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Essential Question: What was the role of the U.S. during World War I? Warm-Up Question : Read “ Why did the U.S. Enter WWI ” on the back of #2 notes Rank order the items in terms of which events MOST brought the USA into war to LEAST. Total War.
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Essential Question: • What was the role of the U.S. during World War I? • Warm-Up Question: • Read “Why did the U.S. Enter WWI” on the back of #2 notes • Rank order the items in terms of which events MOST brought the USA into war to LEAST
Total War • Combatants in World War I quickly began to use total war tactics • Governments committed all their nation’s resources & took over industry to win the war • Soldiers were drafted, the media was censored, propaganda was created to support the war • The enemy became the other nation, not just its soldiers
Total War • New weapons were introduced, such as machine guns, tanks, airplanes, flame throwers, poison gas, blimps, heavy artillery, & submarines • To protect soldiers from enemy fire, both the Allies & Central Powers built trenches • But, trench warfare made it difficult for either side to gain an advantage
When the U.S. declared war in 1917, World War I had been going on for 3 years The British, French, & Germans had fought to a bloody stalemate on the Western Front Russia was so devastated that soldiers were sent to fight on the Eastern Front without weapons while civilians starved at home German u-boats patrolled the Atlantic Ocean
When the U.S. declared war in 1917, World War I had been going on for 3 years In Nov 1917, Vladimir Lenin & the Bolsheviks successfully overthrew the Russian gov’t & established the Soviet Union, the 1st communist nation
American Entry into World War I • After America’s declaration of war in 1917, America had to mobilize before it could fight in Europe • The army had only 200,000 soldiers & needed armaments • Wilson & Congress created 5,000newbureaucraticagencies to manage & win the war
Developing a Bureaucratic Plan of Attack • In groups, help Wilson mobilize for war by addressing each of the following problems: • The army has only 200,000 soldiers • For 3 years, Wilson has stated that the USA will stay neutral in WWI. Now the USA has declared war. How do we keep morale high in support of this conflict? • How do we feed soldiers & civilians? • How do we get enough fuel for the military, factories, & civilians? • How do we make enough weapons?
Mobilization: The Military • To mobilize the military, President Wilson & Congress created: • TheAmericanExpeditionaryForce led by John Pershing; The AEF was an “American” military independent of the Allied armies fighting in Europe
Mobilization: The Military • To mobilize the military, President Wilson & Congress created: • The Selective Service Act to draft men between the ages of 18 & 45 into the army • 2.8 million were drafted to fight • Black soldiers were placed into segregated units
African-American Soldiers “True Sons of Freedom” “Colored Man is No Slacker”
Mobilization: The Military • To mobilize the military, President Wilson & Congress created: • War Industries Board oversaw the production of military supplies; Encouraged mass-production & set production quotas • Food Administration created food rations & encouraged Americans to grow “victory gardens” • Fuel Administration rationed coal, oil & encouraged “lightless nights”
Mobilization: The Military • To mobilize the military, President Wilson & Congress created: • Committee on Public Information to create propaganda in support of the American war effort • TheCPIcreatedposters,movies, speeches & censored the press • The CPI helped encourage bond drives to raise money for the war
With the military & economy mobilized for war, the 1st U.S. troops began fighting in 1918 To combat German u-boats, the USA used a convey system to deliver soldiers & supplies to Europe
The U.S. on the Western Front, 1918 U.S. soldiers saw their 1st action in May 1918 outside Paris, helped resist a German offensive, & participated in a counter-attack into Germany
The End of World War I • The arrival of fresh American soldiers & war supplies helped the Allies at a crucial time: • By October 1918, the German gov’t knew the war was over • The Ottomans, Austria-Hungary, & Bulgaria had surrendered • Nov 11, 1918 Germany signed an armistice with the Allies & World War I came to an end
The Impact of WWI on the USA • After 3 years of neutrality, the USA reluctantly entered WWI & played only a supportive role in the fighting • The American effort was far less than that of other Allied nations • America fought for only 8 months (not 4 years), had 7% casualties (not 52% like most Allied Powers) • But, the American commitment to “total war” had a huge impact on the U.S. home front
Essential Question: • How was America transformed at home during World War I? • Warm-Up Question: • What role did the USA play in fighting World War I? • Review the measures taken to mobilize America for war (in your #3 notes: II,B,3 a-f). Which steps in mobilization were most important? Why?
The Home Front During World War I • World War I had a huge impact on the United States; In groups examine how the war impacted Americans at home • Examine the fact sheets at each learning station & take notes on the chart provided in your notes • After examining the evidence at each station, create a 1 sentence overview that summarizes how America was changed by World War I
The U.S. Home Front in WWI African-Americans & Women (9.33) Sedition & Espionage Acts (5.19)
Women During WWI: Document A • Men went off to war, and women went to work in their place: • Women took jobs that were usually reserved for men, becoming railroad workers, coal miners, cooks, bricklayers, shipbuilders, & dockworkers. • At the same time, women continued to fill more traditional jobs as nurses, clerks, and teachers. • Women worked with the Food Administration & planted “Victory Gardens” so that more farm crops could be diverted to soldiers in Europe.
