Ch. 7- WWI and Its Aftermath

Bell Work…Glue the following timeline into your notebooks:

August 1914

President Wilson

declares American

neutrality in WWI

May 1915

German U-Boat sinks

the Lusitania, killing

128 Americans

April 1917

President Wilson

asks Congress to

declare war against

Germany

January 1918

President Wilson

presents his 14-point

plan for world peace

August 1920

The 19th Amendment,

giving women the right

to vote, is ratified

Causes of WWI1. Militarism- expansion of arms and the policy of military

preparedness

2. Triple Alliance- military alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy

3. Triple Entente- military alliance between Great Britain, France, and Russia

4. Imperialism- practice of extending a nation’s power by gaining territories for a colonial empire

5. Nationalism- sense of pride and devotion to a nation

Balance of Power- system in which each nation or alliance has equal strength

Central Powers- alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire

Allied Powers- alliance between Britain, France, and Russia; later joined by the US

Your Task…In your groups, read President Wilson’s statement of neutrality.

Then, answer the following questions:

According to Wilson, how will people who love America react to the war in Europe?

Why does the variety of the national origins of Americans present a challenge to neutrality?

Why would differing views toward the war be dangerous for America?

Bell Work…

Copy and answer the following question into your notebook:

Was Wilson’s policy of neutrality impossible to maintain during WWI? Why or why not?

The Inside Story

Would you travel into a war zone?

In New York Harbor on Saturday, May 1, 1915, some 1,900 passengers and crew boarded the British luxury ship Lusitania and headed for a war zone. The ship’s destination was Great Britain. A spokesperson for the ship’s company reassured the nervous passengers, “The Lusitania…is too fast for any German submarine.”

In the early afternoon of May 7, 1915, the Lusitania approached the British Isles. Crew member Leslie Morton spotted ominous air bubbles and streaks in the water below. He grabbed a megaphone and shouted, “Torpedoes coming!” But it was too late. A torpedo slammed into the ship’s right side. Passengers scrambled for life jackets and lifeboats when the ship began to lean and take on water. As the Lusitania slid beneath the waves, parents tried to hold their children above water. Some even tied their children to deck chairs and wreckage in a futile attempt to save them. As Morton later described the scene, “The turmoil of passengers and life jackets, many people losing hold on the deck and slipping down and over the side…[created} a horrible and bizarre orchestra of death.

The Lusitania sank in only 18 minutes after it was torpedoed. About 1,200 people died. Among the dead were 128 Americans.

Your Task…

Read Germany’s Declaration of Unlimited Submarine Warfare. Then, read War is ‘a Blessing, Not a Curse:’ The Case for Why We Must Fight.

Be ready to discuss the documents and the idea of neutrality in class tomorrow.

Bell Work…Copy and answer the following question into your notebook:

What were the causes of WWI? Explain.

The US in WWI1. Isolationism- policy in which a nation avoids entanglement in

foreign wars

2. Britain bought $75 million worth of war goods from US business each week

3. U-Boats- small submarines

4. Sussex Pledge- pledge Germany issued which included a promise not to sink merchant vessels “without warning and without saving human lives”

5. Zimmermann Note- telegram sent to a German official in Mexico before WWI; proposed an alliance between Germany and Mexico

6. Three American merchant ships were sunk by U-Boats in March 1917; the US entered the war on April 6, 1917

President Wilson’s War Message to Congress… I am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, immense and serious as that is, but only of the wanton and wholesale destruction of the lives of noncombatants, men, women, and children, engaged in pursuits which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern history, been deemed innocent and legitimate. Property can be paid for; the lives of peaceful and innocent people can not be. The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind.

It is a war against all nations. American ships have been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and friendly nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in the same way. There has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all mankind. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The choice we make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of counsel and a temperateness of judgment befitting our character and our motives as a nation. We must put excited feeling away. Our motive will not be revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might of the nation, but only the vindication of right, of human right, of which we are only a single champion.

—President Woodrow Wilson's War Message, April 2, 1917

Opposition to Wilson’s War Message

… We have loaned many hundreds of millions of dollars to the Allies in this controversy. While such action was legal and countenanced by international law, there is no doubt in my mind but the enormous amount of money loaned to the Allies in this country has been instrumental in bringing about a public sentiment in favor of our country taking a course that would make every bond worth a hundred cents on the dollar and making the payment of every debt certain and sure. Through this instrumentality and also through the instrumentality of others who have not only made millions out of the war in the manufacture of munitions, etc., and who would expect to make millions more if our country can be drawn into the catastrophe, a large number of the great newspapers and news agencies of the country have been controlled and enlisted in the greatest propaganda that the world has ever known to manufacture sentiment in favor of war.

—Senator George W. Norris Opposition to Wilson's War Message, April 4, 1917

Selective Service Act- required men between the ages of 21 and 30 to register to be drafted into the armed forces

Convoy System- military technique of transport in which ships were surrounded by destroyers or cruisers for protection

Communists- people who seek the equal distribution of wealth and the end of all private property

Mobilizing the Economy1. Victory Gardens- planted by civilians during war to

raise vegetables for home use, leaving more of other foods for the troops

2. War Revenue Act of 1917- Established very high taxes and increased federal revenue by 400%

3. Gov’t borrowed money by issuing Liberty Bonds

4. War Industries Board (WIB)- regulated all materials needed in the war effort

5. Lever Food and Fuel Control Act- gov’t had the power to set prices and establish production controls for food/fuels needed to run military machines

National War Labor Board- mediated disputes between workers and management

Committee on Public Information (CPI)- maximized national loyalty and support for WWI

Propaganda- information designed to influence public opinion

The use of the

word you as well

as Uncle Sam

looking and

pointing at the

viewer makes it

clear that the

U.S. Army is

asking each

individual to

serve.

Uncle Sam’s red,

white, and blue

clothing tells

young men that

joining the army

is an act of

patriotism.

Espionage- spying, especially to gain gov’t secrets

Schenck v. United States- court case that explained the limits of the First Amendment

Your Task…

Complete the Reading Like a Historian: Sedition in the US DBQ.

Bell Work…

Copy and answer the following question into your notebook:

What was the significance of Schneck vs. United States?

Trench Warfare- form of combat in which soldiers dug trenches to seek protection from enemy fire and to defend their positions

Your Task…

Complete the Double-Entry Notes while reading the article on Trench Warfare.

Your Assignment…

Complete the EdPuzzle Video Quiz: Trench Warfare.

The War Ends1. Germany launched their last offensive in July, 1918

2. They retreated, suffering some 150,000 casualties

3. The Allies began a counterattack in Sept., 1918; America fought as a separate army

4. The Central Powers began to surrender

5. An armistice went into effect on November 11, 1918

Fourteen Points- President Wilson’s plan for organizing post-WWI Europe and for avoiding future wars

Self-Determination- the right of people to decide their own political status

League of Nations- international body of nations formed in 1919 to prevent wars

Big Four- name given to the leaders of the Allied Powers who dominated the Paris Peace Conference following the Allied Victory in WWI

Reparations- payments designed to make up for the damage of something

Impact of WWI

1. Led to the overthrow of the monarchies in Russia, Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire and contributed to the rise of the Bolsheviks in Russia

2. Devastated European economies; US emerged as the world’s leading economic power

3. Women worked more in the American workforce, paving the way to the 19th Amendment; African Americans moved to northern cities in search of factory work

4. European nations lost almost an entire generation; France was in ruins; GB was in debt

Your Task…

In your groups, compare and contrast Wilson’s Fourteen Points and the Treaty of Versailles. Each document should have 5 points unique to it and 3 similarities between the two.