/wps/media/objects/1483/1518969/DIVI510.jpg


 * Allies**: Britain, France, Russia, Japan, and Italy


 * Central Powers**: Germany, Austria–Hungary, Turkey

Initially, the United States attempted to remain neutral


 * American financial assistance to the Allies**

1. England and France bought huge amounts of arms, grain, and clothing

2. American bankers helped finance purchases:

3. Loans to Allies exceeded $2 billion; Loans to Germany: only $27 million

4. U.S. was not exactly neutral


 * German submarine (U-boat) warfare**

1. A real threat to freedom of the seas came from German submarines

2. (Feb 1915) Germans declared the waters around British Isles a war zone Threatened to sink any ship there

3. (May 1915) Germans sank passenger liner Lusitania

Among 1,198 dead were 128 Americans

PR impact: comparable to Maine in Havana harbor

But this time, America just protested through diplomatic notes.

4. Major German miscalculation

(1 Feb 1917). Germans decided on unrestricted submarine warfare

Germany hoped to defeat Allies before American troops reached Europe


 * Zimmermann telegram** (25 Feb 1917)

1. Germany asked Mexico to be their ally—and perhaps even invade a part of the U.S.—if U.S. entered the war against Germany.

2. In return, Germany would help Mexico get back territory U.S. received from the Treaty of Guadalupe (1848) ending the Mexican War.


 * President Woodrow Wilson's War Message (2 April 1917)**

Video: Woodrow Wilson decision to declare war (1:12) http://youtu.be/H8gWDhxFTPo

1. Wilson wanted to make the world "safe for democracy."

Idealism, progressivism, "city on a hill"

2. America: a special sense of mission—to reform world politics

3. Wilson believed taking part in the war necessary to guarantee U.S. a seat—and an insider's voice—at the peace table.


 * Mobilizing and Managing the home front**

Mobilization of the nation for war altered American life

War cost $32 billion—U.S. yearly budget only $1 billion

Centralized planning boards: New Deal and World War II precedents

(1) **War Industries Board**

Key name: Bernard Baruch

Coordinated the national economy

(2) **Food Administration**

Key name: Herbert Hoover

a. Victory gardens

b. Meatless and wheatless days

(3) **Fuel Administration**

a. Daylight savings time

b. Gasless days

(4) **Committee on Public Opinion**

Key name: George Creel Propaganda agency to get America behind the war effort

75,000 four-minute speakers Four-Minute Men: Volunteer Speeches during World War One

Anti-German sentiment became pronounced in U.S. Schools stopped teaching the German language Sauerkraut became "liberty cabbage" Saloons removed pretzels German composers were not played


 * Espionage and Sedition Acts**:

Stopped people from speaking out Compare to Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 Espionage Act (1917)—limited First Amendment rights Sedition Acts (1918)—further limited free speech


 * WORLD WAR I: AMERICAN ROLE**


 * American Expeditionary Force** (AEF)


 * Over There**

1. Name given to the American armies in France

2. Commanded by General John "Black Jack" Pershing

3. U.S. came in on the side of the Allies: Britain and France


 * A soldier's life in the trenches**

The WWI trench system stretched 300 miles, from the English Channel to Switzerland.

First World War.com -Life in the Trenches []

Video: Life in a Trench https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G4ZY66BG38&sns=em


 * Major battles** (all in 1918) **involving** **Americans:**

Map of the US participation http://wps.ablongman.com/wps/media/objects/1483/1518969/DIVI512.jpg

1. Arrival of U.S. forces was just in time

2. As a result of Bolshevik Revolution, Russia had gotten out of the war

Germans could shift their troops from Russia to France

Germans launched a major offensive in March 1918 on the Western front in France

3. Americans fought at

Belleau Wood Chateau-Thierry Marne Saint Mihiel Meuse-Argonne

4. By November 1918, Germany was retreating all along the front

Fighting ceased on 11 November 1918: our current Veterans' Day


 * US Casualties**

American dead totaled 118,000

Total dead= 9 million


 * PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE (VERSAILLES)**

1. British and French demanded harsh approach to defeated Germany 2. Wanted defeated Germany disarmed 3. Wanted Germany's colonies: Africa, Asia 4. Wanted monetary payback (reparations) of Allied war costs 5. Hoped reparations would cripple Germany forever ($33 billion) 6. Severity of reparations a main cause of World War II

Map: New and reconstituted nations after the Versailles Treaty http://wps.ablongman.com/wps/media/objects/1483/1518969/DIVI520.jpg


 * Wilson's program (Fourteen Points)**

World peace based on American principles. Highly idealistic.

Some of his 14 points were as follows:

Open diplomacy Freedom of the seas Removal of trade barriers Reduction of armaments Impartial adjustment of colonial claims Evacuation of occupied lands National self-determination


 * League of Nations**

League of Nations the most important point to Wilson To police the world: forerunner of United Nations Article 10: required major power intervention against aggressors U.S. unwilling to commit to such potential intervention abroad


 * U.S. Senate rejection of the peace treaty**

1. Senate has to approve any treaty by 2/3 vote

Wilson was a Democrat Senate had 96 members: 49 Republicans, 47 Democrats Close party balance as in 2001 Most Republicans opposed the treaty as written

2. Wilson stubbornly refused to work with his Republican opponents Took his case to the American people: tiring speaking tour Wilson suffered a stroke

3. Senate rejected the peace treaty

4. America did not join the League of Nations


 * U.S. Post-World War I Foreign Policy**

1. Major foreign policy debate 2. Collective security versus unilateralism 3. Most Americans preferred historical tradition of nonalignment 4. Willing to act unilaterally in world to achieve national interests 5. Reluctant to take on binding commitments to collective action

A 100-year legacy of World War I [use this wonderful interactive] http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/06/27/world/legacy-of-world-war-i.html