Graduate Education Assistance

WORLD WAR ONE (1914 – 1918)

Long Term Causes

· In the last 1800s, several European countries aligned with other countries.

· Germany aligned with the huge empire of Austria-Hungary, along with Ottoman Turkey.

· This group later became known as the _________________________________

· In response, Russia, France, and Great Britain had a friendly understanding to help one another.

· This group later became known as the ________________________________.

· In the meantime, many countries had a feeling of intense pride in one’s homeland –___________.

· Emphasis was placed on promoting their homeland’s culture and interests.

· Some groups also believed in the right of _________________________ – the idea that those who share a national identity should have their own country and government.

· By the early 1900s, the powerful nations in Europe had adopted policies of __________________, or aggressively building up armed forces and giving the military more authority over government and foreign policy.

· In a complicated system of ______________, different groups of European nations had pledged to come to one another’s aid in the event of attack.

· ______________________led to rivalries between European “Great Powers”. Nationalist feelings also led some ethnic groups to demand their own nation states.

· Competition (__________________) for colonial lands in Africa and elsewhere led to conflict among the major European powers. Competing colonial claims created an atmosphere of tension.

The Immediate Cause of World War I

· In 1908, Austria -Hungary took over Serbia. This angered Serbians who felt the province should be theirs.

· The _______________ cause of the __________________, later to be known as World War I,

was the assassination of __________________________________ in Serbia, on June 28, _____.

· At the time of his assassination, Francis Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the _________________ Empire, had been visiting Serbia, an Austro-Hungarian province.

·

· He was shot by _____________________, a 19-year-old Serbia nationalist who believed that Austria-Hungary had no right to rule Serbia.

· The assassination may have been the “straw that broke the camel’s back”, but it was not the only

cause of the ___________________.

· Realize that World War I was not called this until World War II.

· It was eventually called The Great War or The War to end ________________________.

The Schlieffen Plan

· The _____________________ Plan was the German operational plan for a designated attack on France.

· It identified ____________ as Germany’s most dangerous opponent.

· ________________was not as advanced as France in many areas and Schlieffen believed that Russia would take six weeks to mobilize her forces and that any possible fighting on the Eastern border could be coped with by the Germans for a few weeks while the bulk of her forces concentrated on defeating

France by going through ___________________.

· Germany had 6 weeks to defeat France.

· Germany would then use her modernized __________ system to move troops from the French operation to the Russian front.

· Russia would then be attacked and defeated.

· Unfortunately for the Germans, it was not successful.

· The Russians were a bigger threat than expected.

· Due to ____________________ warfare, there was no speedy defeat of France.

· And Great Britain joined in, supporting Belgium.

European Powers

· Because many Americans were European immigrants or the children of European immigrants, many felt personally involved in the escalating war. Although some had sympathies for the

__________________________, most Americans supported the _____________.

· Support for the Allies was partially caused by Germany’s rule by an _______________, a ruler with unlimited power.

· This autocrat was __________________________

· American newspapers and radio spouted anti-German _____________________, or information intended to sway public opinion, turned many Americans against the Central Powers.

· To protect American ________________ overseas , President ________________ officially

proclaimed the United States a ____________________ country on August 4, 1914.

Fighting in Europe

· Military leaders thought the contest would be over _______________. They were wrong.

· A host of new and improved weapons were used to fight the war – machine guns, poison gas, submarines, airplanes, tanks, and trench warfare.

· These new weapons ____________ either side from quickly defeating the other.

New methods of military transportation, including tanks, airplanes, and German _____________, or floating airships, influenced the manner in which the war was fought.

Weapons of the Great War :

· Tanks

· Poison gas

· Dogfights

· Machine guns

· Airplanes

· Overhead, a new invention, the __________________ dominated the sky.

· Airplanes were often used for __________________ – to see what was happening on the battlefield below.

· Airmen and allied pilots sometimes engaged in “_____________________” – duels in the sky in which each pilot tried to shoot down the other.

· However, airplanes were still new and did not play as important a role as they would in later wars.

