Chapter 8 Section 1-3 Notes
Rivalries among European nations led to the outbreak of war in 1914.
War names
- The Great War
- The War to End All Wars
Causes of the War
- Nationalism
- Imperialism
- Militarism
- Alliances
Triple Alliance aka Central Powers
- Austria-Hungary
- Germany
- Ottoman Empire
- Italy (switches sides)
- Bulgaria
Triple Entente aka Allie Powers
- Serbia- Italy
- Russia- Great Britain
- France
- United States
War Breaks Out
- Austria-Hungary controlled Bosnia.
- Serbia was trying to get Bosnia to revolt against Austria-Hungary.
- Franz Ferdinand is the heir to the Austria-Hungary throne & he was assassinated in Sarajevo.
- The Serbian government had supplied the assassins with bombs and weapons.
- Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for Ferdinand’s murder on June 28, 1914.
- Black Hand: Serbian group that assassinated Ferdinand.
- Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
Schlieffen Plan
- Count Alfred von Schlieffen: German military leader
- Defeat France quickly and stall the Russians
- After France falls, turn both armies on Russia
- Failure of the Plan resulted in trenches being built in a flanking of each other in a “race to the sea” causing a stalemate. The German army was split into two fighting forces. Eastern & Western Front.
- French soldiers fought old style of war, wore red uniforms and swords.
- Germansused camouflage & used machine guns.
Trenches were dug to protect soldiers from enemy fire
- These trenches stretched for some 400 miles
- This type of fighting is known as trench warfare
Trench warfare created a stalemate, or deadlock
- Both the Allies and theCentral Powers begin looking for new ways to gain an advantage.
- Barbed wire lined the trenches making it hard to cross the battlefield
New Weapons
- Poison gas
- Machine gun
- Flame thrower
- Grenade launcher
- Tanks
- Big Bertha
- Zepplin
- Red Baron
- German Pilot who shot down 80 Allied planes before he was shot down in 1918.
- Painted his aircraft RED so the enemy could see him coming.
The United States in World War I
- The United States helped turn the tide for an Allied victory in Europe.
- Americans not interested in the war until the sinking of the Lusitania.
- Wilson’s policy of isolationism - to not being involved in foreign affairs.
- Supported by most Americans
- American Concerns
- a. Germany’s war tactics
- b. Germany’s invasion of Belgium.
U.S. had greater political, cultural, and commercial ties to Great Britain and France than Germany.
- Britain was purchasing nearly $75 million worth of war goods from U. S. business each week.
- Germany suffered under the British blockade.
Germany fought back with the U-boats. (unterseeboot)
1915, Germany announced that the waters around GB would be a WAR ZONE.
- Germany warned the U.S. that neutral ships might be attacked as well.
- The German plan for unrestricted submarine warfare angered Americans, and Wilson believed it violated the laws of neutrality.
- 1915, Germany sank a luxury passenger ship to Great Britain called the Lusitania, killing many, including 128 Americans.
Wilson called for an end to unrestricted submarine warfare.
Germans
- agreed to attack only supply ships
- later sink the French passenger ship Sussex, killing 80
Sussex Pledge- Germany promised not to sink merchant vessels “without warning and without saving human lives.”
Zimmerman Note
- Telegraph from Germany to Mexico pledging a secret alliance if the United States joined the Allies.
- The Mexicans declined, but the British decoded the note, and Americans call for war.
April 6, 1917, the United States joined the Allies.
- - Needs to raise an army
- - Train soldiers
- - Transport supplies & soldiers
Wilson’s reason for going to war was to “MAKE THE WORLD SAFE FOR DEMOCRACY.”
Raising an Army
- Selective Service Act (1917)
- Men between the ages of 21 and 30 had to register for the draft.
- "Black Jack" Pershing led the AmericanExpeditionary Force in World War I.
- General Pershing wanted his soldiers to be well trained.
- Wanted US soldiers under US command
- Blacks– were in segregated units & not allowed in the navy, the marines, or to pilot planes
- Mostly noncombatant roles
Alvin York - was a U. S. soldier, famous for both his being a conscientious objector and hero in World War I.
- Shipyard workers were not drafted.
- Fabrication: assembly line method of ship-building.
- U.S. troops arrived in France in 1917 through a convoy system. (used for protection)
- Convoy’s reduced the number of ships sunk and limited the loss of troops and supplies.
Armistice - the end of a war, when the warring parties agree to stop fighting.
- Late 1918 the war was crippling the German economy: many civilians lacked food and supplies.
Germany forced to:
- leave all territories it had occupied
- surrender its aircraft, heavy artillery, tanks, and U-boats
- Allow Allied troops to occupy some German territory.
On November 11, 1918, the armistice went into effect.
- Everyone hoped that the Great War would be the “war to end all wars.”
- "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month."
- Limeys: nickname for British soldiers
- Doughboys: nickname for the American soldiers
Paying for the War
- War Revenue Act of 1917
- - Established very high taxes
- - Taxed the wealthiest Americans as much as 77% of their annual incomes.
Liberty Bonds
- - loan from the American people to Regulating Industry
- 1. War Industries Board (WIB)
regulated all materials needed in the war effort.
- C. Regulating Food
- Food Administration slogan was “Food Can Win the War.”
Conserving Food
Victory Gardens: private gardens which allowed farmers to ship food to soldiers.
Special days of week to go “less” in order to send food to Americansoldiers
- “Meatless” Mondays
- “Wheatless” Wednesdays
- “Sweetless” Saturdays
National War Labor Board
- 1. Judged disputes between workers and management
- 2. 8 hour work day
- 3. Urged businesses to recogniz labor unions
- 4. Promoted equal pay for women
Women’s War Efforts
- 1. Women moved into jobs that where traditional for men
- 2. Red Cross: volunteered as nurses in Europe
- 3. Almost all women lost their jobs when the men returned home
Influenza Epidemic on the home front
- 1. Killed 500,000 Americans
- 2. Killed 40 million world wide
“shell shock”: battle fatigue and emotional breakdown
trench foot: toes would rot due to wet socks and boots
The Great Migration:
- 1. 1 million blacks moved from the South to cities in the North
- 2. Reasons:
- a. racism
- b. crop failures
- c. jobs in the factories in the North
Propaganda
- 1. Information given by the gov’t. to make people think a certain way
- 2. Posters, newspaper stories, speeches
- 3. Created Hate of Germans in US
- Anti-German; many were fired, beaten or lynched
Espionage and Sedition Acts:
- - suspended the 1st Amendment rights for anyone who protested the government or the war
- - could be fine up to $10,000 and/or sentences to 20 years in prison
Treaty of VersaillesFourteen Points:
- Wilson’s plan for world peace
- 2. Rejected by the Allies b/c it did not punish Germany
- League of Nations
- organization of countries to discuss problems to prevent war
- - The only part of Wilson’s 14 points that was adopted
GERMANY MUST PAY
- Demilitarizationreduce the military
- Pay Reparations $33 billion to England and France for war damages
- War-guilt ClauseGermany had to admit it caused the war
Impact of WWI
- PoliticalOverthrew of the monarchies in Russia, Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire.
- EconomicU.S. emerged as the world’s leading economic power.
German Problems
- Germany could not afford to pay the reparations.
- Germany sank into a deep economic depression.
- Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party take control of the German government.
- Blamed Jews and Socialists for the economic depression.