19.2: American Power Tips the Balance

OBEJCTIVE: Understand the US’s contribution to Allied

victory

Franz FerdinandAssassinated

April, 6, 1917US declares war

on Germany

1. The election of 1916 was a (landslide, close-shave, terrible loss) for Wilson.

2. One of the reasons that the US finally went to war with Germany was the ______________ ______, that encouraged Mexico to wage war the US.

3. Germany’s decision in January 1917 to wage unlimited submarine warfare violated the ____________ pledge.

4. WWI was triggered by the assassination of _____________.

5. The Four causes of WWI were:

US Goes to War: CONTEXT

• Jan. 31, 1917: Germany declares unlimited submarine warfare – Sussex Pledge void.

• US arms merchant marine• Mar. 1, 1917: Zimmerman note discovered• April 6, 1917: US declares war • Jan. 8, 1918: Wilson’s Fourteen Points

Address

WILSON’s IDEAL: “war to end war” and “to make the world safe for democracy,” makes an appeal for a new world order of collective security. It would have to be a “peace without victory…a peace among equals.”

SELECTIVE SERVICE ACTPROBLEM: Only 200,000 men in

uniform

SOLUTION: DRAFT OR CONSCRIPT

HOW? Selective Service Act of 1917

• 3 million men drafted• 2 million serve• ¾ see combat• ONLY 9 MONTHS OF TRAINING!!!

"Hell Fighters" From Harlem- the 369th Infantry Division

 Meuse-Argonne, September 26-October 1, 1918. ... On 29 September, the Regiment ". . . stormed powerful enemy positions, . . . took, after heavy fighting, the town of Sechault; captured prisoners and brought back six cannons and a great number of machine guns." Despite heavy casualties, the 369th, called "Hell Fighters" by the French and Germans, relentlessly continued the attack at dawn. Raked by enemy machine guns, they assaulted into the woods northeast of Sechault, flanking and overwhelming enemy machine gun positions. The "Le's Go!" elan and indomitable fighting spirit of the 369th Infantry was illustrated throughout the battle action. Their initiative, leadership and gallantry won for their entire Regiment the French Croix de Guerre.

http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/topics/afam/afam-usa.htm

AMERICA GETS TO THE FIGHTPROBLEM: How to get the troops to

Europe

SOLUTION: 1. Expand shipbuilding2. Use the convoy system against subs3. Mine the North Sea

OUTCOME: 1. Only 100 soldiers lost to u-boats2. Convoys cut Allied losses in half!

http://go.hrw.com/ndNSAPI.nd/gohrw_rls1/pKeywordResults?ST9%20WWI%20Convoy%20System

http://www.usmm.org/ww2.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwone/launch_ani_western_front.shtml

Fighting…”Over there…”• 1917 Russian Revolution w/d from

fight in 1918• Germany focuses on EASTERN FRONT• Spring 1918: Germans w/in 40 miles of

Paris• 30,000 US troops turn tide at Chateau-

Thierry• Pershing directs US forces in Meuse-

Argonne offensive• Argonne Forest: 120,000 KIA/casualties • US “tactics” lead to high casualties

THE TIDE TURNS•AEF arrives just in time to stop

German advance on Paris (after defeating Russia)

AEF CASUALTIES:•48,000 killed•62,000 die of disease•200,000 wounded

http://www.diggerhistory.info/images/trenches/turks-trench-anzac.jpg

noviomagus.tripod.com

TRENCH WARFARE

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/worldwarone/hq/wfront1_02.shtml

http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/machineguns.htm

MACHINE GUN

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/gabrmetz/wwi_tank.gif

http://home.hccnet.nl/h.van.oerle/landshp/landshp2.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/worldwarone/hq/wfront2_02.shtml

THE TANK

ARTILLERY

http://www.worldwar1.com/heritage/bbertha.htm

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/preservation/dav1/images1/pg217.jpg

14 inch US naval guns, mounted on railcar to silence “Big Bertha”

GAS

•Germans first use gas at Ypres in 1915•Allies retaliate•Delivered by artillery

TYPES:Chlorine GasMustard Gas

http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/Heller/images/hellerp81.jpg

http://www.pilotfriend.com/century-of-flight/Aviation%20history/airplane%20at%20war/images/17a.jpg

WAR IN THE AIR: Zeppelins & Biplanes

LEADERS AND HEREOSAlvin York Eddie Rickenbacker

US’s WWI Ace: shot down 26 planes

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-468/p31.jpg

http://www.acepilots.com/wwi/fokker_dri.jpg

“Red Baron” von Richthofen

German Ace:Shot down 80 planes

York and 17 other men captured 132 German prisoners on October 8, 1918

Company KA U.S. soldier of Company K, 110th Infantry Regiment, receives aid during fighting at Verennes, France. (National Archives)

Company K

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/worldwarone/hq/wfront1_02.shtml

"The Prisoners and the Wounded," October, 1918 by Harvey Dunn

Harvey Dunn's 1918 painting (detail) of weary soldiers in the First World War captures the misery of frontline battle. (Smithsonian Institute, Division of Political History, Washington, D.C.)

"The Prisoners and the Wounded," October, 1918 by Harvey Dunn

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

MEDICAL CARE

•Dirt, mud, filth•Lice, rats, dirty water•Poison gas•Decaying bodies•“shell shock”•Trench foot•Great Flu Pandemic of 1918(20-40 million dead world-wide)

THE COLLAPSE OF GERMANY• Nov. 3, 1918: German sailors mutiny• Nov. 9. 1918: Berlin rebels• The Kaiser flees to the NetherlandsCEASEFIRE: 11th hour, 11th day, 11th

month

FINAL TOLL: 4 years of fighting, involving 30 nations26 million dead ( half are civilians)20 million wounded10 million refugeesCOST= $350,000,000,000