Warm Up

• Create a timeline of the major battles of WWI, 1914-1918

• Note the results of the battles

Chapter 8 Section 2

Neutrality

• As war raged in Europe, the U.S. remained neutral

• Reflected American tradition of isolationism - Washington’s Farewell Address

Leaning Toward the Allies

• President Wilson favored the Allied Cause - Sympathetic toward neutral Belgium- Historic and commercial ties to Great Britain

and France• British fleet blockaded Germany, preventing

American commerce• By 1917, U.S. businesses sold $75 million per

week of war goods to British

German Submarine Warfare

• Germany suffered under blockade• began to attack ships headed to Great Britain

using submarines, or U-Boats• Declared waters around Great Britain a war

zone in 1915• Unrestricted Submarine Warfare- all ships in

British waters, including those from neutral nations, were subject to attack

Sinking of the Lusitania

Sinking of the Lusitania

• British passenger ship carrying 1,900 passengers

- Secretly carried war supplies • Torpedoed by German U-Boat on 5/1/1915• 1,200 people died, including 128 Americans- Outraged Americans• Germany agreed to only attack supply ships

Sinking of the Sussex

• French passenger ship Sussex torpedoed on 3/24/1916

- Killing 80• President Wilson threatened to end diplomatic

relations with Germany• Germany feared U.S. might enter war,• Issued Sussex Pledge, • promised not to sink merchant vessels “without

warning and saving human lives”

U.S. Entry into War

March 1917• Revolution in Russia overthrew the Czar &

established a more democratic government.• Many Americans believed the U.S. should

support democracy and became more supportive of the Allies

U.S. Entry into War

March 1917• Germans sank three American merchant ships • Americans outraged at violation of Neutrality

Entry into War

Zimmerman Telegram • Germans made overtures to Mexico• Attack the U.S. in exchange for former

Mexican territory in the U.S.• British intercepted telegram it was later

published in U.S. newspapers, outraging Americas

Zimmerman Telegram

U.S. Entry into War

• President Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany

• “Make the world safe for democracy”• April 6,1917, Congress declared War• U.S. entered the war on the side of the Allies

Warm Up:

What does a nation need to do to prepare for war?

Raising an Army

• Selective Service Act - men between ages 21-30 had to register to be drafted into the armed forces.

• Conscientious Objectors - people whose moral or religious beliefs prevented them from fighting

Raising an Army

• Pre-war the U.S. army was small• The army was unprepared for the massive

influx of soldiers• Soldiers slept in tents until barracks could be

built• Recruits spent days learning basics of military- Rules, marching, preparing for inspections• Military was short on rifles so recruits

practiced with wooden sticks

Raising an Army

• African American soldiers were segregated into separate divisions and camps

• Southern whites feared training African American soldiers to use weapons

• Few were trained for combat roles

Arriving in Europe

• American soldiers who went overseas formed the American Expeditionary forces (AEF)

• Led by General John J. Pershing• First arrived in France in June of 1917

Arriving in Europe

• Americans used the convoy system to safely transport troops and supplies to Europe

• Troop-transport ships were surrounded by cruisers and destroyers for protection from German U-Boats

Arriving in Europe

• When American forces arrived in France, the Allies situation was bleak

• German forces occupied all of Belgium and parts of northeastern France

• Russia was facing famine and civil war• Allies wanted and needed American forces to

start fighting on arrival

Arriving in Europe

• Pershing had other plans• Wanted his soldiers to fight as American units,

not as replacement soldiers in British and French units

• Also wanted to give troops additional training

Allied Setbacks

Nov. 1917• Russia undergoes another revolution• Communist government takes over• New government, led by V.I. Lenin withdraws

Russia from the war• Germany now free to focus on the Western

Front

Allied Setbacks

March 1918• Germany launched a

series of offensives against the Allies on the Western Front

• Big Berthas - 6,000 artillery pieces firing 2,100 pound shells 75 miles

• Germans pushed to within 70 miles of Paris

U.S. Troops in Action

• American troops finally saw combat a year after arriving in France

Trench warfare• Soldiers dug trenches to protect themselves

from enemy fire• Trenches were separated by no man’s land,

covered in bared wire

Trench Warfare

Trench Warfare

Life in the trenches• Soldiers stood deep in mud as rats ran over

their feet• Enemy planes dropped bombs• Artillery shells exploded nearby• Mustard gas attacks

U.S. Troops in Action

• American troops proved to be a major factor in the war

• Helped stop the German advance, saved ParisTurning Point• Second Battle of the Marne• Germans launched a massive offensive• Forced to retreat after suffering 150,000

casualties

U.S. Troops in Action

• Allied troops began to advance• Began to retake portions of Belgium,

northeastern FranceBattle of the Argonne Forest• Americans suffered 120,000 causalities (dead

& wounded)

The Armistice

• Lacking the will to keep fighting, the Central Powers began surrendering one by one

• 11/11/1918 Armistice with Germany went into effect

• Germany surrendered its aircraft, submarines, tanks, heavy artillery and some of its territories

Human Cost

• 8.5 million killed during the war• 126,000 Americans