1 war breaks out in europe - edl main idea why it matters now war breaks out in europe terms&...

ONE AMERICAN’S STORY While the United States was forming its own empire,

European nations were competing to expand their empires.

Rivalry poisoned relationships among these nations. In the

spring of 1914, tensions were running high in Europe.

President Woodrow Wilson sent Colonel Edward M. House,

his trusted advisor, to study the situation.

House gave the president a troubling report. He

compared Europe to an open keg of gunpowder. “It only

requires a spark,” he said, “to set the whole thing off.”

Soon the spark ignited. On June 28, 1914, a young Serbian

man shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The

archduke was the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary.

One month later, Austria declared war on Serbia. One by

one, the nations of Europe chose sides and the Great War,

later called World War I, began.

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MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW

War Breaks Outin EuropeWar Breaks Outin Europe

TERMS & NAMESmilitarism

Central Powers

Allies

trench warfare

U-boat

Woodrow Wilson

neutrality

Zimmermanntelegram

After World War I broke out, theUnited States eventually joined the Allied side.

This was the first time that theUnited States was involved in aEuropean conflict.

Archduke FranzFerdinand and hiswife are murderedat Sarajevo onJune 28, 1914.

Causes of World War IA single action, the assassination of the archduke, started World War I.But the conflict had many underlying causes.

1. Imperialism. Britain, France, Germany, and Italy competed forcolonies in Africa and Asia. Because it had fewer colonies thanBritain and France, Germany felt it deserved more colonies to pro-vide it with resources and buy its goods.

2. Nationalism. Europeans were very nationalistic, meaning thatthey had strong feelings of pride, loyalty, and protectiveness towardtheir own countries. They wanted to prove their nations were thebest. They placed their countries’ interests above all other concerns.In addition, some ethnic groups hoped to form their own separatenations and were willing to fight for such a cause.

3. Militarism. The belief that a nation needs a large military force ismilitarism. In the decades before the war, the major powers builtup their armies and navies.

4. Alliances In 1914, a tangled network of competing alliances boundEuropean nations together. An attack on one nation forced all itsallies to come to its aid. Any small conflict could become a larger war.

European nations had divided into two opposing alliances. The CentralPowers were made up of Austria-Hungary, Germany, the OttomanEmpire, and Bulgaria. They faced the Allied Powers, or Allies, consistingof Serbia, Russia, France, Great Britain, Italy, and seven other countries.

Stalemate in the TrenchesWhen the war began in August, most people on both sides assumed itwould be over within a few months. With France as its goal, the Germanarmy invaded Belgium on August 4, 1914. Despite stiff resistance, theGermans fought their way west into France. They reached the MarneRiver about 40 miles from Paris. There the French, supported by theBritish, rallied and prepared to fight back. The First Battle of theMarne, in September 1914, stopped the German advance.

Instead of one side quickly defeating the other, the two sides stayedstuck in the mud for more than three years. The soldiers were fightinga new kind of battle, trench warfare. Troops huddled at the bottom ofrat-infested trenches. They fired artillery and machine guns at eachother. Lines of trenches stretched across France from the EnglishChannel to the border with Switzerland. (See pages 684–685 for an

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A T L A N T I CO C E A N

N o r t hS e a

B l a c kS e a

Balt i cSea

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42°N

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FRANCE

ITALY

SP.MOROCCO GREECE

G E R M A N Y

ROMANIA

BULGARIA

ALBANIA

MONTENEGRO

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

O T T O M A NE M P I R E

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Madrid

Berlin

Vienna

Sarajevo

Rome

Paris

London

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AlliesCentral PowersNeutral Nations

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A Divided Europe, Summer 1914

GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER Interpreting Maps1. Location What neutral countries were landlocked in the heart of Europe?2. Region Which country covered the greatest amount of land, including

territory in both Europe and Asia?

BackgroundThe OttomanEmpire includedmodern-dayTurkey and Syria.

Vocabularytrench: a long,deep ditch dugfor protection

SkillbuilderAnswers1. Switzerland2. Russia

A. Reading aMap On the mapon page 688, findthe site of thefirst Battle of theMarne.

June 28 Archduke FranzFerdinand is assassinated.

July 28 Austria-Hungarydeclares war on Serbia.

July 30 Russia (Serbia’s ally)mobilizes armed forces.

August 1 Germany (Austria-Hungary’s ally) declares waron Russia.

August 3 Germany declareswar on France (Russia’s ally);prepares to invade Belgium.

August 4 Britain, havingpledged to protect Belgium,declares war on Germany.

August 6 Austria-Hungarydeclares war on Russia.

August 12 France andBritain declare war onAustria-Hungary.

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New Technology of War

B. Reading a MapFind the site ofthe Battle ofthe Somme onthe map onpage 688.

BackgroundU-boat was shortfor “underseaboat.”

illustration of the trenches.) For more than three years, the battle linesremained almost unchanged. Neither side could win a clear victory.

In the trenches, soldiers faced the constant threat of sniper fire. Artilleryshelling turned the area between the two opposing armies into a “no man’sland” too dangerous to occupy. When soldiers left their trenches to attackenemy lines, they rushed into a hail of bullets and clouds of poison gas.

