1. 03/04 Bellringer 5+ sentences
When war erupted in Europe in 1914, most Americans wanted no part of it. The US entry into the war forever changed foreign policy. We were no longer a country that minded our own business. What do you think of the policy of neutrality? Should the US go back to that policy?

2. If Americans wanted to remain neutral, why did the United States entered WWI?
a. The US felt like it was under attack despite its neutrality… b. War is “good for business”… c. Democracy needed to be protected… d. If the Allies lost, they would not be able to pay back the loans they borrowed from the US… e. The British are kind of like “family” – the US and Great Britain have a shared history and heritage…
Have students categorize primary sources and determine why the USA entered WWI:

3. Examine the documents provided and complete the chart in your notes
Group Activity: If Americans wanted to remain neutral, why did the United States entered WWI?
In pairs, evaluate the primary documents to gain a better understanding of why the United States entered World War I in 1917:
Examine the documents provided and complete the chart in your notes
When finished, create a one sentence thesis that explains why the USA entered WWI
Be prepared to discuss your ideas with the class
Have students categorize primary sources and determine why the USA entered WWI:

4. Summary sentence: Why did the USA enter WWI?
What does this document reveal about why the USA entered World War I?
What reason does this best match?
Doc A
Doc B
Doc C
Doc D
Doc E
Doc F
Doc G
Doc H
Summary sentence: Why did the USA enter WWI?

5. Document A

6. Intercepted telegram from Germany to Mexico, 1917
Document B
Intercepted telegram from Germany to Mexico, 1917

7. Document C
U.S. War Loans 1914—1917: To the Allied Powers: $2,250 million To the Central Powers: $27 million

8. U.S. Losses to German Submarine Warfare, 1916-1918
Document D
U.S. Losses to German Submarine Warfare,

9. Document E
The German officer knocked at the door… The officer ordered the soldiers to break down the door, which two of them did. The peasant came and asked what they were doing. His hands were tied behind his back, and he was shot at once without a moment’s delay. The wife came out with a little sucking child. One of the Germans took a rifle and struck her a tremendous blow with the butt on the head. Another took his bayonet and fixed it and thrust it through the child. He then put his rifle on his shoulder with the child up on it, its little arms stretched out once or twice. The officers ordered the house to be set on fire…The man, his wife and child were thrown on top. James Bryce, head of the Committee on Alleged German Atrocities as reported to British Parliament, 1915

10. Document F
“We shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts,—for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own Governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free…The world must be made safe for democracy.” (President Wilson's war message, April, 1917)

11. Document G

12. Document H
“To whom does war bring prosperity? Not to the soldier who for the compensation of $16 per month shoulders his musket and goes into the trench, there to shed his blood and to die if necessary; not to the mother who weeps at the death of her brave boy; not to the little children who shiver with cold; nor the millions of mothers and daughters who carry broken hearts to their graves. War brings prosperity to the stock gambler on Wall Street – to those who are already in possession of more wealth than can be enjoyed…Their object in having war and in preparing for war is to make money. The enormous profits of munitions [weapons] manufacturers, stockbrokers, and bond dealers must be still further increased by our entrance into the war.”
Senator George Norris, in response to the U.S. declaration of war, April 1917

13. Combatants in World War I quickly began to use total war tactics
Governments committed all their nation’s resources and took over industry to win the war

14. Soldiers were drafted, the media was censored, propaganda was created to support the war

15. New, industrial weapons were introduced on the battlefield such as machine guns, airplanes, blimps...
…heavy artillery, tanks, poison gas, flame throwers, submarines
These weapons led to unprecedented deaths and casualties

16. Trench warfare made it difficult for either side to gain an advantage
To protect soldiers from enemy fire, both the Allies and Central Powers built trenches
Trench warfare made it difficult for either side to gain an advantage

17. Fighting on the Western Front slowed to a stalemate as neither side could gain an advantage
2 million soldiers were killed or wounded during the battles of Verdun and Somme
German u-boats patrolled the Atlantic Ocean attacking Allied cargo ships

18. Millions of Russian soldiers and civilians died in the war
On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was struggling to hold on against the German military
Russian women training for combat
Russia was struggling to produce enough weapons or food to support the war effort
Millions of Russian soldiers and civilians died in the war
By 1917, Russia was on the brink of collapse

19. In Nov 1917, Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks overthrew the Russian government and established the Soviet Union, the first communist nation

20. The Century: America’s Time (Ep 2: Shell Shock)
Why do you think the sinking of the Lusitania was seen as such a negative event?
What was life like in the US during the early years of the war when the US was still neutral?
How did propaganda impact America’s view of the war?
What was life like in the trenches of the Western Front?
How did industrialization impact WWI?
Describe how new weapons like machine guns, tanks, and poison gas impacted the war.
How did WWI help bring about the revolution in Russia?
How did Europeans view the US entry into the war?
What did US veterans encounter when they returned to the US after the war?
One of the veterans when interviewed said, “Nobody wins in a war…they lost, we didn’t win.” What do you think he meant by this?