1. Oct. 17 Goal: Analyze reasons the U.S became involved in WWI
QOD: Define Neutral
Agenda: Reading on Neutrality
Station Activity: Americans Mobilize

2. Why did it take so long for America to get involved in the war?
America was isolationist
“Why should I get involved in someone else’s problems” 2 2

3. Isolation Wilson Promised NO WAR
Is isolationism really an option for a country as powerful as the United States? 3 3

4. What did it take to get the US involved?
1. Blockades
Britain blockaded (stopped) all German ships going to America
Germany announced a submarine war around Britain
Y-53 German Submarine 1916 4 4

5. What did it take to get the US involved?
2. Sinking of the Lusitania
Lusitania torpedoed, sinking with 1200 passengers and crew (including 128 Americans)
Was eventually found to be carrying 4200 cases of ammunition
German Propaganda Justifying Lusitania sinking 5 5

6. What did it take to get the US involved?
3. Propaganda
The US sharply criticized Germany for their action
Germany agreed not to sink passenger ships without warning in the future
Note in Bottle After Lusitania Disaster 6 6

7. What did it take to get the US involved?
4. Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
1917 Germany announced “unrestricted submarine warfare” in the war zone 7 7

8. What did it take to get the US involved?
5. Zimmerman Note
US intercepted a note from Germany to Mexico,
It promised Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona back in return for an alliance 8 8

9. What did it take to get the US involved?
Zimmerman Note + the sinking of 4 unarmed American ships led to a declaration of war 9 9

10. How was the war looking for the allies?
Not Good...
Russia left the war after its communist revolution in 1917
Made it a one front war for Germany - all its troops could concentrate on France 10 10

11. How do we get all of the people in the US involved?
Total War Reading
Station Activity

12. Convincing the American People
Posters - Gee!!
How do you think this poster helped to convince the American people that the war was a good idea? 12 12

13. How did the War Affect the US?
Enforcing Loyalty
Hatred of all things German
Ex. “Liberty Cabbage”
German potato salad gone off the shelves
No one could learn German in schools
Kids were teased 13 13

14. What did the US do to help?
Supplies:
US provided the food, money, and fresh troops needed to win the war
American Troops March Through London 14 14

15. Convincing the American People
Idealism: 2 Goals For War:
1. War to End All Wars
2. Making the World Safe for Democracy 15 15

16. How did the War Affect the US?
Women
Women filled factory jobs
May have led 19th Amendment after the war (Gave women the right to vote)
African Americans
Black soldiers still served in Segregated Units
“Great Migration” - thousands of African Americans moved North to work in factories 16 16

17. US Support of the War Consumption
US Food Administration wanted Americans to reduce consumption of key food items
Conservation-Liberty Gardens, “Liberty Cabbage”
Meatless Mondays
Wheatless Wednesday

19. Purchasing War Bonds

20. Joining the Military

21. Working

22. 22 22

23. Espionage Act 1918 It originally prohibited any attempt to interfere with military operations, to support U.S. enemies during wartime, to promote insubordination in the military, or to interfere with military recruitment. The constitutionality of the law, its relationship to free speech, and the meaning of the law's language have been contested in court ever since. obtaining or delivering information relating to "national defense" to a person who was not "entitled to have it" (Spying)

24. Sedition Act of 1918
Forbade the use of "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the United States government, its flag, or its armed forces or that caused others to view the American government or its institutions with contempt. Those convicted under the act generally received sentences of imprisonment for 5 to 20 years.
Both acts resulted in more than a thousand convictions

25. Results of World War I Political Cost Human Cost Economic Cost
Treaty of Versailles
Making Peace

26. Human Cost 8.5 million died in battle 2xs that wounded
6-13 million civilians dead
Over 20 million die of flu worldwide

27. Economic Costs
Homes, farms, factories, roads, churches need to be rebuilt
Rebuilding costs money that countries don’t have plus many have to pay off war debts
So blame Germany and have them pay reparations to all
TOTAL COSTS: Great Britain $55 billion, France $50 billion, Russia $25 billion, Germany $60 billion, Austria-Hungary $25 billion

28. Political Costs
Govts collapsed in Russia, Germany, A-H, and Ottoman Empire
Radicals try to rule and communism spreads
Colonial troops returned home with cynical views of Europeans
Imperial powers were no longer seen as invicible
African and Asian colonies found hope for independence from European control

30. Paris Peace Conference and League of Nations
Allies Paris without Central Powers and Russia
Great Britain, France, US, Italy – each with own demands and interests
Issues concerned countries wanting own control, who to blame, keeping peace
Wilson of USA has 14 Points and is willing to compromise in order to get the League of Nations for world security

31. Treaty of Versailles June 1919 Signed by “big 3” and Germany
New countries formed like Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia…independence for Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia (Baltic Sea countries)
Creation of the League of Nations (No USA)
Punished Germany:
Pay others $ = reparations
Take all blame for the war
Limit military
Give back land taken
No more colonies