World War One

America Ascendant

Long-term causes

1. Imperialism A. competition

amongst European nations for resources, labor, markets

2. Nationalism

Pan-Slavism Pan-Germanism Revanche (Franco-Prussian war)

3. Militarism: Naval race between Britain & Germany

H.M.S. Dreadnought

German U boats

Comparative Military Build Up: 1870-1914

Russia 700,000 - 1,300,000 France 380,000 - 846,000 Germany 403,000 - 812,000 Austria-Hungary 247,000 - 424,000 Britain 302,000 - 381,000 Japan 70,000 - 250,000 U.S.A. 37,000 - 98,003 Britain and Germany spent most per capita: Germany $8.52 Britain $8.53 U.S.A. $0.32

4. Entangling Alliances

Immediate Cause: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

The Balkans: powder keg of Europe

Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary June 28, 1914

Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip (Black Hand)

Austria Hungary declares war on Serbia

Germany declares war on Russia & France

Germany invades Belgium

Britain enters war

The Western Front

www.bbc.co.uk/history/games/ western_front/index.shtml www.bbc.co.uk/history/games/ western_front/index.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/games/western_front/index.shtml

Mass Destruction: Stalemate on the Western Front

Hiram Maxim

British Recruiting/Propaganda

U.S. stance: Official Neutrality

Sec. of State Bryan: strict neutrality

Col. Edward House

Pres. Wilson

Walter Hines Page

U.S. Ambassador UK

Secretary of State W.J.Bryan’s objections to loans to belligerents

First: Money is the worst of all contrabands because it commands everything else.

Second: If we approved of a loan to France we could not, of course, object to a loan to Great Britain, Germany, Russia, or to any other country, and if loans were made to these countries, our citizens would be divided into groups, each group loaning money to the country which it favors

Third: The powerful financial interests which would be connected with these loans would be tempted to use their influence through the newspapers to support the interests of the Government to which they had loaned because the value of the security would be directly affected by the result of the war.

British Blockade of Germany – Nov. 1914

Attempt to starve Germany

British mine North Sea

Extension of definition of contraband

Britain invades German colonies in East Africa

Germany Retaliates

German fleet inferior to British

Germany uses submarine warfare

1915 Zone of warfare around Britain –sink all merchant vessels

Attempt to starve Britain

Unterseebooten – U boats

Germans torpedo passenger ships

Lusitania – British ship 4,200 cases of

Remington rifle cartridges Fuses, empty shrapnel

shells Britain compromised non-

belligerent status of ships Britain starts to use

convoys

                                                                     

                                    

U.S. economic interests: Result of Blockade

a. U.S. trade with Germany and Austria (1914: $169 Million; 1916: $1 Million)

b. U.S. trade with England and Allies (1914: $825 Million; 1916: $3,214 Million)

c. U.S. bank loans to England and Allies (March 1915 - April 1917: $2 Billion plus)

Zimmermann Telegram 1917

“make war together, make peace together, generous financial support and an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.”

America gets into the act

Selective Service 1917

Less than 100,000 volunteer in first weeks – 1 million needed

Supervised decentralization

Local draft boards 24 million men registered

23% pop 4.8 million serve

African American soldiers

War Industries Board 1915: The first military-industrial complex

The challenge of mobilizing in an era of rapid industrialization

Politics Military Economic interests Industrial

preparedness

Homefront: Food Administration

a. Assure the supply, distribution, and conservation of food during the war,

b. Facilitate transportation of food and prevent monopolies and hoarding, and

c. Maintain governmental power over foods by using voluntary agreements and a licensing system.

Herbert Hoover

"We are glad ... to fight thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its peoples, the German peoples included. . . The world must be made safe for democracy. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind....--W. Wilson Message to Congress April 2, 1917.

"We are about to do the bidding of wealth's terrible mandate. By our act we will make millions of our countrymen suffer, and the consequences of it may well be that millions of our brethren must shed their life-blood, millions of broken-hearted women must weep, millions of children must suffer with cold, and millions of babes must die from hunger and all because we want to preserve the commercial right of American citizens to deliver munitions of war to belligerent nations."--George Norris (Progressive) Republican Senator from Nebraska. Speech in the U.S. Senate, April 4, 1917.

Paying for the war

Increased corporate taxes Increased taxes on wealthy (income tax in existence since 1913)

Summarize U.S. entry into war

Germany’s use of unrestricted submarine warfare

Zimmerman telegram Cultural ties to Britain Loans to Allies Propaganda

The Espionage Act & Alien enemies

$10,000 fine, 20 years imprisonment for interfering with recruitment

Could not own firearms, aircraft, wireless

Could not publish an “attack” on U.S. govt.

Could not leave without permission

14 years & older German nationality

Free Speech: Casualty of war - Charles Schenck

Distributed materials to draftees urging them to oppose the war (compared the draft to slavery)

Prosecuted under the 1917 Espionage Act

“Clear & Present Danger” 6 months jail time

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Another casualty of war: Eugene Debs

Anti-war speeches Criticized the Espionage

Act Sentenced to 10 years jail Ran for presidency 1920

from jail (915,000 votes) Pardoned by Harding in

‘21

The Big Four

Lloyd George

Orlando

Clemenceau

Wilson

Wilson’s 14 points: Idealistic postwar world

No secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free trade Self-determination for

all countries Return to pre-war

borders League of Nations

The realities of Europe

France wanted to punish Germany

War guilt clause for Germany

War reparations – Germany to pay 33 billion

Germany loses territory

Wilson’s tour to save the treaty:8,000 miles, 29 cities, 22 days

A Nervous Wreck 1919

Red Scare 1919

Palmer Raids – campaign against left wing radicals

10,000 arrested Hundreds deported

                    

    

Palmer

Hoover

Goldman

Election of 1920