The Red Baron

· Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, also known as the "___________________", was a fighter pilot with the German Air Force during World War I. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories.

· He was killed in action in 1918.

German Submarine Warfare

· The British Navy used their powerful navy to ___________________ Germany.

U-Boats

· To break this blockade, Germany began to employ U-___________, short for Unterseeboot, the

German word for ________________________.

· U-boats were used throughout the war.

· U-boats, traveling under water, would sink British supply ships with no warning, ______________ submarine warfare.

· When the British cut the transatlantic cable, which connected Germany and the United States,

only news with a pro-Allied __________ was able to reach America.

· American public opinion was therefore swayed against Germany’s U-boat tactics.

Stalemate

· As German troops moved south into France and the French and British troops moved north to meet them, the massive armies met each other in a stalemate.

· By September 1914, neither side could force the other to move, the war had reached a _________.

· Each side began to dig _______________. For the next four years, the troops would fight from these trenches. .

· When a French and British force stopped a German advance near Paris, both sides holed up in trenches

separated by an empty “_____________________________________.”

· Small gains in land resulted in huge numbers of human casualties.

· Both sides continued to add new allies, hoping to gain an advantage.

Lusitania

· American neutrality was put to the test in May ________, when the German submarine U-20 sank the

British luxury liner ___________________, which was carrying 1200 passengers and a cargo of ammunition for British rifles.

· The German embassy had warned Americans that ___________________ in the war zone were fair targets, but 128 Americans had ignored the warning and met their deaths on the Lusitania.

· _________accused the Germans of _________________, demanded that they stop submarine warfare, but refused to ban American passengers from sailing on Allied vessels.

· Since American passengers had been on board, the sinking of the Lusitania brought the United States closer to involvement in the war. (one cause)

· In March 1916, after another passenger vessel, the Sussex, was torpedoed, Germany finally agreed to apologize, pay damages and promised to warn ships before attacking.

· This promise was known as the “________________________________”.

· However, this was a promise that Germany had made and broken before.

· By 1917, Germany resumed unrestricted warfare.

Battle of Somme

· The ____________________________________, France, in the summer and fall of _________, was the largest battle on the Western Front. More than three million men fought in this battle and one million men were wounded or killed, making it one of the bloodiest battles in human history. The area was almost totally destroyed.

· Just on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme offensive, the British suffered a record number of

single day casualties, 60,000, the great majority lost under withering _______________________ fire.

1916 Presidential Election

· In November, 1916, Wilson won re-election.

· His campaign slogan was “He kept us out of ____________ ”.

· This slogan painted him as a peace maker.

· Most Americans ______________________ support U.S. involvement in the war.

· During that term, he would find it increasingly difficult to honor the words of the campaign: Finally, he

would find it __________________________.

The Zimmermann Note

· In January of 1917, _____________ intercepted a _______________ to the government of _________ from Germany’s foreign minister, Arthur Zimmermann.

· In this telegram, known as the _______________________________, Germany offered to return New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas to Mexico if Mexico declared war on the United States.

· Neither Mexico nor President Wilson took the Zimmermann note seriously, but it seemed to be another cause.

· When the ____________________________________ replaced Russia’s autocratic ______________

with a ___________________ (democratic) government in March 1917, the United States no longer needed to be concerned about allying itself with an autocratic nation.

· This removed one more stumbling block to an American declaration of war.

· As Germany continued to sink American ships in March, President Wilson’s patience for ____________ wore out.

· Finally, on _________________, the President signed Congress’s ____________________, officially bringing the United States into the war.

American Idealism

· An idealistic __________________, Woodrow Wilson expanded the American war effort from a defense

of “freedom of the seas” to a _________________ for democracy.

· Wilson told Congress America’s aim was to establish the ultimate peace of the world and free its people: “The world must be made safe for democracy”.

· Most Americans found it inspiring to endure war for such high-minded ideals.

· With a strong sense of _______________________________, they set out to save and remake the world.

America Preparing for War:

· At first, the United States lacked a large and available military force.

· Congress therefore passed a ___________________________________ in May 1917, drafting many young men into the military. (Remember conscription?)