When battles did take place, they cost many thousands of lives, oftenwithout gaining an inch for either side. The Battle of the Somme(SAHM), between July and November 1916, resulted in more than 1.2million casualties. British dead or wounded numbered over 400,000.German losses totaled over 600,000, and French nearly 200,000.Despite this, the Allies gained only about seven miles.

A War of New TechnologyNew technology raised the death toll. The tank, a British invention,smashed through barbed wire, crossed trenches, and cleared paths throughno man’s land. Soldiers also had machine guns that fired 600 bullets aminute. Poison gas, used by both sides, burned and blinded soldiers.

World War I was the first major conflict in which airplanes were usedin combat. By 1917, fighter planes fought each other far above theclouds. Manfred von Richthofen, known as the Red Baron, wasGermany’s top ace. An ace was an aviator who had downed five or moreenemy aircraft. Von Richthofen shot down over 80 enemy planes.

At sea, the Germans used submarines, which they called U-boats, toblock trade. They were equipped with both guns and torpedoes. GermanU-boats sank over 11 million tons of Allied shipping.

PoisonGas

Tank

First used effectively during WorldWar I, these new weapons causedhigh casualties.

Airplane

MachineGun

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America’s Path to WarWhen the war started in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson announceda policy of neutrality, refusing to take sides in the war. A popular song,“I Didn’t Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier,” expressed the antiwar senti-ment of many Americans.

Over time, however, German attacks shifted public opinion to theAllied cause. In the fall of 1914, Britain set up a naval blockade ofGerman ports, seizing all goods bound for Germany. In response,German submarines sank all Allied merchant ships they found off theBritish coast. In May 1915, a German U-boat torpedoed the Britishpassenger ship Lusitania, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans.The sinking turned many Americans against Germany.

But President Wilson kept the United States neutral. He demandedthat the German government halt unrestricted submarine warfare, andit agreed. In the election of 1916, the Democratic Party’s campaign slo-gan, “He kept us out of war,” appealed to voters. Wilson won reelection.

Desperate to defeat Britain, Germany resumed unrestricted subma-rine warfare at the end of January 1917. Its military leaders knew thisaction would bring the United States into the war. However, they hopedto win the war before the Americans arrived.

The next month, another blow to German-American relations camefrom the Zimmermann telegram. The telegram was discovered by theBritish, who passed it on to the Americans. In it, Arthur Zimmermann,the German foreign minister, told the German ambassador in Mexico topropose that Mexico join the Germans. In exchange, Germany wouldhelp Mexico get back its “lost” territories of Texas, New Mexico, andArizona. Americans were furious.

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C. MakingInferences Whydid the sinking of the Lusitaniaturn Americansagainst Germany?C. PossibleResponsesbecauseAmericans died in the attack;because it wascruel to attack an unarmed passenger ship

The British linerLusitania is sunk offthe Irish coast by aGerman submarineon May 7, 1915.

In March, German submarines sank three Americanships. President Wilson asked for a declaration of war.

A VOICE FROM THE PAST

The world must be made safe for democracy. . . . We desire noconquest. . . . We are but one of the champions of the rights ofmankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made. . . secure.

Woodrow Wilson, message to Congress, April 2, 1917

Six senators and 50 representatives, including the first woman inCongress, Jeannette Rankin of Montana, voted against going to war. Butthe majority shared the president’s commitment to join the Allies.

Revolution in RussiaEvents in Russia made U.S. entry into the war more urgent for the Allies.By early 1915, the huge Russian army had been outfought by a smallerGerman army led by better-trained officers. In August 1915, CzarNicholas II insisted on taking control of the troops himself. His poorleadership was blamed for more deaths. By 1917, food shortages led toriots, and soaring inflation led to strikes by angry workers in Russia.

In March 1917, Czar Nicholas II was forced to step down. A tempo-rary government continued the unpopular war until November. In thatmonth the Bolsheviks, a communist group led by Vladimir Ilich Lenin,took power. Communism is a political system in which the governmentowns key parts of the economy, and there is no private property.

Because the war had devastated Russia, Lenin at once began peacetalks with Germany. In March 1918, Russia withdrew from the war bysigning the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. German troops could now turnfrom Russia to the Western front. The Allies urged American troops tocome quickly, as you will read in the next section.

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2. Taking NotesWrite at least four eventsthat brought the UnitedStates into World War I.

Which of these events wasmost important? Why?

3. Main Ideasa. What were the long-termcauses of World War I?

b. Why were Americansdivided over the issue ofremaining neutral?

c. Why was Russia’s with-drawal from the war in 1917a blow to Allies?

4. Critical ThinkingAnalyzing Causes Howdid imperialism, nationalism,and militarism work to rein-force each other?

THINK ABOUT• the goals of each• how nationalism might

encourage military buildup• how nationalism

contributed to the race for colonies

1. Terms & NamesExplain the

significance of:• militarism• Central Powers• Allies• trench warfare• U-boat• Woodrow Wilson• neutrality• Zimmermann

telegram

Section Assessment

ACTIVITY OPTIONS

SCIENCEART

Research one of the new weapons of World War I. Explain how it works using a model, or draw an illustrated diagram of a defense against the weapon.

