Chapter 12: The World War I Era

III. Americans on the European Front

Objectives

• Analyze the preparations of the United States for World War I

• Study the ways in which the American troops helped turn the tide of the war.

• Learn about conditions in Europe and the US at the end of the war

Bell Ringer

• Are allies automatically equals?• Can allies exist without a common

enemy?• Ask students what kind of relationships

allies share• List 5 ways US entry in the war would

change the Allies situation• Change Central Powers situation.

Setting the Scene

• US 16th largest army in world• 15,000 marines scattered• 100,000 men in uniform• Sent small group (14,500) under the

command of General John “Black Jack” Pershing

• movie

A) Preparing for War• Pershing told US to have 1 million by 1918 and 3 million

by 191912)Select Service Act: draft of young men for

military service13)American Expeditionary Force: Force US sent to

Europe (doughboys)• No riots for draft• Limited training – bayonet, gas mask, rifle14)convoy: group of unarmed ships surrounded by a

ring of military ships• Not one transport ships sunk• US kept independent of Allied forces – Pershing did not

want to be defensive – offensive• African Americans (300,000) did menial tasks – US

loaned the French the 369th regiment – won the Croix de Guerre – Frances highest combat medal

B) Turning the Tide of War

• November 1917 (Red October) – Bolsheviks – Vladimir Lenin’s communists – overthrew the Russian Republic

• Germany’s 2 front war over - Race to beat the Americans

• Broke the stalemate on March 21st – 1918; by May 50 miles from Paris

• US Marines rushed to stop the advance, “We dig no trenches to fall back on. The Marines will hold were they stand”

• Allies counter attack wins Battle of Amiens (August)– General Ludendorff tells Kaiser Wilhelm to seek peace

• September – 500,000 US soldiers on last push – break all German lines – Germans in full retreat

C) War in the Air

• US used biplanes• First used to scout• Dogfights with pistols and later

machine guns• Eddie Rickenbacker – 26 kills15)zeppelins: floating airships

(Germany)• 1918 – fleet of 1,400 planes bombed

enemy positions

D) Ending the War

• Bulgaria and Ottoman Empire made separate peace

• Austria – Hungary splintered – Poles, Hungarians, Czechs, and Slovaks declared independence

• Germany asked for peace – allies refused• German navy told to engage British – mutinied at

Kiel – spread• Kaiser fled to Holland16)armistice: cease-fire November 11, 1918 at

11 am• Influenza epidemic – US brought it to Europe –

ravaged Allied and German armies and continental US - 30 million worldwide - .5 million US

E) Results of the War

• 50,000 US died in battle• 8 million total – estimate• 5,000 killed on each day• Germany, Austria – Hungary, Russia, and

France each lost 1 million• 900,000 troops from Britain• Millions of civilians17)genocide: organized killing of an

entire people• Ottoman forces committed Genocide on

Armenians – disloyal – hundreds of thousands

Review

• How did the US prepare to fight in World War I?

• In What ways did American troops help turn the tide of war?

• What were conditions like in Europe and in the US at the end of the war?