· Some men refused to serve because it violated their religious beliefs to kill others.

· These men became known as _________________________________________.

· Draftees, volunteers, and National Guardsmen made up what was called the American Expeditionary

Force (_______), led by General ________________________________________.

· The United States entered the war in April 1917.

· American troops did not begin arriving in France for several months and at first only in a trickle.

· In the meantime, _______________________ dropped out of the war, allowing Germany to concentrate all its efforts on the Western Front.

Vladimir Lenin

· In March, 1917, a democratic government took over Russia from a Czarist ruler.

· Unfortunately, it didn’t last.

· Years of defeat on the battlefield weakened the Czarist regime and strengthened the ___________ cause.

· The Bolsheviks, later to be known as the ________________________ Party, took control of the country in November, 1917.

· ____________________________was the founder of the Russian Communist Party, leader of the

Bolshevik Revolution, and the architect, builder, and first head of the ________________________.

· Lenin wanted to divert resources from the war to consolidate the victory at home.

· So, in March, 1918, the Soviets officially withdrew from WWI.

The Convoy System

· German submarines continued to aggressively attack Allied ships until the use of the ____________ system reduced shipping losses in the Atlantic.

· To transport troops across the Atlantic, the United States employed ________________, or groups of

unarmed ships surrounded by _____________ naval vessels equipped to track and destroy submarines.

· Due to the convoy system, German submarines did not _______ a single ship carrying American troops.

American Soldiers in Europe

· By 1918, European nations had begun to run out of men to recruit. Energetic American soldiers,

nicknamed _____________________, helped replace the tired fighters of Europe.

· Many ________________________________________ also volunteered or were drafted for service.

· However, these men served in _______________ units and were often relegated to ______________ roles.

Financing the War

· Modern warfare required huge amounts of____________ and ____________________.

· Many __________________ within the United States were needed to meet these demands.

· The government raised money for the war in part by selling __________________________, special war bonds to support the Allied cause.

· Like all bonds, these could be redeemed later for their original value plus interest.

· Many patriotic Americans bought liberty bonds, raising more than $20 billion for the war effort.

The Committee of Public Information

· The Committee of Public Information (_________) created posters, printed pamphlets, made billboards,

offered new releases to newspapers, and provided other forms of _____________________ in favor of the war effort.

· Propaganda is one-sided information designed to persuade listeners.

· Hollywood helped in the effort by making __________________, anti-German films.

Managing the Economy

· United States entry into the war caused many industries to switch from ______________ to ________

production. A newly created _____________________________ oversaw this production.

· New labor-related agencies helped ensure that ____________________ did not disrupt the war effort.

· Using the slogan, “Food will win the war,”_____________________________, head of the Food Administration and future President, began to manage how much food people bought.

· Although he had the power to impose _____________________________, a system of pricing

determined by the government, and _______________, or distributing goods to customers in a fixed amount, Hoover preferred to rely on voluntary restraint and increased efficiency.

· ___________________________________was created to save on fuel use and increase the number of daylight hours available for work. This involved turning clocks back one hour for the summer, creating one more hour of daylight.

Repression of Civil Liberties - Despite Wilson’s claim that the United States fought for liberty an

democracy, freedom of speech was __________________ during the war.

· The war led to a growth in ________________________.

· German Americans were _____________________ for their ancestry.

· The ____________________________ of 1917 allowed the federal government to censor the mails and to arrest anyone interfering with the enforcement of the draft.

· The _______________________________ of 1918 was added and it imposed a prison sentence for any anti-war activities.

· This law made it a crime to use “disloyal” or “abusive” language about the government, the flag, or the Constitution.

· These acts also included the speaking of any other language than English. These were directed at Socialist and labor leaders.

· __________________________________was imprisoned for giving an anti-war speech

Schenk v. U.S. 1919

· ____________________________was arrested for violating the Espionage Act when he mailed leaflets advising young men to resist the draft.

· Schenk claimed his arrest violated his free speech rights.

