WW1 - UNIT 2

Causes of WW1

• Imperialism: Desire to acquire and expand colonies

• Nationalism: Your ethnicity should rule your nation 

• Alliances: How different countries got sucked into war

• Militarism: Insane amounts of military spending 

Gavrilo Princip’s assassination and motives

• Gavrilo shoots Arch Duke Franz and his wife while their car was stopped, turning back to go to the hospital to visit the injured people 

• Franz wanted to liberate the Slavic people under  Austro-Hungarian

• Motive: Wants the Slavic people to be free (The Black Hand) 

Schlieffen Plan and Belgium’s neutrality

• Germany would cut through Belgium & into France

• Germany wanted to conquer France before Russia mobilizes

• Belgium was neutral but they had an alliance with the UK 

• Germany cut through Belgium brining both the UK and Belgium into war 

Belligerent leaders by name & nation 

• USA: Woodrow Wilson 

• UK: David Lloyd George 

• France: George Clemenceau 

• Italy: Vittorino Orlando

• Germany: Wilhelm II

• Austria Hungary:  Franz Josef

Gallipoli

• Allies wanted to secure the Strait to open a sea route to Russia 

• Intended to weaken Ottoman Empire  

• British were met on shore by troops shooting machine guns and in elevated entrenched positions 

• Ottoman Empire Won 

WW1 Stalemate

• After battle of Gallipoli no side made progress or win (stalemate)

• Both sides were stuck defending their trenches

WW1 tech innovations

• Tanks

• Poison Gas

• Machine Guns

• Submarines 

Battle of the Somme

• Allies believed they would be able to take German trenches because they would be abandoned 

• Allies were wrong

• Allies were gunned down 

• Battle went on for months 

• 5 miles of land was gained 

Lusitania sinking 

• passenger ship sunk by German u-boat

• over 100 Americans dead

• Germany claimed it was carrying weapons as a justification for sinking

Sussex Pledge

• 1916 pledge by German to stop unrestricted submarine warfare and stop sinking passenger ships without warning them and establishing they had weapons on board

Russian Revolution 

• Russia is losing millions of soldiers and the people are getting aggravated 

• 1917 Vladimir Lennon and the communists take over the Russian gov.

• Instituted Treaty of Breast - Litovsk

• Treaty of Breast - Litovsk: gets Russia out of war, leaving only 3 allies left (French, UK, and Italy)

Espionage and Sedition Acts

• Broad power to arrest and jail anyone who speaks out against the US going to war negatively 

• First Amendment violation 

Selective service

• military draft for men 18-45 

• over 3 milllion men will eventually serve 

• overall commander of US forces in WW1: General Pershing

• American nickname for soldiers: doughboys 

Food Administration 

• oversee the production and allocation of food in the US to make sure there was enough for US soldiers and allies 

Committee on Public information

• Propaganda agency to make you want to go into war 

• Lots of posters, ads, radio, etc. about US going to war

Railroad administration and nationalization

• Forcefully leasing $18 billion worth of railroads to get factory goods to coastline

Unrestricted submarine warfare and its impact on US policy

• Any ship can get sunken in international water 

• Germany sunk boat with US American’s and almost sent us into war (Americans were upset)

Zimmerman note and impact on US policy 

• Message from Germany to Mexico asking them to begin a military campaign against the USA

• recieve American Southwest as a reqard for their assistance

• note was a key reason why Americans shifted their policy from neutrality to a declaration of war

African Americans in WW1

• African Americans fought and trained in segregated camps / faced discrimination 

Women in WW1 

• America: women were asked to make ammunition 

• Added 1 million women to workforce 

• Overseas: Tens of thousands of nurses worked with the Red Cross on the battlefields 

Convoy system

• Navy ships will escort ALL war material ships across the Atlantic so they won’t get sunken 

Spanish Flu

• outbreak of flu had profound impact in the US and Europe

• outbreaks were common in US training camps and trenches 

• killed 50 million people during the war 

Wilson’s 14 points and League of Nations

• No secret alliances, open diplomacy’s

• Freedom of seas (no more bombing / sinking ships)

• Free trade

• Get rid of weapons / downsize armies 

• Let people determine what they want to be (self determination) 

• League of Nations (get together and maintain peace) 

War Guilt Cause 

• Treaty of Versailles blames war on Germany

• Belligerent leaders ask Germany and the Central Powers to pay allies $32 billion in reparations

• Leaves Germany a very poor country

Versailles and the US Senate

• US refused to sign the Versailles treaty because they didn’t want to join the League of Nations

• US wanted to retreat to Isolation 

All Articles 

• Debs was charged with the Sedition Act for speaking out against the War

• Debs said: know what she said

• Lusitania: know what Germans claimed was on that ship

• Zimmerman: know why were reluctant to accept its validity

• Daylight savings

• Liberty Cabbage: reasons for the name change. what was the result for the sauerkraut industry

Churchill

• Churchill was head of the UK navy

• Ordered the Gallipoli attack

• Was fired because of failure and enlisted in Army

MacArthur

• Commander of entire pacific forces 

• Used Aerial photos (taken from airplanes) to locate weak or abandoned German trenches 

• Led his troop through that gap to advance 

• He went on the frontlines with his soldiers 

• German soldiers surrendered 

Mussolini

• Anti-war journalist 

• Sharpe shooter 

• Wants to bring Italy to greatness (very fascist and communist)

Hitler 

• Poor / aspiring artist before war

• Hitler wants to enlist in the Austrian Army but he was denied - didn’t meet physical requirements

• Later enlists in German Army 

• Hitler was a messenger (run to different trenches to deliver messages)

• Almost got killed by Henry Tandy (brit. soldier) but he couldn’t bring himself to shoot him 

Patton 

• Lieutenant colonel 

• Interested in new technology tanks

• Patton needed to create more fuel efficient, more maneuverable and smaller tanks