1

Event 3

Event 2Event 11914

Event 41917

“The worldmust be madesafe fordemocracy.”

Woodrow Wilson

D. Answer Itsarmy was losing,its economy wasruined, the warwas unpopular,and a revolutionbrought a newgovernment.

D. AnalyzingCauses What ledRussia to pull outof the war?

686 CHAPTER 24

22 America Joins the FightAmerica Joins the Fight TERMS & NAMESJohn J. Pershing

AmericanExpeditionaryForce

convoy system

Second Battle of the Marne

Alvin York

armistice

ONE AMERICAN’S STORYEddie Rickenbacker was America’s most famous flying

ace. He was one of the first Americans to get a look at

the trenches from the cockpit of an airplane. The date

was March 6, 1918. It was, recalled Rickenbacker, the first

flyover of the battlefield by a “made-in-America

Squadron.” What Rickenbacker saw shocked him.


[T]here appeared to be nothing below but these oldbattered ditches . . . and billions of shell holes. . . . [N]ot atree, a fence . . . nothing but . . . ruin and desolation. Thewhole scene was appalling.

Eddie Rickenbacker, Fighting the Flying Circus

Rickenbacker went on to distinguished service as a

wartime aviator. As you will read in this section, he and

other U.S. soldiers helped the Allies win the war.

Raising an Army and a NavyThe U.S. Army was not ready for war. American fighting forces con-sisted of fewer than 200,000 soldiers, many of them recent recruits. Tomeet its need for troops, the government began a draft. This system ofchoosing people for forced military service was first used during the CivilWar. In May 1917, Congress passed the Selective Service Act. This actrequired all males between the ages of 21 and 30 to sign up for militaryservice. By the end of 1918, nearly 3 million men had been drafted.

About 2 million American soldiers went to France. They served underGeneral John J. Pershing as the American Expeditionary Force, or AEF.British commanders asked the U.S. government to have AEF troops joinexisting French and British combat units. Wilson refused. He believedthat having “distinct and separate” American combat units would guaran-tee the United States a major role in the peace talks at war’s end. MostU.S. troops fought separately, but some fought under Allied command.

U.S. forces helped the Allies winWorld War I.

For the first time, the United Statesasserted itself as a world power.


An American guncrew advancesagainst Germanpositions in 1918.The ruin that Rick-enbacker describedis apparent.

A. Finding MainIdeas How didwomen serve inthe U.S. armedforces?A. Answer asclerical workers,nurses, inter-preters, switch-board operators,entertainers, andambulance drivers

Close to 50,000 American women also served in World War I. Somevolunteered for overseas duty with the American Red Cross. However,for the first time in American history, women also served in the military.The Navy, desperate for clerical workers, took about 12,000 female vol-unteers. The Marine Corps accepted 305 female recruits, known asMarinettes. Over 1,000 women went overseas for the Army. Nursesmade up the largest group of females in the armed forces. However,women also acted as interpreters, operated switchboards, entertainedtroops, and drove ambulances for the AEF.

Around 400,000 African Americans served in the armed forces. Morethan half of them served in France. As they had at home, African-American troops overseas faced discrimination. However, it came fromwhite American soldiers rather than from their European allies. At first,the Army refused to take black draftees. However, responding to pres-sure from African-American groups, the military eventually created twoAfrican-American combat divisions.

American Ships Make a DifferenceIn the first years of the war, German U-boat attacks on supply shipswere a serious threat to the Allied war effort. American Rear AdmiralWilliam S. Sims convinced the Allies to adopt a system of protection. Ina convoy system, a heavy guard of destroyers escorted merchant shipsacross the Atlantic in groups. Begun in May 1917, this strategy quicklyreduced the loss rate.

Another American tactic gave the Allies added protection from theU-boat menace. Beginning in June 1918, the Allies laid a barrier of70,000 mines in the North Sea. The 180-mile-long minefield made U-boat access to the North Atlantic almost impossible. Admiral Simscalled the North Sea minefield “one of the wonders of the war.”

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The battleship New Jersey ispictured incamouflage, or disguise,around 1918.

Vocabularymines: hiddenexplosive devices

destroyer

submarine

merchant ship

cruiser

Convoy System

American Troops Enter the WarBy the time the first American troops arrived in France in June 1917, theAllies had been at war for almost three years. The small force of 14,000Yanks boosted the morale of the battle-weary Allies. However, almost ayear would pass before the bulk of the American troops landed in Europe.

After their Russian opponents withdrew from the war, the Germansand the other Central Powers prepared to finish the fight in France. InMarch 1918, the Germans launched an offensive to end the war beforethe Americans arrived in force. Within two months, they had smashedthrough the French lines, reaching the Marne River only 50 miles fromParis. Just in time, in May 1918, one million fresh American troopsarrived ready for action.

On May 28, American soldiers attacked the French town of Cantigny(kahn•tee•NYEE), which was occupied by the Germans. The soldiersadvanced into the town, blasting enemy soldiers out of trenches anddragging them from cellars. Within two hours, the Yanks had takencontrol of Cantigny. The American victory lifted Allied morale.

