c h a p t e r 2 2 war & the american state 1914–1920

C H A P T E R 2 2War & the American State1914–1920

Section I:

The Great War 1914-1918

The Great War, 1914-1918 Background

• When war erupted – Most Americans saw no reason to involve

themselves in the struggle among Europe’s imperialist powers

– United States had a good relationship with both sides.

• Many Americans believed in “U.S. exceptionalism,” – = the feeling that democratic values &

institutions made their country immune from the corruption & chaos of other nations

War in Europe

• Preparations for war began almost from the moment the Triple Entente was formed in 1907 to counter the Triple Alliance

• Austria’s seizure of Bosnia & Herzegovina (1908) enraged Russia & Serbia – Serbian terrorists recruited Bosnians to

agitate against Austrian rule • On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian,

assassinated Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, & his wife in the town of Sarajevo

War in Europe

• After the assassination, the complex European alliance system drew all the major powers into war within a few days – The two rival blocs faced off:

•Great Britain, France, Japan, Russia, & Italy = Allied Powers

•Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, & Bulgaria = Central Powers

• The worldwide scope of the conflict came to be known as “the Great War,” or later, World War I.

War in Europe

• World War I was the first war in which extensive harm was done to civilians – New military technology, much of it from the

U.S., made armies more deadly than before • Trench warfare produced unprecedented

numbers of casualties – Between February & December of 1916, the

French suffered 550,000 casualties & the Germans 450,000

The Perils of Neutrality

• After the war began in Europe – President Woodrow Wilson made it clear

that U.S. would remain neutral – He believed that he could arbitrate &

influence a European settlement • The U.S. had divided loyalties concerning the

war – Many Americans felt deep cultural ties to

the Allies – Irish & German immigrants had strong pro-

German sentiments.


• Progressive leaders opposed American participation in the European conflict: – New pacifist groups mobilized popular

opposition – The political left condemned the war as

imperialistic – Some industrialists, like Henry Ford,

bankrolled antiwar activities • African American leaders saw the war as a

conflict of the white race only

Conflict on the High Seas

• The British imposed a naval blockade that in effect prevented neutral nations, including the U.S., from trading with Germany & its Allies

• This created a trade imbalance bringing the U.S. to closer economic ties with the Allies (despite America’s official posture of neutrality)

• The German navy launched a devastating new weapon, the U-boat – Issued a warning to civilians that all ships

flying the flags of Britain or its Allies were liable to be destroyed


• May 7, 1915: British ship Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland – 128 Americans were among the 1,198 people killed

• September 1915: Germany announced that its submarines would no longer attack passenger ships without warning

• Wilson worried that the U.S. might be drawn into the conflict – He endorsed a $1 billion buildup of the army & the

navy • Congress passed the National Defense Act

– Created the Council of National Defense=an agency responsible for planning industrial mobilization in the event of war

The Perils of Neutrality: Toward War

• Public opposition to entering the war made the election of 1916 a contest between two anti-war candidates – Wilson won the election but lost his hopes of

staying out of the war • Anti-German sentiment increases in the

U.S….WHY? – The resumption of unrestricted submarine

warfare – The Zimmermann telegram


• Throughout March 1917, German U-boats attacked & sank American ships without warning

• On April 2, Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war – United States formally declared war on

Germany on April 6, 1917

“Over There”: Conscription

• Many Americans assumed that their participation in the war would be limited to military & economic aid – Were surprised to find that American troops

would be sent to Europe • American government conscripted almost 4

million men & women with the passage of the Selective Service Act in May 1917

• The Selective Service system – Combined central direction from Washington

with local administration & civilian control– Preserved individual freedom & local

autonomy

“Over There”: Conscription

• General John J. Pershing = head of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) – New recruits had to be trained before being

transported across the submarine-infested Atlantic.

• The government countered the U-boats by sending armed convoys across the Atlantic– The plan worked: no American soldiers

were killed on the way to Europe.

“Over There”: The Western Front

• Pershing didn’t want to put his men under foreign commanders – Thus, until May 1918, the French & the

British still bore the brunt of the fighting. • Under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

– The new Bolshevik regime under Vladimir Ilych Lenin surrendered about 1/3 of Russia’s territories in return for peace with the Central Powers.


• At the request of Allied leaders, Pershing committed about 60,000 Americans to help the French repel the Germans in the battles of Château-Thierry & Belleau Wood.

• American & Allied forces brought the German offensive to a halt in mid-July; – The counteroffensive began with a

campaign to push the Germans back from the Marne River.


• The Meuse-Argonne campaign – Pushed the enemy back across the Selle

River near Verdun– Broke the German defenses– Cost over 26,000 American lives.

• German & Allied representatives signed an armistice on November 11, 1918, ending World War I.


• America’s decisive contribution shifted international power: – European dominance declinedUnited

States emerged as a world leader.

The American Fighting Force: Diversity and Racism in the Armed Forces

• The United States lost 48,000 American servicemen in the fighting, & another 27,000 died from other causes – The Allies & Central Powers lost 8 million

soldiers.• Ethnic diversity of the American military

worried some observers – Most optimistically predicted that service in

the armed forces would promote the Americanization of immigrants.

The American Fighting Force: Diversity and Racism in the Armed Forces• The Stanford-Binet intelligence test was used

by the armed forces – Reinforced stereotypes about the supposed

intellectual inferiority of blacks & immigrants

– Lower scores stemmed from the cultural & environmental biases of the tests.

