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Allies
There were 2 major defensive alliances in Europe. The Triple Entente, was made up of France, Britain, and Russia. Later called Triple Alliances, it consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. Germany and Austria-Hungary with the Ottoman empire were known as Central Powers. This was made to provide international Security, but this led to a conflict of balancing powers. -
Central Powers
Germany and Austria-Hungary with the Ottoman empire (middle-eastern nations and Turks) were known as Central Powers. This was made to provide international Security, but this led to a conflict of balancing powers. This sparked big conflicts. -
Victor Burger
Victor Berger the seat to which he had been elected a year earlier, as Socialist congressman from Wisconsin’s Fifth District. Earlier that year Berger had been convicted of violating the Espionage Act, by publicly opposing America’s entry into World War. -
1914 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Austrian Throne. He and his wife went to visit the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. As they drove through the city an Serbian Nationalist Gavrilo Princip step out of the crowd and shot Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. He was a member the Black Hand promoting the Serbian Nationalism On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. -
Schlieffen Plan
Germany invaded Belgium using this strategy called Schlieffen Plan. This plan was to holding action against Russia, combined with a quick drive through Belgium to Paris, when France is to be fallen, Germany will be sweeping and destroying Belgium. This was the known by the American War as the Refugee Crisis in the 20th Century. -
Germany Blockades the North Sea
Germany responded to the British blockade with a counter-blockade by U-boats. They would sunk anyone who comes near. They had sunk the British ship called Lusitania near Ireland. About 1,198 lives were lost including 128 being Americans. -
Sinking of British liner lusitania
Germany responded to the British blockade with a counter-blockade by U-boats. They would sunk anyone who comes near. They had sunk the British ship called Lusitania near Ireland. About 1,198 lives were lost including 128 being Americans. -
Sinking of British liner Arabic
The German U-boats soon had sunk the British liner Arabic losing 2 more lives from the Americans. This caused the Americans to protest against them and told them not to sink anymore passenger ships. -
Sinking of French passenger liner Sussex
Germany broke its promise and torpedoed an unarmed French passenger steamer, Sussex. about 80 passengers, including Americans, were killed or injured. Once again the United States warned that it would break off diplomatic relations unless Germany changed its tactics. And they will stop only if the U.S. lift the British blockade against food and fertilizers. -
Battle of Somme
This war lasted til mid-November where the British had a casualties of 60,0000 on the first day alone. Soon it went up to a 1.2 million casualties on the ground, only few had a changed in hands. -
Trench Warfare
Following the Battle of Somme, this battle was bloody in which armies fought for mere yards of ground. Where they still fought for over three years. Elsewhere, the fighting was just as devastating and terrible. -
Wilson's "Peace w/o Victory Speech"
The president called for “a peace without victory. . . . a peace between equals,” in which neither side would impose harsh terms on the other. Wilson hoped that all nations would join in a “league for peace” that would work to extend democracy, maintain freedom of the seas, and reduce armaments. -
Zimmermann Note
It was a telegram from the German foreign minister to the German ambassador in Mexico that was intercepted by British agents. The
telegram proposed an alliance between Mexico and Germany and promised that if war with the United States broke out, Germany would support Mexico in recovering “lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.” Next came the sinking of four unarmed American merchant ships, with a loss of 36 lives. -
Selective Service Act 1917
The act required men to register with the government in order to be randomly selected for military service. By the end of 1918, 24 million men had registered under the act. Of this number, almost 3 million were called up. About 2 million troops reached Europe before the truce was signed, and three-fourths of them saw actual combat. Most of the inductees had not attended high school, and about one in five was foreign-born. -
Eugene V. Debs Arrest
The Espionage and Sedition Acts targeted socialists and labor leaders. Eugene V. Debs was handed a ten-year prison sentence for speaking out against the war and the draft. -
Emma Goldman
The anarchist Emma Goldman received a two-year prison sentence and a $10,000 fine for organizing the No Conscription League. When she left jail, the authorities deported her to Russia. -
Big Bill Haywood and the IWW
“Big Bill” Haywood and other leaders of the Industrial Workers of
the World (IWW) were accused of sabotaging the war effort because they urged workers to strike for better conditions and higher pay. Haywood was sentenced to a long prison term. -
Convoy System
German U-boat attacks on merchant ships in the Atlantic were a serious threat to the Allied war effort. It's heavy guard of destroyers
escorted merchant ships back and forth across the Atlantic in groups. By fall of 1917, shipping losses had been cut in half. -
Second Battle of the Marne
In July and August, they helped win the Second Battle of the Marne against Germany. The tide had turned against the Central Powers. In September, U.S. soldiers began to mount offensives against the Germans at Saint-Mihiel and in the Meuse-Argonne area. -
American Expeditionary Force and General John J. Pershing
The American Expeditionary Force (AEF) was led by John Pershing. American infantrymen were nicknamed doughboys, possibly because of the white belts they wore, which they cleaned with pipe clay, or “dough.” Most doughboys had never ventured far from the farms,small towns where they lived.However, doughboys were also shocked by the unexpected horrors of the battlefield and astonished by the new weapons and tactics
of modern warfare. -
Bolshevik Revolution
In November, the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin and Trotsky, overthrew the provisional government. They set up a Communist state and sought peace with the Central Powers. -
Anti-German Sentiment in America
The most bitter attacks were directed against the nearly 2 million Americans who had been born in Germany, but other foreign born persons and Americans of German descent suffered as well. Many Americans with German names lost their jobs. Orchestras refused to play the music of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. Some towns with German names changed them. Schools stopped teaching the German language and knowledge was gone. People even resorted to violence against German Americans. -
War Industries Board
The main regulatory body was the War Industries Board (WIB). It was established in 1917 and reorganized in 1918 under the leadership of Bernard M. Baruch, a prosperous businessman.
