UNITED STATES HISTORY AND THE CONSTITUTION South Carolina Standard USHC-5.4 Abbeville High School Mr. Hoover, Abbeville High School

T HE W AR TO E ND A LL W ARS What was the role of the United States in “making the world safe for democracy” ? How did nationalism and alliances cause World War I?

W HAT IS A N ATION ? ‘Nation’ refers to a group of people who share a common language, religion, history and traditions. Not all nations had states; many were included in empires. Ethnic and ideological differences led to conflict within these empires. Nationalism spurred competition among states in military strength and led European nations to establish a complex system of military alliances.

A RCHDUKE F RANZ F ERDINAND The igniting incident of the Great War was the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro- Hungarian Empire, in Bosnia by a Serbian nationalist. The resulting confrontation between Austria- Hungary and Serbia quickly involved much of Europe in conflict due to the alliance system.

N EUTRALITY, T HE G REAT W ART HE G REAT W AR The United States declared neutrality at the outbreak of the war however various factors led to the failure of neutrality. The traditional trading partnership with Great Britain and the blockade of German ports by the British navy severely limited American trade with Germany. American businesses made loans to the Allies in order to continue trade.

PUBLIC OPINION Public opinion was impacted by America’s traditional connection to the British. The German use of the submarine affected public opinion against Germany and alienated President Wilson, who was incensed by the loss of innocent lives.submarine

L USITANIA The 1915 German U-boat’s sinking of the British passenger ship, the Lusitania, brought about sharp protests from President Wilson but did not bring the United States into the European war. As a result of American protests, Germany pledged to restrict their use of the submarine.

Z IMMERMAN NOTE Wilson campaigned for re-election in 1916 on the slogan that “he kept us out of war.” The interception and publication by the British of Germany’s Zimmerman note to Mexico negatively impacted American public opinion.

DECLARATION OF WAR The decision of Germany to resume unrestricted submarine warfare in the spring of 1917 and Wilson’s desire to broker a just peace prompted Wilson to ask the Congress for a declaration of war on Germany in April of 1917

F OURTEEN P OINTS President Wilson announced his intention to “make the world safe for democracy” and later issued his Fourteen Points peace plan.Fourteen Points peace plan In order to achieve a just and lasting peace Wilson proposed that the adversaries agree to freedom of the seas, an end to secret treaties, arms reduction, self-determination of peoples, and an international peace organization.

ARMISTICE OF N OVEMBER 11, 1918 As a consequence of American involvement, the last push of the Germans on the western front in France was deflected and the armistice of November 11, 1918 ended the fighting between the Allies and the Central Powers. President Wilson was in a position to take part in the peace negotiations.

VICTORY GARDENS Propaganda created a united war effort at the expense of individual liberties. Americans were persuaded to plant victory gardens, enlist in the military and buy war bonds.

W ARTIME PROPAGANDA Wartime propaganda also characterized Germans as “Huns” and resulted in discrimination against Americans of German descent. Americans stopped teaching German in schools, restricted the playing of German music and renamed German foods.

S EDITION A CT The passage of the Sedition Act restricted the individual liberties of Americans to voice their ideological objections to the war effort and contributed to the post-war Red Scare

V ERSAILLES C ONFERENCE Another consequence of America’s involvement in the war was that President Wilson took a leadership role at the Versailles Conference. Wilson wanted to create a lasting peace based on his Fourteen Points which he hoped would eliminate many of the causes of the war.

WAR GUILT CLAUSE However, the other allies were determined to protect their own national interests. In order to get agreement from the Allies to support the creation of the League of Nations, Wilson made concessions to the interest of his European allies. The treaty imposed a war guilt clause and reparations payments on Germany.

ETHNIC DIVERSITY To fulfill one of Wilson’s Fourteen Points and to eliminate boundary disputes based on nationalism, new national borders were drawn at the conference based on self determination of peoples. However these borders could not accommodate all of the complexities of ethnic diversity within Europe. The war guilt clause, reparations and borders laid the basis for the next war.