· The Supreme Court ruled that the suppression of the Freedom of Speech (1st Amendment right) in war

time is constitutional because of a “___________________________________________________”. (Schenck v. U.S.)

Changing People’s Lives

New Roles for Women

· The diminished male work force created new opportunities for women.

· Many women joined the ______________________ for the first time during the war. Some found work

on _______ with the Woman’s Land Army; others took jobs traditionally __________________ for men.

· Women also performed every sort of task on the home front.

· They sold war bonds, knitted socks, cooked meatless dinners, and wore shorter skirts to save cloth for uniforms.

A unit of the Women's Defense League drills in its camp at Washington, D.C.

Although some in the,_____________________________________ movement refused to support the war effort until women were granted the right to vote, other suffragists took a role in mobilizing women

into the war effort and used women's support as an _____________________ in favor of their enfranchisement.

Just as women used their participation in the war effort to fight for their rights,______________________ also hoped to use the war to improve their status.

Leaders like _______________________ and the NAACP officials protested strongly when initial mobilization plans did not include African Americans.

· Thousands of African Americans volunteered for service when the war broke out.

· However, they were segregated and few got to see combat.

· Many combat units eventually went to ____________ where they fought alongside the French army.

· ________________________________was one such soldier.

· He fought off a German raid in hand-to-hand combat, killing multiple German soldiers and rescuing a fellow soldier while experiencing 21 wounds

· On June 2, 2015 he was awarded the __________________________ by President Barack Obama in a posthumous ceremony at the White House.

African Americans and Other Minorities

· With much of the work force in the military, factory owners and managers who had once discriminated

against minorities began actively ____________________________ them.

· The flood of African Americans leaving the South to work in northern factories became known as the

______________________________________.

Other Minorities

· __________________________Americans, like other minorities, faced prejudice.

· However, they still signed up to fight in WWI.

· Although only three percent of the American population was Jewish, they made up five percent of the U.S. Army.

· Because of a shortage of farm laborers, the U.S. made it easier for _________________ workers to enter (and then stay) in the U.S.

· Also, during the war, Congress gave U.S. citizenship to those ____________________ who volunteered for military service.

· By 1917, about 180,000 ___________ American lived in the U.S., mainly Japanese Americans, Chinese Americans, and Filipinos.

· In the military, Asian Americans were assigned to separate units as “______________________” and few saw combat.

· Asians who served in the armed forces were permitted to become naturalized citizens.

· At the same time, Congress passed the ___________________________________, barring any further Japanese or Chinese immigration.

· By the time the American troops arrived in substantial numbers in the spring of ____________, British

and French units had endured more than three years of increasingly costly _____________________.

Turning the Tide of War

· America’s ____________________________ of soldiers and war materials tipped the balance of World

War I and led to Germany’s _______________ in 1918.

· General Pershing’s ________ troops pushed back the Germans in a series of attacks.

· Finally, the German army was driven to full retreat in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive begun on

September 26, ___________.

Ending the War

· In the face of Allied attacks and domestic revolutions, the _______________________ collapsed one by one.

· _______________________________splintered into smaller nations of ethnic groups, and German soldiers mutinied, feeling that defeat was inevitable.

· When the ____________ of Germany fled to Holland, a civilian representative of the new German

republic signed an __________, or cease-fire, in a French railroad car at 5am on __________________, which became known as Armistice Day.

· Although guns fell silent six hours later, many more deaths were to follow.

1918 flu pandemic (January 1918 – December 1920)

· The _____________ epidemic of 1918 killed more people, both in the United States and Europe, than all of the wartime battles.

· The flu killed ___________________________ of them— 1 to 3 percent of the world's population at the time—making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history.

· World War I did not cause the flu, but the close troop quarters and massive troop movements hastened the pandemic and probably both increased transmission and augmented mutation; it may also have increased the lethality of the virus.

· Some speculate the soldiers' ____________________________ were weakened by malnourishment, as well as the stresses of combat and chemical attacks, increasing their susceptibility

Fourteen Points

· In early January 1918, both British Prime Minister _______________________________ and American

President _____________________________ issued public explanations of what they hoped to accomplish through a victory over the Central Powers.

