Chapter 30 - The War to End Wars

War by Act of Germany

  • The German foreign secretary secretly proposed a German-Mexican alliance with the Zimmerman Note
  • News of the Zimmerman Note leaked to the public, angering Americans
  • Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war on April 2, 1917 due to 4 more unarmed merchant ships being sunk
    • The 3 main causes of war consisted of the Zimmerman Note, Germany declaring unrestricted submarine warfare, and the Bolshevik Revolution

Wilsonian Idealism Enthroned

  • Wilson persuaded American public to support war by declaring that the U.S. would be fighting “for a war to end war” and “to make the world safe for democracy”

Wilson's Fourteen Potent Points

  • ==Wilson== ==delivered his Fourteen Points Address to Congress on January 8, 1918==
    • Wilson’s message declared that the war was being fought for a moral cause and it called for a post-war peace in Europe which gave Wilson the position of moral leadership of the Allies
    • Wilson’s 14 points included a proposal to abolish secret treaties, freedom of the seas, the removal of economic barriers among nations, the reduction of armament burdens, the adjustment of colonial claims in the interests of both native people and colonizers, and the League of Nations
  • The ==League of Nations== ==was an international organization that Wilson dreamed of, with it providing a system of collective security==

Creel Manipulates Minds

  • ==Committee on Public Information== ==was created to get support for war with it being led by George Creel==
    • Creel’s job was to sell Americans on the idea of the war and to sell the world on Wilson’s war goals

Enforcing Loyalty and Stifling Dissent

  • There were over 8 million German-Americans and Americans
    • Rumors of spying and sabotage spread leading to a hatred of Germans and things related to Germany in the nation
  • The ==Espionage Act of 1917== ==sought to stop the support of U.S.’s enemies during wartime==
  • ==Sedition Act of 1918== ==made it illegal to speak out against the government==
    • Any criticism of the government could be censored or punished
    • The Supreme Court upheld this law in the case of Schenck vs. United States in 1919 in which it argued that the freedom of speech could be revoked when such speech was considered to pose a danger to the nation

The Nation's Factories Go to War

  • ==Wilson== ==created a Civilian Council of National Defense to study problems of economic mobilization, prior to the war==
    • Wilson increased the size of the army and created a shipbuilding program
  • The efforts to coordinate the economy from Washington were restricted due to fears of big government
  • Wilson appointed Bernard Baruch to control the War Industries Board to create order over the economic confusion
    • Board had never had much control but it set a precedent for how the federal government would handle the economy in times of crisis

Workers in Wartime

  • Workers were discouraged from striking due to the War Department’s decree in 1918 which threatened to draft any unemployed male
  • ==National War Labor Board== ==tried to fix labor disputes before they hurt the war effort==
  • Industrial Workers of the World had some of the worst working conditions in the country
  • The ==American Federation of Labor== ==supported the war and because of this, membership had doubled by the end of the work==
  • Wartime inflation reduced the wage gains which led to thousands of strikes across the country
  • In 1919, more than 250,000 steelworkers went on strike with them looking for the right to organize and collectively bargain
    • Steel companies refused to negotiate and they brought in 30,000 African-Amerians to keep the mills running with the strike eventually collapsing
  • Thousands of African Americans moved to the North, with them looking for war-industry employment

Suffering Until Suffrage

  • National Woman’s Party was led by Alice Paul, as they protested the war
  • The National American Woman Suffrage Association supported the war
    • Women took up the factory and field jobs after men left the country to fight leading to Wilson supporting the 19th Amendment which gave all American women the right to vote
  • The ==Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act of 1921== ==gave federally financed instruction in maternal and infant health care==

Forging a War Economy

  • Hoover led the Food Administration with him initiating wheatless Wednesdays and meatless Tuesdays
  • Congress restricted the use of foodstuffs for manufacturing alcoholic beverages which helped accelerate the move prohibition
  • The 18th Amendment was passed in 1919, with it prohibiting all alcoholic drinks

Making Plowboys into Doughboys

  • Wilson initially opposed a draft with him eventually realizing that a draft was needed to raise the large army that was to be sent to France
  • ==Congress== ==passed the draft act in 1917 with it requiring the registration of all males between the ages of 18 and 45 with it not allowing for a man to purchase his exemption the draft==
  • Women were allowed in the armed forces for the first time

