World War I and Its Aftermath Study Guide

Introduction to World War I (“The Great War”)

• Historical Impact: World War I, known contemporary as "The Great War," was a transformative global event that toppled long-standing empires, facilitated the creation of new sovereign nations, and ignited deep-seated tensions that influenced future conflicts.
• Battlefield Realities: The war was defined by gruesome modern weaponry that devastated an entire generation of young men.
• United States Entry: The United States entered the conflict in $1917$. This involvement permanently altered the nation's trajectory, establishing its potential as a global military power.
• Domestic Consequences:
  • Initially advanced American progressivism but subsequently suppressed it through waves of intense repression.
  • Stoked national pride while simultaneously causing disillusionment that ended Progressive Era hopes for the modern world.
  • Laid the foundational groundwork for the global depression, a second world war, and extensive national, religious, and cultural conflicts worldwide.

Prelude to War and European Power Dynamics

• The Rise of the German Empire: In the late nineteenth century, skilled diplomats managed Germany's rising power to maintain European peace. This changed with the ascension of Wilhelm II.
• Kaiser Wilhelm II: Ascended to the throne in $1888$.
  • He admired and envied the British Empire and the Royal Navy of his grandmother, Queen Victoria.
  • He sought to build a rival German navy and establish global colonies to obtain status suitable for a world power.
• The Alliance System:
  • Defensive Alliance ($1892$): Formed by Russia and France to counter the "Triple Threat" of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.
  • Triple Entente: An agreement between Great Britain, France, and Russia (Tsar Nicholas II and French President Émile Loubet) formed in the early twentieth century due to German naval threats and diplomatic crises.
• Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Conflict:
  • The Ottoman Empire in Turkey was viewed as a threat to peace.
  • Austria-Hungary pursued Turkish lands on its southern border.
  • Tsar Nicholas II of Russia viewed himself as the historic guarantor of Slavic nations in the Balkans, competing with Austria-Hungary for Ottoman territories.
• The Spark of War:
  • By $1914$, Austria-Hungary controlled Bosnia and Herzegovina.
  • On June $28$, $1914$, Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated the heirs to the Austro-Hungarian throne: Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Grand Duchess Sophie.
  • Austria-Hungary, seeking to eliminate the Serbian threat, declared war on Serbia on July $28$, $1914$, after Serbia failed to meet a list of $10$ ultimatums.

Escalation and Early Conflict

• Mobilization:
  • Russia mobilized to protect Serbia.
  • Germany declared war on Russia on August $1$, $1914$, to protect Austria-Hungary.
• The Schlieffen Plan: German military leaders moved armies rapidly by rail through neutral Belgium into France to exploit slow Russian mobilization.
• British Entry: Great Britain declared war on Germany on August $4$, $1914$, following the violation of Belgian neutrality.
• Stalemate ($1915$–$1916$): The war evolved into a series of bloody trench stalemates. British and French offensives resulted in massive casualties with negligible gains.
• Peripheral Campaigns: Efforts at Gallipoli, the Middle East, and Africa were largely unsuccessful or had little impact on the European outcome.
• Russian Collapse: The regime of Tsar Nicholas II collapsed in March $1917$, allowing Germany to focus on a one-front war briefly.

American Neutrality and Military Status Prior to Entry

• Tradition of Neutrality: Based on George Washington’s $1796$ Farewell Address, which advised avoiding "foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues" and "overgrown military establishments."
• Inward Focus: The U.S. focused on its industrial economy, which was built largely with foreign capital.
• Military Stature:
  • The U.S. possessed a small, antiquated military lacking the tools for international power struggles.
  • The Army was underfunded and used primarily for policing Native Americans or garrisoning overseas acquisitions.
  • National Defense Act of $1916$ and Davis Act of $1908$: Created the modern National Guard and military reserves, providing a strategic reserve for international wars.
• American Industrial Power: By $1914$, the U.S. produced slightly more than $\frac{1}{3}$ of the world's manufactured goods, roughly equalling France, Great Britain, and Germany combined.

Conflict with Mexico and the "Field Test"

• Mexican Revolution: Francisco Madero challenged Porfirio Diaz’s conservative regime. The resulting chaos threatened American business interests.
• Veracruz Intervention ($1914$): President Woodrow Wilson ordered Marines to Veracruz to prevent German arms shipments to Victor Huerta.
• Pancho Villa Raid ($1916$): Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico, killing $17$ Americans.
• The Punitive Expedition: General John “Black Jack” Pershing was commissioned to capture Villa.
  • Used motorized vehicles, reconnaissance aircraft, and the wireless telegraph.
  • Wilson mobilized over $100,000$ National Guard units as a show of force.

Factors Leading to United States Entry

• Economic Ties: U.S. neutrality was complicated by strong ties to Britain and France.
  • In October $1914$, Wilson approved commercial credit loans to combatants.
  • By $1916$, trade with the Allies tripled, while trade with Central Powers fell to less than $1\%$.
• Submarine Warfare:
  • German U-boats launched unrestricted torpedo attacks.
  • In May $1915$, the RMS Lusitania was sunk, resulting in over $100$ American deaths.
• The Zimmermann Telegram: German diplomat Arthur Zimmermann offered the Mexican government support to regain Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona if they joined the war against the U.S.
• Declaration of War: Congress declared war on Germany on April $4$, $1917$.

