World War I1914-1920

Brainstorm

Indirect Causes of the War- MAIN

Militarism- the belief that conflicts can best be resolved with a show of force; building up a country’s military

Alliances- systems of often intricate, often secret agreements between countries

Imperialism- worldwide attempts to gain territory and power

Nationalism- intense patriotism and love for one’s country

Direct Cause of WWI(The “Spark”) Austria-Hungary

annexed the small country of Bosnia. Nationalists in Bosnia’s sister country, Serbia, were not happy about this.

Bosnia

Assassination!When Austrian Archduke Franz

Ferdinand made a diplomatic trip to Bosnia, a Serbian

nationalist assassinated him.

This is “the event” that officially

started the war.

It’s on… War is declared on

July 28, 1914 Austria- Hungary

declares war on Serbia

Russia pledges their allegiance and support to Serbia.

Because of the Triple Entente/Allies, France and England get involved too to support Serbia.

On the other hand, Germany and the Ottoman Empire pledged their support to Austria- Hungary in the Central Powers alliance.

One-by-one, countries around the world entered the war.

In this corner…Triple Entente (Allies) Russia France Britain Later on, Italy and US

would join

Central Powers (Axis) Ottoman Empire (AKA

Turkey) Austria-Hungary Germany

America Enters the War

What about us? The official US policy from 1914 to 1917 was

neutrality (not choosing a side) The US conducted trade on both sides International law demands that warring countries

leave neutral countries (and their merchant ships alone)…

While we officially didn’t get involved, we sided with the Allies. Why?

They were similar to us- in language and culture. We were trading partners and France had helped us gain our independence

Cause #1 for American Involvement- Lusitania In May 1915, the RMS Lusitania, an

English luxury passenger liner, was sunk by a German submarine during a voyage from New York to England.

Sinking the Lusitania Germany believed the

Lusitania to be carrying weapons and had warned all passengers that the ship would be targeted.

Germany was asked to apologize and promise not to do it again.

Germany apologized, but did not promise.

Sinking of the Sussex In March 1916, the

Sussex, a French ferry boat, was also accidentally sunk by a German torpedo. Germany apologized and promised not to sink passenger ships again.

This was called “The Sussex Pledge.”

Cause #2 for American Involvement- Sub Warfare In 1917, Germany

broke the Sussex Pledge and

announced intentions to resume unrestricted submarine warfare without regard to the right of neutral countries.

Cause #3 for American Involvement- Zimmermann Germany sent a

secret telegram to Mexico (the Zimmermann telegram or Zimmermann Note) inviting Mexico into an alliance should the U.S. enter the war.

Declaration of War On April 2, 1917, President Wilson asked

Congress for a Declaration of War. Wilson said war was necessary to protect

the right of neutral countries to trade freely upon the seas and that “The world must be made safe for democracy.”

The American Homefront

American Homefront After 3 years of neutrality, the US

had to quickly prepare for the war The economy shifted from

peacetime to wartime production. The government determined what

crops farmers grew, that products to make, and how supplies were distributed based on demand

Effort by workers to limit strikes- why?

The Draft The government passed the

Selective Service Act which required all men age 18 to 45 to sign up for military service (conscription or “the draft”)

**Selective Service allows the government to raise an army quickly.** 2.8 million Americans were drafted Over 4 million Americans would

serve in WWI

He’s in the Army NOW! Since men went to

fight AND Immigration dropped during the war

We needed workers- 500,000 women 400,000 African

Americans 240,000 Mexican

Americans

We All Need to Do Our Part They did more than just work…

women and children… Collected scarce resources

(food, tin, paper, etc.) Grew victory gardens which

helped conserve food at home Knitted socks and sweaters Had meatless days Hoover started Wheatless

Mondays, Meatless Tuesdays, Wheatless Wednesdays, Porkless Thursdays and Saturdays

Hoover Future president

Herbert Hoover was head of the Food Administration

Wanted farmers to increase production to meet the high demand

He also wanted Americans to conserve food

Industry The War Industries Board

was created to regulate the supply of raw materials to manufacturers and the delivery of finished products to appropriate places.

EX: Textiles were used for uniforms, not party dresses; Steel was used for tanks, not corsets.

Propa-what? The Committee on

Public Information, headed by George Creel, issued propaganda to support all of these things and to rouse a “belligerent patriotism” in Americans.

The Committee did this through… Speeches Renaming anything

that had a German name (Sauerkraut- “Liberty Cabbage”)

Colorful posters w/ catchy slogans

Propaganda Posters and

slogans used every possible angle to appeal to and urge Americans to do everything from conserve resources to enlist.

Poster Analysis1. What are the main colors in the poster?2. What symbols (if any) are used in the

poster?3. Who do you think is the intended

audience?4. What does the Government hope the

audience will do?5. How effective do you think this poster is?

Why?

Propaganda

Propaganda

Propaganda Americans were

especially urged to loan money to the government to finance the war by purchasing bonds.

Money Money Money Money War is expensive! Americans bought

$20 billion worth of war bonds.

Civilians bought them from the government then could cash them in years later for more money.

Battling Other Things The American

military waged a half-hearted war on rampant venereal disease.

PropagandaSlogans were countless:

“A woman’s place is in the war.”

“Every scout to feed a soldier.”

“Fuel will win the war.”The government urged “heatless

Mondays,” “meatless Tuesdays” and “lightless nights.”

Bell Ringer What is propaganda? How was it used during WWI? (Give me at

least two examples)

Shhh… Two acts were passed in 1917 and 1918 to

protect Americans during the war Espionage Act and Sedition Act

Purpose of the Acts: If anyone was protesting or speaking out

against the war, they could be fined or go to prison. See any amendments this may break?

