1. No Man's Land
Land between two enemy trenches
Impassable wasteland

2. Technology of Modern Warfare
Armored Tank
1st introduced by Britain
Used to move across No Man’s Land
Broke down a lot
Zeppelin

3. Technology of Modern Warfare
Both sides equipped airplanes with machine guns
Pilots, “flying aces,” fought “dog fights” in the sky

4. German U-boats Submarines proved much more important than planes
German U-boats did great damage to the Allies
Unterseeboot, which means "undersea boat"

5. Convoys Used to prevent submarine attacks on ships
Convoys crossed with merchant ships

6. Stalemate leads to harsh conditions
Trench foot
Wet, muddy trenches
Lice
Constant fear

7. Causalities Soldiers killed or wounded
First thousands, then hundred of thousands, then millions
2 battles, (Verdon & Somme) British, French, & Germans had more than 2 million casualties
Somme, British suffered 60,000 casualties on 1st day
…achieved nothing
US Remains Neutral

8. US Neutrality
Melting pot, Wilson didn’t want to set Americans against one another
1/3 of Americans were foreign born
Shared cultural history with Britain
Same language as Britain
Same democracy as France
German Americans favored Central Powers
Irish Americans resented British
Russian Jewish immigrants didn’t want to ally with the Tsar

9. Opinions Solidify Isolationists Interventionists Internationalists
None of our business
Interventionists
Intervene on Allies side
Internationalists
Middle ground, US should play active role in world affairs, work towards peace, but don’t enter the war

10. Contraband: military supplies & raw materials needed to make them
Total War
International law allows wartime blockades to stop contraband.
However, British navy formed blockade in the North Sea and blocked everything
Germans retaliate
Unrestricted submarine
Warfare
Contraband: military supplies & raw materials needed to make them

11. Lusitania May 1915, German submarine torpedoed British liner
About 1200 killed
128 Americans
Germans stopped unrestricted submarine warfare for the moment

12. USA Unrestricted submarine warfare stopped after Lusitania, 1915
Pressure from President Wilson
1917 Germans desperate
Started again
Wilson angrily denounces Germany
1917, British intercept telegram between German foreign minister Arthur Zimmermann to Mexico

13. USA Declares War Brought much needed morale boost & financial aid
April 1917, Wilson asked Congress to declare war
1918, about 2 million American soldiers join the Allied troops
Wilson to Congress,
“We have no selfish ends to serve-”
“to make the world safe for democracy”
“War to end all Wars”
Brought much needed morale boost & financial aid