Mobilizing the Nation for Modern War

• The Draft:
  • Selective Service Act (May $18$, $1917$): Required men aged $21$ to $30$ to register.
  • Avoided the Civil War-era systems of bonuses and substitutes.
• Statistical Findings from Recruits:
  • Report: "Defects Found in Drafted Men" ($1919$).
  • $2.5$ million men examined; $1,533,937$ physical defects recorded.
  • More than $34\%$ were rejected or discharged for neurological, psychiatric, or mental deficiencies.
• Intelligence Testing:
  • Army Alpha: For literate recruits.
  • Army Beta: For illiterate or non-English speaking recruits, relying on visual procedures.
  • Robert M. Yerkes: President of the American Psychological Association; interpreted results as showing an average mental age of $13$ years, which he (as a eugenicist) incorrectly linked to racial deterioration.
• The Creel Committee: The Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel, used Hollywood and media to frame the war as a crusade for democracy against "medievalism."
• Repression of Dissent:
  • Espionage Act ($1917$) and Sedition Act ($1918$): Stripped dissenters of their rights. Protesters were imprisoned.
  • American Protective League (APL): A private citizen group working with the government (and J. Edgar Hoover) to identify German sympathizers via surveillance and shaming.

Diversity in Service

• Immigrant Soldiers: Served despite public agitation against "hyphenated Americans."
• Black Soldiers:
  • Segregated into service units and prohibited from combat.
  • Black leaders like W. E. B. Du Bois supported the war effort as a way to prove fitness for full citizenship.
  • In France, black soldiers experienced more social freedom, leading the Army to restrict their privileges to prevent them from questioning American racial hierarchies.
• Women in Service:
  • Military Roles: Telephone operators ("Hello Girls") in the Signal Corps, Navy yeomen (clerical), and the Marine Corps (beginning July $1918$).
  • Medical: $25,000$ nurses in the Army and Navy Nurse Corps; $100$ female physicians under contract. They were not commissioned officers, leaving them vulnerable to abuse.
  • Civilian Volunteers: Millions served in the Red Cross, YMCA/YWCA, and Salvation Army.
  • Black Women: Faced Jim Crow restrictions; barred from military medical roles. Some joined the French Foreign Legion; others formed community auxiliaries to support black troops.

The End of Hostilities and the Influenza Pandemic

• Winning the Naval War: The establishment of a convoy system and American naval escorts reduced shipping losses.
• Kaiserschlacht (Spring Offensive): Launched by Germany in March $18$, $1918$. By mid-July, all five major attacks failed.
• Counter-offensive: On August $8$, $1918$—the "black day of the German army"—$2$ million American Expeditionary Forces joined the Allies to push back German lines.
• Armistice: Signed on November $11$, $1918$, after Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated.
• U.S. Losses: More than $4.7$ million served ($4$ million Army, $600,000$ Navy, $80,000$ Marines). Over $100,000$ died ($53,000$ in battle).
• Influenza Pandemic ($1918$):
  • Began in Haskell County, Kansas, and spread through Camp Funston.
  • Mutated into a second, deadlier wave targeting those aged $18$ to $35$.
  • Estimated global death toll: $50$ million.
  • More soldiers died from influenza than combat; half a million soldiers were hospitalized with it.

The Fourteen Points and the League of Nations

• Fourteen Points: Wilson's plan for peace, emphasizing territorial issues and principles for long-term stability.
• League of Nations: A proposed international organization for collective security, promising that an attack on one member was an attack on all.
• The Treaty of Versailles: A compromise treaty that included German reparations and the League of Nations.
• Domestic Opposition: Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge (Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee) blocked ratification, fearing a loss of U.S. sovereignty.
• Wilson’s Failure: While campaigning for the League, Wilson suffered an incapacitating stroke. The U.S. Senate ultimately rejected the treaty, and the U.S. never joined the League.

Global and Domestic Aftermath

• Middle East Transformation:
  • The Ottoman Empire disintegrated into mandates governed by Britain (Iraq, Palestine, Transjordan) and France (Syria).
  • King-Crane Commission: Found locals wanted independence, which was ignored.
  • Emergence of Turkey, Kingdom of Hejaz (later part of Saudi Arabia), and Yemen.
• Red Scare: The $1917$ Russian Revolution fueled anticommunism.
  • Case of Sacco and Vanzetti: Italian anarchists executed in $1920$, symbolizing fear of radicalism.
  • U.S. troops remained in Russia as late as $1920$ to oppose the Bolsheviks.
• Red Summer ($1919$): Racial violence erupted in $25$ cities, including Chicago and Washington, D.C.
  • The Great Migration: Thousands of black Southerners moved North for work, causing tension with white workers and returning veterans.
  • Chicago Riot: July $27$ to August $3$, $1919$; the worst of the summer.
  • New Militancy: Black Americans actively defended themselves, signaling a shift toward more determined pursuit of civil rights.