11.2 American Power Tips the Balance

What problems did the U.S. face as it entered the war?

How Did the U.S. Prepare for War?

• First, the U.S. needed to build up its armed forces

• Congress did this by passing the Selective Service Act, which required men to register with the government so they could be drafted into service

• This put about 3 million men in uniform

• Women served in non-combat positions

America Turns the Tide

• To prevent loss by German submarine attacks, the U.S. and Britain began using the convoy system, where merchant ships traveled in a large group guarded by naval vessels

• American soldiers helped turn the tide of battle in Europe because of their energy and attitude

Fighting ‘Over There’

• The American Expeditionary Force was led by General John J. Pershing

• American infantrymen were called doughboys b/c of the white belts they wore and cleaned with pipe clay, or ‘dough’

• New weapons like the tank and the airplane played a decisive role in the war

• Pilots went from shooting each other with pistols to using mounted machine guns

• Eddie Rickenbacker was an American ace pilot who shot down 26 enemy planes and fought in 34 air battles

Continued

• New weapons and tactics made World War I very destructive

• Soldiers faced miserable conditions, including filth, trench foot, trench mouth, ‘shell shock’ from constant bombardment, vermin, poison gas, and disease

American Troops Go on the Offensive

• American soldiers arrived in Europe just in time to stop a German advance on Paris

• One soldier, Alvin York, had been a conscientious objector (a person who opposes war on moral grounds), but eventually his actions in battle gained him national celebrity

• Germany, finally exhausted from the war, agreed to an armistice on November 11, 1918

• The war took a bloody toll, killing more than 22 million and causing untold suffering