The Great War The MAIN Causes of WWI

The Great War

The MAIN Causes of WWI • Militarism • Alliances • Imperialism • Nationalism

MAIN Allied Powers France Russia Britain MAIN Central Powers Austria-Hungary Germany

America Remains Neutral … but for how long? • Socialists: • Pacifists: • German aggression: • Cultural and Economic ties with Allies:

The U. S. Enters the War • Loan Repayment: U. S. had loaned the Allies $ and needed to know they could pay back their debts (can’t do this if they lose). • German U-Boat (submarine) Attacks: The British blockade of German ports forces Germany to take a much more aggressive naval strategy of unrestricted submarine warfare. • Zimmerman Note: Germany proposed an alliance with Mexico and promised to return all lands seized by the U. S.

America Mobilizes for War • The U. S. was not prepared for war. – Our military only consisted of 200, 000 men with few having combat experience. • Selective Service Act: established a draft • U. S. ranks swelled to 5 million

WHAT DO YOU THINK? • Could the U. S. have stayed out of the war? Why/why not?

“Over There” 1. WHAT IS THE MOOD OF THE SONG? 2. HOW DO YOU THINK THE AMERICAN PEOPLE MIGHT HAVE RESPONDED TO THIS SONG? 3. WHAT REASONS ARE GIVEN ABOUT WHY YOUNG MEN SHOULD FIGHT IN THE WAR? 4. ARE THE REASONS CONVINCING? WHY, OR WHY NOT?

Mobilizing for War • Mass Production – The U. S. needed to find a way to transport men, food and equipment over thousands of miles of ocean.

Doughboys • Name given to U. S. servicemen – Wore white belts which they cleaned with pipe clay or “dough” – They were impressed by the fancy sites and sounds of places like Paris but were horrified by the realities of modern warfare.

Fresh Troops • After 2 1/2 years of fighting European troops were exhausted and demoralized. • U. S. troops brought freshness and enthusiasm to the Allied forces.

Life in the Trenches

Trench Warfare • Armies fought for mere yards of ground. • Over three years of bloody warfare, only seven miles changed hands. • The trenches built by both sides extended nearly 400 miles from the Belgian coast to the Swiss border. • Experts calculate that along the western front, the Allies and Central Powers dug nearly 6250 miles of trenches by the end of 1914.

Trench Warfare • Rats in the millions infested trenches. There were two main types, the brown and the black rat. Both were despised but the brown rat was especially feared. Gorging themselves on human remains (grotesquely disfiguring them by eating their eyes and liver) they could grow to the size of a cat.

No Man’s Land A barren expanse of mud pockmarked with shell craters and filled with barbed wire.

Trench Foot was another medical condition peculiar to trench life. It was a fungal infection of the feet caused by cold, wet and unsanitary trench conditions. It could turn gangrenous and result in amputation.

Warm-up • What were some of the hazards of trench warfare?

New Weapons • • • Tanks Airplanes Machine gun Observation Balloons Grenades Mustard Gas • Created as a result of the Industrial Revolution

Convoy System • Heavy guard of destroyer ships escorted merchant ships. • Successfully combated German U-Boat attacks.

Support on the Homefront • War Industries Board – encouraged companies to use mass-production techniques to increase efficiency. – Set quotas and allocated raw materials. – Encouraged women to take jobs traditionally held by men – Production rose by 20% during the war

Food Administration • “gospel of the clean plate” • Once a week “meatless”, “sweetless”, “wheatless”, “porkless” • Restaurants removed sugar bowls • WIB- produce, quotas, raw materials.

Selling the War -Eliminate dissent. -Recruit -Conserve -Finance

Anti-Immigrant Hysteria • Immigrants from places like Germany and Austria. Hungary suffered bitter attacks: – Loss of jobs – Some were tarred and feathered – Some Americans refused to play the music of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. – Schools stopped teaching the German language and removed books written by German authors. – German Americans were physically attacked – Changed names of items; hamburger – Liberty sandwich – sauerkraut – liberty cabbage.