The American Fighting Force: Diversity and Racism in the Armed Forces• The Americanization of the army was

imperfect at best – African Americans were in segregated units

under the control of white officers & were assigned to the most menial tasks.

– The French were more egalitarian, socializing with black troops & awarding hundreds of them the Croix de Guerre.

The American Fighting Force: Demobilization

• A group of former AEF soldiers formed the first American Legion in 1919 – Purpose = to preserve the “memories &

incidents” of their association in the Great War.

“Over There”

Over there, over there,Send the word, send the word

over there,That the Yanks are coming,

the Yanks are coming!The drums rum-tumming

everywhere.So prepare, say a prayer,Send the word, send the word

to beware,We'll be over, we're comimg

over,And we won't come back till

it's over over there.

Probably the most famous song of WW I. Cohan wrote this number after he had read in the newspaper that America had declared war on Germany. Cohan sold his rights to the song for $25,000. By the end of the war, "Over There" had sold over two million copies of sheet music and over a million records. Twenty-five years later Franklin Delano Roosevelt presented Cohan with the Congressional Medal of Honor "in belated recognition of his authorship of 'Over There' and 'You're a Grand Old Flag.'" "Over There" was interpolated in the motion pictures: The Cockeyed World (Fox, 1929), For Me and My Gal (MGM, 1942), Yankee Doodle Dandy (Warner, 1942). and Tin Pan Alley (20th Century-Fox, 1943).

“Over There”

• Over There• Johnnie, get your gun,Get your gun, get your gun,

Take it on the run,On the run, on the run.

Hear them calling, you and me,Every son of liberty.

Hurry right away,No delay, go today,

Make your daddy gladTo have had such a lad.

Tell your sweetheart not to pine,To be proud her boy's in line.

(chorus sung twice)

• Johnnie, get your gun,Get your gun, get your gun,

Johnnie show the HunWho's a son of a gun.

Hoist the flag and let her fly,Yankee Doodle do or die.

Pack your little kit,Show your grit, do your bit.

Yankee to the ranks,From the towns and the tanks.

Make your mother proud of you,And the old Red, White and Blue.

(chorus sung twice)

ChorusOver there, over there,

Send the word, send the word over there -That the Yanks are coming,

The Yanks are coming,The drums rum-tumming

Ev'rywhere.So prepare, say a pray'r,

Send the word, send the word to beware.We'll be over, we're coming over,

And we won't come back till it's overOver there.


Section II:

War on the Home Front

Mobilizing Industry & the Economy

• Before the War

• Paying for the War

• Wartime Economic Regulation

• The Food Administration and Volunteerism

• The Legacy of Economic Mobilization

Mobilizing American Workers

• Organized Labor• Black & Mexican American Workers• Women

Map 22.3 The Great Migration and Beyond (p. 650)

Wartime Opportunities (p. 651)

Wartime Reform: Woman Suffrage and Prohibition

• NAWSA• NWP• Other Reform

– War Risk Insurance Act (1917)

Promoting Nnational Unity

• CPI

•Chorus

Over there, over there,Send the word, send the word

over there -That the Yanks are coming,

The Yanks are coming,The drums rum-tumming

Ev'rywhere.So prepare, say a pray'r,

Send the word, send the word to beware.

We'll be over, we're coming over,

And we won't come back till it's over

Over there.

America and the War Effort (p. 636)

Map 22.1 European Alliances in 1914 (p. 638)

Map 22.2 U.S Participation on the Western Front, 1918 (p. 644)

“Remember Your First Thrill of American Liberty” (p. 649)

Map 22.4 Prohibition on the Eve of the Eighteenth Amendment, 1919 (p. 654)

Map 22.5 Europe after World War I (p. 659)


Section III:

An Unsettled Peace, 1919-1920

An Unsettled Peace: The Treaty of Versailles

• Where in the world is Woodrow Wilson?

• The Treaty of Versailles

– League of Nations– Negotiating the Treaty

• Fourteen Points

– Article X• “the war to end all

wars.”

An Unsettled Peace: The Treaty of Versailles

• Who attended the Paris Peace Conference?

– Big Four• It’s all Germany’s Fault!!!!

– Reparations• Wilson’s successes

An Unsettled Peace: The Battle for Ratification

• June 28, 1919• The US Senate• Defeat

– September 1919• Lasting legacy of the war

Racial Strife, Labor Unrest, and the Red Scare

• The World War has accentuated all our differences. It has not created those differences, but has revealed and emphasized them

• African Americans• Race Riots

– Chicago• Why so much unrest?


• 1919—A Year of Strikes

– Steelworkers in Seattle– Policemen in Boston

• Red Scare and the Palmer Raids

– Comintern• How real was a communist

threat?


• The Bombings• The Raids• The Deportations• The Presidency?• The Downfall


• Sacco-Vanzetti Case– Vanzetti’s last words.

If it had not been for these thing, I might have lived out my life among scorning men. I might have die, unmarked, unknown, a failure…Never in our full life can we hope to do such work for tolerance, for justice, for man’s understanding of man, as now we do by accident.

To sum up….

•With few casualties & no physical destruction at home, America emerged from the war stronger than ever—a major international power with exceptional industrial productivity.

c h a p t e r 2 2 war & the american state 1914–1920

Documents