Mr. A.A. Granado

Hialeah High School

United States HistoryWorld War I

A. Nationalism. This is a feeling of intense pride in one’s country and culture. It was very strong in Europe during this time.

B. Militarism. Virtually every country was increasing its military and was willing to use it to further their national welfare.

C. Entangling alliances. A system of alliances had been created that made the situation dangerous if a crisis broke out.

Imperialism and competition for colonies. All the European countries wanted colonies. As a result they came into conflict.

All that was needed for war was an incident, a spark.

There are four fundamental reasons why in 1914 World War I broke out in Europe. They are as follows:

The Spark that thouched off the greatest war in history.

In June of 1914, the

Austrian heir to the

throne, Archduke

Franz Ferdinand was

assassinated by a

Bosnian terrorist

organization called

“The Black Hand”

As a result Austria

wanted to punish

Serbia. War was

coming and virtually

all of the other

European countries

followed into the

darkness.

The AlliesRussiaFranceEnglandItaly (1915)Unites States (1917)

GermanyAustria-HungaryTurkey (Ottoman

Empire)

A system of alliances now took shape and the world was never the same.

The Central Powers

Below is a map of Europe in 1914. Germany was fighting a two front war.

The war became a stalemate. The life expentancy of a soldier in the open was very short. Weapons had developed that were deadly. Machine guns and artillery made the causualties horrific, trench warfare developed for sheer survival.

Other weapons made the war even more devastating. The airplane and the U-Boats made war in the air and in the ocean a terrible thing. Life expentancy was very short.

The introduction of new tactics also contributed to the rise in casualties. Poison gas was introduced to the Western Front in 1915. Young men on both sides died in the thousands

By 1915 the situation was grim for both the Allies and the Central powers.England used its

powerful navy to create a naval blockade of Germany and its allies.

German civilians were starving and the German war machine was in trouble. The Germans react by unleashing submarine warfare in order to cripple English shipping.

The English begin to use convoys to protect their merchant marine. A convoy was a gathering of ships that would travel together protected by warships such as destroyers and cruisers.

They tried to hunt down the silent killers, German U-Boats.

The use convoys were only somewhat effective . The German subs, attacking as wolf packs often were devastating and the losses for the English mounted as the war continued.

Submarines were supposed to follow what was called rules of engagement.The rules of

engagement stated that the subs were supposed to allow the enemy ships an opportunity to remove their crews from the ships before being sunk. This was very dangerous for the subs because they were vulnerable on the surface.

Another rule of war stated that there was not supposed to be any "contraband" carried on passanger ships. Contraband is war materials, such as weapons and ammunition, this was fair game for German subs, but ships carrying civilians was supposed to be off limits. In 1915, the British used a passanger liner to carry contraband, The name of this ship was the Lusitania.

The Germans warned Americans not to take board on this ship when it docked in New York. They declared that the ship would be attacked because it was carrying contraband. The English denied this and encouraged the civilians to risk the passage.

On May 7th, 1915 the Lusitania was sunk off the coast of Ireland. 128 Americans died.

The American public was outraged about the horrific act. But the United States did not go to war against Germany.

There was substantial pacifist feeling in America.

Almost one fourth of the American population was of German ancestry.

Wilson had promised to keep the United States out of the war.

Germany promised to end submarine warfare if England stopped its blockade of Germany.

At this point the United States is still isolationist. But public opinion was starting to shift. Wilson runs his persidential campaign on the platform that he "Kept us out of war". He wins.

French troops begin to mutineer.

In 1916 and 1917 things became very dire for the Allies.

The Bolsheviks take over Russia and are knocked out of the war

Germany saw an opportunity to win the war in 1918. The Germans figured

that they could win the war in the West as they had won in the East against the Russians.

They felt that they could knock the British out of the conflict by using unrestricted submarine warfare to destroy British shipping.

The danger was that this could bring the United States into the war, but the Germans thought that it was a good risk because the Americans could not mobilize fast enough to make a difference.

To make sure the Germans offered Mexico a deal.

The Zimmerman Note

This proposal by the

Germans stated that

in the event of war

between the United

States and

Germany, the

Mexicans were to

attack the United

States in exchange

for the return of the

territories

comprising the

states of Texas,

New Mexico and

Arizona.

Mexico said no!!!

Soon after this event in 1918 Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare. The Essex incident occurs.

Between February 3rd and March 21st of 1917 U-boats sank six American ships with great loss of life for the Americans.

On April 2nd President Woodrow Wilson addressed Congress and asked for a declaration of war against Germany.

America was at war.

The WIB, War Time Industry board coordinated the production of war materials.

The Food Administration Board was responsible for increasing food production and decreasing civilian consumption.

The Fuel Administration managed the use of coal and oil.

The National War Labor Board managed the needs of unions and Big Business.

The United States had to organize the economy. Several agencies came together to do this.

Propaganda makes a huge impact on public opinion. Both sides used it effectively.

This is a British poster created in 1915.

The most famous adds were meant to recruit young men to go and fight.

The United States copied this example.

The Committee for

Public Information

put out images like

the one of the left to

convince people to

create victory

gardens.

People would grow

their own vegetables

so that food could be

sent over to the

troops in Europe.

This was highly

successful.

Propaganda was used for virtually everything where people needed to be convinced.

Americans entered the war in a big way. Over two milion ended up in Europe. The nick name for American soldiers in World War I was "Doughboys".

Black troops at the Western Front.

Americans of all ethnicities participated in the war. Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, all did their part.

Native American Troops at the front.

The roles of

women

continued to be

restricted, but

most women that

served, did so as

clerical workers

and nurses.

A great many

women entered

the work force at

this time.

Women also joined the military.

The entry bof the United States into W.W.I tipped the scales in favor of the Allies. By November of 1918 the Germans were ready to quit. The Yanks had made the difference.

All Quiet on the Western Front.

November 11th 1918. An Armistice was signed.

Woodrow Wilson proposes the 14 points. He was extremely popular at that time.

A Flawed Peace

His main objective was the creation of the League of Nations, but not all agreed

Wilson takes his message to the American people.

In America Wilson was less popular. The Republicans were afraid that signing the Treaty of Versailles would draw the United States into another European War. The Treaty of Versailles was never signed by the U.S.The Democrats lose the

election. The U.S. Goes back to isolationism. Harding wins.

Woodrow Wilson died shorly thereafter. America respected him, but did not love him. Now Americans wanted a return to normalcy and the Roaring 20's had begun.