Chapter 19

World War I & Beyond1914-1920

Section 1

From Neutrality to War

Causes of the War

• Nationalism• Imperialism• Militarism • Alliances

Nationalism

• Pride in one’s nation• Demanding freedom and self-government

Imperialism

• Policy of powerful countries seeking to control the economic and political affairs of weaker countries.

Militarism

• The policy of building up strong armed forces to prepare for war.

Alliances

• Triple Alliance – Germany, Italy, & Austria-Hungary (Central Powers)

• Triple Entente – France, Russia, & Britain ( Allies)

Archduke Francis Ferdinand

• Heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary who was assassinated by Gavrilo Princep of the Black Hand.

Black Hand

• A Serbian terrorist group that wanted Bosnia to break away from Austria-Hungary and join Serbia.

Timeline

• July 28, 1914: Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia

• August 1: Germany declared war on Russia

• August 3: Germany declared war on France

• August 4: Britain declared war on Germany

Kaiser William II

• German emperor who promised his troops “you will be home before the leaves have fallen from the trees.”

Central Powers

• Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, & the Ottoman Empire

Allied Powers

• France, Britain, Russia, Italy & 20 other countries

Stalemate

• A deadlock in which neither side is strong enough to defeat the other.

Trench warfare

• Type of warfare in which each side creates a maze of trenches protected by barbed wire with a “no man’s land” in between.

Battle of Verdun

• Lasted 10 months in 1916

• Germans lost 400,000 men

Neutrality

• Policy of not taking sides in a conflict

American Opinions of War

• 1. Isolationists – believed U.S. should isolate itself from the hostilities

• 2. Interventionists – believed the war impacted American interests & the U.S. should intervene on behalf of the Allies

• 3. Internationalists – believed the U.S. should play an active role in world affairs & work toward peace without entering the war.

Propaganda

• The spreading of ideas that help a cause or hurt an opposing cause.

U-boats

• German submarines that attacked any ship entering or leaving British ports.

Lusitania

• British passenger ship that was attacked on May 7, 1915 by a German submarine

• 128 Americans were among the 1200 dead

Sussex Pledge

• Agreement made by the Germans to restrict its submarine campaign and have its submarines surface & give warning before attacking.

Election of 1916

• Woodrow Wilson (Dem.)• Charles Evans Hughes (Rep.)

• Hughes was portrayed as a warmonger

Warmonger

• Person who tries to stir up war

Wilson’s slogan

• “He kept us out of the war!”

• Wilson received 49% of the popular vote & 277 electoral votes.

Moving toward war – (Timeline con’t)

• 1917 – Germany warned that U-boats would have orders to sink any ship nearing Britain.

• Wilson broke off diplomatic relations with Germany.

The Zimmerman Plot

• German foreign secretary, Arthur Zimmerman, sent a message to the minister in Mexico encouraging an attack on the U.S.

U.S. enters the War (Timeline Con’t)

• April 2, 1917 – Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war.

• “The world must be made safe for democracy.”

Section 2

The Home Front

Selective Service Act

• May 18, 1917 – requiring all men from ages 21 to 30 to register for the military draft.

Draft

• A law requiring people of a certain age to serve in the military.

• 24 million Americans registered for the draft; 2.8 million were drafted

Council of National Defense

• Formed in 1916 to create new federal administrative agencies to oversee different phases of the war effort

• Food production; coal & petroleum distribution; railway use

Food Administration

• To boost food production• Herbert Hoover was

appointed as director.• “Food Will Win the War”• Wheat-less Monday, Meat-

less Tuesday, victory gardens

War Industries Board

• Told factories what they had to produce

• Provided for the sharing of limited resources

• Decided prices

Committee on Public Information

• Created to educate the public about the causes and nature of the war as well as to convince Americans the war effort was a just cause

Section 3

Wilson, War & Peace

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

• March 1918 • Russia & Germany end Russian participation in the war.

• Large amounts of land ceded to Ger.

“peace offensive”

• Germany’s plan of an all-out attack of Allied forces in hopes of ending the war.

Gen. John J. Pershing

• Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces which arrived in France in June 1917

Battle of Belleau Wood

• 1st major battle for American troops (June 1918)

• Lasted three weeks• Great American casualties before victory

Battle of the Argonne Forest

• Began September 26, 1918 as the last Allied offensive.

• 47 days of fighting• Americans suffered more than 100,000 casualties.

Sgt. Alvin York

• Killed 24 German soldiers & had 132 more surrender to him.

• Most decorated American soldier of the war.

Armistice

• An agreement to stop fighting

2 conditions for armistice

• 1. Germany must accept Wilson’s plan for peace.

• 2. The German Kaiser must abdicate (give up power).

(Timeline con’t)

• November 9, 1918 – the German Kaiser resigned.

• Germany became a republic & the new leader agreed to the terms of the armistice.

November 11, 1918

• WWI ended at 11a.m.• Between 8 & 9 million people died in battle

• Germany lost about 2 million men – The U.S. lost over 200,000.

Fourteen Points

• President Wilson’s peace plan to prevent international problems from causing another war.

• End secret agreements• Freedom of the seas, free trade, arms limitations

• Self-determination: the right of national groups to have their own territory & forms of government.

League of Nations

• A general association of nations whose job it would be to protect the independence of all countries.

• 14th point in Wilson’s plan

Big Four

• Woodrow Wilson – U.S.• David Lloyd George – Britain

• Georges Clemenceau – France

• Vittorio Orlando - Italy

Reparations

• Payments of money for losses suffered during war.

• Germany would pay over $300 billion in reparations.

Treaty of Versailles

• June 1919 – treaty following WWI in which Germany took full blame for the war.

• German military was severely limited.

• Czechoslovakia & Yugoslavia were formed

• Poland was given its independence