1. The US Enters The Great War
World War I: Part 2
The US Enters The Great War

2. The Essentials…
USH2.H.6.1
Explain how national economic and political interests helped set the direction of United States foreign policy since Reconstruction
USH2.H.6.2
Explain the reasons for United States involvement in global wars and the influence each involvement had on international affairs
Generalizations:
• World conflicts can cause domestic priorities to shift.
• Nationalism may have both a positive and negative impact on a nation as well as the global environment.

3. Essential Questions:
How and why did American foreign policy shift from neutrality to interventionism at the beginning of World War I.
How and why the United States joined with the Allied Powers to end World War I.
How and to what extent American involvement in World War I affected United States foreign policy and helped make the “world safe for democracy.”
How and why economic and political conditions in Europe after World War I led to the rise of authoritarian rulers and the onset of World War II.
How and why did American foreign policy shift to isolationism after World War I.

4. Neutrality-isolationism
**WW I began in Europe in 1914 and lasted until 1918.
The United States did not enter the war until 1917.**
Neutrality-isolationism

5. Selective Service Act of 1917
Required all men between 21 and 30 to register for the draft
Candidates were drafted through a lottery system and then either accepted or rejected for service by a local draft board
About 2.8 million Americans were drafted while another 2 million volunteered

6. African-American Troops
Nearly 400,000 blacks were drafted to serve overseas
Had to serve in segregated units under white officers, faced racial discrimination
- Still, many, such as the “Harlem Hell Fighters,” served with distinction, winning medals

7. The War Industries Board
Created in July 1917
Run by former stockbroker Bernard Baruch
Tasked with efficiently managing US industry in the manufacture of war materials
- Controlled what products were made in US factories

8. Food Administration Run by Herbert Hoover
Responsible for increasing food production and reducing food consumption
Encouraged families to grow their own food in “victory gardens” and to observe “Wheatless Mondays” & “Meatless Tuesdays”

9. Fuel Administration Run by Harry Garfield
To conserve fuel, Daylight Savings Time was created and Americans were asked to observe Heatless Mondays
Factories not making war materials had their workweeks shortened

10. Paying for the War US spent $32 billion on the war
Congress raised income taxes and created new taxes on corporations
US also borrowed $20 billion from American citizens through the sale of Liberty Bonds or Victory Bonds

11. Propaganda takes hold…

13. US Troops Arrive in Europe
The “doughboys” (nickname of unknown origin for US soldiers) of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) arrived in France in July 1917
Commanded by General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing

14. Trench warfare
Armies had dug a network of trenches (deep protective ditches) along the Western Front in which soldiers lived worked and fought
Living conditions were poor, many soldiers suffered from diseases such as trenchfoot

15. Trench Foot

16. “No Man’s Land”
The devastated area between the opposing armies’ trench lines where everything had been destroyed
Soldiers would come out of the trenches and race toward the enemy while fully exposed to enemy fire

17. New Weapons

18. 1. Machine Guns-biggest impact!

19. 2. Artillery

20. 3. Poison gas Germans introduced the use of chemical gasses as weapons
These gasses could burn the skin, blind, or destroy the lungs if breathed in
Fortunately, gas masks and rubber chemical suits offered some protection

23. 4. Tanks-least impact!

24. 5. Airplanes

25. 6. U-boats (submarines)

26. 7. Hand Grenades

27. 8. Land Mines

28. Russia Pulls Out of the War
Two revolutions in Russia in (the first one democratic, the second one communist) ousted Czar Nicholas II
The new Russian government negotiated a separate peace with Germany and withdrew Russia from the conflict, closing the Eastern Front

29. American Victories
Summer 1918: US forces successfully defended Paris from a German attack
Fall 1918: US forces began the Battle of Argonne Forest, which would eventually shatter Germany’s fighting abilities

30. The War Ends
Revolt broke out in Austria and the Ottomans surrendered to the Triple Entente, leaving Germany alone to fight
After a mutiny broke out in the German navy and the people of Berlin erupted in riots over food shortages in Nov. 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II stepped down as Germany’s leader, clearing the way for an armistice

31. WWI ended at 11 AM, Nov. 11, 1918-the 11th day the 11th month, the 11th hour!

32. Wilson’s Fourteen Points
Pres. Wilson presented his plan for resolving the war; his plan sought to restabilize Europe and resolve the root problems that had started WWI to begin with
Britain and France rejected Wilson’s plan in favor of punishing Germany with harsh reparations (fines)

33. Points 1 - 5 Ban secret alliances Respect freedom of the seas
Remove all barriers to trade (tariffs)
Everyone reduce the size of their military
Stop colonization, respect the rights of native peoples

34. Points
Specified the creation of new states in Europe (such as Poland) and redrew the boundaries of Europe
Also promoted self- determination for various European ethnic states

35. Point 14: The League of Nations
Create a “League of Nations” to help preserve peace and prevent future wars by offering a forum for resolving international disputes
The only one of Wilson’s 14 Points to be accepted by Europe

36. The Treaty of Versailles (ver sy)
Signed in June 1919
Officially ended WWI

37. 1. Germany had to accept the blame for causing WWI

38. 2. Germany had to pay reparations of $33 billion ($350 billion in today’s money)

39. 3. Germany could only have a limited military

40. 4. Germany had to give up territory to France & Poland

41. 5. Germany had to give up its overseas colonies

42. Germans signed – but were furious over the terms…. A cause of WW II?

43. Congress Rejects the Treaty
US Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles because of strong opposition to joining the League of Nations –
Many feared that joining the League would mean giving up our right to decide our own foreign policies, while others saw the League as the type of “foreign entanglement” that Washington had warned the US to stay out of
US never signed the Treaty or joined the League, returned to a policy of isolationism

44. Casualties of war 1 in every 4 soldiers involved died in the war
Even more were maimed: lost limbs, lost vision, burned, etc.
Many suffered from mental problems after the war: “shell shock” or PTSD
Europe lie in ruins

57. Austrian Corporal Adolf Hitler
History Repeats Itself…
Austrian Corporal Adolf Hitler