 Militarism - the belief that conflicts can best be resolved with a show of force; building up a country’s military  Alliances - systems of often intricate, often secret agreements between countries  Imperialism - worldwide attempts to gain territory and power  Nationalism - intense patriotism and love for one’s country

 Austria-Hungary annexed the small country of Bosnia. Nationalists in Bosnia’s sister country, Serbia, were not happy about this. Bosnia

When Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand made a diplomatic trip to Bosnia, a Serbian nationalist assassinated him. This is “the event” that officially started the war.

 War is declared on July 28, 1914  Austria- Hungary declares war on Serbia  Russia pledges their allegiance and support to Serbia.  Because of the Triple Entente/Allies, France and England get involved too to support Serbia.  On the other hand, Germany and the Ottoman Empire pledged their support to Austria- Hungary in the Central Powers alliance.  One-by-one, countries around the world entered the war.

Triple Entente (Allies)  Russia  France  Britain  Later on, Italy and US would join Central Powers (Axis)  Ottoman Empire (AKA Turkey)  Austria-Hungary  Germany

 The official US policy from 1914 to 1917 was neutrality (not choosing a side)  The US conducted trade on both sides  International law demands that warring countries leave neutral countries (and their merchant ships alone)…  While we officially didn’t get involved, we sided with the Allies. Why?  They were similar to us- in language and culture. We were trading partners and France had helped us gain our independence

 In May 1915, the RMS Lusitania, an English luxury passenger liner, was sunk by a German submarine during a voyage from New York to England.

 Germany believed the Lusitania to be carrying weapons and had warned all passengers that the ship would be targeted.  Germany was asked to apologize and promise not to do it again.  Germany apologized, but did not promise.

 In March 1916, the Sussex, a French ferry boat, was also accidentally sunk by a German torpedo. Germany apologized and promised not to sink passenger ships again.  This was called “The Sussex Pledge.”

 In 1917, Germany broke the Sussex Pledge and  announced intentions to resume unrestricted submarine warfare without regard to the right of neutral countries.

 Germany sent a secret telegram to Mexico (the Zimmermann telegram or Zimmermann Note ) inviting Mexico into an alliance should the U.S. enter the war.

 On April 2, 1917, President Wilson asked Congress for a Declaration of War.  Wilson said war was necessary to protect the right of neutral countries to trade freely upon the seas and that “The world must be made safe for democracy.”

 After 3 years of neutrality, the US had to quickly prepare for the war  The economy shifted from peacetime to wartime production.  The government determined what crops farmers grew, that products to make, and how supplies were distributed based on demand  Effort by workers to limit strikes- why?

 The government passed the Selective Service Act which required all men age 18 to 45 to sign up for military service (conscription or “the draft”)  **Selective Service allows the government to raise an army quickly.**  2.8 million Americans were drafted  Over 4 million Americans would serve in WWI

 Since men went to fight AND Immigration dropped during the war  We needed workers-  500,000 women  400,000 African Americans  240,000 Mexican Americans

 They did more than just work… women and children…  Collected scarce resources (food, tin, paper, etc.)  Grew victory gardens which helped conserve food at home  Knitted socks and sweaters  Had meatless days  Hoover started Wheatless Mondays, Meatless Tuesdays, Wheatless Wednesdays, Porkless Thursdays and Saturdays

 Future president Herbert Hoover was head of the Food Administration  Wanted farmers to increase production to meet the high demand  He also wanted Americans to conserve food

 The War Industries Board was created to regulate the supply of raw materials to manufacturers and the delivery of finished products to appropriate places.  EX: Textiles were used for uniforms, not party dresses; Steel was used for tanks, not corsets.

 The Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel, issued propaganda to support all of these things and to rouse a “belligerent patriotism” in Americans.  The Committee did this through…  Speeches  Renaming anything that had a German name (Sauerkraut- “Liberty Cabbage”)  Colorful posters w/ catchy slogans

 Posters and slogans used every possible angle to appeal to and urge Americans to do everything from conserve resources to enlist.

1.What are the main colors in the poster? 2.What symbols (if any) are used in the poster? 3.Who do you think is the intended audience? 4.What does the Government hope the audience will do? 5.How effective do you think this poster is? Why?

 Americans were especially urged to loan money to the government to finance the war by purchasing bonds.

 War is expensive!  Americans bought $20 billion worth of war bonds.  Civilians bought them from the government then could cash them in years later for more money.

 The American military waged a half-hearted war on rampant venereal disease.

Slogans were countless: “A woman’s place is in the war.” “Every scout to feed a soldier.” “Fuel will win the war.” The government urged “heatless Mondays,” “meatless Tuesdays” and “lightless nights.”

 What is propaganda?  How was it used during WWI? (Give me at least two examples)

 Two acts were passed in 1917 and 1918 to protect Americans during the war  Espionage Act and Sedition Act  Purpose of the Acts:  If anyone was protesting or speaking out against the war, they could be fined or go to prison. See any amendments this may break?  Schenck vs. United States  Declared the Espionage Act legal and that free speech could be limited, especially in wartime, when it created a “ clear and present danger ” to the nation.

