Chapter 7- World War I
Lesson 1- War in Europe
Troubles in Europe

• Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated on June 28, 1914
  • Heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary
  • Led to World War I

 
A Rise in Nationalism

• Nationalism- a feeling of intense loyalty to a country or group
  • Encouraged newly united nations to show their power (Italy and Germany)
  • Also inspired groups of people break away from existing nations
    • Ethnic groups demanded independent nations of their own

 
Competing for Empires

• European nations competed for colonies in Asia and Africa
  • Britain and France wanted to expand empires
  • Germany, Italy, and Russia wanted to build colonial empires
  • Led to conflict

 
Military Buildup

• Militarism- celebration of military ideals, and a rapid buildup of military power
• European nations strengthened their armies and navies
  • Germany, France, and Russia developed huge armies
• Great Britain and Germany built large navies

 
A Network of Alliances

• Alliance system- a system in which countries agree to defend each other
• Two major alliances by 1914
  • Triple Alliance- Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy
  • Triple Entente- Great Britain, France, and Russia
  • Meant to keep peace by creating a balance of power (an equality of power among different countries that discourages any group from acting aggressively)
• A small dispute could lead to a larger war
• Balkans had many nationalist and ethnic rivalries
  • Slavic nationalists wanted to unite all the Slavic peoples in the region
• Austria-Hungary vs. Serbia
  • Slavic people wanted independence from Austria-Hungary
    • Serbia supported the Slavs

 
Assassination and War

• Franz Ferdinand assassinated by Gavrilo Princip
  • Princip was a member of a Serbian nationalist group (the Black Hand)
• Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the assassination
  • Made demands on Serbia that were rejected
  • Declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914
• Alliances spread the war
  • Russia supported Serbia
  • Germany supported Austria-Hungary and declared war on Russia and France
  • Germany invaded Belgium
    • Great Britain declared war on Germany to protect Belgium

 
A World War Begins

• Allied Powers (Great Britain, France, and Russia) against Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire)
  • Japan joined the Allies
  • Italy joined the Allies in 1915

 
The Western Front

• Germany invaded Belgium to get to France
• Germany wanted to defeat France and then move troops east against Russia
  • Belgians fought the Germans and gave France and Britain time to react
  • Germany defeated the Belgians and got to within 15 miles of Paris
  • Stopped by the British and the French in the Battle of the Marne
• Stalemate (a situation in a conflict in which neither side can make progress against the other) for the next three years
• Fighting in trenches
  • “No man’s land” in between with craters and barbed wire
• Battle of Verdun was a German offensive
  • Fighting from February-December 1916
  • More than 750,000 French and German soldiers died
• Battle of the Somme was a British and French offensive
  • Extremely high casualties
• Neither offensive was successful

 
New Weapons on the Battlefield

• New and more deadly weapons
  • Improved artillery fired larger shells greater distances
  • More accurate rifles
  • Poison gas first used by the Germans in 1915, later used by the Allies
    • Gas masks became necessary
  • Tanks
  • Airplanes used to watch troop movements and for bombing
  • Zeppelins (German blimps) bombed Allied cities

 
On the Seas

• Great Britain blockaded ports under German control
  • Germans lacked food and other supplies
• Germans used U-boats (submarines)
  • Sank ships carrying supplies to Great Britain
  • Eventually brought the US into the war

 
Lesson 2- America’s Road to War
American Neutrality

• Woodrow Wilson and most Americans wanted to remain neutral
• Many immigrants and their children wanted the US to take a side
  • Germans, Austrians, and Irish Americans favored the Central Powers
• More Americans favored the Allies
  • Common language, customs, and traditions with the British

 
Propaganda and Public Opinion

• Propaganda (information used to influence opinion) used by both sides to gain the support of Americans
  • Allied propaganda was more effective

 
The United States and the War

• US traded more with the Allies
• Britain’s blockade of Germany made trade with Germany difficult
  • British ships seized goods from American ships headed for German ports
• Britain and France borrowed billions of dollars from American banks
  • Led to an economic boom in the US
  • Angered the Germans

 
Submarines Take Their Toll

• Germany said it would sink any American vessels that entered or left British ports
• German U-boat sank the British ship Lusitania on May 7, 1915
  • More than 1,000 people died, including 128 Americans
• German U-boat attacked the French ship Sussex
  • Several Americans injured
  • Sussex Pledge- Germany would warn neutral ships and passenger vessels before attacking

