World War I

• Prelude to War• Election of 1912• Woodrow Wilson

• War in Europe• New type of warfare• U.S. reaction

• U.S. in World War I• The sinking of Lusitania• Reasons for U.S. entry• U.S. soldiers in the war

• End of War• The Bolshevik Revolution• The Versailles Treaty• The League of Nations

Pre-War > Election of 1912

• Four candidates:• William Taft - incumbent, Republican• Woodrow Wilson - surprise candidate, Democrat• Teddy Roosevelt - progressive “Bull Moose” party, best showing ever by 3rd party• Eugene Debs - socialist, won 6% of the vote - the most votes won by a socialist candidate in US history

• Stood for different approaches to US politics• Taft - laissez-faire Gilded Age politics• Wilson - progressivist, pro-small business and competition• Roosevelt - militant anti-trust politics• Debs - peaceful overthrow of capitalism

Pre-War > Cartoon on the election of 1912

Pre-War > Eugene Debs for Presidency, 1912

Pre-War > Taft at Wilson’s inauguration, 1913

Pre-War > Harper’s supporting Wilson in the election of 1912

Pre-War > Woodrow Wilson cited in a film lauding the KKK, Birth of a Nation, 1916

War in Europe > The Western Front

War in Europe > Gas masks used in World War I

War in Europe > Lyrics of World War I songs

A POOR AVIATOR LAY DYING

A poor aviator lay dying.At the end of a bright summer’s day.His comrades had gathered about him.To carry his fragments away.The airplane was piled on his wishbone,His Hotchkiss was wrapped round his head;He wore a spark-plug on each elbow,'Twas plain he would shortly be dead.He spit out a valve and a gasket,And stirred in the sump where he lay,And then to his wondering comrades,These brave parting words he did say:And the butterfly valve off my neck,Extract from my liver the crankshaft,There are lots of good parts in this wreck.And the cylinders out of my brain,Take the piston rods out of my kidneys,And assemble the engine again."

BOMBED LAST NIGHT

Oh God damnn the bombin' planes from Germany.They’re over us, they’re over us,One shell-hole for the four of usGlory be to God there are no more of us'Cause one of us could fill it all alone.

Gassed last night—gassed the night before,Gonna get gassed again if we never git

gassed no more,When we’re gassed, we’re as sick as we can be,'Cause phosgene and mustard gas is too much

for me.

War in Europe > Deformed faces of soldiers

War in Europe > Cartoon on the war from nonwestern point of view, Chicago Daily News, 1914

War in Europe > Cartoon on the war from nonwestern point of view, Columbus, OH, Dispatch, 1915

War in Europe > Cartoon on German atrocities in Belgium, Life, 1915

U.S. in World War I > The Sinking of Lusitania, 1915

U.S. in World War I > Cartoon about the Zimmerman telegram, March 1917

U.S. in World War I > Reasons for US entry into World War I

• War profits U.S. traded heavily with Britain and France but complied with a British embargo on trading with Germany

• Anglophilia on the part of leaders like Woodrow Wilson and also among ordinary Americans (but not German or Irish immigrants)

• Security of loans to Europe

• The vision of a “liberal democratic world order”:• Wilson envisioned trade between equal national partners just as he envisioned a domestic economy made up of small businesses instead of huge trusts

U.S. in World War I > The Poster by the Committee on Public Information

U.S. in World War I > Black Troops in France, 1918

U.S. in World War I > German leaflet addressed to black troops in France

U.S. in World War I > American ambulance similar to the one Ernest Hemingway drove in Milan in 1918

U.S. in World War I > Typical Questions on the IQ test

Garnets are usuallyA. yellowB. blueC. greenD. red  

Soap is made byA. B. T. BabbittB. Smith & WessonC. W. L. DouglasD. Swift & Co. Laura Jean Libby is known as aA. singerB. suffragistC. writerD. army nurse

If you are lost in a forest in the daytime, what is the thing to do?• Hurry to the nearest house you know of• Look for something to eat• Use the sun or a compass for a guide

U.S. in World War I > US Army Intelligence Test Results

End of World War I > Cartoon on the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917

Caption: “Count Parasitsky will not occupy his palatial residence in the mountains this summer. He expects to remain in the city and do uplift work.”

End of World War I > Europe in 1914

End of World War I > Europe in 1919

End of World War I > Cartoon on the European view of the League of Nations

End of World War I > Cartoon on Woodrow Wilson and the League of Nations, 1919

End of World War I > Cartoon on the international entanglements of the League of Nations