When the Germans moved against the town of Château-Thierry(shah•toh•tyeh•REE), the Americans held their ground. They helped theFrench stop the German advance. Encouraged by these successes, FrenchGeneral Ferdinand Foch, commander of the Allied forces, orderedGeneral Pershing’s American forces to retake Belleau (beh•LOH) Wood.

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Som me R.

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Ypres, 1st battle, 19142nd battle, 19153rd battle, 1917

Cantigny, 1918

Belleau Wood, 1918

Château-Thierry, 1918 St. Mihiel, 1918

Verdun,1916

Meuse-Argonne,1918

Marne, 1st battle, 1914

Marne, 2nd battle, 1918

Somme, 1916

ARGONNEFOREST

Brussels

Lille

Metz

Paris

Amiens

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Deepest German advance, July 18, 1918Allied drive, late summer and autumn 1918Armistice line, November 1918Major battle sites, 1914–1918

The Western Front, 1914–1918

GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER Interpreting Maps1. Location What three battles occurred closest to the Armistice line?2. Movement In what two directions did the Allied drives move?

BackgroundAmerican soldierswere also calleddoughboys. Thisterm was usedeven during theCivil War.

SkillbuilderAnswers1. Meuse-Argonne,Verdun, St. Mihiel2. east and north

This was a forest near the Marne River well defended by German troops.American soldiers succeeded, but at a fearful cost. One unit lost 380 ofits 400 men. However, the Americans had proved themselves in combat.

Pushing the Germans BackThe Second Battle of the Marne in the summer of 1918 was the turningpoint of the war. It began with a German drive against the French line.During three days of heavy fighting, about 85,000 Americans helped theAllies halt the German advance. The Allies then took the initiative. Theycut the enemy off from its supply lines and forced the Germans back.

For the rest of the war, the Allies advanced steadily. By earlySeptember, the Germans had lost all the territory they had gained sincethe spring. September 26, 1918, marked the beginning of the finalMeuse-Argonne (myooz•ahr•GAHN) offensive. Around 1.2 millionU.S. soldiers took part in a massive drive to push back the German linebetween the Argonne Forest and the Meuse River. The war’s final battleleft 26,000 Americans dead. But by November, theGermans were retreating.

The Meuse-Argonne offensive made a hero ofAmerican soldier Alvin York. At first, Tennessee-bornSergeant York seemed an unlikely candidate for militaryfame. Because of his religious beliefs, he tried unsuc-cessfully to avoid the draft. He refused to bear arms onreligious grounds. An army captain convinced him tochange his mind. In October 1918, in the ArgonneForest, York attacked German machine gunners, killing25 of them. Other German soldiers surrendered, andYork returned to the American lines with 132 captives.

Another American hero was pilot Eddie Rickenbacker.He won fame as the U.S. “ace of aces” for shooting downa total of 26 enemy planes. Just before the Meuse-Argonne offensive, he attacked seven German planes,sending two of them crashing to the ground. Thisaction won him the Medal of Honor.

Four African-American combatunits also received recognition fortheir battlefield valor. Fightingunder French commanders, the369th, 371st, and 372nd regiments(and part of the 370th) wereawarded France’s highest honor,the Croix de Guerre. The 369thspent more continuous time onthe front lines than any otherAmerican unit. Although underintense fire for 191 days, it neverlost a foot of ground.

B. RecognizingEffects What wasthe effect of theMeuse-Argonneoffensive?B. AnswerIt made theGermans retreat.

C. EvaluatingWhat was heroicabout SergeantYork?C. PossibleAnswer He killed25 Germanmachine gunners;he captured 132Germans; he putaside his personalbeliefs to serve inthe military.

LITERATURE OF WORLD WAR I

Several notable American writersserved in World War I. Theyincluded Ernest Hemingway, thepoet E. E. Cummings, and JohnDos Passos. Hemingway drove anambulance for the Italian army. He put this experience into hiswar novel A Farewell to Arms.Cummings wrote of his time inFrance in The Enormous Room.

Dos Passos, who also worked as an ambulance driver, once ex-plained what attracted him to thebattlefront: “What was war like,we wanted to see with our owneyes. I wanted to see the show.”

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Americans were proud of the contribution their troops made to thewar effort. They helped shift the balance in favor of the Allies.

Germany Stops FightingAfter the defeat of the Meuse-Argonne, General Erich Ludendorffadvised the German government to seek peace. In early November,Germany’s navy mutinied and its allies dropped out. On November 9, the

Kaiser stepped down. Two days laterGermany agreed to an armistice, an end tofighting. On November 11, 1918, at 11:00A.M.—the 11th hour of the 11th day of the11th month—all fighting ceased.

About 8.5 million soldiers died in thewar, and about 21 million were wounded.Before he was killed in battle, one Britishsoldier summed up the war’s tragic costs.


The sufferings of the men at the Front, ofthe wounded whose flesh and bodies aretorn in a way you cannot conceive; thesorrow of those at home. . . . What a crueland mad diversion of human activity!

