Chapter 24: World War I Section 1: War Breaks Out in Europe Section 2: America Joins the Fight 1-3 D

WWI was not called World War I It was called: “The Great War” because… D

There had not been a major war among the world’s countries for almost 100 years – since:

There are usually three reasons for fights: An underlying cause An immediate cause A spark And - there were many underlying causes for WWI D

The spark that started WWI: Archduke Francis Ferdinand (from Austria –Hungary) was shot and killed D

Imperialism: 4a Definition: building an empire or trying to rule over other lands There was competition for colonies in Africa and Asia and Germany felt it deserved more colonies This is also sometimes called expansionism D

Nationalism: 4b Definition: feelings of unity, pride, loyalty, and commitment to one’s country Europeans had strong feelings of pride, loyalty, and protectiveness toward their own countries. They wanted to prove their nations were the best and placed their interests above all others. They were willing to fight for the causes they believed in. D

Militarism / Arms Races: Definition: competition to have the most / best weapons and military equipment Many of these nations believed they needed a large military force. This is often called an “arms race.” D

Alliances: 4d D Definition: nations that have agreed to work together Many alliances bound nations together. An attack on one nation forced all its allies to come to its aid. D

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The two sides: 6 D The Central Powers Austria-Hungary Germany The Ottoman Empire Bulgaria The Allies Serbia Russia France Great Britain Italy And seven others 6 D

World War I had a lot of new and different kind of fighting techniques. One of those was trench warfare. Troops hid in rat infested trenches. If there were “battles” they often killed thousands (the Battle of the Somme had 1.2 million casualties). D

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Some other new inventions: Tanks Machine guns Poison gas Fighter planes U-boats (German submarines and submarine warfare) 7 D

Did America care? D No – this war was 3000 miles away There were no radios, planes, or much communications to average people in America. The United States took a position of neutrality: not taking sides D

Is neutral good or bad? D Both. You can avoid any direct conflict. But… both sides could come after you. (no “protection”) D

There were some challenges to American neutrality D

American Opinion D The United States had a lot of German immigrants. We spoke English (and were their colony) The French helped us in the Revolution D

We had trade problems Should we trade mostly with Germany or England? D

The Germans were sinking a lot of our ships The Lusitania was a main example D

The Zimmerman Note was another D

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Finally…. after the Germans sank more of our ships……. War!!! President Woodrow Wilson: “We must make the world safe for democracy” (He was so upset we had to go to war, he put his head on his desk and cried) 8 Wilson was a compassionate man. He knew many young American men would be killed. He didn’t approve of war. D

Its not easy to say you’re going to be in a war and immediately start fighting (and especially in a far away place) The U.S. was not prepared for war. We did not have enough soldiers, so the government had a draft. Any male 21-30 “signed up.” D

In America at first this was called: “The Great War” or “The Great Adventure” Most Americans had never been more than 50-100 miles from their homes. But, the war was a lot different than they expected. D

It took a year or so until we had enough troops trained, deployed, and ready to fight in Europe. By that time WWI had been going on for 2-3 years. But our troops did a lot to stop the German advance and even started to push them back some. Most of this fighting was taking place in France. 9 D

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There was fighting for about another year after we arrived The turning point of the war was the Second Battle of the Marne. By 1918 about 1.2 million U.S. soldiers were pushing the Germans back to Germany. Fighting was always tough and casualties were usually high WWI’s final battle left 26,000 Americans dead D

Finally the Germans had to agree to peace and agreed to an armistice An agreement to stop fighting About 8.5 million soldiers had died. Another 21 million had been wounded. 10 D

During the course of World War One, eleven percent (11%) of France's entire population were killed or wounded! Eight percent (8%) of Great Britain's population were killed or wounded, and nine percent (9%) of Germany's pre-war population were killed or wounded! The United States, which did not enter the land war in strength until 1918, suffered one-third of one percent (0.37%) of its population killed or wounded. 11 on your own D