WORLD WAR I

PROPAGANDA

World War I

Americans Join the Allies

How did Americans first help?

• Helped the British find and destroy German U-Boats.

• Convoys (teams of navy destroyers) started escorting merchant ships across the Atlantic Ocean.

• Because of the convoys, not one American soldier was lost to submarine warfare.

Problems in Russia

• A group known as the Bolsheviks overthrew the Democratic government set up in 1917.

• The Bolsheviks were Communist.• Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Bolsheviks,

forced Russia to withdraw from the war in 1918.• In March 1918, Russia signed the Treaty of

Brest-Litovsk with Germany. They had to surrender territories to Germany and this officially got them out of the war.

How did Russian withdrawal affect the Allies in the fight

against Germany?

Germany wins?

• The Germans were now only fighting the war on the Western Front, no longer on the Eastern Front.

• They were able to push the Allies far back, only within 40 miles of Paris, France.

• They were winning the war on the Western Front.

• Do they win? No!! Why?

America Joins the War

• General John J. Pershing leads the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) – American Forces in Europe.

• The AEF fought in the following famous battles:

- Battle of Chateau-Thierry

- Battle of Belleau Wood

Battle of the Argonne Forest• More than 1 million

American troops fought in this battle – their first major battle.

• Located just near Verdun.• The battle lasted seven

weeks.• Why great? • Because Americans pushed

through German lines on the Western Front and were able to invade Germany. This battle turned the tide in favor of the Allies.

The End of World War I

• On October 4, 1918, the German government asked President Wilson for an armistice agreement. (an agreement to end fighting)

• The German leader, Kaiser Wilhelm II was forced to give up his throne.

• The armistice began on November 11, 1918 and Germany agreed to withdraw all of its land forces, surrender equipment, and withdraw its naval fleet.

• The “Great War” was over.