America and the Great War - Brown's HIST 1302 · Wilson and Foreign Affairs • Intervention in...
Transcript of America and the Great War - Brown's HIST 1302 · Wilson and Foreign Affairs • Intervention in...
Wilson and Foreign Affairs
• Idealistic Diplomacy
– Wilson has no experience in foreign affairs
– Moral idealist, believe US should spread democracy
– Sec of State William Jennings Bryan agrees
Wilson and Foreign Affairs
• Intervention in Mexico– Mexico in 3rd year of revolution
– Tampico incident, leads to “liberating” Veracruz
– 1916 Pancho Villa invades and kills Americans
– Pershing sent after Pancho into Mexico
Wilson and Foreign Affairs
• Other Problems in Latin
America
– Taft promoted dollar
diplomacy in the Caribbean
• encouraging Americans to
invest heavily in their
markets to “buy” their favor
– Countries went into default,
Taft would send troops
– Wilson forced to do the
same…
• Nicaragua 1912 – 1933
• Haiti 1915-1934
• Dominican Republic 1916-
1924
The Eruption of
World War I
• In 1914 when a Serbian
terrorist group
assassinated the crown
prince of Austria.
• Austria makes ridiculous
demands, Russia
mobilized the army to
protect a “sister” nation.
• This triggered a series of
alliances that placed the
Allies (Great Britain,
Russia, and France)
against the Central
Powers (Germany,
Austria-Hungary, and
Italy).
Trench Warfare• Stalemate
– Soldiers “dig-in”
• Casualties high– New technology vs. old tactics
• New weapons of war– Machine guns
– Tanks
– Airplanes
– Flame throwers
– Bayonets
– Grenades
– Pistols
– Poison Gas
FLYBOYS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ejaNRXaQzg
TRENCH WARFARE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeJkpsOqQgc
GAS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASg0H-XsQ5E
The Eruption of World War I
• It was not long before the war deteriorated into trench warfare, with
both sides in a bloody stalemate.
Verdun A landscape image from Verdun, taken immediately after the battle, shows how the firepower ravaged the land.
An Uneasy Neutrality
• Initial Reactions
– At the time the Great War erupted, 30 percent of all Americans
were no more than two generations away from their mother
countries, with 8 million being of German descent.
– Most American leaders were pro-British from the onset.
• A Strained Neutrality
– Both the Central Powers and the Allies looked to the US for food
and war material.
– To finance their needs, France and Great Britain requested loans
from the United States.
– knowing that this violated the neutrality of the United States,
Wilson approved loans to the Allies.
• Over $2 billion given to the Allies, only $27 million given to Germany.
An Uneasy Neutrality• Neutral Rights and Submarines
– Germany would declare area around the British Isles a war zone
– Lusitania, sunk on its way to London, 128 American lives were lost
– Germany ordered its subs to avoid sinking passenger ships
• The Debate over Preparedness
– December 1914, Wilson requested army & navy prepare for war
– allowed Congress to raise the income tax to 2 percent
An Uneasy Neutrality
• The Election of 1916– Roosevelt desired to be the Republican candidate in 1916, but
because of his actions in the 1912 election, the party chose
Charles Hughes.
– The Democrats nominated Wilson again. Running on the slogan
“He kept us out of war!”
An Uneasy Neutrality
• Last Efforts for Peace
– Wilson yet again tried to broker a
peace, to no avail. When
Germany broke its pledge to only
wage restricted submarine
warfare, Wilson countered by
arming merchant ships.
– In February 1917, the
Zimmerman Telegram was
revealed.
– If the Mexican government joined
with the Central Powers and
attack the United States, Mexico
would receive back all the land
that had been taken away.
America’s Entry into the War
• America’s Early Role
– In March 1917, five U.S. merchant
ships were sunk by Germany.
– Wilson asked Congress to recognize
that a state of war existed between
the two nations. Congress agreed.
– The navy’s first role was to protect
shipping convoys from the United
States to Great Britain.
– By providing loans for the Allies,
America reinvigorated the Allies.
– An early detachment of troops led by
John Pershing reached Paris in July
1917. AEF (American
Expeditionary Forces)
America’s Entry into the War
• A New Labor Force – closing off of immigration and the reallocation of 4 million men to
the war effort caused a shortage of workers
– recruiters went to the South and brought back African Americans
– Women also entered the workforce in record numbers
America’s Entry into the War
• Mobilizing a Nation– In order to mobilize the nation, it became necessary to coordinate
different industries under government bureaucracies
• raise the needed funds (war bonds)
• conserve necessary items (rations)
• promoted the growing of their own crops (victory gardens)
America’s Entry into the War
• War
Propaganda– Wilson created the
Committee on
Public Information,
which was
charged with
conveying the
Allies’ war aims to
the American
people and to the
enemy as well, in
an attempt to sap
their morale.