· In _______________________, President Wilson addressed his fellow congressmen and communicated the American aims for participation in war.

· His utmost ambitions were open diplomacy, self-determination and international peace & cooperation.

· It is this speech that became known as the “_______________________________” and its author was Walter Lippmann.

The key ideas of the Fourteen Points included the principles of:

· __________________________________- each national group should be in charge of its own destiny. For example, Polish people should live under a Polish government, if that was what they wanted. ,

· _______________________________- all nations’ ships would be able to sail in international waters without threat of attack by another country’s ships.

· A ______________________________ - an organization of nations established at the end of World War I to maintain world stability and peace.

Armistice Day

· Finally, at 11 am on 11 November 1918 — "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" — a ceasefire came into effect.

· ________________________, is generally regarded as the end of “____________________________.”

· In America, on May 13, 1938, the 11th of November a legal holiday—a day to be dedicated to the cause

of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as "____________________________."

· In 1954, after World War II and the Korean Conflict, Congress amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting in its place the word "Veterans."

· With the approval of Congress, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars –

__________________________.

The Peace Treaty

· The treaty which was negotiated at the Paris Peace Conference redrew the map of Europe to the

___________________________.

· Wilson was forced to compromise on his views, especially concerning self-determination for former German colonies

· ____________new nations were created from territory taken from Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Germany.

· Although most borders were drawn with the division of ethnic minorities in mind, the re-divisions created

____________________________________________ in several countries.

Redrawing the Map of Europe

Spoils of the Victors:

· Although Wilson claimed that he was not interested in the________________, or rewards, of war, his

Allied colleagues were interested in making the __________________________ pay for war damages.

· France insisted that Germany be _________________ and ______________________________.

· The peace treaty required Germany to pay billions of dollars in ____________________, or payment for economic injury suffered during the war.

· Wilson, however, ____________________ this plan, claiming that these demands would lead to future wars.

Versailles Treaty

· On June 28, ______, the peace treaty, which came to be known as the _______________________, was signed at Versailles, outside of Paris.

· Germany never forgot or forgave this ________________________.

The Versailles Peace Conference was led by the Council of Four nicknamed the “_________________”:

· American President, ________________________________

· British Prime Minister, _______________________________

· French Premier, George Clemenceau

· Italian Prime Minister, Vittorio Orlando

The Paris Peace Conference

The League of Nations

· One of Wilson’s ideas, the formation of a _________________________________, was agreed upon at the Paris Peace Conference. The League of Nations was designed to bring the nations of the world together to ensure peace and security.

· _______________________in Congress, however, were concerned about Article 10 of the League’s charter, which contained a provision that they claimed might draw the United States into unpopular

_________________________________.

Congress and the Treaty of Versailles

· Despite Wilson’s intensive campaign in favor of the Versailles Treaty, Congress voted ____________ ratifying it in November 1919.

· The United States declared the war officially over on May 20, 1920.

· It ratified separate peace treaties with Germany, Austria, and Hungary.

· However, the United States _______________ join the newly formed League of Nations.

· This was a form of embarrassment for the president.

Reactions at Home

· Difficult Postwar Adjustments

· The war had given a large ____________ to the American economy, making the United States the world’s largest creditor nation.

· When the war ended, so did the need for war materials and manufacturing jobs decreased.

· Post-war demobilization increased tensions among Americans as troops returned home and sought to reenter the workforce.

· Soldiers returned home to a hero’s welcome but found that jobs were _________________.

· Racial tension increased.

· Serious ____________________ hit Chicago and other cities.

Post- WWI Recession

· A general ____________________________ of economic conditions in the United States was evident by the spring of 1920.

· U.S. manufacturers had built up large inventories of goods, but the consuming public was unable to absorb them.

· The results were high unemployment, a broad series of business bankruptcies and generally falling wages for those Americans who kept their jobs.

· A wartime bubble in prices of ___________________________ burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land or equipment.

· The recession was short-lived, since WWI stimulated ________________________ and investment in

new technology that contributed to the business boom of the _________________.

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