 
The End of Neutrality

• US doubled the size of the army and built new warships
• Antiwar sentiment was strong
  • Wilson campaigned for reelection in 1916 on keeping the US out of war
    • Wilson defeated Charles Evans Hughes

 
The United States at the Brink of War

• Germany announced it would sink on sight all merchant vessels sailing to Allied ports in January 1917
  • Germany believed it could defeat the Allies before the US got heavily involved
• Zimmermann telegram intercepted by the British government
  • Sent by Germany to Mexico
    • Offered a German alliance with Mexico if the US entered the war
• Russian people overthrew the monarchy (headed by the czar)
• Russia set up a temporary government promising free elections
  • War became democracy against autocracy (a government in which one person with unlimited power rules)
• Germans sank four American ships in March 1917

 
The United States Enters the War

• Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war on April 2, 1917
• US declared war on April 6, 1917
• Selective Service Act passed on  May 18
  • Set up a military draft
  • 24 million men registered for the draft
    • 3 million called to serve, 2 million joined voluntarily
• Women allowed to enlist in the armed forces for the first time
  • Noncombat roles- radio operators, clerks, and nurses
• More than 300,000 African Americans joined the army and navy
  • Faced discrimination, but many served with honor

 
Lesson 3- Americans Join the Allies
Supplying the Allies

• British started to run out of supplies and food
• German submarines sank 25% of ships that left British ports
  • US Navy helped the British destroy and protect against German submarines
  • Convoys (groups of ships that escort and protect other ships) of navy ships used to protect merchant ships

 
The Russians Quit the War

• Czar Nicholas II gave up his throne in March 1917
  • Russia’s new government supported the war, but couldn’t solve food shortages
• Bolsheviks (communists) overthrew Russia’s new government in March 1917
  • Led by Vladimir Lenin
  • Wanted to pull Russia out of the war
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed in March 1918
  • Surrendered a large amount of territory to the Germans
• Germany moved thousands of troops to the Western Front near the French-German border

 
Germany Makes a Final Push

• Germany wanted to capture Amiens and then go to Paris
  • Got to within 40 miles of Paris
• Looked like Germany might win the war

 
The Americans Join the Battle

• General John J. Pershing became the supreme commander of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in Europe in May 1917
  • AEF ready for battle by the spring of 1918
  • French and British wanted to use American soldiers to build up their troops
    • Pershing wanted to keep the AEF a separate force and refused

 
Doughboys in Battle

• American soldiers nicknamed “doughboys”
• First serious fighting in June 1918
  • Helped stop German forces at Chateau-Thierry
• Fought the Germans in the forest at Belleau Wood
• American and French forces fought the Germans along the Marne and the Somme Rivers
  • Stopped the German offensive that had come close to ending the war

 
Fighting in the Argonne Forest

• Americans defeated the Germans at Saint-Mihiel in September
• Americans joined the Allies in the Battle of the Argonne Forest
  • Biggest attack in American history
  • Lasted nearly seven weeks
  • Allies won by early November

 
The End of the War

• Ottoman Empire on the brink of collapse in late 1918
• Austria-Hungary broke apart
• Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire surrendered by early November

 
Germany Seeks an Armistice

• German hopes of winning the war were gone
• Severe shortages of food and other supplies in Germany
• Germany asked Wilson for an armistice on October 4, 1918
  • Wilson wanted certain conditions
    • Germany must accept his plan for peace and promise not to renew fighting
    • German troops must leave Belgium and France
    • Nonmilitary government leaders for Germany
• The German kaiser (emperor) stepped down on November 9
  • Germany became a republic
  • New leaders agreed to Wilson’s terms

 
Peace Returns

• Armistice on November 11, 1918
  • Germany agreed to withdraw all land forces west of the Rhine River and its fleet to the Baltic Sea

 
Lesson 4- The War at Home
Mobilizing the Nation

• Mobilization- the gathering of resources and troops in preparation for war
  • Affected almost every part of American life
• National War Labor Board created in April 1918 to ensure production of war materials
  • Pressured businesses for an eight-hour workday, overtime pay, equal pay for women, and the right to form unions
    • Workers agreed not to go on strike in return