Eugene V. Debs speaking out at an Anti-War Rally. He was imprisoned. This is where he ran for president from his jail cell.

 Russians were having internal issues (Bolshevik Revolution).  Lenin overthrew the Czar in Russia and wanted to get Russia out of WWI.  They created their own peace treaty with Germany.  Basically Russia was fighting their own Civil War and couldn’t fight in the World War

 Communism is when the government controls everything in the country  There should be common ownership over all property.  Basically, it is the exact opposite of our nation and economy  We are capitalism= freedom, choice  Communism= limitations, orders VS.

 An economics professor at Texas Tech said he had never failed a single student before but had, once, failed an entire class. The majority of the class had insisted that socialism was a better system as no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said ok, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism.  All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. After the first test the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. But, as the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too; so they studied little. The second Test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around the average was an F.  The scores never increased as bickering, blame, name calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for anyone else.  All failed to their great surprise and the professor told them that socialism would ultimately fail because the harder you try to succeed the greater the reward but when a government takes all the reward away; no one will try or succeed.

 New technology helped improve war-time weapons. With those improvements, weapons were more efficient than ever at being killing machines.

 U-boats (undersea boat), Submarines  Automatic machine guns  Mortar Weapons  Poison gas (tear, mustard)  Airplanes  “Iron Caterpillars”- Tanks

 Mustard and Chlorine Gas Mustard and Chlorine Gas

 Tanks Tanks

 Fighting between aircraft, dog fights were able to happen because of the development of machine guns  Baron Manfred von Richthofen- German flying ace  Snoopy and the Red Baron Snoopy and the Red Baron

 War was fought on several “fronts” (front lines – places where the fighting actually occurred).  Some of these stagnated into “trench warfare.”

 Trench warfare was particularly ugly. The men lived in trenches for two weeks (or more) at a time. Soldiers had little or no protection from the weather or the weapons of the enemy.

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 American soldiers earned the nickname “Doughboys” when they went to fight in Europe because they were young, inexperienced, and determined.  They pushed the Germans back- couldn’t keep up. They helped the Allies win the war!

 WWI began July,  The U. S. entered the war in April,  The war officially ended on November 11, 1918 (Germany surrendered to the Allies) **The 11 th hour of the 11 th day of the 11 th month.**

 Overall, 8.5 million soldiers died while 13 million civilians died many from starvation and disease.  Germany lost the most soldiers (1.75 million) while the US lost the fewest (maybe 200,000?)

 Germany surrendered believing the idealistic 14 Point Plan drafted by President Wilson at the outset of the war was to form the basis for the terms of surrender.  Wilson wanted “Peace without victory”

 Take the next few minutes to read over Wilson’s 14 Points Plan.  Mark 3 that stand out to you.  You can work with a partner.  We’ll discuss as a class when everyone’s done.

 Wilson’s plan to prevent another world war was called the 14 points  He wanted:  Freedom of the seas  Free trade  End imperialism  Redraw country borders  Most important = create a League of Nations to peacefully settle disputes and prevent another world war  Today, we have the United Nations

 The other Allied leaders (from Great Britain, France and Italy) were in no mood for leniency. They only wanted to punish Germany.

 The goal of the peace treaty was to avoid another world war  How should we do this?  Allies met in Versailles, France to create the Treaty of Versailles  Many of Wilson’s 14 Points didn’t pass…

 They drafted the Treaty of Versailles as the formal terms for ending the war…  Results of the Treaty of Versailles: 1.Germany accepted full blame for the war 2.Germany lost their colonies 3.Germanys military was limited 4.Germany had to pay $33 billion in reparations 5.Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire lost their colonies 6.Czechoslovakia and Poland were created 7.League of Nations was created**

 The Allies wanted Germany to pay for starting the war and for all the damage  War damage payments are called reparations  Originally it was $33 billion to the Allies  Today that would be $400 billion  FYI- Germany only finished paying the reparations in October 2010!

 One of the only points from Wilson’s plan agreed on in the Treaty was the creation of the League of Nations  Even though it was created by US, Congress decided not to join the League of Nations  The US was tired of fighting, we wanted to go back to a policy of isolationism, where we don’t get involved.

 Henry Cabot Lodge, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, disliked President Wilson and did not support the Treaty of Versailles or the creation of the League of Nations for personal reasons as well as political ones.

 The forerunner of the modern United Nations, Wilson felt the League could arbitrate international disputes and create a structure for lasting world peace.  BUT… the major weakness of the League of Nations was that the US never agreed to join.

 Problems in the Middle East started (or escalated) with the Treaty of Versailles  Empires were breaking up  Boundaries were being redrawn  Europeans grouped people together that shouldn’t have been  Iraq grouped 3 very different ethnic groups together and made them a colony of Britain  Same thing happened with Palestine and Lebanon

 Following the war, the US experienced an economic boom, highlighted by the “Roaring Twenties”  However, the harshness of the Treaty of Versailles, the Great Depression, and the rise of militarism and imperialism in Europe and Asia guaranteed that peace wouldn’t be maintained for long

 How will this treaty affect Europe?  What would have happened if the Allies adopted the 14 points