1. World War I
FOCUS QUESTION: What caused World War I, and why did the United States enter the war?

2. Causes of WWI - MANIA
Militarism (competition between countries to build bigger military)
Alliances (secret treaties between countries)
Nationalism (extreme pride in country)
Imperialism
** Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, June 1914 – official start of the war

4. WWI Alliances
Central Powers
Germany
Austria-Hungary
Ottoman Empire (Turkey, Syria, Iraq)
Allied Powers
England
France
Russia (leaves 1917)
U.S.A. (enters 1917)

6. How and why does the United States get involved in the war, despite a commitment to neutrality?

7. British Blockade
Britain blockaded the German coast to prevent weapons and military supplies from getting through to Germany
American ships bound for Germany were usually stopped and turned around
An angry Germany responded with U-Boats “Unterseeboot”

8. German U-Boat

9. More German U-Boats

10. Reasons the US Enters the War
1. Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
May 1915: Lusitania is sunk & 128 Americans killed
“There is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right” – Wilson in reaction to Lusitania

13. Reasons the US Enters the War
2. Zimmerman Note
Germany sends a telegram to Mexico proposing an alliance

14. Why Does the US Enter the War?
3. Russia: Bolshevik Revolution,1917

15. What justification does Wilson use for declaring war?
April 6, 1917: US Declares War
“The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them.”
-Woodrow Wilson
What justification does Wilson use for declaring war?

16. Trench Warfare

18. Trench Cross Section

21. Trench Foot

22. New Weapons

23. Quick Write
Why was the US unable to maintain a policy of neutrality during WWI?
What factors combined to draw the world and ultimately the US into the war?
Do you think the US was right to enter WWI? Why or why not?