Fighting in France-Belatedly

  • The ==Bolshevik Revolution== ==in Russia consisted of the tsar regime being overthrown in 1917==
  • The new regime pulled Russia out of the “capitalist” war which freed up thousands of Germans on the Russian front to fight against France on the western front
  • A year after Congress declared war, the 1st American troops reached France which were used as replacements in the Allied armies and were generally deployed in quiet sectors with French and British
    • American troops were also sent to Belgium, Italy, and Russia
    • Americans were sent to Russia because they hoped to prevent Russian munitions from falling into German hands

America Helps Hammer the "Hun"

  • In the spring 1918, for the first time, the Allies united under a supreme commander, Foch to fight the German expansion on the western front
  • 30,000 American troops were sent to the French frontlines with this being the first significant engagement of American troops in a European war
  • Inadequate training left 10% of the Americans that were involved in the battle either injured or killed
  • German supplies starting running low as their allies started to desert them

The Fourteen Points Disarm Germany

  • Germany surrendered on November 11, 1918 after Germany’s Kaiser fled to Holland
  • The U.S.’s main contributions to the victory consisted of foodstuffs, munitions, credits, oil, and manpower
  • Americans only fought two major battles
  • Prospect of endless U.S. troops eventually demoralized Germans

Wilson Steps Down from Olympus

  • Wilson had gained a lot of support throughout the world as he was seen as the moral leader of the war
    • Wilson asked the public to re-elect a Democratic majority in Congress
    • Wilson thought it would help him negotiate and pass a treaty which made the public mad and voters instead elected a Republican majority to Congress
  • Wilson decision to go Paris in person in order to negotiate the treaty which infuriated the Republicans as no president had ever traveled to Europe

An Idealist Amid the Imperialists

  • The Paris Conference was controlled by the Big Four which consisted of the United States, Italy, Britain, and France
  • Wilson led the conference with him being joined by Premier Vittorio Orlando of Italy, Prime Minister David Lloyd George of Britain, and Premier Georgers Clemenceau of France
  • Wilson’s ultimate goal was to create the League of Nations which would contain an assembly with seats for all nations and a council to be controlled by the great powers which Wilson saw as a way to prevent future world wars
    • In February 1919, the Big Four agreed to include the creation of the League of Nations in the treaty

Hammering Out the Treaty

  • Some Republicans in America hated the League of Nations and refused to approve the treaty
  • France gave up claims for the Saar Valley in Germany
  • Britain and America agreed to the Security Treaty in which America and Britain would defend France if Germany invaded again
  • Japan demanded China’s Shandong Peninsula and the German islands of the Pacific, which it had seized during the war
    • Wilson accepted a compromise after Japan threatened to walk out, with Japan keeping out of Germany’s economic holdings in Shandong and pledging to return the peninsula to China at a later date

The Peace Treaty That Bred a New War

  • Treaty of Versailles was forced on the Germans in June of 1919 which led to the Germans being outraged with most of Wilson’s fourteen points not being included in the treaty
  • Wilson had compromised away some of his fourteen points in an attempt to save the League of Nations \n

The Domestic Parade of Prejudice

  • Those that criticized the League of Nations came from several different political groups in the U.S.

Wilson's Tour and Collapse (1919)

  • Republicans in Congress didn’t have any real hope of defeating the Treaty of Versailles with them hoping to “Republicanize” it so Republicans could claim political credit for the changes
  • In an attempt to speed up the passing of the treaty in the Senate, Wilson decided on giving speeches across the country in order to appeal to the public with these speeches receiving mixed reactions

Defeat Through Deadlock

  • Lodge was a critic to the president, with him coming up with 14 reservations to the Treaty of Versailles as Lodge wanted to give the U.S. more control over how it interacted with other nations and vice versa
    • Wilson was in opposition towards the reservations
  • Treaty of Versailles was defeated once the Senate rejected it twice

The "Solemn Referendum" of 1920

  • Wilson decided to settle the issue of the League of Nations through the presidential candidate meaning if the voters elected a Democratic president, it would mean that they supported the treaty
  • Republicans chose Senator Harding as their presidential candidate in the 1920 election while the vice president candidate was Governor Coolidge
    • The Republican platform appealed to both the pro-League and the anti-League sentiment in the party
  • Democrats nominated Governor James Cox for president and chose Franklin Roosevelt for vice president
  • Harding won the election, which led to the death of the League of Nations

The Betrayal of Great Expectations

  • America became isolationist after WWI with it deciding to not take up a role as a global leader