1. Essential Question:
What caused World War I and why was the United States unable to remain neutral in this conflict?

2. What caused World War I?
MILITARISM
ALLIANCES
IMPERIALISM
NATIONALISM

3. From 1914 to 1919, World War I erupted in Europe
This “Great War” began as a result of competition over Imperial territories…
…the build up of powerful, industrial Militaries

4. European rivalries led to two military Alliances that threatened to draw European nations into war
England, France, Russia formed the Triple Entente
Austria-Hungary, Italy, Germany formed the Triple Alliance

5. Pre-War Alliance Network

6. Rivalries due to militarism and imperialism increased Nationalism among European powers
British propaganda poster, 1897
Austrian national poster, 1900

7. Europe Pre-WWI

8. Europe Post WWI

9. Europe Today

10. In 1914, Serbian terrorists assassinated Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand which triggered the start of World War I
Nowhere was that dispute more likely to occur than on the Balkan Peninsula. This mountainous peninsula in the southeastern corner of Europe was home to an assortment of ethnic groups. With a long history of nationalist uprisings and ethnic clashes, the Balkans was known as the “powder keg” of Europe.
By the early 1900s, the Ottoman Empire, which included the Balkan region, was in rapid decline. While some Balkan groups struggled to free themselves from the Ottoman Turks, others already had succeeded in breaking away from their Turkish rulers. These peoples had formed new nations, including Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia.
Nationalism was a powerful force in these countries. Each group longed to extend its borders. Serbia, for example, had a large Slavic population. It hoped to absorb all the Slavs on the Balkan Peninsula. Russia, itself a mostly Slavic nation, supported Serbian nationalism. However, Serbia’s powerful northern neighbor, Austria-Hungary, opposed such an effort. Austria feared that efforts to create a Slavic state would stir rebellion among its Slavic population.
In 1908, Austria annexed, or took over, Bosnia and Herzegovina. These were two Balkan areas with large Slavic populations. Serbian leaders, who had sought to rule these provinces, were outraged. In the years that followed, tensions between Serbia and Austria steadily rose. The Serbs continually vowed to take Bosnia and Herzegovina away from Austria. In response, Austria-Hungary vowed to crush any Serbian effort to undermine its authority in the Balkans
Nationalism was strong in the Balkans, where Serbia hoped to unite with Austrian Slavs

11. Germany and Austria-Hungary were joined by Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire to form the Central Powers
England, France, and Russia became the Allied Powers and eventually were joined by…

12. …many nations throughout the world, including the United States

13. Think about it . . . Is it ever wise to join a military alliance?
Should a country always defend its allies?
What military alliance is America a part of today?
Why do you think America remained neutral as WWI began?

14. The outbreak of WWI in 1914 was a test for America’s new foreign policy
By 1914, the USA was a world power with overseas territories and influence in Latin America and Asia
But Americans wanted to remain neutral and avoid involvement in Europe’s “Great War”

15. “The people of the United States are drawn from many nations, and chiefly from the nations now at war. It is natural and inevitable that there should be sympathy with regard to the circumstances of the conflict…
Every man who really loves America will act and speak in the true spirit of neutrality…The United States must be neutral in fact, as well as in name, during these days that are to try men's souls.” —Woodrow Wilson, 1914

16. In teams, determine why the United States entered World War I in 1917:
Group Activity: If Americans wanted to remain neutral, why did the United States enter WWI?
In teams, determine why the United States entered World War I in 1917:
Examine the documents provided and complete the chart in your notes
After examining all documents, try to group the documents into categories
When finished, create a one sentence thesis that explains why the USA entered WWI
Be prepared to discuss your ideas with the class
Have students categorize primary sources and determine why the USA entered WWI:

17. Document A

18. Intercepted telegram from Germany to Mexico, 1917
Document B
Intercepted telegram from Germany to Mexico, 1917

19. To the Allied Powers: $2,250 million
Document C
U.S. War Loans 1914—1917:
To the Allied Powers: $2,250 million
To the Central Powers: $27 million

20. U.S. Losses to German Submarine Warfare, 1916-1918
Document D
U.S. Losses to German Submarine Warfare,

21. Document E
The German officer knocked at the door… The officer ordered the soldiers to break down the door, which two of them did. The peasant came and asked what they were doing. His hands were tied behind his back, and he was shot at once without a moment’s delay. The wife came out with a little sucking child. One of the Germans took a rifle and struck her a tremendous blow with the butt on the head. Another took his bayonet and fixed it and thrust it through the child. He then put his rifle on his shoulder with the child up on it, its little arms stretched out once or twice. The officers ordered the house to be set on fire…The man, his wife and child were thrown on top.
James Bryce, head of the Committee on Alleged German Atrocities as reported to British Parliament, 1915

