wrapping up World War I

1918 Spanish Flu Influenza spread throughout the world from This disease affected 25% of the U.S. population. It killed about 500,000 Americans. It killed about million people all over the world.

14 Point Peace Plan President Wilson proposed his idea for peace called the Fourteen Points. These were 14 ideas to improve the status of the world. His most famous point was the creation of a League of Nations. – Goal—resolve international issues before war This plan was used as propaganda before the war was up to convince Germany to surrender. Pamphlets dropped behind enemy line. Germans believed that this plan would be the basis of a peace compromise.

League of Nations Members agree to reduce weapons to a level determined by immediate threats AGREE TO PROTECT EACH OTHER AGAINST AGRESSION Colonies of the Central Powers would be supervised by the League members

Peace Conference in Paris This conference was started in January It was held at the Palace of Versailles. The conference was ruled by the “Big Four” as they were called. 1. Woodrow WilsonUnited States 2. David Lloyd GeorgeGreat Britain 3. Georges Clemenceau France 4. Vittorio OrlandoItaly France and England both wanted to PUNISH Germany…but there were no German representatives at the conference. Russia was not invited…why not?

Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. Communist USSR by 1922.

Treaty of Versailles This was the official treaty that ended the war. It was signed by Germany on June 28th, Germany accepted full responsibility for the war The treaty did not allow Germany to have a big army. No air force and no soldiers west of the Rhine It also made Germany pay reparations that totaled $33 billion to allied nations. Meant to keep the German economy weak for a long time. This treaty fueled German hatred toward Europe and would lead to WWII.

Signing in the Hall of Mirrors

German losses after WWI

Austria’s Losses After the War

Senate Rejects the Treaty Time to vote on the Treaty in the US Congress opposition argued that the League of Nations was an “entangling alliance” that the Founders argued against The Senate refused to ratify the treaty. President Wilson traveled the country trying to gain support. He gave 30 speeches in 3 weeks. He collapsed from exhaustion in Colorado and had a massive stroke. When he left office in 1921, the U.S. still did not recognize the Treaty of Versailles.

st Assembly of the L of N USA was not there

U.S. after WWI Soldiers returned home as heroes however, there were not many job opportunities. 2 million men back looking for work but the war factories were shutting down…recession begins Strikes and riots were common due to the rise of inflation. – Seattle General Strike – Boston Police Strike (Govenor Calvin Coolidge breaks it) – The Steel Strike (350,000 steel workers) Racial tension increased. Terrorist bombings threatened to weaken our country.

Red Summer of 1919 There were 25 riots that broke out across our country. Whites came back to find blacks had moved north and taken their jobs (when blacks lost jobs they blamed whites, and vice versa) The worst violence occurred in the Chicago race riot

Chicago Race Riot of 1919 African American man crosses the “unwritten” segregation line at a public beach Whites begin throwing rocks at him and he drowns Police called, no whites arrested, one black man is arrested for minor offenses Word spreads of what happens, fights break out… The riot in Chicago lasted 2 weeks. 38 people died and 500 were injured. Membership in the NAACP immediately increased after this was over.

“[We] only caught a ten-year-old Negro boy. [We] took his clothes off, and burned them. [We] burned his tail with lighted matches, made him step on lighted matches, urinated on him, and sent him running off naked with a couple of slaps in the face”

Detroit Race Riot

Tulsa Riots

Red Scare The riots of 1919 lead to a fear of a Communist takeover (Red Scare). Communism became associated with hostility, disloyalty, and treason. Many “home made bombs” were found in the mail or detonated at buildings. Communists were blamed. Attorney General Mitchell Palmer house was damaged and he led the charge declaring the country was experiencing a revolution (like Russia) The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was created to find these communists.

Luigi Galleani – use of violence to eliminate "tyrants" and "oppressors" and to act as a catalyst to the overthrow of existing government institutions.

1919 In late April 1919, about 36 mail bombs were mailed to a wide cross-section of prominent politicians (including the Attorney General of the United States), justice officials and financiers, including John D. Rockefeller. Did send enough postage and only 1 was delivered…blew off the maid’s hands June 1919…eight bombs exploded in 8 American cities within minutes of one another. Another 30 bombs were intercepted through the US Mail. Killed none of the intended targets…just a night watchmen, lady walking by a house, and one of the bombers 9/11 was not the first terrorist attacks on the US

Attorney General Palmer’s House

Anarchists Bomb Wall Street New York 1920 – kills 40

Uncle Sam (to Labor Party Representative) "You did splendidly, my boy, for a first attempt, but, for your own good and that of the country, get rid of that dangerous companion [anarchy] of yours....