Warm Up Question Why was the Battle of the Somme significant?
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Transcript of Warm Up Question Why was the Battle of the Somme significant?
Warm Up Question
Why was the Battle of the Somme significant?
America in WWI
America’s decision to enter the war
Sinking of the LusitaniaBritish passenger linerSunk by German sub1,200 died, including 128 Americans
America’s decision to enter the war
Unrestricted German submarine attacksGermany refused to give warning in sub attacks
America’s decision to enter the war
Zimmerman noteGerman plot to provoke
Mexico to war against US
Significance – changed public opinion in U.S.
Different Perspectives
We will read two different perspectives on why America entered WWI and try to determine which is more accurate
Intro- what are the 3 main reasons that the article gives for the U.S. entering the war?
Perspective- President Wilson
Use the 1917 speech to “imagine the setting.” (a) What does Wilson accuse Germany of doing? (b) Do you think this is a good reason to go to war? (c) What additional information would you need to have before making a decision?
Re-read the last two paragraphs of the 1917 speech. Why do you think Wilson added these paragraphs? How do you think these words made Americans feel?
Perspective- Howard Zinn
Who is Howard Zinn? What do you think his perspective will be?
What does Zinn suggest are the real reasons the United States entered the war
What evidence does Zinn provide to support his claims that the United States was motivated by other reasons (besides German attacks on U.S. ships)?
Pre-War America
Wilson declared war on April 6, 1917When America entered the war in 1917, we had
just over 100,000 troopsSmaller than 16 other countriesCongress had to institute the draft
As America enters, Russia exits
Russian RevolutionBolsheviks, led by Lenin,
took overSigned a peace treaty with
GermanySignificance: Let Germany
fight a one-front war
The state of the war
Germany was slaughtering British and French troops
By May of 1918 they were just 50 miles from Paris
America to the rescue
American troops jumped in and saved ParisTurned the tide of war250,000 American troops arriving in France
each month
IMPORTANCE OF WWI
DeathsKilled 9 million combatants and 5 million civilians
PoliticallyDownfall of 4 empires, led to Bolshevik rise to power
in Russia, triumph of fascism in ItalyAmerican interests
Led America to become the world’s leading creditor and industrial power
Other consequencesMass murder of Armenians in TurkeyInfluenza epidemic that killed 25 million people