wwi interactive lecture. what caused the great war? militarism each country built up its army fought...
TRANSCRIPT
What Caused the Great War?
•Militarism• Each country built up
its army• Fought small colonial
wars over territory• Developed new
weapons (machine guns; weaponized mustard gas)
What Caused the Great War?
•Alliances • Triple Entente (United Kingdom,
Russia, and France)• Central Powers (Germany,
Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire)
What Caused the Great War?
• Imperialism (fighting over land and colonies)• Assassination (Archduke Franz
Ferdinand of the Austrian Empire was killed. Austria declared war on Serbia, which was Russia’s ally, and the other countries split into their alliances and declared war)
• Blackadder War Begins
Why Did the U.S. Fight?• Unrestricted Submarine Warfare• Germany warned Americans not to
use ships carrying weapons to sell to Britain
• German submarine attacked Lusitania (1915) and American civilians died
• The ship was carrying weapons to sell to the Triple Entente but newspapers focused on women and children who were killed
Trench Warfare• Armies dug trenches
in the ground • Bases for the armies• Protection from gas
attacks
• Negatives• Rain water collected in
the trenches• Cramped conditions• Dirty
Trench Warfare• Attacked through No Man’s Land• Area between trenches• Men would “go over the top” and march
through No Man’s Land to the opposite trench to attack
• Led to a stalemate • War of Attrition (try to wear down the other
army by attacking until the losses were so much that someone surrendered)• Neither side could win large, decisive victories• Thousands died to gain small amounts of land
in some of the biggest offensives
Trench Warfare• New Weapons• Submarines, more
accurate guns, airplanes, and weaponized mustard gas• 65 million soldiers
fought; 37 million casualties (KIA, MIA, and wounded)
On the Home Front • Schenck v United States• Charles Schenck (socialist) argued that
the draft was “involuntary servitude” in pamphlets he gave out• Arrested and convicted under the
Espionage Act (speaking out against the government in times of war)• Supreme Court upheld conviction• Schenck was not protected under 1st
Amendment (free speech)• Acceptable during peace time but not
during war• Like yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater
Armistice• Battle of Argonne Forest (26
September-11 November 1918)• General John Pershing’s American
Expeditionary Force (AEF)• More than 1 million U.S. soldiers
in AEF fought through Argonne Forest• Trapped Germans between
Americans and French• Germans surrendered 11
November 1918
Wilson and the 14 PointsWilson’s 14 Points (1918)
• Addressed Causes of WWI• No more secret treaties• Reduce militaries and weapons
spending• Reorganize colonies• Freedom of the seas
• Avoid War in Future• No economic barriers• Rights for minorities• Organization for collective
security
Treaty of Versailles (1919)
• Germany had to return annexed territories in Europe• Germany’s military would be
limited• “War Guilt” Clause• Germany had to accept full
responsibility for the war• Had to pay to rebuild European
cities
• Created League of Nations• U.S. Congress never ratified treaty• Never became member of League
of Nations
Remembering the Great War• Failure• Treaty of Versailles
angered Germans• U.S. failed to ratify
Treaty of Versailles• Wilson’s 14 Points
were rejected