William John Mason, quoted in The LostGeneration of 1914

Millions of civilians in Europe, Asia,and Africa also died in the war—fromstarvation and disease. In the next sec-tion, you will learn how the war affectedU.S. civilians.

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2. Taking NotesCreate a web to show howAmerican groups or individu-als helped fight the war.

Whose contribution was mostsurprising?

3. Main Ideasa. Why did Wilson want U.S.forces to fight as a separateAmerican combat unit?

b. What were two ways theU.S. Navy countered the U-boat threat?

c. Why was the Meuse-Argonne offensive a turningpoint in the war?

4. Critical ThinkingRecognizing Effects Howimportant was America’sentry into the war to theAllied cause?

THINK ABOUT• the morale of Allied troops• troop strength • performance in battle


significance of:• John J. Pershing• American

Expeditionary Force• convoy system• Second Battle of the

Marne• Alvin York• armistice

Section Assessment2

ACTIVITY OPTIONS

MUSICLANGUAGE ARTS

Make an audiotape of music or sounds that suggest the stages of the war, or write a letter in the voice of a soldier in the war.

Contributions

BackgroundFor many yearsafter the war,Americans cele-brated ArmisticeDay as a nationalholiday.

SkillbuilderAnswers1. Germany,Russia2. approximately5.25%

SKILLBUILDER Interpreting Graphs1. Which two nations on the chart suffered the

most deaths?2. U.S. deaths were about what percentage of

combined French and British deaths?

0

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500

750

1000

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2000

U.S.

Austria–

Hungary

Germ

any

Russia

Britain

Fran

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lost

(in

th

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san

ds)

*Not all countries are listed.Source: Over There, by Byron Farwell

CONNECTIONS TO MATH

Military Deaths in World War I*

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Life on the Home FrontLife on the Home Front TERMS & NAMESwar bonds

propaganda

Espionage Act

Sedition Act

Oliver WendellHolmes

Great Migration

Mobilizing for WarTo prepare for war, the government needed money. World War I cost theUnited States $35.5 billion. Americans helped pay almost two-thirds ofthat amount by buying government war bonds. War bonds were low-interest loans by civilians to the government, meant to be repaid in a num-ber of years. To sell the bonds, officials held Liberty Loan drives. Postersurged citizens to “Come Across or the Kaiser Will.” Hollywood actors likeCharlie Chaplin toured the country selling bonds to starstruck audiences.

Schoolchildren rolled bandages and collected tin cans, paper, toothpastetubes, and apricot pits.The pits were burned and made into charcoal for gasmask filters. Some Boy Scout troops even sold war bonds. So that morefood could be sent to soldiers, people planted “victory gardens” in backyardsand vacant lots. Women’s groups came together in homes and churches toknit socks and sweaters and sew hospital gowns.

The war required sacrifice forAmericans at home and changed lifein other ways.

Some wartime changes werepermanent, such as black migrationto Northern cities.

ONE AMERICAN’S STORYOn the home front, the war opened up new jobs for

women. Most of the women who took these jobs

were already in the work force. Carrie Fearing

worked for the Railroad Administration. When

the war ended, female workers were laid off.

Fearing wrote to the railroad director, hoping

to keep her job.


We never took a soldier’s place, a soldier would not do thework we did . . . such as sweeping, picking up waste and paper and hauling steel shavings. . . . We . . . were liked and respected by all who knew us. . . . We like our job very much and I hope you will . . . place us back at the shop.

Carrie Fearing, quoted in Women, War, and Work

Like Fearing, most women who helped the country get ready for war

were pleased to have wartime jobs. They were proud of the part they

had played in getting the country ready for war.

In May 1918, these womenworked in the Union PacificRailroad freight yard inCheyenne, Wyoming.

Patriotic citizens also saved food by observingwheatless Mondays and Wednesdays, when theyate no bread, and meatless Tuesdays. To save gas,they stopped their Sunday pleasure drives. Thegovernment limited civilian use of steel and othermetals. Women donated their corsets with metalstays to scrap drives. Manufacturers stoppedmaking tin toys for children and removed metalfrom caskets.

The war brought more government control ofthe economy. To produce needed war supplies,in 1917 President Wilson set up the WarIndustries Board. The board had great power. Itmanaged the buying and distributing of warmaterials. It also set production goals andordered construction of new factories. With thepresident’s approval, the board also set prices.Another government agency, the National WarLabor Board, settled conflicts between workersand factory owners.

To rally citizen support, Wilson created the Committee on PublicInformation. The committee’s writers, artists, photographers, and film-makers produced propaganda, opinions expressed for the purpose ofinfluencing the actions of others. The committee sold the war throughposters, pamphlets, and movies. One popular pamphlet, “How the WarCame to America,” came out in Polish, German, Swedish, Bohemian,and Spanish. In movie houses, audiences watched such patriotic filmsas Under Four Flags and Pershing’s Crusaders.