 
Meeting the Need for Workers

• Government raised taxes and borrowed money by selling war bonds
• Industries expanded production to make war materials
• Millions of men left jobs to serve in the armed forces and immigration slowed
  • Many women joined the workforce for the first time
• African Americans moved to Northern cities and Mexicans migrated to the US to look for jobs

 
Supplying the War Effort

• US had to produce food for itself and the Allies
  • Wilson appointed Herbert Hoover to head a new Food Administration
    • Encouraged farmers to raise more and the public to eat less
    • Encouraged rationing (the limitation of use)
• War Industries Board supervised industry
  • Converted factories to the production of war-related goods
  • Set prices for key consumer products
• Fuel Administration- managed the nation’s coal and oil
  • Daylight saving time to save fuel
  • “Heatless Mondays”

 
Building Public Support

• Antiwar sentiment remained strong
• Wilson appointed George Creel to head the Committee on Public Information
  • Promoted the war as a battle for democracy and freedom
    • Distributed pro-war pamphlets, articles, and books
    • Hired speakers, writers, artists, and actors to build support for the war

 
Public Opinion and the War

• War boosted the economy
• Government silenced opposition
• Some Americans became intolerant of those who were different
• Opposition to the war:
  • German and Irish Americans sympathized with the Central Powers
  • Socialists (people who believed industries should be publicly owned) believed the war would only help rich business owners and hurt working people
  • Pacifists- people who are opposed to the use of violence
• Committee on Public Information tried to silence dissent (disagreement or opposition)
  • Questioned the patriotism of people against the war
• Espionage Act of 1917- stiff penalties for spying, aiding the enemy, or interfering with army recruiting
• Sabotage Act (1918)- penalized anyone who damaged or destroyed war supplies, property, or transport
• Sedition Act (1918)- made it a crime to say, print, or write anything negative about the government
  • Challenged, but upheld by the Supreme Court

 
Lesson 5- Searching for Peace
Making a Peace

• World leaders from 27 nations met in Paris in January 1919
  • Woodrow Wilson led the American delegation
• Much of Europe had been destroyed
  • Millions dead and injured
• Civil war in Russia
• Poles, Czechs, and others struggled to form nations
• Worldwide influenza epidemic

 
The Fourteen Points

• Fourteen Points were Wilson’s peace plan
  • Adjustments of boundaries in Europe and creation of new nations
  • National self-determination- the right of the people to decide how they should be governed
  • Free trade
  • Freedom of the seas
  • End to secret treaties or agreements
  • Limits on arms
  • Peaceful settlement of disputes over colonies

 
Wilson Proposes a League of Nations

• Part of the Fourteen Points
• Members would help preserve peace and prevent future wars
• Wilson’s ideas welcomed by Europeans at first
  • Problems when nations put their own interests first
• Some of Wilson’s points lacked clarity
  • How to achieve self-determination in regions where different cultural groups lived close together

 
Allies Offer Little Support

• Allies didn’t invite Germany or Russia
• Big Four:
  • Wilson
  • Prime Minister David Lloyd George (Britain)
  • Premier Georges Clemenceau (France)
  • Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando (Italy)
• Little support for the Fourteen Points
• Everybody except for Wilson wanted revenge
  • Clemenceau wanted Germany broken into smaller countries
  • Clemenceau and Lloyd George wanted Germany to pay large reparations (payments for damages caused during a war)
  • Wilson often gave in to other Allies

 
The Treaty of Versailles

• Treaty signed by the Allies and Germany on June 28, 1919
  • Germany accepted full responsibility for the war and had to pay billions of dollars in reparations
  • Germany had to disarm completely and give up overseas colonies and some territory in Europe
  • Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires broken up and new nations created and old nations restored
    • Borders disputed
  • League of Nations created

 
Opposition at Home

• Some Americans thought the treaty was too harsh on Germany
  • Many worried about being in the League of Nations
• Republicans controlled the Senate and many opposed the treaty

 
Lodge Opposes Wilson

• Henry Cabot Lodge headed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
  • Delayed a vote on the treaty
  • Proposed reservations to limit US obligations under the treaty
• Wilson toured the country to rally support for the treaty and the League of Nations
  • Had a stroke

 
The Senate Rejects the Treaty

• Senate voted on the treaty with Lodge’s changes in March 1920
  • Treaty rejected by the Senate
• US signed a separate treaty with each of the Central Powers in 1921
  • Never joined the League of Nations