1. Causes of World War I and U.S. Involvement in the Great War

2. Why does war begin in Europe?
European rivalries over:
trade, colonies, military power
Alliance System
Triple Alliance
Triple Entente
Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand (6/26/14)

3. Goals of U.S. Foreign Policy
Protect National Security
Avoid Foreign Entanglements
Encourage International Trade
Moral Diplomacy of Woodrow Wilson
Moral diplomacy = democracy can save world from humanity’s worst instincts

4. “The U. S. must be neutral in fact as well as in name
“The U.S. must be neutral in fact as well as in name We must be impartial in thought as well as in action.” The European war was one “with which we have nothing to do, whose causes cannot touch us.” -Wilson’s message to the Senate (8/19/1914)

5. Is the U.S. neutral from the beginning?
Sympathy with both sides
Allies
Central Powers
U.S. needs British for economic reasons
U.S. neutrality becomes only a slogan (by 1915)

6. Why does the U.S. get involved?
Unrestricted submarine warfare
Sinking of the Lusitania
Zimmerman Telegram
Lusitania – British ship killed, 128 Americans – sunk in war zone, warned beforehand, caring munitions Zimmerman telegram – German foreign minister to Mexico writes note to Mexican government that British intercept proposing alliance between two countries reward after war, Mexico gets back lost territory of N. Mexico, Texas and Arizona

7. U.S. Exports to Countries at War 1914 - 1916
GERMANY
$350 million
$29 million
$300,000
1916* 0.08%
*1916 figure as percentage of 1914 figure
BRITAIN
1914 $600 million
1915 $900 million
1916 $1.5 billion
1916* 257%
*1916 figure as percentage of 1914 figure

12. “The world must be made safe for democracy
“The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make.” -Wilson (4/2/17)

13. Mobilizing for War Liberty Bonds and Taxes raised $ for war
War Industries Board oversaw production
Decided production, fixed prices
National War Labor Board
Worked to settle disputes that might disrupt production
Rationing
“Food will win the war”
Daylight Saving Time
Turning clocks ahead one hour for the summer to lower fuel consumption, shifted 1hr of daylight to night

14. U.S. Declares War on April 6, 1917
Gen. John “Black Jack’ Pershing
American Expeditionary Forces

18. U.S. and WWI Timeline
July-August 1914 – War begins in Europe
May 1915 – Lusitania torpedoed
January 1917 – Zimmerman Note
April U.S. declared war on Germany
May Selective Service Act, Convoys
June AEF arrived in France
November Armistice signed
June 1919 – Treaty of Versailles

19. A Lost Generation Total Dead: 8.5 million soldiers
Total Wounded: 21 million
Russia: 1.7 million soldiers killed
France: 1.4 million
Great Britain: 900,000
Germany: 1.8 million
Austria-Hungary: 1.2 million
United States
50,000 died in battle, 126,000 total

20. 1918 Influenza Pandemic (Spanish Flu)
Killed more people worldwide than War itself
American troops brought it to France in 1918
Affected Healthy Young Adults
1/3 of world population infected
million (CDC) died