Intolerance and SuspicionPatriotic propaganda did much to win support for the war. But its anti-German, anti-foreign focus also fueled prejudice. Suddenly people dis-trusted anything German. A number of towns with German nameschanged their names. Berlin, Maryland, became Brunswick. People calledsauerkraut “liberty cabbage,” and hamburger became “Salisbury steak.”Owners of German shepherds took to calling their pets “police dogs.”

On June 15, 1917, Congress passed the Espionage Act. The SeditionAct followed in May 1918. These laws set heavy fines and long prisonterms for such antiwar activities as encouraging draft resisters. The lawsmade it illegal to criticize the war. U.S. courts tried more than 1,500pacifists, socialists, and other war critics. Hundreds went to jail. SocialistParty leader Eugene Debs gave a speech arguing that the war was foughtby poor workingmen for the profit of wealthy business owners. For thistalk, a judge sentenced him to ten years in prison.

The government ignored complaints that the rights of Americanswere being trampled. In the 1919 decision in Schenck v. United States, theSupreme Court upheld the Espionage Act. Schenck, convicted of

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A. Finding MainIdeas What werecivilians asked todo for the wareffort?A. PossibleAnswersto buy war bonds;to conserve food,gas, and metal; to make itemsneeded by soldiers

B. RecognizingEffects How didwar propagandafuel prejudice?B. AnswerIt made peopledistrust all thingsGerman.

To persuadewomen to buy warbonds, this posterappealed to theirlove of family.

distributing pamphlets against the draft, had argued that the EspionageAct violated his right to free speech. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.,wrote the court’s opinion.


The most stringent [strict] protection of free speech would not protect a manin falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic. . . . The question inevery case is whether the words used . . . are of such a nature as to create aclear and present danger that they will bring about . . . evils that Congresshas a right to prevent.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Schenck v. United States, 1919

Justice Holmes argued that free speech, guaranteed by the FirstAmendment, could be limited, especially in wartime.

New Jobs and the Great MigrationAs soldiers went off to battle, the United States faced alabor shortage. Northern factories gearing up for warwere suddenly willing to hire workers they had oncerejected. Throughout the South, African Americansheeded the call. Between 1910 and 1920, about 500,000African Americans moved north to such cities as NewYork, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and St. Louis. Thismovement became known as the Great Migration.African Americans left to escape the bigotry, poverty, andracial violence of the South. They hoped for a better lifein the North.

C. AnalyzingPoints of ViewWhy did JusticeHolmes believethat free speechcould be limited?C. Answerbecause hethought thatsome words couldharm the nation

The Migration of the Negro,Panel No. 1 (1940–41), byJacob Lawrence, shows threeof the most common destina-tions for African Americansleaving the South.

How does Lawrence’spainting reflect continuityand change in Americanlife?

693

New jobs were opening up in the American Southwest. These jobswere fueled by the growth of railroads and irrigated farming. A revolu-tion was under way in Mexico, and the chaos led many Mexicans to fleeacross the border after 1910. Many immigrants settled in Texas, Arizona,Colorado, and California. Most became farm workers. During the waryears, some went to Northern cities to take better-paying factory jobs.

The wartime labor shortage also meant new job choices for women.Women replaced male workers in steel mills, ammunition factories,and assembly lines. Women served as streetcar conductors and eleva-tor operators. The war created few permanent openings for women,but their presence in these jobs gave the public a wider view of their

abilities. Women’s contributions during the war helpedthem win the vote.

The Flu Epidemic of 1918Another result of the war was a deadly flu epidemic thatswept the globe in 1918. It killed more than 20 millionpeople on six continents by the time it disappeared in1919. It had no known cure. Spread around the worldby soldiers, the virus took some 500,000 American lives.People tried desperately to protect themselves. Every-where, schools and other public places shut down tolimit the flu’s spread.

In the army, more than a quarter of the soldierscaught the disease. In some AEF units, one-third of thetroops died. Germans fell victim in even larger numbersthan the Allies. World War I brought death and diseaseto millions. It would also have longer-term effects, asyou will read in Section 4.

694 CHAPTER 24

2. Taking NotesMake a chart like the onebelow to show reasons forwartime shifts in population.

How similar were the twogroups’ reasons for moving?

3. Main Ideasa. What were three waysAmerican families could contribute to the war effort?

b. What was the purpose ofthe Espionage and SeditionActs? What groups weremost affected by them?

c. What kinds of new jobopportunities did the warcreate for women andminorities?

4. Critical ThinkingMaking Inferences Whatwere the positive and thenegative consequences of American wartime propaganda?

THINK ABOUT• contributions to war effort • effect on opponents of

war and on German-Americans


significance of:• war bonds• propaganda• Espionage Act• Sedition Act• Oliver Wendell

Holmes• Great Migration

Section Assessment

ACTIVITY OPTIONS

SPEECHMATH

Deliver a radio broadcast on the importance of conserving food, or make a calculation of the amount of food your class wastes monthly.

3

Shift Reason(s)

AfricanAmericans

Mexicans

D. RecognizingEffects Whatgroups gainednew jobs as aresult of the war?D. AnswerAfricanAmericans,MexicanAmericans, andwomen

THE FLU EPIDEMIC

In 1918, flu victims often camedown with pneumonia and diedwithin a week. Today, bacterialinfections such as pneumoniaresulting from the flu can be con-trolled with antibiotics.

