American History II: Note Set #17: The US Enters WWI

The US Gears Up for War

  • The Selective Service Act (1917)
  • Required all men between ages 21 and 30 to register for the draft
  • Candidates were drafted through a lottery system and then either accepted or rejected for service by a local draft board
  • About 2.8 million Americans were drafted, while another 2 million volunteered
  • African-American Troops
  • Nearly 400,000 African Americans were drafted to serve overseas
  • They had to serve in segregated units under white officers and faced racial discrimination
  • Still, many, such as the “Harlem Hell Fighters,” served with distinction, even winning medals
  • The War Industries Board (WIB)
  • Created by Congress in July 1917
  • The WIB was tasked with efficiently managing US industry in the manufacture of war materials
  • The WIB controlled what products were made in US factories
  • Food Administration
  • Led by Herbert Hoover (who would later become US President)
  • Responsible for increasing food production and reducing food consumption
  • Encouraged families to grow their own food in “victory gardens” and to observe “Wheatless Mondays” & “Meatless Tuesdays”
  • Fuel Administration
  • To conserve fuel, Daylight Savings Time was created and Americans were asked to observe Heatless Mondays
  • Factories not making war materials had their workweeks shortened
  • Paying for the War
  • The US spent $32 billion on the war
  • Congress raised income taxes and created new taxes on corporations to generate revenue
  • US also borrowed $20 billion from American citizens through the sale of Liberty Bonds or Victory Bonds

US Troops Arrive in Europe

  • The “doughboys” (nickname of unknown origin for US soldiers) of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) arrived in France in July 1917, commanded by General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing

Fighting the War

  • Trench warfare
  • The competing armies had dug a network of trenches (deep protective ditches) along the Western Front in which soldiers lived, worked and fought
  • Living conditions were poor, many soldiers suffered from diseases such as trenchfoot
  • “No Man’s Land”
  • The devastated area between the opposing armies’ trench lines where everything had been destroyed
  • Soldiers would come out of the trenches and race toward the enemy while fully exposed to enemy fire
  • New Weapons
  • Machine Guns
  • Artillery
  • Poison gas
  • Germans introduced the use of chemical gasses as weapons
  • These gasses could burn the skin, blind, or destroy the lungs if breathed in
  • Fortunately, gas masks and rubber chemical suits offered some protection
  • Tanks
  • Airplanes
  • U-boats (submarines)
  • Hand Grenades
  • Land Mines
  • Russia Pulls Out of the War
  • Two revolutions in Russia in 1917 (the first one democratic, the second one communist) ousted Czar Nicholas II
  • The new communist Russian government negotiated a separate peace with Germany and withdrew Russia from the conflict, closing the Eastern Front
  • American Victories
  • Summer 1918: US forces successfully defended Paris from a German attack
  • Fall 1918: US forces began the Battle of Argonne Forest, which would eventually shatter Germany’s fighting abilities

The War Ends

  • Revolt broke out in Austria and the Ottomans surrendered to the Triple Entente, leaving Germany alone to fight
  • After a mutiny broke out in the German navy and the people of Berlin erupted in riots over food shortages in Nov. 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II stepped down as Germany’s leader, clearing the way for an armistice
  • After a brief negotiation, WWI ended at 11 AM, Nov. 11, 1918

Wilson’s Fourteen Points

  • President Wilson presented his plan for resolving the war; his plan sought to stabilize Europe and resolve the root problems that had started the war
  • Britain and France rejected Wilson’s plan in favor of punishing Germany with harsh reparations (fines)
  • Points 1 - 5
  • Ban secret alliances
  • Respect freedom of the seas
  • Remove all barriers to trade (tariffs)
  • Everyone reduce the size of their military
  • Stop colonization, respect the rights of native peoples
  • Points 6 - 13
  • Specified the creation of new states in Europe (such as Poland) and redrew the boundaries of Europe
  • Also promoted self-determination for various European ethnic states
  • Point 14: The League of Nations
  • Create a “League of Nations” to help preserve peace and prevent future wars by offering a forum for resolving international disputes
  • The only one of Wilson’s 14 Points to be accepted by Europe

The Treaty of Versailles

  • Signed in June 1919, the Treaty officially ended WWI
  • Germany was forced to accept all blame for WWI
  • Germany had to pay reparations of $33 billion
    ($350 billion in today’s money)
  • Germany could only have a limited military
  • Germany had to give up territory to France & Poland
  • Germany had to give up its overseas colonies
  • Germans signed – but were furious over the terms
  • Congress Rejects the Treaty
  • US Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles because of strong opposition to joining the League of Nations – many feared that joining the League would mean giving up our right to decide our own foreign policies, while others saw the League as the type of “foreign entanglement” that Washington had warned the US to stay out of
  • US never signed the Treaty or joined the League, returned to a policy of isolationism