1917: The Players Change Russia and the U.S.A. in WWI

The War at Sea  The naval arms race between Germany and Britain led to only one major battle in the great war.  The battle of Jutland in 1916 was a German attempt to break the British blockade. The Germans had been unable to receive supplies from abroad.

 The battle lasted only one day and was one of the largest in history. The British and Germans lost 14 and 11 ships respectively.  Both sides claimed victory but the cost prevented them from another major battle.  The British remained in control of shipping routes.

The U-Boat  The Germans had invented the U-Boat (unterseebooten or submarine).  To break the blockade the Germans resorted to “unrestricted submarine warfare”.  This meant that German subs would sink any ships in the Atlantic regardless of type or nationality.  The Germans hoped to choke-off Britain’s supplies.

Convoys  Many of Britain’s supplies came from Halifax.  Ships used the convoy system to combat the danger of U-Boats.  Many ships travelled together with an escort of military ships

Convoy Diagram

Lusitania  May 1915, the passenger ship Lusitania was off the coast of Ireland flying the stars and stripes (the USA was still neutral).  A U-Boat fired a single torpedo.  That explosion was followed by a much larger second blast.  The official story was that coal dust had been ignited by the torpedo.  The Germans claimed the ship must have been carrying munitions.  The ship sank in minutes, killing 1200 passengers, 120 of whom were American.

The U.S.A. and WWI  At the start of the war the US had a policy of isolationism (keeping to yourself)  The sinking of the Lusitania and other incidents began to change public opinion against the Germans.

 In January of 1917 the Americans intercepted a telegram that caused the US to enter the war.  The Zimmerman telegram proposed a German alliance with Mexico and Japan against the US.  A furious American public now fully supported the war.

Communism  In 1848 Karl Marx published The Communist Manifesto.  He outlined a new way to run government and society.  Marx saw all of history as a series of conflicts between the rich (who owned stuff) and the poor (who did all the work).  Marx believed that the workers would eventually overthrow the rich and take over everything

Revolution  Such a revolution would mean the complete overthrow of the government and the redistribution of all wealth.  “From each according to his ability To each according to his need”  Marx envisioned a society where all property was shared.  The possibility of Communist Revolution terrified governments everywhere for the next 150 years.

The End of Russia  Russia fought fiercely for 3 years against Germany.  The Russian people were tired of the carnage and waste.  But Czar Nicholas II was as committed to the war as ever.  The discontent of the people gave rise to the ideas of Lenin and his communist Bolsheviks.

Lenin  In 1917, Lenin used the public’s hatred of the war to overthrow the Czar.  He quickly set-up a new government and made a treaty with Germany.  The Brest-Litovsk Treaty gave away a large amount of land and money.  Russians remained bitter about the treaty for decades.

The Soviet Union  After the Russians pulled out of the Great War they entered four years of civil war.  By 1922 the USSR was created.  Lenin died in 1924 and after a power struggle was replaced by Joseph Stalin.  Stalin was a tyrant who stayed in power for the next three decades.  During that time he tried to bring the rest of the world under communist rule.