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US Involvement. in the GREAT WAR. June 1917 First US troops arrive in France. AEF = American Expeditionary Force Doughboys American soldiers in WWI Convoy system used to transport troops and supplies Protective escort for ships. John J. Pershing. U.S. commander of AEF
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US Involvement in the GREAT WAR
June 1917 First US troops arrive in France • AEF = American Expeditionary Force • Doughboys • American soldiers in WWI • Convoy system used to transport troops and supplies • Protective escort for ships
John J. Pershing • U.S. commander of AEF • Kept US troops as separate units under American commanders • American forces did NOT join units of other Allied armies • Criticized European trench warfare tactics
October -December 1917: Bolshevik Revolution • Russia, under new Bolshevik/ Communist leadership - Lenin • March 15, 1918 : Treaty of Brest-Litovsk • Russia withdraws from the war
Russia’s withdrawal from the war enabled Germany and the Central Powers to concentrate all of their troops on the Western Front.
March 1918 German Offensive • German advance on France begins when Russia pulls out of the war • Battles of Chateau-Thierry & Belleau Woods • DEFENSIVE • AEF (US troops) help stop the German advance toward Paris • Battle of Meuse-Argonne (Argonne Forest) • Counter- OFFENSIVE • Americans help successfully cut German rail & communication lines
THE END of the GREAT WAR
November 11, 1918 Armistice Signed • Germany signed the Armistice • = ceasefire • = agreement to stop fighting • Bulgaria , the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary signed armistices BEFORE Germany • The Great War Ends
1918 Flu Epidemic • In one year claimed more lives (over 20 million) than the four years of World War I (just over 8 million) • 1914-1916 WWI = 8 million dead • 1918 Flu Epidemic = 20 + million dead
Costs of WWI • See Casualty & Death tables • TOTAL Military Deaths = 8+ million • TOTAL Wounded = 21 + million • US = 116,000 (many from disease) • Flu Epidemic • Civilian Deaths = estimated 14+ million • Armenian Genocide
Show wounded pics • AFTER THE MOVIE • Show pics of WWI wounded • Show political cartoon comparing deaths to wounded • Article on Iraq wounded
WAR Reflection # 6 • Just War Principle #4 : In a Just War ,the violence and destruction must be PROPORTIONAL to the injury suffered • “injury suffered” means original cause of the war • What does this principle mean? • Do you agree/disagree with this just war principle? Do you think it is a valid criteria? Why or Why not ? • Did US entry into WWI meet this criteria? Why or Why not?
HOMEWORK – HONORS ONLY • Read the chapter from Howard Zinn’s book on World War I • Chapter 14 – War is the Health of the State • Write a REFLECTION on the chapter that includes the answers to the following questions: • Does Zinn think World War I was a “just war”? State his thesis on this concept. • LIST all of the evidence ( facts, reasons, arguments) he gives to support his thesis. • Do you agree or disagree with his thesis on this topic? What evidence supports your opinion ?
The Paris Peace Conference The Treaty of Versailles
January1918 Fourteen Points • speech given by Wilson • Proposal for peace after World War I • Freedom of the Seas • Removal of tariff barriers = Free Trade • Self Determination for former colonies • International Conduct to prevent future war • Formation of a League of Nations • Est. to provide a place for nations to settle disputes • International alliance for preservation of peace
January 1919 Paris Peace Conference • Meeting of Allied leaders • Big Four • U.S. = Wilson • Great Britain = David Lloyd George • France = Georges Clemenceau • Italy = Vittorio Orlando • Britain & France wanted revenge • Wilson wanted lasting Peace = 14 Points • AGAINST WAR REPARATIONS
June 1919 Treaty of Versailles • Est. Nine New Nations • Punished Germany • Alsace-Lorraine to France • Lost colonies & land • Demilitarized • Reparations • War guilt • $33 billion +
Ratification Battle • Congress rejects Treaty of Versailles • REASONS • Fear of being required to get involved in future European wars • Isolationist feeling strong in US after WWI • WHOled the opposition fight • Small group of Isolationist Senators – (included Idaho’s William Borah) • Anti-Wilson Republicans (led by Henry Cabot Lodge) • When the Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles,Wilson • Appealed directly to the American people
Results of Ratification Failureof Treaty of Versailles • US does not ratify Treaty of Versailles • US did not join the League of Nations • League never truly effective because US never joined ------------------- • US signs separate treaty with Germany 1921 (Harding)
Treaty of Versailles • Sowed the seeds of future German resentment which led to • Fascism (opposite of democracy) • World War II (another more horrific war) • Adolf Hitler • Angry German WWI veteran • Reflected the feelings of many Germans • “It cannot be that two million [Germans] should have fallen in vain…. No, we do not pardon , we demand –vengeance!”
Legacy of World War I “See that little stream – we could walk to it in two minutes. It took the British a month to walk to it – a whole empire walking very slowly , dying in front and pushing forward behind. And another empire walked very slowly backward a few inches a day, leaving the dead like a million bloody rugs.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald , American novelist – visiting WWI battlefield years after the war
Bitterness & Disillusionment • “Lost Generation” writers • Read : Dalton Trumbo (1939) • Johnny Got His Gun
WAR Reflection # 7 • Just War Principle # 5 : In a Just War ,the consequences of the war must be better than the situation that would exist had the war not taken place • Do you agree/disagree with this just war principle? Do you think it is a valid criteria? Why or Why not ? • Did US entry into WWI meet this criteria? Why or Why not?
Gold Star Mothers During the first World War, a flag with a gold star identified families who had lost soldiers Between 1930 and 1933, the United States government took 6,654 Gold Star pilgrims to visit their sons’ and husbands’ graves in American cemeteries in Belgium, England, and France. The War Department segregated black women from the white forcing them to travel on separate, but not equal, pilgrimages The black women endured second-class treatment in the U.S. before experiencing unprecedented freedom in Paris.
