1. p
World War I Begins

2. Objectives
Identify the long-term causes and the immediate circumstances that led to World War I
Describe the first two years of the war
Summarize U.S. public opinion about the war
Explain why the United States entered the war

3. Causes of World War I Nationalism
Leads to competition/rivalries
Intense pride in one’s nation
A devotion to the interests and culture of one’s nation

4. Causes of World War I Imperialism Empire building
Economic/political control
Industrialization leads to want/need for competition of raw goods

5. Causes of World War I The development of an army as a diplomatic tool
Militarism
The development of an army as a diplomatic tool
Alliance System
France
Britain
Russia
Triple Entente
Germany
Austria-Hungary
Italy
Ottoman Empire
Central Powers

6. An Assassination Leads to War
Archduke Franz Ferdinand
July 28 – Austria-Hungary declares on Serbia
Heir to the Austrian throne
Visiting Sarajevo, Bosnia
Black Hand
Gavrilo Princip
Aug 1 – Germany declares on Russia*
Aug 3 – Germany declares on France
Britain declares on Germany

7. The Fighting Starts Trenches Warfare Schlieffen Plan No man’s land
Quick defeat of France
Invade through Belgium
After the French fall, take care of the Russians
Sept 1914
French halt the German advance
By 1915 both sides had dug in
Trenches Warfare
Fighting from a systems of fortified diches rather than open battlefield
Frontline
Support
Reserve
No man’s land
Barren expanse of mud pockmarked with shell craters and filled with barbed wire

8. The Fighting Starts No man’s land
Trenches Warfare
Fighting from a systems of fortified diches rather than open battlefield
Frontline
Support
Reserve
No man’s land
Barren expanse of mud pockmarked with shell craters and filled with barbed wire

9. Americans Question Neutrality
Divided Loyalties
Pacifist View
War was evil
United States should set an example of peace for the world
Immigrants still had ties to their homelands
Germans
Irish
British
3,000 miles away
Did not threaten American lives or property
Socialist View
A capitalist and imperialist struggle to control markets and colonies that the proletariat would fight and die in

10. Americans Question Neutrality
Divided Loyalties (cont.)
“The Bully of Europe”
British propaganda
Economic interests
Stronger with the Triple Entente
Shipped millions of dollars of war supplies to the allies
By 1915 U.S. experiences labor shortages

11. The War Hits Home The British Blockade German U-Boat Response
To prevent weapons and other military supplies from getting through
Including food
Neutral ports
American ships did not challenge the blockades
Germans start to go hungry
Counter blockade by U-Boats
Any allied ship found in waters around England would be sunk
Lusitania
May 7, 1915
1,198 killed
128 Americans

12. The War Hits Home German U-Boat Response (cont.)
Wilson rules out military action
Aug 1915
Arabic sunk
2 Americans killed
Germany agreed not to sink anymore passenger ships
Sussex
80 passengers killed or injured

13. The United States Declares War
German Provocation
Would sink any ships in British waters on sight
Unrestricted submarine warfare
Telegram from the German minister in Mexico
Promised Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona in a proposed alliance
Zimmerman Note
Four American ships sunk
36 Americans killed
Revolution in Russia
Democracy vs brutal monarchies

14. What caused WWI. What alliances divided Europe
What caused WWI? What alliances divided Europe? What diplomatic crises sparked the war? What was Germany’s Schlieffen Plan? What characteristics describe trench warfare during WWI? What motivated those who opposed the war? What factors increased American sympathy for the allies? What did the Zimmerman note reveal about German plans?