1. The Great War
World War I

2. Organizing Principle
The continents of Europe and North America had developed in parallel fashion since the mid- 1800s. After the turn of the century, the same political and economic transformations that had taken place in the United States, pitted many European nations against each other. The tensions in Europe mounted and resulted in the outbreak of War in The United States put their head in the sand as isolationist sentiments ruled the day. However, as The Great War drifted into its third year, President Wilson had his arm twisted by the behemoth of conflict. Wilson’s position on neutrality quickly changed after diplomatic relations with Germany collapsed. Wilson justified his actions by proclaiming that the United States was fighting for a greater cause…a war to end all wars.

3. Thunders Across the Sea
Causes of WWI
Militarism
Using military force as foreign policy
Naval race—Germany and the UK
Imperialism
Scramble for Africa—1884
Competition and prestige
Nationalism—extreme love of country
Balkan States—”foreign rule”
Alliance System
Triple Entente—Allied Powers
Triple Alliance—Central Powers

9. Alliance System Triple Entente (Allied Powers) Triple Alliance
(Central Powers)
France
Germany
Britain
Austria-Hungary
Russia
Ottoman Empire

11. Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Sarajevo, Bosnia
June 28, 1914
Black Hand
Gavrilo Princip
Austria declares war against Serbia
“Blank Checks”

12. Split Sympathies in U.S. Britain v. Germany Neutrality Ancestry
Political heritage
British propaganda
Economic realities
British Blockade
Neutrality
Socialists
Pacifists

13. “U”nterseeboots Submarine warfare Submarine war zone
Lusitania
May 7, 1915
128 Americans died
Wilson claims rights of a neutral nation
Arabic
August, 1915
2 Americans
Sussex
Germans “agree” to warning rule

15. Technology of Warfare High powered artillery Trench Warfare Tanks
Flame throwers
Poison gas
Airplanes
Battleships
U- boats

17. German Provocations Wilson—“Peace without victory” March 1917
Germans wage unrestricted submarine warfare
Attack American ships too
March 1917
Zimmerman Note
Intercepted and published (01 March 1917)
Suggests a German-Mexican alliance
Restores Mexican possessions
Four U.S. merchant vessels destroyed
Nicholas II (Russian Tsar) abdicated
War for democracy
Wilson’s Declaration
06 April 1917