1. World War 1
SS5H4: The students will describe United States involvement in WW1 and post-WW1 America.
a. How German attacks on US shipping during the war in Europe ultimately led to the US joining to fight against Germany.

2. Causes of World War 1 1. Mutual Defense Alliances
Over time, countries throughout Europe made mutual defense agreements that would pull them into battle. Thus, if one country was attacked, allied countries were bound to defend them. Before World War 1, the following alliances existed…

3. European Countries made alliances with one another to form the two groups that would fight in WW1: The Allies and the Central Powers.
The Allies: (also known as Allied Powers) consisted of: Great Britain, Russia, Serbia, Japan, Belgium, Italy, France, Greece, Romania, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and eventually the United States. Approximately 39 million soldiers.
The Central Powers consisted of: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (current day Turkey). Approximately 19 million soldiers.

4. Causes of World War 1 2. Imperialism
Imperialism is when a country increases their power and wealth by bringing additional territories under their control. Before World War 1, Africa and parts of Asia were points of contention amongst the European countries. This was especially true because of the raw materials these areas could provide. The increasing competition and desire for greater empires led to an increase in confrontation that helped push the world into World War I.

5. Causes of World War 1 3. Militarism
As the world entered the 20th century, an arms race had begun. By 1914, Germany had the greatest increase in military buildup. Great Britain and Germany both greatly increased their navies in this time period. Further, in Germany and Russia particularly, the military establishment began to have a greater influence on public policy. This increase in militarism helped push the countries involved to war.

6. Causes of World War 1
4. Nationalism was a large cause for WW1. This is the belief that your country deserves more success than others.
Germany, Russia and France wanted more land and power, so they established colonies in other countries to help accomplish this.

7. Immediate Cause: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
The immediate cause of World War I that made the above causes come into play (alliances, imperialism, militarism, nationalism) was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary.
In June 1914, a Serbian nationalist assassinated him and his wife while they were in Sarajevo, Bosnia which was part of Austria-Hungary.
This was in protest to Austria-Hungary having control of this region. Serbia wanted to take over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This assassination led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia.
When Russia began to mobilize due to its alliance with Serbia, Germany declared war on Russia.
Thus began the expansion of the war to include all those involved in the mutual defense alliances.

8. WW1 was different from other wars because it was the first war where trench warfare took place. Almost all of the battles were fought in trenches (ditches dug in the ground). The soldiers lived in these trenched day and night. By the end of the war….Europe was covered with 1,000s of miles of trenches.

9. How the United States got involved in WW1
During the first year of war, German subs sank British ships carrying trade goods.
In 1915, they sunk the Lusitania ( a British passenger ship with many Americans on it).
After this happened, Germany agreed not to sink any more passenger ships. However; in 1917, they broke that promise and started attacking U.S. ships. Soon after, in April 1917, U.S. declared war on Central Powers.

10. United States joins the war
Although most Americans wanted to stay out and Woodrow Wilson said, “The U.S. must be neutral in thought as well as action.” Americans declared war on the Central Powers in 1917 after Germany broke their promise and sank several U.S. ships.

11. How U.S. helped
Rations:
Americans at home were made to abide by rations: amounts of food that they were allow to eat
(especially meat).
The thought was….the less they ate, the more the soldiers would have to eat.

12. Information that was used to help shape people’s way of thinking.
Propaganda
Information that was used to help shape people’s way of thinking.
*They used this to keep reminding people of the war efforts. Helped make the war seem appealing to those at home.

13. Workers for the United States
With the men at war, the U.S. had to find workers to produce the needed war items:
*Used African Americans: earned good wages, but still faced prejudice
**Used women: they were able to take jobs that were previously only offered to men: made weapons, repaired cars, delivered mail, directed traffic, etc..

14. Women’s Working leads to Women’s Suffrage
*Once women were found capable of doing these jobs, women suffrage demonstrations began.
*In 1919, the Senate proposed the 19th amendment to allow women to vote.

15. The war ended on November 11, 1918….only 4 years after it had started.
End of the War
*In 1917 both the Central Powers and the Allies were exhausted from the 3 years of fighting.
The Central Powers realized that they could not win and signed an armistice (an agreement to stop fighting).
The war ended on November 11, 1918….only 4 years after it had started.

16. President Woodrow Wilson was one of those leaders.
End of the War
In January 1919, leaders of the Allied Countries met to write a treaty (a peace agreement).
President Woodrow Wilson was one of those leaders.
The treaty they wrote became known as the Treaty of Versailles (named after the French Palace where it was signed.)

17. Treaty of Versailles
Several leaders of European countries blamed Germany for much of the fighting in Western Europe. They used this treaty to punish Germany.
Due to the treaty, Germany lost colonies, and they had to give away land and money to the Allied Countries.

18. Treaty of Versailles Cont’d
Woodrow Wilson was against punishing Germany, but went along with the treaty because the treaty also created the “League of Nations”.
League of Nations: agreement that nations would try to resolve their problems peacefully and promised to protect each other if a war did start.

19. Treaty of Versailles Cont’d
The United States Senate would not approve the Treaty of Versailles because they were afraid that the U.S. would get pulled into future wars. They were still horrified by the destruction of WW1.
People began to believe in isolationism: people that want to stay out of world events.
**After WW1, the U.S. decided it would avoid alliances and conflicts whenever it could.

20. Friday’s Activity Use your notes to explain the following:
*imperialism
**nationalism
***isolationism
Which of these do you think is the best idea? Explain.