Do-Now With a partner, borrow a book

from under a desk to thoroughly (& quickly) define the 3 vocabulary terms provided on the WS.– Reparations– League of Nations– Treaty of Versailles (p671)

November 19th, 2008

Agenda• Do-Now / Check HW• Review – Test Preview• Notes on US involvement and the end of WWI

HomeworkRead :Chapter 19, Section 4Compose :3 questions which you might expect to see on the unit test

World War IThe US began an era of internationalist foreign policy

when it entered “the Great War” (WWI) in 1917.

Internationalism -Foreign policy based on heavy involvement in world affairs.

While American entry into WWI helped ensure Allied victory, the failure to conclude with a lasting peace left a bitter legacy.

WWI began in Europe in 1914Germany, Austria-Hungary, & the Ottoman Empire

(Central Powers) v.

(the Allies) Great Britain, France, & Russia

For 3 years the US remained neutral due to• strong isolationist attitudes • booming economy

– Most believed it was in the country’s best interest not to get involved in this European war, they were making money off of this war without military involvement

World War IDefine each of the following terms and explain

how each of these MAIN causes contributed to the “war to end all wars”:

Militarism

Alliances

Imperialism

Nationalism

American neutrality was put to the test in May 1915, when the German submarine U-20 sank the British luxury liner Lusitania, This boat carried 1200 passengers and a cargo of ammunition for British rifles. The German embassy had warned Americans that Allied vessels in the war zone were fair targets, but 128 Americans had disregarded the warning and met their deaths. President Wilson accused the Germans of brutality, demanded that they stop submarine warfare, and refused to ban American passengers from sailing on Allied vessels.

The US entrance to WWI resulted from : • German U-Boat warfare against the US shipping (example of militarism)

and because• US had cultural & historical ties to GB (example of alliances).

World War I• March 1916, the Sussex is

another torpedoed passenger vessel

• Germany finally agreed to apologize, to pay damages and also promises not to attack passenger vessels. – known as the “Sussex Pledge”

• Woodrow Wilson won the election of 1916 with the campaign slogan “He kept us out of war”

IRONIC, because• By 1917, Wilson asked Congress

to join the war in Europe even though most Americans did not support U.S. involvement.

U. S. troops embarked for France, 1917. Explain how, in the fall of that year, (after the Bolshevik Revolution) Russia made a separate peace with Germany, dissolving the eastern front of the war.

Wilson delivering his War Message

The final break with Germany came in the wake of two incidents:

First – Germans announced (early in 1917) that they would resume unrestricted submarine warfare.

At first, horrified that his policy of "strict accountability" seemed now to demand war, Wilson did nothing.

Second –

Then in February, the British revealed the contents of the "Zimmermann Telegraph"

It proposed a German-Mexican alliance under which Mexico would recover all the territory it had lost to the U.S. in the 1840s.

Wilson began arming merchant ships.On April 2, 1917, Wilson appeared before the Congress asking for a declaration of war against Germany.

Weapons of the Great War:– Tanks– Zeppelins– Flame throwers– Trench warfare– Poison gas– Dogfights– Machine guns– And many, many more

World War IBy the time the US troops arrived in substantial numbers (spring of 1918), GB and French units had endured > 3 years of devastating trench warfare.

Stalemate- British troops are shown on the front line in the Somme area.

The Battle of the Somme, in the summer and fall of 1916, achieved almost no changes in the positions of the German and Allied armies, but 420,000 British, 200,000 French, and 450,000 Germans lost their lives, and the area was almost totally destroyed.

“No Man’s Land”

World War I

“Even God has only ten!”In 1918 President Wilson issued the Fourteen Points. This was basically Wilson’s statement of plans for peace after World War I, including ideas to eliminate the causes of war.

The key ideas of the Fourteen Points included the principles of:

National self-determination - each national group should be in charge of its own destiny. For example, Polish people should live under a Polish government, if that was what they wanted.

Freedom of the seas - all nations’ ships would be able to sail in international waters without threat of attack by another country’s ships.

League of Nations - an organization of nations established at the end of World War I to maintain world stability and peace.

An honorable cause?

Woodrow Wilson declared the US wanted to

“make the world safe for democracy.”

America’s military resources, soldiers and war materials tipped the balance of WWI and led to Germany’s defeat in 1918.

Versailles Peace Conference

Led by a Council of Four nicknamed “The Big Four”

• American President, Woodrow Wilson• British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George• French Premier, George Clemenceau• Italian Prime Minister, Vittorio Orlando

4

World War ITreaty of Versailles-1. Ended WWI2. Recognized most of Wilson’s key principles, i.e.

– freedom of the seas – a League of Nations

3. Included a mandate system – this violated the idea of national

self-determination.

Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, a mandate is a region administered (overseen, governed) by another country until it was judged ready for independence. Sound familiar???

The Versailles Treaty divided the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) into mandates, lands to be supervised or governed by the Allies under the direction of the League of Nations.

France received Syria, and Britain received Palestine and Iraq.

The Treaty of Versailles also:

4. Provided for the punishment of Germany.– Went against the wishes of President Wilson, GB and FR insisted

that the treaty hold GER responsible for the war.

5. Also re-drew national boundaries in Europe– created many new nations including :

• Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, & Poland

In short, here’s the controversy:

The Treaty of Versailles recognized the principle of national self-determination in Europe, BUT not in the Middle East, Africa, or Asia!

World War IAfter President Wilson negotiated the Treaty of Versailles, he sent it to the US Senate for ratification (approval).

Under the Constitution, the President is the

nation’s chief diplomat with the sole power to

make treaties.

However…

A hitch in the treaty processHOWEVER…For treaties to become law, need Senate approval (2/3 vote) Republicans controlled the US Senate after the 1918, and they

questioned the wisdom of the Treaty of Versailles.

They particularly objected to having US foreign policy decisions made by an international organization like the League of Nations, rather than by American leaders.

After a long debate, the Senate failed to approve the Versailles Treaty.

This Senate rejection of the Treaty of Versailles after World War I demonstrated the historical influence of isolationism on American foreign policy.

Hoping to win support for the treaty by appealing directly to the people, Wilson set off on a cross-country speaking tour in the fall of 1919. At the end of the tour, however, he fell gravely ill from a stroke.

Isolated by his well-meaning family from political advisors, he nevertheless refused to give up the reins of power, and refused to compromise on the issue. When the Treaty, and with it the League, was brought to a vote, it was defeated. The U.S. technically remained at war with Germany until 1921, and did not join the League of Nations.

Wilson’s Legacy?

Something to think about…

• Had Wilson’s health lasted, and had his speaking campaign successfully rallied American support for a League of Nations, how might US History, as well as world history, have been altered?

World War I• At home the war led to a growth in intolerance.

German Americans were persecuted for their ancestry.

• The Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 imposed a prison sentence for any anti-war activities, including the speaking of any other language than English. These Acts were directed at Socialist and labor leaders.

• The Supreme Court ruled that the suppression of the Freedom of Speech in war time is constitutional because of a “clear and present danger”.

World War I

Just as women used their participation in the war effort to fight

for their rights, African Americans also hoped to use the war to

improve their status. Leaders like W. E. B. Du Bois and the NAACP

officials protested strongly when initial mobilization plans did not

include African Americans.

A unit of the Women's Defense League drills in its camp at Washington, D.C. Although some in the women's suffrage movement refused to support the war effort until women were granted the right to vote, other suffragists took a role in mobilizing women into the war effort and used women's support as an argument in favor of their enfranchisement.