The 1998 discovery of thefrozen remains of a 1918 flu vic-tim in an Alaskan cemetery mayone day lead to a better under-standing of the virus. Scientistshave found a genetic link be-tween the 1918 flu virus andswine flu, a virus first found inpigs. The Alaskan find may helpscientists develop vaccines to pro-tect against future flu outbreaks.

World War I 695

44


The Legacy of World War IThe Legacy of World War I

Wilson’s Fourteen PointsIn January 1918, President Wilson spoke to Congress about his goals forpeace. This was ten months before the end of the war. His statementbecame known as the Fourteen Points (see page 699). The speech calledfor smaller military forces, an end to secret treaties, freedom of the seas,and free trade. It also called for changes in national boundaries. Most ofthese changes gave independence to peoples formerly ruled by Austria-Hungary or the Ottoman Empire.

For Wilson, the fourteenth point mattered most. He called for an asso-ciation of nations to peacefully settle disputes. This association was tobecome the League of Nations, which Republicans like Lodge opposed.Wilson firmly believed that acceptance of his Fourteen Points by the war-ring parties would bring about what he called a “peace without victory.”

ONE AMERICAN’S STORYMassachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge had favored U.S. entry

into the war. However, he opposed President Wilson’s idea that

the United States join an international organization. The League

of Nations was such an organization set up to settle conflicts

through negotiation. Lodge warned against joining an alliance

that would require the United States to guarantee the freedom

of other nations.


If we guarantee any country . . . its independence . . . we must [keep]at any cost . . . our word. . . . I wish [the American people] carefully toconsider . . . whether they are willing to have the youth of Americaordered to war by other nations.

Henry Cabot Lodge, speech to the Senate, February 28, 1919

Speeches like Lodge’s helped turn the public against the League

and gave President Wilson the most crushing defeat of his political

career. In this section, you will learn how the United States and

Europe adjusted to the end of the war.

Senator Henry Cabot Lodge(1850–1924) opposed U.S. entryinto the League of Nations.

TERMS & NAMESLeague of Nations

Fourteen Points

Treaty of Versailles

reparations

Red Scare

Palmer raids

After the war, Americans weredivided over foreign policy anddomestic issues.

The war affected the role the UnitedStates played in the world during therest of the century.

Treaty of VersaillesWilson led the U.S. delegation to the peace conference in France.Though many Europeans considered him a hero, conference leaders didnot. The leaders of Britain, France, and Italy did not share Wilson’svision of “peace without victory.” They wanted Germany to pay heavilyfor its part in the war.

The Treaty of Versailles (vuhr•SY) forced Germany to accept full blamefor the war. Germany was stripped of its colonies and most of its armedforces. It was also burdened with $33 billion in reparations—money thata defeated nation pays for the destruction caused by a war. The treatydivided up the empires of Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans. It createdYugoslavia and Czechoslovakia and recognized Poland’s independence.

Wilson managed to include the League of Nations in the treaty. Hefirmly believed the League would help to keep the peace. He returnedhome to seek Senate approval for the treaty. But the Republican-runSenate was dead set against it. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge kept delay-ing a vote on the treaty.

After weeks of delay, Wilson decided to make hiscase to the public. In September of 1919, he began across-country speaking trip to build support for theLeague. In about 21 days, he traveled almost 10,000miles and gave over 30 speeches.


In the covenant [agreement] of the League of Nations, the moral forces of the world are mobilized . . . . Theyconsent . . . to submit every matter of difference betweenthem to the judgment of mankind, and just so certainly asthey do that, . . . war will be pushed out of the foregroundof terror in which it has kept the world.

Woodrow Wilson, speech in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919

Shortly after giving this speech, Wilson collapsedfrom strain. Later, he suffered a stroke from which henever fully recovered.

Negotiations to get the treaty through Congress con-tinued, but Americans were not eager for more foreigncommitments. Lodge and his supporters offered toaccept the treaty if major changes were made in theLeague. Wilson refused to compromise. As a result, theUnited States did not ratify the treaty. The League ofNations was formed without the United States.

The war and the Treaty of Versailles failed to makeEurope “safe for democracy.” In the next decades,Germany’s resentment of the treaty grew. The treatyplanted the seeds of World War II, an even more deadlyconflict to come.

696 CHAPTER 24

A. RecognizingEffects Howwere the CentralPowers punishedby the Treaty ofVersailles?A. AnswerGermany lost itscolonies andarmy. It had toadmit war guiltand pay repara-tions. The Austro-Hungarian andOttoman Empireswere broken up.

B. AnswerAmericans did not want moreforeign commit-ments, andWilson would notcompromise onthe League ofNations to get thetreaty passed.

B. AnalyzingCauses Why didn’t the UnitedStates ratify theTreaty ofVersailles?

WOODROW WILSON

1856–1924

A gifted speaker, WoodrowWilson had a strong sense ofduty, and he inspired great loy-alty. Yet he could be a harshjudge of others, stiff and unbend-ing in his relations with people.Sculptor Jo Davidson remarkedthat “He invoked fear and respect . . . but not affection.”Though not America’s best-lovedpresident, he still commandsrespect. When historians list thenation’s best presidents, Wilsonoften ranks in the top ten.