A Violent Act… • Perhaps the most horrendous anti-German act was the lynching in April 1918 of Robert Paul Prager, 29, a German-born bakery employee, who was accused of making "disloyal utterances. " A mob took him from the basement of the Collinsville, Illinois jail, dragged him outside of town and hanged him from a tree. Before the lynching, he was allowed to write a last note to his parents in Dresden, Germany: – Dear Parents: I must on this, the 4 th day of April, 1918, die. Please pray for me, my dear parents. • In the trial that followed, the defendants wore red, white, and blue ribbons, while a band in the court house played patriotic songs. It took the jury 25 minutes to return a not-guilty verdict. The German government lodged a protest and offered to pay Prager's funeral expenses.

Espionage and Sedition Acts • A person could be fined up to $10, 000 and sentenced to 20 years in jail for interfering with the war effort or for saying anything disloyal, profane, or abusive about the government or the war effort. • Violation of First Amendment Rights

Post-War Destruction

Bomb Craters

Casualties • 9 million • U. S. – 126, 000 killed 234, 300 wounded • Cost - $22, 625, 253, 000

Wilson’s Plan for Peace • Fourteen Points: – First Five – ways to prevent another war • • • No secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free trade Reduction of arms Colonial policies should consider the colonial peoples as well as the interest of imperial powers

Wilson’s Plan for Peace • The next eight points dealt with boundary changes and selfdetermination • Fourteenth Point – called for the creation of a League of Nations – a forum for nations to discuss and settle their grievances.

Allied Rejection • The other allied leaders wanted to make Germany pay. • The “Big Four” Georges Clemenceau (France), David Lloyd George (Britain), Vittorio Orlando (Italy) and Woodrow Wilson worked out the details of the Treaty of Versailles.

Treaty of Versailles • Established nine new nations and shifted the boundaries of other nations. • Barred Germany from maintaining an army • Germany had to return the region of Alsace-Lorraine to France and pay war reparations of $33 billion to the Allies • Germany was forced to give up most of their colonial territory • War guilt clause – Germany had to admit sole responsibility for starting the War.

Major Weaknesses • Germany was not able to pay the immense war reparations. • The humiliation and financial hardship inflicted on the Germans sowed the seeds for World War II.

U. S. and the Treaty • Wilson faced strong opposition for U. S. participation in the League of Nations and acceptance of the Treaty of Versailles. • Many Americans believed the U. S. participation in the League of Nations threatened isolationist foreign policy. • Wilson set out on an 8, 000 mile tour to explain why the U. S. should join the League of Nations. • Congress rejected the Treaty of Versailles and signed a separate peace settlement with Germany. • The U. S. never joined the League of Nations.

Warm-up • What social changes came about because of WWI?

Legacy of the War • World War I had strengthened the power of the U. S. military and government • Accelerated social change for women (suffrage) and African Americans • Much of Europe was severely damaged resulting in political and economic instability that often erupted in violence. • “It cannot be that two million (Germans) should have fallen in vain…No, we do not pardon, we demand – vengeance!”

Journal/Letter Activity • • In your notebook: Write a letter or journal entry to include: 1) your experiences- trench, gas, war 2) homecoming- anti-immigrant hysteria, economy, • 3) Your views on Treaty of Versailles • 4) Rumors of Prohibition

Turn in Notes In Back Bins: NOTES IN ORDER. NUMBER AND LABEL 1. 2. 3. 4. CHOICES (5) AMERICAN IMPERIALISM (10) YELLOW JOURNALIST ARTICLE (10) FOREIGN POLICY METAPHOR NOTES (PRESENTATIONS) (15) 5. THE GREAT WAR (20) • TOTAL: 60 PTS

Follow-up Activity • Create your own propaganda poster! Yippppppeeeee! • 25 point homework assignment • See handout for details.