U.S. History Chapter 15
 

World War I:

  • A Timeline of events
     
  • Recordings from World War I and the 1920 Election - Library of Congress
     

  • Four underlying causes
     
    1. Nationalism - extreme patriotism among ethnic groups and nations
    2. Imperialism - intense competition between Britain, France, Germany, and Russia to build empires - each feared the others were getting too powerful
    3. System of Alliances - by 1914 two major alliances had developed
    4. Militarism - all of the nations were involved in an arms race
     
  • Archduke Ferdinand assassinated
    • Austrian
    • June 1914
    • Killed by a Serbian
     
  • System of alliances kicked in
    • Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia
    • Russia declared war on Austria
    • Germany declared war on Russia and then France
    • Great Britain declared war on Germany
     
  • American neutrality
    • For most of the war
    • Bryan and Debs opposed war
     
  • Schlieffen Plan
     
  • Trench warfare
    • Stalemate
     
  • New weapons  
  • British blockade
    • Contraband
      • Widening definition
      • Neutral ships
    • Negative American reaction
     
  • German U-Boats  
  • U.S. prepared for war
     
  • Presidential Election of 1916
       
  • Alliances changed names
    • Italy left Triple Alliance and joined Triple Entente which became the Allies
    • Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey formed the Central Powers
     
  • Wilson pushed for peace without victory
     
  • Factors that led to American involvement
    • Resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare
    • Zimmermann Note
      • Proposed a German Mexican alliance against the U.S.
    • Four ships sunk
    • Russian Revolution
      • Now democracies against brutal monarchies
    • Strong economic ties with The Allies
     
  • Wilson's War Message
    • April 1917
    • Congress declared war
     
  • U.S. mobilized for war
    • Selective Service Act
      • Registration for all men between 21 and 30
      • 10 million registered by June 5
      • About 4.2 million inducted
      • About 2 million reached Europe, 3/4 of whom saw combat
      • Blacks served extensively but were segregated
    • Productivity increased
    • Liberty Bonds
    • Powers of federal government increased
      • Congress gave Wilson the power to fix prices, regulate and even nationalize industries
    • Americans asked to sacrifice for war effort
     
  • Civil liberties suffered
    • German Americans discriminated against
    • Espionage and Sedition Acts
      • Could be fined $10,000 and/or sentenced to 20 years for interfering with the draft, obstructing the sale of bonds, or saying anything disloyal, profane or abusive about the government or the war effort
      • Led to some 6000 arrests and 1500 convictions
      • Eugene V. Debs was sentenced to 10 years for opposing the war (pardoned by Warren G. Harding after 3 years)
      • U.S. Congressman was denied his seat for opposing the war
     
  • Americans had immediate effect
     
  • Air combat
     
  • Another revolution in Russia
    • Democratic government overthrown by Lenin and the Bolsheviks
    • Russia made peace with Germany in March 1918
     
  • Superior power of Allies had become evident by September 1918  
  • Germany signed an armistice two days later
  • Wilson fought for lasting peace
     
    • When U.S. entered the war it was like a crusade
      • "Make the world safe for democracy"
      • "War to end all wars"
       
    • Fourteen Points
      • Proposed to Congress while war was still going on
      • Rules for lasting peace
      • Divided into three groups
        1. Causes of war
          • Open diplomacy; no secret treaties
          • Freedom of the seas
          • No tariffs or other economic barriers between nations
          • Arms reduction to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety
          • Colonial policies that take colonial interests into account
        2. Self determination
          • Eight points
          • Right of ethnic groups to determine which nation they wanted to be apart of
        3. League of nations
          • Final point
          • Body to keep world peace
          • Member nations would be bound to protect nations that were attacked
       
    • Treaty of Versailles
      • The Big Four
      • Wilson gave in on most of the fourteen points in order to get the League of Nations
        • Signed June 1919 - (text of treaty)
        • Results
          • Nine new nations emerged
          • Boundaries of other nations shifted
          • Some areas that were a part of the old Ottoman Empire were made mandates (temporary colony until the area was ready for self rule and then independence) of Britain and France
            • Iraq
            • Syria
            • Lebanon
            • Palestine (Israel and Jordan)
          • Former German colonies became mandates
          • German army drastically reduced
          • Germany must pay reparations $32 billion
      • Weakness
        • Too harsh on Germany
          • Reparations
          • War Guilt Clause
            • Germany had to say that it was solely responsible for WWI
            • This made German opposition to the treaty universal which was one reason for the rise of Hitler in 1933
          • When Austria-Hungary was split, three million German speaking people who wanted to remain a part of Austria became the northern part of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudetenland
            • One of the steps leading to WWII was German occupation of the Sudetenland
        • Russia was left out
          • Lost more territory than Germany
            • Some to Poland, some to Romania, and some to the newly created Baltic nations of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania (created as a buffer against communism)
          • Russia became the Soviet Union in 1922
          • Soviet Union was determined to gain back as much of its former territory as possible

        • Southeast Asia
          • Ruled by France
          • Nationalist movement for independence had been developing since 1890 in Vietnam
          • Ho Chi Minh asked Wilson for help
          • Wilson believed self determination was only for Europeans and had Ho Chi Minh thrown out
          • Ho Chi Minh later founded the Indochinese Communist Party and led the fight against American forces in the Vietnam War
      • The Senate rejected the treaty
        • Objections
          • Too harsh on Germany
          • New national boundaries did not satisfy every group's demand for self determination
          • Isolationist objections to the League
            • Did not recognize Monroe Doctrine
            • Did not acknowledge member nations' authority over their own internal affairs
            • Did not say a member nation had a right to withdraw
            • Did not require congressional approval of actions taken by the U.S. in the League
        • Senate divided into three groups
          1. Those who supported immediate ratification
          2. Moderates headed by Henry Cabot Lodge who favored participation in the League but with reservations to protect American interests
          3. Those who favored total rejection
      • Wilson would not compromise with the moderates and took his case to the people on an 8000 mile tour in September 1919

        • After 22 days and 35 speeches Wilson had a stroke on October 2
        • Treaty came up for vote in November
        • Lodge introduced a number of amendments known as the Lodge Reservations
        • Wilson appealed from death bed to reject Lodge Reservations
        • The Senate rejected the Lodge reservations but failed to get the 2/3 vote necessary to approve the treaty
        • Treaty came up again in March 1920 and again Wilson urged rejection if the reservations were included
        • Again the Senate rejected the treaty
      • U.S. finally signed a separate treaty with Germany in 1921 when Wilson was no longer president