World War I, 1914-18

  • Called The Great War at the time

  • UK + France were the two greatest European powers + wanted to keep it that way

  • 1871 - Germany started as a nation

    • Started to develop exponentially challenged UK + France

  • Austra-Hungarian Empire: fading, German ally

  • Serbia - small country in E Europe

    • Some activists want to take Austro-Hungarian land
    • June 1914: A prince of A-Hung Empire is traveling in that land and was killed by Serbian activists

  • Russia - shared religion and language w Serbia

  • Austria-hungary declared war on Serbia

  • Russia backs Serbia

  • UK, France, and Russia have a secret treaty to gang up on Germany in a war

  • Russia - 1917 - Russia Revolution. Overthrew czars and created democracy, which didn’t last. Bolsheviks came out on top - Russian communists

    • 1st communist country
    • Because of this revolution, Russia exits the war and signs treaty w Germany

  • 1920s - Russia expands and takes over large parts of land in Europe and Asia. Becomes USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republicans) or the Soviet Union

  • WWI was a defensive war

    • British and France would push forward, Germans would push back. Confined, repeated cycle in a small territory

  • Machine gun - invented 1890

  • Trench

    • Disease, unsanitary
    • Increased chance of survival

  • Chemical weapons

  • Airplanes - used for surveillance

  • 1915 - Lusitania

    • British passenger ship sunk by Germans
    • 100 Americans on board

  • Woodroaw Wilson asked Germans to be more careful

  • Germans invested in submarines and Wilson asked them to restrict submarine use

    • Listened for a little while to appease Americans

  • 1916 election

    • Wilson assures Americans they won’t be in a war

  • 1917 - Germany resumes unrestricted submarine use

  • Zimmerman Telegram - Germany asks Mexico to go to war against the US and they can get California back. US intercepted this telegram

  • April 1917: US declared war on Germany

  • In the US, income tax goes up

  • Wilson created laws that prevented you from saying mean tings about the US. censorship

  • In response to censorship: American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

    • Fought for freedom of speech

  • US military wasn’t ready for the war

    • Draft: 200 thou ➝ 4 mil
    • Didn't have to fight overseas before
    • logistics/training were a nightmare. Soldiers didn't know what they were doing. How to send men and guns and food overseas

  • First significant action: May 1918 ( a yr and a mnth later)

  • American soldiers went under British and French generals and vice versa ➝ Joint command

  • Those fresh soldiers allowed British and French to push forward to the edge of Germany (broke stalemate)

  • Wilson has soldiers stop and negotiate a settlement

  • War ends Nov 11, 1918

  • Wilson’s Fourteen Points

    • Publicized at the end of WWI
    • Tried to lay foundation for settlement for WWI

  • No secret treaties. Solution: League of Nations

  • League of Nations, countries come and talk openly

  • Self-determination: all ppl groups should have their own homeland. No colonies

  • Negotiations

    • Reparations: The loser (Germany) should pay for the damages caused by the war
    • Wilson said no
    • Predicted Germans would feel desperate and get a military leader who would start WW2
    • British and French pushed for reparations

  • 1919: US isolationism. Lasted til 1939

    • Americans wondered why did we fight this war? What did we benefit?
    • Response: let’s not get involved in other people’s business
    • Moves to Congress

  • Because of isolationism, Senate rejected Wilson’s treaty

    • Meant US wouldn’t be in the League of Nations
    • Weakened League of Nations

  • 1919: crazy year

    • Economy dropped a little (not massive)
    • Wars generate massive wealth - when over, economy dips a little
    • Blip
    • Labor unions on strike
    • Boston Police Department went on strike
      • Massachusetts governor: Calvin Coolidge, Republican (republicans disliked labor unions)
      • Fired all the police officers
    • Fear Russia is trying to expand communism
    • Paranoia: Red Scare
    • Attorney General (top prosecutor): Palmer
      • Jan 1 1920: bomb at his house
      • 6,000 ppl arrested in the next few days on suspicion of communism
    • Great Migration: movement of blacks from the South to the cities of the North for factory jobs. 1900s-1930s
    • Summer 1919: Chicago race riots
    • Black people are newish to the North
    • WWI veterans - African Americans came back from fighting for the US to be treated like shit