America’s Entry into the War
• Civil Liberties– The war effort soon turned to a witch hunt against German
Americans. Anything German was considered bad: sauerkraut
was called liberty cabbage, German measles were called liberty
measles and dachshunds were renamed liberty pups.
– The Espionage and Sedition Acts resulted in over one thousand
convictions of disloyalty to the Union.
The Home Front
• Enforcing Loyalty
– Trading with Enemy Act – censored publications
– Sedition Act – no speech disloyal to gov’t., flag,
constitution, or armed forces
– Espionage Act – punished guilty for helping the
enemy, hindering recruitment or inciting revolt
– After declaring war Congress passed law that US
mail couldn’t be used to send anything urging:
“treason, insurrection of forcible resistance to any law”
Punishable by $5000 fine and 5 years in prison
America at War
• The Western Front
– American forces did not play a major role until 1918.
– At Belleau Wood and Vaux, Americans gained limited ground, but
the effect on the morale of their fellow Allies was significant
– At the Second Battle of the Marne, a German attack was rolled
back all the way to Belgium.
– The American efforts had allowed the Allies to break the stalemate
that had existed up till then.
Belleau Wood song:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy9lg0aAhlE
Great War special, Christmas truce https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpqVblMPRB4
U.S. Goes to War Battle of Argonne Forest
– goal was capture an important railroad/train station to break German Army in France
– credited for leading to the Armistice
Alvin York– most decorated American soldier in World War I.
– taking 32 machine guns, killing 28 German soldiers and capturing 132 others
America at War
• The Bolsheviks
– At the beginning of the war, Russia was part of the Allies, but in
1917, a revolution led by Vladimir Lenin erupted and the royal
family was killed.
– Known as Bolsheviks, the revolutionaries followed the communist
teachings of Karl Marx.
– Lenin would negotiate a treaty with Germany ending the Soviets’
part in the war, and the eastern front fell silent.
Wilson’s Vision for World PeaceWilson’s 14 Points
The Points What does it mean?
1: “Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, …[so that] diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view.”
2: “Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas…in war and peace”
3: “The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of an equality of trade conditions among all the nations”
4: “National armaments will be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety.”
Wilson’s Vision for World PeaceWilson’s 14 Points
The Points What does it mean?
5: “Impartial adjustment of all colonial claims[;]…the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the [colonial] government.”
6-13: These points deal with the restoration of “occupied territory” to Russia, Belgium, France, Serbia, Romania, and Montenegro. They also call for drawing new borders based on “historically established lines of alliance and nationality.”
(self determination)
14: “A general association of nations must be formed.”
The Fight for Peace
• Domestic Unrest
– While Wilson was in
Europe he would
lose touch with the
people.
– He would alienate
Republicans who by
openly requesting
the citizens only
vote for Dems in the
1918 election.
– When he arrived in
Paris, he found
many allies were not
interested in the
Fourteen Points.
The Fight for Peace
• The League of Nations
– The cornerstone of the Fourteen Points was the League of
Nations, a place where nations would settle their disputes by
diplomacy, not war. When the treaty approving the League was
finished, Wilson returned to a defiant Senate, which refused to
ratify it.
“The League of Nations Argument in a Nutshell”
Jay N. “Ding” Darling’s summation of the League controversy.
The Fight for Peace
• Territory and Reparations
– France demanded Germany pay reparation for the damages the
war had caused.
– Germany was divided into new nations with areas that would
serve as buffer states if they were to become aggressive again.
The Fight for Peace
• Wilson’s Loss at Home
– The Senate still would not ratify the treaty.
– Wilson decided that he would apply pressure on the senators
through their constituents, and he began a whistle-stop tour of the
nation to drum up support.
– Eventually, it would lead to a stroke, which left him paralyzed on
his left side for the rest of his life.
Lurching from War to Peace
• The Spanish Flu
– with the returning soldiers, came a new problem: the Spanish flu.
Before the spring of 1918, 22 million would die globally from this
virulent stain of influenza.
• The Economic Transition
– Without war, workers began to strike for their demands.
– largest was the U.S. Steel strike in 1919, which resulted in
340,000 workers walking off the job.
Lurching from War to Peace
• Racial Friction– The year 1919 was a year of race riots in the United States.
Whites in Longview, Texas, invaded the black side of town to find
a black man who was accused of allegedly dating a white woman.
Washington, D.C., was mobbed by white and black gangs for four
days until soldiers and a rainstorm ended it.
• The Red Scare– The fear that what had occurred in Russia could also occur in the
United States promoted the first Red Scare. Wartime hysteria over
everything German soon found another roost in all things
communist. Militants mailed bombs to prominent members of the
government.