WWI Notes 8-191917-1918

8. The Sussexa. Sussex was a cross-English Channel passenger ferry.

The Sussex became the focus of an international incident when she was severely damaged by a torpedo from a German U-Boat in 1916.

80 casualties (4 Americans)b. Wilson told Germany we will go to war if this does not stop.c. Germany agrees to stay away from passenger/merchant

ships.d. The outcome was considered a diplomatic victory for

Wilson.

9. Election of 1916

A. Bull moose party dies when TR walks away from it in 1916.

B. Republicans nominate Charles Evans Hughes.

C. Democrats: W. WilsonD. Wilson wins. His campaign focus was “He

kept us out of war”E. Speech: “There can be peace without victory”

10. The US enters the Great War.

A. German announced that they would use U-boats without limitations. (ex. Passenger ships)

B. German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann secretly proposed a German-Mexican alliance with the Zimmermann note.  News of the Zimmermann note leaked out to the public, infuriating Americans. 

C. On April 2, 1917, President Wilson asked for a declaration of war from Congress after 4 more unarmed merchant ships had been sunk.

D. War is declared for the US.

11. 5 Reasons Wilson Goes to War

• 1. Unrestricted U-Boat war• 2. Zimmerman note• 3. Russian Rev (I’ll explain)• 4. U.S could help end war quickly• 5. Moral reasons (civilian casualty rate)

12. Wilsonian Idealism • President Wilson persuaded the public for war

by declaring his twin goals of "a war to end war" and a crusade "to make the world safe for democracy."  He argued that America only fought to shape an international order in which democracy could flourish without fear of dictators and militarists.

• Wilson was able to get war to appeal to the American public.

13.Wilson's Fourteen Potent Points

• Wilson delivered his Fourteen Points Address to Congress on January 8, 1918. 

• The message, though intensely idealistic in tone and primarily a peace program, had certain very practical uses as an instrument for propaganda.  It was intended to reach the people and the liberal leaders of the Central Powers as a seductive appeal for peace, in which purpose it was successful.  It was hoped that the points would provide a framework for peace discussions. The message immediately gave Wilson the position of moral leadership of the Allies and furnished him with a tremendous diplomatic weapon as long as the war persisted.

14 points continued. • The first 5 points and their effects were:  • 1.        A proposal to abolish secret treaties pleased liberals of all

countries.• 2.        Freedom of the seas appealed to the Germans, as well as to

Americans who distrusted British sea power.• 3.        A removal of economic barriers among nations was

comforting to Germany, which feared postwar vengeance.• 4.        Reduction of armament burdens was gratifying to taxpayers.• 5.        An adjustment of colonial claims in the interests of both

native people and the colonizers was reassuring to the anti-imperialists.

• The largest achievement, #14, foreshadowed the League of Nations - an international organization that Wilson dreamed would provide a system of collective security.

14. Mobilizing for War

• The Committee on Public Information was created to rally public support of war.  It was headed by George Creel.  His job was to sell America on the war and sell the world on Wilsonian war aims.

• The Creel organization employed thousands of workers around the world to spread war propaganda.  The entire nation was as a result swept into war fever.

15. Restrictions on Civil Liberties• There were over 8 million German-Americans; rumors began to

spread of spying and sabotage.  As a result, a few German-Americans were tarred, feathered, and beaten.  A hysterical hatred of Germans and things related to Germany swept the nation.A. The Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 reflected fears about Germans and antiwar Americans.  Kingpin Socialist Eugene V. Debs and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) leader William D. Haywood were convicted under the Espionage Act. 

• At this time, nearly any criticism of the government could be censored and punished.  The Supreme Court upheld these laws in Schenck v. United States (1919); it argued that freedom of speech could be revoked when such speech posed a danger to the nation.

16.Mobilizing for War

• No one knew how much steel or explosive powder the country was capable of producing.  Fears of big government restricted efforts to coordinate the economy from Washington.  States' rights Democrats and businesspeople hated federal economic controls.

17. War Industries Board

• In 1918, Wilson appointed Bernard Baruch to head the War Industries Board in order to impose some order on the economic confusion.  The Board never really had much control and was disbanded after the end of the war.

18. Women • The National Woman's party, led by Alice Paul, protested

the war.• The larger part of the suffrage movement, represented by the

National American Woman Suffrage Association, supported Wilson's war.

• War mobilization gave momentum to the suffrage movement.  Impressed by women's war work, President Wilson supported women suffrage.  In 1920, The 19th Amendment was passed, giving all American women the right to vote.

• In the postwar decade, feminists continued to campaign for laws to protect women in the workplace and prohibit child labor.

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19. African Americans

• Thousands of African Americans in the south migrate north to work in war related factories.

• Race riots occur in 26 Northern cities