The board encouraged companies to use mass-production techniques to increase efficiency.The WIB set production quotas and allocated raw materials. Under WIB, industrial production in the United States increased by about 20 percent and wasn't the only federal agency to regulate the economy during the war. -
Shell Shock, Trench Foot, Trench Mouth
Constant bombardments and other experiences often led to battle fatigue and “shell shock,” a term coined during World War I to describe a complete emotional collapse from which many never recovered. First the toes would turn red or blue, then they would become numb, and finally they would start to rot. The only solution was to amputate the toes, and in some cases the entire foot. A painful infection of the gums and throat, called trench mouth, was also common among the soldiers. -
Wilson's 14 Points
Five points were issues that had to be addressed to prevent another war: 1. There are no secret treaties among nations. 2. Freedom of the seas should be maintained for all. 3. Tariffs/other economic barriers among nations should be lowered to foster free trade. 4. Arms should be reduced “to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety, thus lessening the possibility of military responses” during diplomatic crises. 5. Colonial policies should consider the interests of the colonial peoples. -
369th Infantry Regiment
About 400,000 blacks served in the armed forces. More than half of them served in France. Blacks soldiers served in segregated units and were excluded from the navy and marines. Most Blacks were assigned to noncombat duties.The all-black 369th Infantry Regiment saw more continuous duty on the front lines than any other American regiment. 2 soldiers of the 369th, Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts, were the first Americans to receive France’s highest military honor. -
Conscientious objector
Alvin York, became famous. A redheaded mountaineer and blacksmith from Tennessee, He was a person who opposes warfare on moral grounds, pointing out that the Bible says, “Thou shalt not kill.” -
Cease-Fire and Armistice
Although there were no Allied soldiers on German territory and no truly decisive battle had been fought, the Germans were too exhausted to continue fighting. So at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day, in the eleventh month of 1918, Germany agreed to a cease-fire and signed the armistice, or truce, that ended the war. -
Austria-Hungary surrenders to the Allies
Austria-Hungary surrendered to the Allies. That same day, German sailors mutinied against government authority. The mutiny spread quickly. Everywhere in Germany, groups of soldiers and workers organized revolutionary councils. On November 9, socialist leaders in the capital, Berlin, established a German republic. The kaiser gave up the throne. -
Establishment of the German Republic
Everywhere in Germany, groups of soldiers and workers organized revolutionary councils. On November 9, socialist leaders in the capital, Berlin, established a German republic. The kaiser gave up the throne. -
National War Labour Board
To deal with disputes between management and labor, President Wilson established the National War Labor Board in 1918. Workers who refused to obey board decisions could lose their draft exemptions. “Work or fight,” the board told them. However, the
board also worked to improve factory conditions. It pushed for an
eight-hour workday, promoted safety inspections, and enforced
the child labor ban. -
Espionage and Sedition Acts
In June 1917 Congress passed the Espionage Act, and in May 1918 it passed the Sedition Act. Under the Espionage and Sedition Acts a person could be fined up to $10,000 and sentenced to 20 years in jail for interfering with the war effort or for saying anything disloyal, profane, or abusive about the government or the war effort. -
Food Administration
To help produce and conserve food, Wilson set up the Food Administration under Herbert Hoover. Instead of rationing food, hen called on people to follow the “gospel of the clean plate.” He
declared one day a week “meatless,” another “sweetless,” two
days “wheatless,” and two other days “porkless.” Restaurants removed sugar bowls from the table. Homeowners planted “victory gardens” in their yards. In the process, they increased their income by almost 30 percent. -
Raising Money for War
Once the government had extended its control over the economy, it was faced with two major tasks: raising money and convincing the public to support the war.The United States spent about $35.5 billion on the war effort. The government raised about one-third of this amount through taxes, including a progressive income tax, a war-profits tax, and higher excise taxes on tobacco, liquor, and luxury goods. It raised the rest through public borrowing by selling War Bonds. -
Committee on Public info and the "four minute men"
To popularize the war, the government set up the nation’s first propaganda agency, the Committee on Public Information (CPI). Propaganda is a kind of biased communication designed to influence people’s thoughts and actions. The head of the CPI was a former muckraking journalist named George Creel. He recruited some 75,000 men to serve as “Four-Minute Men,” who spoke about war and topics such as “Why We Are Fighting” and “The Meaning of America.” -
Agreements made in the Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles established nine new nations—including Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia—and shifted the boundaries of other nations. It carved five areas out of the Ottoman Empire and gave them to France and Great Britain as mandates, or temporary colonies. The treaty barred Germany from maintaining an army. It also required Germany to return the region of Alsace-Lorraine to France and to pay reparations, or war damages, amounting to $33 billion to the Allies. -
Reparations and the War Guild Clause
The treaty barred Germany from maintaining an army. It also required Germany to return the region of Alsace-Lorraine to France and to pay reparations, or war damages, amounting to $33 billion to the Allies.First, the treaty humiliated Germany. It contained a war-guilt clause forcing Germany to admit sole responsibility for starting World War I. Furthermore, there was no way Germany could pay the huge financial reparations. Germany was stripped of its colonial possessions in the Pacific.