22. (President Wilson's war message, April, 1917)
Document F
“We shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts,—for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own Governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free…The world must be made safe for democracy.”
(President Wilson's war message, April, 1917)

23. Document G

24. Document H
“To whom does war bring prosperity? Not to the soldier who for the compensation of $16 per month shoulders his musket and goes into the trench, there to shed his blood and to die if necessary; not to the mother who weeps at the death of her brave boy; not to the little children who shiver with cold; nor the millions of mothers and daughters who carry broken hearts to their graves. War brings prosperity to the stock gambler on Wall Street – to those who are already in possession of more wealth than can be enjoyed…Their object in having war and in preparing for war is to make money. The enormous profits of munitions [weapons] manufacturers, stockbrokers, and bond dealers must be still further increased by our entrance into the war.”
Senator George Norris, in response to the U.S. declaration of war, April 1917

25. Despite efforts by President Woodrow Wilson to remain neutral, the United States joined World War I
Americans were outraged by German violations of U.S. neutrality and free trade
Americans were outraged by German unrestricted submarine warfare and attacks on passenger ships like the Lusitania
Americans were outraged by the Zimmerman Telegram in which Germany offered to return the Mexican Cession if Mexico went to war with the U.S.

26. The USA remained neutral from 1914 to 1917, but in April 1917 Congress declared war on the Central Powers
President Woodrow Wilson promised to “make the world safe for democracy”

27. Why Did the United States Enter World War I?
1. Because the U.S. was under attack despite its neutrality?
The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against all mankind....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....Armed neutrality, it now appears, is impracticable.
—President Woodrow Wilson's War Message (April 1917)
2. To make the world “safe for democracy”?
Our object...is to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the world as against selfish and autocratic power.... We are glad...to fight...for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its peoples, the German peoples included: for the right of nations great and small and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of life and of obedience. The world must be made safe for democracy....

28. Why Did the United States Enter World War I?
3. Because we would have faced economic collapse if the Allies could not pay back all the loans made to them by U.S. bankers?
…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.
—Senator George W. Norris in Opposition to President Woodrow Wilson’s War Message (April 4, 1917)
By 1917, American loans to the Allies had soared to $2.25 billion; loans to Germany stood at a paltry $27 million.
—The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

29. Why Did the United States Enter World War I?
4. Because it was good for business?
To what extent was America's war a war for business? Did Woodrow Wilson lead America into war in order to serve the selfish interests of the few? The answer is determined by looking into the essential facts. In the first place, Wall Street wanted war. American participation in the war against Germany would constitute the most tremendous and profitable coup in the history of American finance… The war created 21,000 new American millionaires and during the war period, 69,000 men made more than three billion dollars over and above their normal income… It would have been quite impossible for President Wilson to have begun a war really intended to ‘make the world safe for democracy’ without facing the united opposition of Wall Street.
—John Kenneth Turner, Shall It Be Again? 1922

30. Why Did the United States Enter World War I?
5. Because of cultural, historical, and economic ties to Great Britain?
The failure to treat the belligerent nations of Europe alike, the failure to reject the unlawful war zones of both Germany and Great Britain is wholly accountable for our present dilemma.
—Senator Robert M. LaFollette in Opposition to President Woodrow Wilson’s War Message (April 4, 1917)
6. Because anti-German sentiment was influenced by historic ties to England, German policies, and American/British propaganda?
…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 in Opposition to President Woodrow Wilson’s War Message (April 4, 1917)

31. Why Did the United States Enter World War I?
7. The result of the expansion of the U.S.’s armed forces and weaponry?
That which has driven the masses of Europe into the trenches and to the battlefields is not their inner longing for war; it must be traced to the cutthroat competition for military equipment, for more efficient armies, for larger warships, for more powerful cannon. You cannot build up a standing army and then throw it back into a box like tin soldiers.
—Emma Goldman, from "Preparedness: The Road to Universal Slaughter"

32. Closure Activity: Which other war that America became involved in does World War I compare to?
Brainstorm the wars that the United States became involved with from 1775 to Think about the reasons the USA entered those wars. Which one is most similar to why the USA entered World War I?
American Wars
Reason the USA entered the war
American Revolution ( )
War of 1812 ( )
Mexican-American War ( )
Civil War ( )
Spanish-American War (1898)
Filipino-American War ( )
Have students categorize primary sources and determine why the USA entered WWI: