World War I Effects of the War America

World War I Effects of the War

America Adjusts to Peace • The end of World War I produced an unstable international order • Loss of territory and harsh reparations encouraged a strong desire of revenge in Germans • In the US, horrors of the war and fears of communists led Americans to question their role in the world

The Spanish Flu • September 1918: an unusually deadly form of the flu virus appeared • Once the virus began, it spread like wildfire and killed millions worldwide

The Red Scare • After World War I, labor strikes ignited a fear of radicals and communists • The emergence of the Soviet Union as a communist nation fed these fears • Communist ideology called for an international workers’ revolution and Vladimir Lenin encouraged revolutions outside his nation

The Red Scare • Revolutionary activity abroad and strikes across the US prompted the first American red scare (a wave of widespread fear of suspected communists thought to be plotting revolution) • Authorities discovered bombs mailed to important industrialists and government officials • In a series of raids in early 1920, police arrested thousands of people, most of whom were never charged or tried for a crime

The Red Scare • To many, these actions were an attack on personal liberties • 1920: the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was formed to protect these liberties in the courts • Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were two Italian immigrant anarchists charged with shooting and killing two men during a holdup

The Red Scare • The two were accused because eyewitnesses said the robbers “looked Italian” • Though they were represented by the ACLU, they were quickly found guilty despite little hard evidence being against them • Many charged they were found guilty because of their ethnicity and political beliefs than by evidence, nevertheless they were executed on August 23, 1927

Embracing Normalcy • Though Wilson hoped the election of Democrat James Cox would prove Americans support for the League of Nations, Warren G. Harding was elected • Harding called for a return to “normalcy, ” returning to the simpler times before Wilson took office • Though Harding was elected, the US did not completely withdraw from world affairs

Embracing Normalcy • By 1920, US was an economic giant • Was the richest, most industrialized country in the world • British and French demand for US goods created an immense trade unbalance and Europeans had to borrow money from American bankers • The US embraced its new role as a quiet giant

New Order • After the war • German and Russian monarchies toppled • Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires no longer existed • Britain and France victorious, but economically and politically weak • US came out strong, confident, and prosperous