How might Wilson’s characterhave worked against approvalof the Treaty of Versailles?

Strikes and the Red ScareThe Treaty of Versailles was not the only issue that divided Americansafter the war. Shortly after the war ended, the United States experienceda number of labor strikes. For example, in Seattle, Washington, inFebruary 1919, more than 55,000 workers took part in a peaceful gen-eral strike. The shutdown paralyzed the city.

Some Americans saw efforts to organize labor unions as the work ofradicals, people who favor extreme measures to bring about change. Thestrikes sparked fears of a communist revolution like the one that toppledthe Russian czar. In 1919–1920, this fear created a wave of panic calledthe Red Scare (communists were called reds). Public fear was heightenedby the discovery of mail bombs sent to government officials. Manybelieved the bombs were the work of anarchists. Anarchists are radicalswho do not believe in any form of government.

In January 1920, Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer took action.He ordered federal agents and local police to raid the homes and head-quarters of suspected radicals. His agents arrested at least 6,000 peoplein the Palmer raids. Without search warrants, agents burst into homesand offices and dragged citizens off to jail.

The Red Scare was not only antiradical but also antiforeign. Duringthe Red Scare, two Italian-born anarchists, Nicola Sacco and BartolomeoVanzetti, were arrested for killing two men in an armed robbery in

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World War I 697

BackgroundIn 1919, police,steelworkers,and coal minersalso went onstrike.

C. AnswerIt resulted inthousands of raidsand arrests of sus-pected radicals.

C. RecognizingEffects Whatresulted from the Red Scare?

Postwar Europe, 1919

GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER Interpreting Maps 1. Region What new nations were created after the war?2. Region In what part of Europe were most of the new

nations located?

SkillbuilderAnswers1. Finland, Estonia,Latvia, Lithuania,Poland, Czecho-slovakia, Yugoslavia2. Eastern Europe

LONG-TERM EFFECTSIMMEDIATE EFFECTS

Breakup of empires

Formation of Leagueof Nations

Resentments leadingto World War II

Revolution in Russia

Allied victory

Destruction in Europe

EFFECTS OF WORLD WAR I ON EUROPE

Massachusetts. They claimed they were innocent, but both were foundguilty and executed. Their trial attracted worldwide attention.

Racial Tensions IncreaseAmericans also saw a rise in racial tensions after the war. Between 1910and 1920, the Great Migration brought a half million African Americansto Northern cities. In the cities where African Americans had settled inlarge numbers, whites and blacks competed for factory jobs and housing.

On July 2, 1917, tensions erupted into a race riot in East St. Louis,Illinois. The trouble began when blacks were brought in to take the jobsof white union members who had gone on strike. A shooting incidenttouched off a full-scale riot.

Two years later, African-American soldiers returning from the warfound their social plight unchanged. They had fought to make the world“safe for democracy.” At home, though, they were still second-class citizens.

Simmering resentments over housing, job competition, and segrega-tion exploded during the summer of 1919. In 25 cities around thecountry, race riots flared. In Chicago, a black man swimming in LakeMichigan drifted into the white section of a beach. Whites stoned himuntil he drowned. Thirteen days of rioting followed. Before it ended,38 people were dead.

Longing for “Normalcy”By the time campaigning began for the 1920 election, Americans feltdrained. Labor strikes, race riots, the Red Scare, and the fight over theTreaty of Versailles and the League of Nations had worn them out.Voters were ready for a break. Republican candidate Warren G. Hardingof Ohio offered them one. His promise to “return to normalcy” appealedto voters. Harding won a landslide victory. In the next chapter, you willlearn about American life after his election.

698 CHAPTER 24

2. Taking NotesCreate a diagram to examinethe war’s effects on Europeand America.

Which effects were positiveand which were negative?

3. Main Ideasa. Why did Germany resentthe Treaty of Versailles?

b. Why did Lodge and otherRepublicans oppose joiningthe League of Nations?

c. What caused the RedScare? Who was mostaffected by it?

4. Critical ThinkingAnalyzing Points of ViewWhy was Wilson unable toget other powers to accepthis goals for the peace conference?

THINK ABOUT• conflicting goals• practicality of Wilson’s aims• attitudes of other nations

toward U.S. contributionsduring the war


significance of:• League of Nations• Fourteen Points• Treaty of Versailles• reparations• Red Scare• Palmer raids

Section Assessment

ACTIVITY OPTIONS

LANGUAGE ARTSART

Imagine that you work for a newspaper. Write an editorial about the Palmerraids, or draw a political cartoon about the raids.

4

Effects of World War I

Europe United States

D. AnalyzingCauses How didthe war con-tribute to racialtensions?D. AnswerAfrican Americansmoved to citiesand wereresented whenthey competedwith whites forwartime jobs andhousing. African-American soldiershad fought fordemocracy butdid not find it athome.

1 war breaks out in europe - edl main idea why it matters now war breaks out in europe terms&...

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