A Bloody Conflict Coach Crews U.S. History

Managing the Economy Congress created several new federal agencies to manage the use of resources. These included the War Industries Board (WIB), Food Administration, Fuel Administration, and National War Labor Board (NWLB). Agencies encouraged citizens to ration food and energy for use in the war effort. Americans gave up commodities such as wheat, meat, and heating fuel on certain days, and grew victory gardens to supplement their own food supply. Congress raised income tax rates and established several new taxes on business and war profits in order to pay for the war effort. Americans purchased Liberty Bonds and Victory Bonds from the government to help fund the war. The government borrowed over $20 billion through these bonds.

Shaping Public Opinion The Committee on Public Information (CPI) produced pamphlets and paid speakers to encourage Americans to support the war effort. Congress passed the Espionage Act of 1917 to outlaw helping the enemy, giving false reports, or interfering with the war effort. Socialist Eugene V. Debs was famously arrested under this law. The Sedition Act of 1918 prohibited anyone from speaking out against the war. This allowed the government to arrest those who criticized government actions. The war stirred feelings against German Americans, labor activists, radicals, and pacifists. Many German Americans changed their names and avoided speaking German in public.

Mobilizing the Military Progressive ideals helped shape military recruitment practices. Local draft boards held the power to decide who was drafted into the army. Some two million men enlisted in the war. Hundreds of thousands of African Americans served in the war, mostly in support roles. About 42,000 soldiers fought overseas in racially segregated units. For the first time, women served as official noncombatants in the U.S. Navy and the Army Nurse Corps. Women could also serve as auxiliaries.

Modern Technology Most attacks started with an artillery barrage fired from far behind the front lines. Trenches, fenced with barbed wire, sheltered troops from direct fire. Attacking soldiers scrambled out of their trenches into a hail of enemy machine gun fire to try to break through the enemy’s lines. Automatic weapons with a high rate of fire caused enormous casualties. Fumes from chemical weapons sickened, blinded, and suffocated soldiers. To counter poison gas attacks, the gas mask became standard equipment for the infantryman. Tanks could knock down barbed wire and roll across open trenches. Aircraft were first used to locate enemy positions and movement. Later, carrying bombs and outfitted with machine guns, airplanes turned into offensive weapons (dogfights).

Russia Leaves Czar Nicolas leaves the throne and the Russian Revolution begins Vladimir Lenin’s Bolshevik Party takes control Communist government established in November 1917

Americans Arrive U.S. forces reached France in July 1917. British and French commanders wanted U.S. troops placed under their command. U.S. General John J. Pershing insisted that American soldiers fight under U.S. command. President Wilson agreed. In late May 1918, U.S. forces saw their first action. In June, along with French troops, the Americans blocked an intensive German drive on Paris. U.S. and French forces also repelled one final German push toward Paris in July of 1918. After blunting the German offensive, the Allies counterattacked in September 1918. In the Battle of the Argonne Forest, American troops shattered German defenses and opened a hole in the German lines. In October 1918, a revolution in Austria-Hungary split that empire into independent states. By early November, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman governments had surrendered to the Allies. On November 11, the German government signed an armistice. At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the fighting stopped.

Postwar Goals The British wanted to punish the Germans for starting the war and force them to pay reparations. The French, who shared a border with Germany, wanted to permanently end the threat of German invasion by reducing the size of Germany’s military and prohibiting troop placement near the Rhine River. President Wilson proposed a plan called the Fourteen Points that was meant to create a lasting peace in Europe. It advocated various freedoms, addressed the right of national self- determination, and called for the creation of a League of Nations.

Fourteen Points The first five of the Fourteen Points dealt with eliminating the conditions that led to the war The next eight points dealt with the right of national self-determination, or the idea that the borders of countries should be based on ethnicity and national identity to help secure peace. The last of the Fourteen Points was the most important to Wilson, but was also among the most controversial. It called for the formation of an international association to promote world peace

Peace Talks Peace talks began at the Palace of Versailles, near Paris, in January 1919. Delegates from 27 countries, excluding Russia, attended the meeting. The Treaty of St. Germain dissolved the empire of Austro- Hungary and recognized the independence of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the Balkan states. The final terms of the Treaty of Versailles severely punished Germany, essentially blaming German aggression for starting the war. Germany’s military and navy were severely downsized. Heavy reparations were demanded, and German territory was taken from German control. President Woodrow Wilson came to the treaty negotiations with his Fourteen Points proposal. European powers were only lukewarm on Wilson’s ideas. However, the final treaty did at least call for a League of Nations, which was Wilson’s primary objective.

Senate Rejection Republicans felt excluded from the negotiations. “Irreconcilables” opposed the League of Nations. Reservationists wanted changes in the treaty to ensure that U.S. forces would not be called into action in European conflicts. Congress voted twice and rejected the treaty both times. Many of those opposed feared what George Washington had more than 100 years earlier called “entangling alliances.”

Technology/Treaty of Versailles