 The Americans Arrive 16-3

The Americans Arrive  “Doughboys”—Am soldiers  Fresh, eager to fight  Boosted morale of Allies  Demoralized Germans

Winning the War at Sea  Admiral William S. Sims—no Am troopships sunk on journey to Euro  Sims proposed merchant ships travel in convoys protected by destroyers  If one ship sunk others could rescue survivors

Russia Leaves the War  March 1917—riots in Russia over the gov’t handling the war and food/fuel shortage  Czar Nicholas II abdicates  Russian Revolution  Provisional gov’t set up didn’t deal with problems  Bolshevik Party  Vladimir Lenin  Overthrew provisional gov’t  Communist gov’t (Nov 1917)

Russia Leaves the War (con’t)  Communist gov’t pulls out of war  Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 3, 1918)  Russia lost Ukraine, Polish/Baltic territories, and Finland

Americans Enter Combat  Owe France a debt (Rev War)  Gen. John J. Pershing  Commander of Am Expeditionary Force  Paris: July 4, 1917  Visited grave of Marquis de Lafayette  Brits/French wanted Am troops to come under their command, but Pershing said that Am fight under Am  EXCEPTION: 93 rd Infantry under French command  First Am to enter combat

Germany’s Last Offensive  March 21, 1918—Massive German attack on Western front  Gas  Artillery bombardment  Strengthened w/ reinforcements from Russian front  June 1918  40m from Paris

Germany’s Last Offensive (con’t)  Am troops launched first major attack  Am/ French troops blocked German drive to Paris  July 15  last massive attack by Germans stopped by Am/French

The Battle of the Argonne Forest  French Marshal Ferdinand Foch  supreme commander of Allied forced  Pershing  600,000 Am troops  40,000 tons supplies  4,000 artillery  Most massive attack in Am history  Start: Sept 26, 1918  Nov  Am shattered German defenses and opened a hole on the eastern front of German lines. Germans began to retreat

American Heroes  Alvin York  Tried to avoid draft as conscientious objector, but eventually decided it was just cause  Oct 8, 1918 Battle of Argonne Forest  9-25 Germans killed, captured machine guns, 132 prisoners  Medal of Honor  French Croix de Guerre  Alvin York Institute—school for poor in TN

American Heroes  Edie Rickenbacker  Race car driver  Commander of 94 th Aero Squadron  1 st all-Am to combat  134 air battles  Shot down 26 aircraft  Top Am combat pilot  1 to 7 against Germans, once  Medal of Honor

The War Ends  Revolution in Austria-Hungary  Oct 1918—Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia declared independence  Nov—Austro-Hungarian Empire and Ottoman Empire surrendered

The War Ends (con’t)  Nov 3—Sailors mutiny in Kiel (German fleet)  Workers and soldiers seized power in German towns  German emperor steps down  Nov 9—Germany becomes a republic  Nov 11— Armistice  11 th hour on 11 th day of 11 th month 1918 fighting ends