1 / 12

America Enters WWI

America Enters WWI. The Beginning of the End. April 1917. Congress declares war on the Central Powers Regular Army was 107,641 men Commander: General John J. Pershing Last major battle: Appomattox, VA during the Civil War. Deployment.

fay
Download Presentation

America Enters WWI

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. America Enters WWI The Beginning of the End

  2. April 1917 • Congress declares war on the Central Powers • Regular Army was 107,641 men • Commander: General John J. Pershing • Last major battle: Appomattox, VA during the Civil War

  3. Deployment • General Pershing and some of his men were in Paris on July 4, 1917 • By March 1918, 318,000 • By war’s end: 1,300,000

  4. The German Response • With the collapse of Russia, Germany was now able to move troops to the western front • They outnumbered the Allied armies • The Germans, however, had all of their available manpower at the front — there were no reserves • A breakthrough had to be made before the Americans arrived in strength.

  5. General Paul von Hindenburg • Hindenburg decided that the German army had strength for one final, knockout blow • The army would go after the British • The place would be the Somme • The attack had to occur before the end of March

  6. The Attack Begins • March 21, 1918 - After an artillery barrage and a gas attack using “chlorine and phosgene and lachrymatory (a skin irritant) shells . . . Interspersed with mustard gas shells”, 76 first rate German divisions attacked the British 4th Army, consisting of 28 divisions.

  7. Days One — Five • Were a success for the Germans • Casualties: • British 7,000 dead; 21,000 taken prisoner; 10,000 wounded • German: 10,000+ dead; 29,000 wounded • German army continued advancing for the first several days • Caused a crisis in Allied command

  8. German Overreaction • The Kaiser was elated with the breakthroughs • Began to react to events, and abandoned the original plan • The result was that the German offensive turned in the wrong direction • By April 29, Gen. Ludendorff ordered a halt to operations. General Ludendorff

  9. The Beginning of the End • The German offensive was over • It had achieved none of its original goals • Throughout June and July, the Germans mounted smaller attacks and succeeded in moving much closer to Paris • The cost was huge — 1.3 million men lost between February and the end of July

  10. Allied Counterattack • August 8, 1918 • The British, French, and American armies attacked behind 600 tanks and smashed deep into the territory that the German army had gained throughout the summer within 4 days • American strength and morale caused the German soldiers to lose hope of winning — there were too many of them

  11. The End Arrives • The success of the Allied attacks, and the crumbling of the home front in Germany sealed the country’s fate • By the end of September, armistice and peace were necessary • Ludendorff was forced to resign in late October • There were mutinies in the German Navy and Army in October and the beginning of November.

  12. The End of the War and the Monarchy in Germany • The armistice took effect on November 11, 1918 • The Kaiser abdicated on November 28 • Germany became a republic • The government was able to suppress a Communist revolt in Berlin • Fritz Ebert was the first President of the new German Republic

More Related