The Beginning of World War I

Road to War There was a sequence of six major events that occurred in 1914 that led to a rapid outbreak of war: 1. Sarajevo, June 28: A Serbian nationalist assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand- heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne- and his wife

Road to War 2. Vienna, July 23: Austrian govt. issues an ultimatum threatening war against Serbia; invades Serbia 4 days later 3. St. Petersburg, July 31: Russia (an ally of Serbia) orders its army to mobilize against Austria

Road to War 4. Berlin, August 1: Germany (an ally of Austria) declares war against Russia 5. Berlin, August 3: Germany declares war against France (an ally of Russia); invades neutral Belgium because it’s the fastest route to Paris

Road to War 6. London, August 4: Great Britain (an ally of France) declares war against Germany The assassination of the archduke sparked the war, but the underlying causes were: Nationalism Imperialism Militarism Combination of public and secret alliances One of the few major global tragedies

Road to War President Wilson attempted to keep the U.S. neutral, persuaded Americans not to take a side Wilson found it almost impossible to protect U.S. trading rights and stay neutral Allied Powers- Great Britain, France, Russia Central Powers- Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empires of Turkey) The U.S. moved through a wide range of roles throughout the course of the war: neutralwaging a war for peacevictorious world poweralienated/isolationist nation

Neutrality The trouble for the U.S. arose from the nations at war seizing any ships trading with the enemy (just like in the War of 1812) Great Britain declared a naval blockade around Germany and seized any ships attempting to run it Wilson protested this as a violation of a neutral nation’s right to freedom of the seas

Submarine Warfare Germany’s one hope for challenging the British navy was a new naval weapon- the U-Boat A submarine Germany announced a blockade of its own (the “war zone”) around the British Isles Warned any ship risked being sunk by German submarines

Lusitania Crisis May 7, 1915- German torpedoes hit and sank a British passenger liner, the Lusitania Killed 128 Americans Wilson warned Germany it would be held to “strict accountability” if it continued sinking unarmed ships William Jennings Bryan objected Wilson’s message as too war-like Resigned from the cabinet

The Sussex Pledge After another sinking that killed two Americans in August 1915, Germany agreed to U.S. demands and promised they would not sink unarmed ships without fair warning first Kept their word until March 1916- German torpedo sunk an unarmed merchant ship, the Sussex Injured several Americans Wilson threatened to cut off diplomatic ties with Germany (a pre-cursor to war); Germany did not want to risk U.S. entry into the war Replied with the Sussex Pledge- promised not to sink merchant or passenger ships without giving due warning

Economic Links Even though the U.S. was officially neutral, our economy became closely linked with the Allied nations Before the war, the U.S. was in a recession in 1914 The economy rebounded in part because of orders for war supplies from the British and French In theory, we could have shipped supplies to Germany as well, but British blockades prevented such trade

Economic Links Wilson did not favor the Allies, but he more or less tolerated the British blockades versus the German’s use of submarine warfare 1914-1917: U.S. quadrupled its trade with the Allies and almost stopped trading entirely with Germany U.S. also gave billions in loans (from bankers such as J.P. Morgan) to help sustain the Allied war effort

Public Opinion Most Americans also favored the Allies Perceived Germany as cruel bullies led by a mean autocrat, Kaiser Wilhelm The sinking of the Lusitania reinforced negative views of Germany

Ethnic Influences 1914- immigrants made up over 30% of the U.S. population Their backgrounds/ancestries reflected who they supported Germans identified with the struggles of their “homeland” Irish Americans hated Britain because of its oppressive rule of Ireland When Italy joined the Allies in 1915, Italians began cheering on the Allies Most native-born Americans wanted the Allies to win Long-standing relations with French since the Revolution and most Americans sympathized with France and Great Britain because they were democratic countries

British War Propaganda Britain was in control of much of the war news that reached the U.S. from Europe British govt. fully recognized the opportunity it had to persuade the U.S. Made sure the press was supplied with stories of Germans committing serious atrocities in Belgium and the territories they occupied

? What were the six major steps that led to the outbreak of war in Europe? (BRIEFLY summarize) Who were the Allies? The Central Powers? What challenges did the U.S. face from Germany in trying to stay neutral? How was the U.S. economy linked to the Allies? How did public opinion and war propaganda influence U.S. support for the Allies?