war and society, 1914-1920 © 2003 wadsworth group all rights reserved. chapter 23

War and Society, 1914-1920

© 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved.

Chapter 23Chapter 23

Europe’s Descent into War

• First World War (1914-1918)• Archduke Franz Ferdinand• Triple Alliance• Triple Entente• All sides expect quick victory, all are

disappointed• Bloody trench warfare stalemate on

Western front

(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved

American Neutrality

• Wilson—neither threatened vital American interest

• Edward M. House and Robert Lansing– Wilson’s pro-British advisors

• William Jennings Bryan– Against pro-British tilt

• Germany had no advocates in government

• British blockade of Germany– Violates American neutrality, Wilson protests


Submarine Warfare

• Unterseeboot (U-boat)• Lusitania (May 1915)

– 1198 killed, 128 Americans– Germans had warned the passenger was a target

• Bryan resigns when Wilson refuses to criticize both British blockade and U-boats

• Sussex pledge (1916)• 1916 preparedness measures


The Peace Movement

• Women’s Peace Party

• Carrie Chapman Catt

• Jane Addams

• Midwestern Progressives– Robert LaFollete, George Norris

• American Union Against Militarism

• German and Irish Americans


Wilson’s Vision: “Peace without Victory”

• “He kept us out of war” campaign slogan

• League of Nations

• Wilson’s crucial elements of lasting peace:– Freedom of the seas– Disarmament– Democratic self-government– Security against aggression


German Escalation

• Russia’s imminent collapse• Germany concentrates on Britain and

France– Renew U-boat war

• "Zimmerman telegram“• American declaration of war: “make the

world safe for democracy”


American Intervention

• Russian revolution (1917)– Vladimir Lenin and Bolshevik Party

• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918)– Publication of secret Allied treaties

• German 1918 offensive• American Expeditionary Force (AEF)

– John J. Pershing

• Allied 1918 offensive• Armistice 11-11-1918


Mobilizing for “Total” War

• Compared to Europe, the U.S. was spared most of the war’s ravages

• War’s effect on American society– Biggest campaign for U.S. since Civil War– Wilson asked for total commitment from U.S.

citizens• Conscription

• In army, agriculture, transportation, industry


Organizing Industry

• Food Administration– Herbert Hoover

• U.S. Railroad Administration– William G. McAdoo

• U.S. economy did well in war overall

• War Industries Board– Bernard Baruch


Organizing Civilian Labor

• Labor shortage

• “Great Migration”

• Labor movement– Union membership– Industrial democracy

• National War Labor Board (NWLB)– Taft and Gompers



Occupations with Largest Increase in Women, 1910-1920


Total Membership of American Trade Unions, 1900-1920

Organizing Military Labor• Selective Service Act (1917)• African-Americans segregated and barred from

combat• IQ tests “prove” superiority of white Anglo-

Saxons– Also prove half of all men are mental age 13 or less

• Alvin York• 369th regiment


Paying the Bills

• Raise income tax rates– Wealthiest hit hard, 67% top income tax rate– Corporations pay “excess profits tax”

• "Liberty Bonds"



The First World War and the Federal Budget

Arousing Patriotic Ardor

• Committee on Public Information (CPI)– George Creel

• Expand democracy at home– Labor and industrial democracy– Women’s suffrage


Wartime Repression

• CRI anti-German propaganda• Liberty cabbage and liberty sandwiches

– (Sour kraut and hamburgers)

• Immigration Restriction Act (1917)• German Americans: object of hatred• Eighteenth Amendment: Prohibition, 1919 • Espionage, Sabotage and Sedition Acts• IWW• American Protective League


The Failure of the International Peace

• Germany’s surrender, 1918

• Wilson goes to Versailles Conference

• All combatants publicly accept Wilson’s Fourteen Points basis for negotiation– Free trade and freedom of the seas– Dispute resolution through mediation– Self-determination for nations– League of Nations


The Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles

• Allies not committed to 14 Points– God gave us 10 commandments & we broke them,

Wilson gave us 14 points. We shall see”• Georges Clemenceau, France

– Vittorio Orlando, Italy walks out

• Treaty of Versailles (1919)– No free trade

– Partial self-determination

– Germany “war guilt” clause• lost land and paid reparations


The League of Nations

• Wilson felt creation of League as most important point

• Would redeem failings of Versailles Conference

• Article X– Endowed the League with power to punish

aggressor nations via economic isolation and military retaliation


Wilson versus Lodge: The Fight over Ratification

• Republicans win Senate majority in 1918

• “Irreconcilables"

• Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts

• Constitutional question of Article X

• Desire of some to humiliate Wilson

• Pueblo, Colorado

• Treaty defeated


The Treaty’s Final Defeat

• Wilson would not accept alterations of the Treaty

• Lodge version of the Treaty was put to vote again – and was defeated

• United States never ratified the Treaty of Versailles– Legacy of Treaty’s defeat


The Postwar Period: A Society in Convulsion

• Continued struggles between workers and employers

• Soldiers trying to reclaim livelihood vs. women, blacks, Hispanics who had been recruited to fill in

• Returning black veterans• Federal government moved to decentralize

power that had occurred during the War


Labor-Capital Conflict

• Boston Police strike (1919)– Calvin Coolidge

• Steel strike (1919)


Radicals and the Red Scare

• Radicalism sentiment on the rise in post-WWI labor movement

• “Red Scare”

• Russian Revolution splits U.S. Socialists

• "Palmer raids“

• Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti


Racial Conflict and the Rise of Black Nationalism

• “New Negro”

• Frustrated ad disappointed African-Americans veterans

• Race riots

• Universal Negro Improvement Association – Marcus Garvey


Conclusion

• Effects of war on the U.S. social fabric– Industrial workers, immigrants and radicals – Fear, intolerance, and repression resulted in

extreme class, ethnic, and racial tensions

• Collapse of the Progressive Movement

• Wilson’s dashed dreams for a new and democratic world order


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war and society, 1914-1920 © 2003 wadsworth group all rights reserved. chapter 23

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