Women During WWI: Document B • The army did not allow women to enlist as soldiers, but for the first time, the army did allow women to serve in noncombat roles. • Approximately 25,000 U.S. women served in the U.S. Army as nurses, telephone operators, typists, & ambulance drivers. • Many women worked as volunteers at Red Cross facilities or by encouraging the sale of war bonds.
Women During WWI: Document C • President Wilson acknowledged the role women played in WWI: “The services of women during the supreme crisis have been of the most signal usefulness and distinction; it is high time that part of our debt should be acknowledged.” • While women were not paid the same as men, it helped build public support for woman suffrage. • In 1919, Congress passed the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. In 1920 the amendment was ratified by the states.
African-Americans in WWI: Document A • WWI accelerated the Great Migration, the large-scale movement of hundreds of thousands of Southern blacks to cities in the North: • Many African Americans sought to escape racial discrimination in the Jim Crow South. • In the North, there were more job opportunities for African Americans in steel mills, munitions plants, and stockyards. • Northern manufacturers sent recruiting agents to distribute free railroad passes through the South to bring blacks into cities such as Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia.
African-Americans in WWI: Document B • During WWI, the U.S. military was segregated: • 367,710 African Americans were drafted, but only 10% served in combat duty. Most blacks worked in Army Services of Supplies (SOS) units. • The 40,000 black soldiers who saw combat were part of the all-black 92nd or 93rd combat divisions. • When allowed to fight, they did so with honor. Several units fought Germans alongside French soldiers and 171 black soldiers were awarded the French Legion of Honor; By 1917, over 600 blacks were commissioned as officers in the U.S. Army.
African-Americans in WWI: Document C • African Americans who moved into the North faced discrimination & violent race riots: • In 1917, a race riot exploded in Illinois when white workers attacked blacks when African-Americans were hired as strikebreakers at a munitions plant; , 40 blacks and 9 whites died. • Another riot erupted in Chicago in 1919 after whites drowned an African American boy who swam at a white beach. African Americans retaliated, and several riots broke out in the city. Order was restored after several days of violence that involved about 10,000 people.
Socialism & the Red Scare: Document A • During WWI, Vladimir Lenin & the Bolsheviks overthrew the czarist regime of Russia & established the first communist nation, the USSR. • Communism is an economic & political system based on a single-party a dictatorship that strives for equality for all citizens. To equalize wealth, Communists seize private property & the government assumes ownership of factories, railroads, and businesses. • Waving their symbolic red flag, Communists hoped to inspire a worldwide revolution. Americans became swept in a “Red Scare.”
Socialism & the Red Scare: Document B • The Socialist Party of America formed in 1901 by Eugene Debs. By the First World War, the Debs had grown the Socialist Party to over 70,000 members • Debs was strongly against U.S. involvement in WWI & published a newsletter encouraging Americans to resist fighting in a “capitalists’ war” • Debs was convicted to a 10-year prison sentence for violating the Espionage & Sedition Acts by speaking out against the war & the draft • As a result of the highly nationalistic climate of America during the war, Socialism was seen as un-American & the party never recovered
Socialism & the Red Scare: Document C • By WWI, the Socialist Party had grown to 70,000 members including radicals & union workers who wanted a socialist revolution in America. • Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto called for workers to seize political power, take control of factories, & overthrow capitalism. • During WWI, factory workers were pushed to meet high production demands. Unions saw membership double & organized more than 6,000 strikes out during the war. • Every strike fueled the “Red Scare” & fears of a Bolshevik-style socialist revolution in America.
Civil Liberties During WWI: Document A • President Wilson warned that WWI would require a redefinition of national loyalty, claiming "millions of [Germans] with native sympathies live amongst us.“ • Congress passed the Espionage and Sedition Acts • Under these laws,a person could be fined up to $10,000 and jailed up to 20 years for interfering with or saying anything disloyal about the war effort. These laws clearly violated the First Amendment, guaranteeing freedom of speech. • Over 2,000 people were prosecuted, including newspaper editors, Socialists, anarchists, union leaders, & citizens who protested the draft
Civil Liberties During WWI: Document B • During WWI, the Supreme Court heard the case Schenck v US (1919) regarding free speech: • Charles Schenck, a Socialist, handed out anti-war leaflets that told Americans not to fight in WWI if they were drafted • Schenck was jailed under the Espionage & Sedition Acts, but he argued that his conviction violated his 1st Amendment right to free speech • The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that under wartime conditions, his actions presented a “clear and present danger” to the U.S. and that his free speech was not protected
Civil Liberties During WWI: Document B “ Protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting ‘Fire!’ in a theatre and causing a panic” —Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in the case Schenck v US (1919)