Schenck vs. United States Declared the Espionage Act legal and that free speech

could be limited, especially in wartime, when it created a “clear and present danger” to the nation.

Trouble Maker!

Eugene V. Debs speaking out at an Anti-War Rally. He was imprisoned. This is where he ran for president from his jail cell.

On another note…Russia Withdraws from the War Russians were having internal issues

(Bolshevik Revolution). Lenin overthrew the Czar in Russia and

wanted to get Russia out of WWI. They created their own peace treaty with

Germany. Basically Russia was fighting their own

Civil War and couldn’t fight in the World War

Commies Communism is when the government controls

everything in the country There should be common ownership over all

property. Basically, it is the exact opposite of our nation

and economy We are capitalism= freedom, choice Communism= limitations, orders

VS.

Story Time An economics professor at Texas Tech said he had never failed a single student

before but had, once, failed an entire class. The majority of the class had insisted that socialism was a better system as no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said ok, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism.

All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. After the first test the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. But, as the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too; so they studied little. The second Test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame, name calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for anyone else.

All failed to their great surprise and the professor told them that socialism would ultimately fail because the harder you try to succeed the greater the reward but when a government takes all the reward away; no one will try or succeed.

Fighting and New Technology

New Technology New technology helped improve war-time

weapons. With those improvements, weapons were more efficient than ever at being killing machines.

New Weapons U-boats (undersea

boat), Submarines Automatic machine

guns Mortar Weapons Poison gas (tear,

mustard) Airplanes “Iron Caterpillars”-

Tanks

Mustard and Chlorine Mustard and Chlori

ne Gas

Tanks Tanks

Dog Fights

Fighting between aircraft, dog fights were able to happen because of the development of machine guns

Baron Manfred von Richthofen- German flying ace

Snoopy and the Red Baron

Trench Warfare War was fought on

several “fronts” (front lines – places where the fighting actually occurred).

Some of these stagnated into “trench warfare.”

Trench warfare was particularly ugly. The men lived in trenches for two weeks (or more) at a time. Soldiers had little or no protection from the weather or the weapons of the enemy.

http://www.history.com/photos/world-war-i-trench-warfare/photo11

This little piggy…

Peace Terms and Impact

Hoo-hoo! American soldiers earned

the nickname “Doughboys” when they went to fight in Europe because they were young, inexperienced, and determined.

They pushed the Germans back- couldn’t keep up. They helped the Allies win the war!

Surrender- Armistice Day WWI began July, 1914. The U. S. entered the

war in April, 1917. The war officially ended

on November 11, 1918 (Germany surrendered to the Allies)

**The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.**

Death Toll Overall, 8.5

million soldiers died while 13 million civilians died many from starvation and disease.

Germany lost the most soldiers (1.75 million) while the US lost the fewest (maybe 200,000?)

14 Points Germany surrendered believing the

idealistic 14 Point Plan drafted by President Wilson at the outset of the war was to form the basis for the terms of surrender.

Wilson wanted “Peace without victory”

14 Points Take the next few

minutes to read over Wilson’s 14 Points Plan.

Mark 3 that stand out to you.

You can work with a partner.

We’ll discuss as a class when everyone’s done.

Wilson’s plan to prevent another world war was called the 14 points

He wanted: Freedom of the seas Free trade End imperialism Redraw country borders

Most important = create a League of Nations to peacefully settle disputes and prevent another world war

Today, we have the United Nations

14 points

The Big Men on Campus The other Allied leaders (from Great

Britain, France and Italy) were in no mood for leniency. They only wanted to punish Germany.

GOAL The goal of the peace treaty was to avoid

another world war How should we do this? Allies met in Versailles, France to create

the Treaty of Versailles Many of Wilson’s 14 Points didn’t pass…

Peace Treaty They drafted the Treaty of Versailles as the formal

terms for ending the war… Results of the Treaty of Versailles:

1. Germany accepted full blame for the war2. Germany lost their colonies 3. Germanys military was limited4. Germany had to pay $33 billion in

reparations 5. Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire lost

their colonies 6. Czechoslovakia and Poland were created 7. League of Nations was created**

The Allies wanted Germany to pay for starting the war and for all the damage

War damage payments are called reparations

Originally it was $33 billion to the Allies

Today that would be $400 billion

FYI- Germany only finished paying the reparations in October 2010!

Revenge

Not So Fast! One of the only points

from Wilson’s plan agreed on in the Treaty was the creation of the League of Nations

Even though it was created by US, Congress decided not to join the League of Nations

The US was tired of fighting, we wanted to go back to a policy of isolationism, where we don’t get involved.

Opposition to the LON Henry Cabot Lodge,

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, disliked President Wilson and did not support the Treaty of Versailles or the creation of the League of Nations for personal reasons as well as political ones.

League of Nations The forerunner of the modern United

Nations, Wilson felt the League could arbitrate international disputes and create a structure for lasting world peace.

BUT… the major weakness of the League of Nations was that the US never agreed to join.

Impact of WWI

Problems in the Middle East started (or escalated) with the Treaty of Versailles

Empires were breaking up

Boundaries were being redrawn

Europeans grouped people together that shouldn’t have been

Iraq grouped 3 very different ethnic groups together and made them a colony of Britain

Same thing happened with Palestine and Lebanon

Hot Mess

And so on… Following the war, the US experienced an

economic boom, highlighted by the “Roaring Twenties”

However, the harshness of the Treaty of Versailles, the Great Depression, and the rise of militarism and imperialism in Europe and Asia guaranteed that peace wouldn’t be maintained for long

Predictions? How will this treaty affect Europe? What would have happened if the Allies

adopted the 14 points