Chapter 9 Part 2= World War I (1914-1918)
(p. 320-353)
MAIN IDEAS / NOTESReasons the US Goes to War / 1.) May 7, 1915 = ______
- British passenger ship
- 1200 people, including 128 Americans died
- Wilson demanded that Germany stop their attacks on civilian ships
- Feb. 1916 = Germany apologized
______
- US was very upset
- German U-boat sunk the Sussex, an unarmed French liner, on March 24, 1916
______
- Germany anticipated that this would bring the US into the war but hoped that they could force the Allies to surrender by the time the US forces had mobilized
- A telegraph from the German minister, Arthur Zimmerman, to Mexico was intercepted
______
- Germany would help Mexico reclaim land in Southwest USA
- Czar Nicholas II overthrown
- People were protesting heavy losses in WW I
- Upset about the shortage of food and fuel
- Russia set up a Provisional Government and called for democratic reforms
- Made it easier for the US to support the Allies if Russia didn’t have a czar who denied his people democracy
US Goes to War / 1.) ______
- April 2, 1917 = Congress voted 455 to 56
- Jeanette Rankin (Montana) – first woman elected to Congress voted against war
- April 6, 1917 = President Wilson signs the declaration of war
US Military Prepares /
- US army had 126,000 men at the start of the war
a.) ______
- 1918 = all 18 to 45 year olds were drafted
- 24 million males registered for the draft
- At the end of the war, US armed forces had almost 5 million men and women
- 2 ¾ million men had been drafted
- 25% of the troops were illiterate
- Army educated soldiers on reading, nutrition and hygiene
- Fueled a drive to reform public education
- 1920 = 75% of school-age children were in school
- “black only” units with white officers
a.) ______
- 30,000 US women served in the war
Managing the War Effort / 1.) ______
a.) ______
- Allied armies and people in Europe faced food shortages and starvation
- “Food Will Win the War”
- Farmers grew more crops
- Didn’t ration food; instead he encouraged voluntary cooperation to conserve food
- “victory gardens” = personal vegetable gardens
- “wheatless Mondays / meatless Tuesdays”/ “porkless Thursdays”
a.) ______
- Lightless nights and gasless days
- Daylight Savings Time
- At beginning of the war, the US military had only 600,000 rifles, 2000 machine guns and less than 1000 artillery
a.) ______
______
- Women’s blouse factories made signal flags
- Radiator manufacturers made guns
- Automobile factories made airplane engines
- Piano companies made airplane wings
c.) ______
4.) ______
a.) ______
- Settled disputes with unions over working hours and wages
- Helped set up an 8 hour work day for some industries
- Established standards of employment for women and children
a.) ______
- “Four Minute Men” – gave speeches about making sacrifices to support the war effort
- 1/2 of what the US spent on the war
- Bonds and taxes helped to pay for $30 billion of what the US used during the war
- However, they also pushed the US further into debt
US Home Front / 1.) ______
- 16% of the male workforce left to fight
- 1 million women worked in war industries and made up 1/5th of the workforce
- Assembled weapons and airplanes
- Mailmen, police officers, truck drivers, railroad engineers
- Women were paid less than men but it was still better than the wages women earned during peacetime
- Helped to change the view that women were only fit for “women’s work”
- When men returned, women had to give up these jobs
- Women also volunteered to help the Red Cross and other groups
- Newspapers questions German American loyalties
- German families changed their names
- In Britain, the royal family changed their surname from House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to House of Windsor
- German Americans were attacked by mobs in the US
- Sauerkraut = liberty cabbage and German measles = liberty measles
- ½ million African Americans from the South and thousands of Mexican Americans from the SW
- moved North to work in factories
- Created competition for jobs and houses
- “Red Summer” in Chicago
- a black youth was drowned when he was hit by a rock while swimming at a white beach
- riots ensued and 38 people were killed
______
- After the war the US tried to force Mexican workers to return to Mexico
Opposition to the War / 1.) ______
- Pacifists refuse to fight in any war because they believe that war is evil
- Socialists believed that the war only benefited the factory owners and not the workers
a.) ______
- Made it illegal to interfere with the draft, help the enemy or encourage mutiny in the military
- Postmaster general could refuse to carry mail that might help the enemy
- 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine
- Made it illegal to criticize the US government or military
- It was also illegal to discourage the sale of war bonds
- Imprisonment or fine
- 1600 men and women were arrested
- Euguene V. Debs jailed for protesting the draft (Socialist candidate for president 5 times)
- “Big Bill” Haywood – head of the International Workers of the World ( IWW or the Wobblies)
- IWW believed that workers should seize control of the industries
- Schenk had distributed anti-draft pamphlets
- Supreme Court ruled that the Sedition Acts were unconstitutional because the right of free speech was not absolute
- Said that criticism that threatened the war effort should be suppressed
- Abrams had distributed pamphlets that attacked the government’s sending troops to Russia; also called for a strike
- His conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court
- The Court said there was no immediate threat to the war effort
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