Woodrow WilsonWoodrow Wilson was elected President in

1912. His theories on world peace included a belief in democracy and economic stability. One of his main goals was to keep the US out of conflicts in Europe.

Nationalism in EuropeEurope was divided into small nationalistic

states, each seeking to assert power over the other.

Europe Today

Serbs, Bosnians, Croats and Slovenes had similar languages and cultures. They called themselves Yugoslavs.

Serbs were the first to gain independence – formed Serbia.

This area of Europe is known as the Balkans.

In 1908, Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia. They had no intentions of allowing the Slavic peoples to be independent.

June 1914 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne) and his wife Sofie are killed by a Serbian nationalist.

July 28th, Austria declared war on Serbia.

The Great War beginsEurope begins to divide into two camps:

Names to RememberThe Great WarThe War to End all WarsThe European WarWorld War IWWI was the first war to pit entire societies against one another.

Lusitania In 1915, a German U boat sank the British ship Lusitania.The Germans claimed that the ship was carrying weapons

(it probably was) It held over 2200 passengers, including Americans. Nearly

1200 died.German unrestricted submarine warfare led the U.S. to join

the Allies in the war

By spring of 1917, “The Great War” had devastated Europe and claimed millions of lives

Old strategies and new technologies resulted in heavy damage.

Where have we heard this before? Explain.

Trench warfare demonstrated that troops who dug in and relied on modern rifles and machine guns could hold off an enemy for months.

On the Western Front, trenches stretched from the English Channel to the Swiss border.

The land between the trenches was called “no man’s land”.

The only way to win a trench war was to run across and drop grenades into other trenches after heavy artillery fire. This resulted in heavy losses and slow progress.

New Weapons

U boats (submarines)machine gunsgrenadespoison gastanksairplanes

Over There 1917 – the U.S. enters the

war after nearly 3 years of attempting to affect the outcome without becoming embroiled in it.

Nearly 2 million “doughboys” join the Allies.

U.S. troops were inexperienced but fresh. They boosted the morale of the Allies.

Minorities & Women in the War Effort400,000African-Americans were drafted, of which

42,000 served overseas as combat troops. Their units were racially segregated.

WWI was the first war in which women officially served in the armed forces. .Women served in non-combat positions, mainly in clerical and nursing positions.

Women filled industrial jobs vacated by men in the military. Nearly half a million African-Americans migrated from the South to northern industrial jobs. Over 100,000 Mexicans moved to America, providing farm/ranch labor and wartime factory workers.

War Effort on the Homefront

War Industries Board (WIB) coordinated the production of war materials, telling business leaders what they could and could not make.

Victory Gardens, Wheatless Mondays & Meatless Tuesdays, high prices on farm produce

Daylight Savings Time introduced to conserve energy

Money to pay for war was obtained by raising taxes and borrowing money from the American people through the sale of Liberty bonds and Victory bonds.

March, 1918 – Russia withdrew from the war after its Communist revolution. Germany launched a massive attack on the Western Front. American and French troops were able to stop the offensive before the Germans reached Paris.

Meuse-Argonne OffensiveThe largest military engagement in U. S. history,

involving 1.2 million American soldiers, of whom 117,000 were killed or wounded

One of a series of Allied attacks known as the Hundred Days Offensive, which brought the war to an end.

Began September 26, 1918 and lasted a total of 47 days.

The Meuse-Argonne was the principal engagement of the American Expeditionary Forces during WWI.

Battle of the Argonne Forest

Gen. Pershing assembled over 600,000 American troops and 40,000 tons of supplies for a massive attack between the Meuse River and the Argonne Forest in France.

After 6 weeks of fighting, the Americans broke through German lines.

The Meuse-Argonne was one of the bloodiest battles in U.S. history, leaving over 26,000 U.S. forces dead.

The Great War Ends A revolution arose in Austria-Hungary. The

Ottoman Empire surrendered. With the loss of their allies, the German people forced the Kaiser to step down.

Nov. 11, 1918 at 11:00 an armistice was signed to end the war.

Treaty of VersaillesThe “Big Four” (leaders of the victorious allied nations)

met in Paris in 1919 for a peace conference.Germany was not included.

Pres. Wilson presented his plan, the “Fourteen Points,” based on “justice to all peoples and nationalities.” It called for the creation of a League of Nations to prevent future wars.

Many of Wilson’s proposals were discarded as too lenient. The final treaty required Germany to acknowledge guilt for the war, pay $33 billion in reparations to the Allies, and be stripped of its armed forces.

Treaty of VersaillesFour empires were dissolved and nine new

countries were created (map pg.# 477)

The U.S. Senate, led by Henry Cabot Lodge, refused to ratify the Versailles Treaty. Wilson suffered a stroke after travelling 8,000 miles in 3 weeks trying to gain the public’s support.

The U.S. negotiated separate peace treaties with each of the Central Powers

Impact on United StatesWhile devastating for Europe, WWI propelled

the U.S. into a position of international leadership.

As a military struggle, it was brief, decisive, and without the massive casualties suffered by others. American deaths numbered 112,000 (half of them from influenza or non-combat causes.)

Economically, the war sparked an industrial boom that led to years of prosperity.

Impact at HomeRapid inflation increases cost of living

and leads to wave of labor strikes

Racial Unrest

“Red Scare”

Palmer Raids

Sense of disillusionment—desire for “return to normalcy” – end of Progressivism