1. COS Standard 4
Describe causes, events and the impact of military involvement of the US in WWI, including mobilization and economic and political changes.

2. Causes
In the 1860s, Prussia began a series of wars to unite the German states under Kaiser Wilhelm II (Last German Emperor and King of Prussia).
When the German states united, European politics changed.
France and Germany became enemies.
Alliances formed.
Triple Alliance: Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary (1882)
Franco-Russian Alliance (1894): France and Russia against Germany and Austria-Hungary

3. Wilhelm II

4. Causes continued
Great Britain remains neutral until an arms race with Germany.
Great Britain sides with France and Russia.
Triple Entente: Great Britain, France and Russia
Nationalism and self-determination lead to people within the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empire to seek independence.

5. Causes continued
Immediate cause of WWI: Archduke Francis Ferdinand was shot by a member of the Black Hand.
Austria declares war on Serbia, Germany declares war on Russia and then France.
Alliance and Entente morph into the Allies versus the Central Powers.
Allies: France, Russia, Great Britain and Italy
Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary ending the Triple Alliance
Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria

6. Alliances

7. American Causes
America remains neutral, but supported the Allied cause.
Britain blockaded German supplies. Germany had to find new ways of getting supplies.
U-boats: German solution to getting around the blockades.
Germany threatens to sink any boat the enters the waters around Britain.

8. American Causes continued
Germany sinks the Lusitania.
Germany doesn’t want America to join the war.
Sussex Pledge: promise to stop sinking ships
Arthur Zimmerman sends a telegram to the German ambassador in Mexico proposing Mexico ally themselves with Germany. In return (if Germany wins WWI), Germany will give Mexico the territory it lost to America in the Mexican-American War.
Britain intercepts the telegram and leaks the information to America.

9. American Causes continued
Germany never stops the unrestricted submarine warfare and sinks more American ships.
America declares war on Germany.
United States enters the war on the side of the allies on April 6, 1916.

10. Mobilization
Mobilization- to organize or adapt (industries, transportation facilities, etc.) for service to the government in time of war.
Americans contribute to the soldiers fighting with the selective service.
African American faced discrimination, racially segregated units under white officers.
Women served in a variety of different ways: nurses, clerical positions, chemists, electricians, and etc.

11. Mobilization

12. Mobilization continued
Cooperative relationship between big business and government.
War Industries Board: coordinates the purchasing and production of war materials.
Food Administration: Herbert Hoover, promotes victory gardens, increase food production and less consumption
Fuel Administration: conserves coal and oil
Daylight Savings Time: conserves energy
Liberty/Victory Bonds: loaned the government money to pay for war

13. Food Administration

14. Fuel Administration

15. Liberty Bonds

16. Mobilization continued
National War Labor Board: prevents strikes by giving wage increases, 8 hour workday, organizing unions and bargaining collectively.
Women and African Americans work in factories.
Great Migration: African Americans move north to work in factories
Mexicans worked as ranchers and farmers.

17. Mobilization continued
Committee on Public Information: sell idea of war to Americans
Espionage Act: consequences for those who spy
Sedition Act: illegal to criticize the president/government
Schenck versus US: limits the individual’s freedom of speech if the words spoken constitute a clear and present danger.

18. WWI Propaganda

19. Schenck vs. U.S. continued..
Charles T. Schenck was general secretary of the U.S. Socialist Party, which opposed the implementation of a military draft in the country. The party printed and distributed some 15,000 leaflets that called for men who were drafted to resist military service.