the great war

​Fighting in the Great War

​On August 3, 1914, Germany invaded Belgium, following a strategy known as the Schlieffen Plan. This plan called for a holding action against Russia, combined with a quick drive through Belgium to Paris; after France had fallen, the two German armies would defeat Russia. As German troops swept across Belgium, thousands of civilians fled in terror.

​Bloody trench warfare, in which armies fought for mere yards of ground, continued for over three years. It led to a stalemate wherein neither side could gain an advantage.

There was little to protect the soldiers from the elements in a trench. Staying in the trench would protect soldiers from machine guns but not from artillery. With the opposing armies within yards of each other, they could sometimes converse when there were lulls in the fighting.

​Poison Gas Warfare

The Germans used poison gas as a weapon at Ypres in April 1915. In retaliation, the Allies used poison gas, too.

In 1925, many nations signed an agreement, known as the Geneva Protocol, banning the use of toxic and biological weapons during war. Though gas was not used in combat during World War II, toxic gases have been used by some countries since then. For example, Iraq used poison gas during its war with Iran in the 1980s.

​Tanks were invented during WW1 because they were thought to be rolling fortresses, impervious to machine gun bullets and able to roll right over barbed wire and most trenches. While initially highly effective for shock value, unfortunately, these early tanks were slow-moving targets for artillery and prone to mechanical malfunction. They would prove useful, but they did little to break the deadlock.

​Although aircraft was still in its infancy, having been invented less than 15 years before the outbreak of war, it was quickly recognized as a useful tool to gain an advantage along the front. Aeroplanes were initially used for reconnaissance, but it wasn’t long before machine guns were mounted on them and  bigger, heavier-duty aircraft was developed that was capable of dropping heavy bombs.

​●Russia under Tsar Nicholas II was deeply impoverished, and World War I against Germany drove Russia to revolution

●February 1917 - Bolshevik Revolution

○Russia became a communist country under Vladimir Lenin

●Communist Russia withdraws from World War I and signs a peace treaty with Germany in March 1917, one month BEFORE the US declares war

●Why is this important? The US did not want to fight on the same side as tsarist Russia because it was a dictatorship, and now Britain & France needed more help

​●President Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)

○Progressive President

●When WWI broke out in Europe in 1914, the US followed a policy of isolationism and neutrality

○The American public wanted to say out of European problems - they did not support going to war

●But…

●The US increased production of armaments (weapons) to sell to the Europeans

○ Great for our economy!

○We mostly sold to the Allies because they were more democratic

​●1916: Wilson won re-election because he still favored isolationism and neutrality, but by 1917 the US was ready for war

●Reasons for US entry into World War I

●1915: Sinking of the Lusitania

○British passenger ship sunk by a German submarine; 128 Americans died

●January 1917: Zimmermann Note

○Germany sent a secret telegram to Mexico to have Mexico join the Central Powers and invade the US

●February 1917: Resumption of Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

○Germany would attack any ship that entered British waters, including neutral ships

●April 4, 1917 - Congress declared war on Germany

​●Led by John J. Pershing

○Trained inexperienced soldiers, known as doughboys, to be an effective fighting force

​●Alvin C. York -- on October 8, 1918, armed only with a rifle and a revolver, killed 25 Germans and—with six other doughboys—captured 132 prisoners participated in the fighting. York won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroism in combat. Prior to the war, York  sought exemption as a conscientious objector, a person who opposes warfare on moral grounds, pointing out that the Bible says, “Thou shalt not kill.” York eventually decided that it was morally acceptable to fight if the cause was just.

​●Over 4.7 million Americans enlisted (volunteered) or were drafted to the military

○Selective Service Act: created the draft (men 21-30)

●Espionage and Sedition Acts

○Restricted freedom of speech, making it illegal to speak out against the war

○Constitutional?

●War Bonds

○People were encouraged to buy war bonds to help the government finance the war

●War Industries Board - government regulated businesses to help with the production of military supplies

●Impact on the Economy

○Stimulated industrial and agricultural output

​Some of Wilson’s Fourteen Points:

➢All countries reduce armaments

➢Open diplomacy (no secret alliances/treaties)

➢Adjustment of colonial claims

➢Self-determination: creating countries based on ethnic groups, including an independent Poland

➢Freedom of the seas

➢League of Nations where world leaders meet to promote peace

Causes of World War I:

➢Militarism

➢Alliance System

➢Imperialism

➢Nationalism

+Unrestricted submarine warfare

​Treaty of Versailles: A Recipe for Revenge

Only Germany lost most of its military

➢100,000 man army & no tanks, air force, U-boats, or large battleships

❖Germany lost a lot of territory

➢Lost much of its own land to Poland

➢Ports in China, the Pacific Islands, & African colonies

❖Germany Owed Reparations

➢Germany has to pay a massive bill to Allied countries to pay for the war ($33 billion)

❖War Guilt Clause

➢Germany had to accept 100% blame for WWI

❖League of Nations

➢Just like Wilson wanted, but the US never joined

​★The League of Nations was Wilson’s idea to promote peace through international cooperation

★The U.S. Senate refused to ratify (sign) the Treaty of Versailles BECAUSE of the League of Nations

○Senator Henry Cabot Lodge led the attack against the League

○He argued it would get the US entangled in European alliances

★This is a return to isolationism

★Because the US never joined the League of Nations, it ultimately failed, and World War II began in 1939