World War 1

Hypernationalism and Tensions

• During the time of World War I, hypernationalism was rampant throughout much of Europe, creating tension and animosity between countries.

Woodrow Wilson's Presidency

• Woodrow Wilson became president in 1912 due to Teddy Roosevelt fracturing the Republican party.
• He was the only Democrat to win the presidency since the Civil War.
• Progressive Era: Wilson's presidency was during the Progressive Era, characterized by the idea that society and government should work together to improve society.
• Some historians argue the Progressive Era ended around 1920, while others believe its ideas are still present today.

Background on Woodrow Wilson

• Wilson is often characterized as a northeastern elitist, but he was born in Virginia in 1856.
• His family moved to Georgia and South Carolina during his childhood, which took place during the Civil War.
• Education: Wilson graduated from Princeton University, became a lawyer, and later studied political science and history.
• He earned a PhD in history from Johns Hopkins University and was the only US president to date with a doctorate.
• He taught history at Johns Hopkins University and wrote books on US history and politics which became standard textbooks.
• He later became president of Princeton University and governor of New Jersey.
• Wilson was an elitist and considered himself better than most of society.
• Progressive Ideals: Wilson believed in using government power to fight corruption, improve society, and level the playing field.
• Racist and White Supremacist: Wilson was an unapologetic racist and white supremacist.
• He segregated the federal government, making it difficult for African Americans to get jobs.
• He increased segregation in the US military, reversing desegregation efforts that had begun under President Grant.
• He refused to commission any African American man as an officer.

Birth of a Nation

• In 1915, the epic silent film Birth of a Nation was released.
• It was based on a book glorifying the Ku Klux Klan, and it was propaganda for white supremacy.
• The film depicted the KKK as a noble group saving people from out-of-control black men.
• There were no actual black actors in the movie; instead, white people were in blackface.
• Woodrow Wilson loved the movie and its director, DW Griffith.
• The movie debuted at the White House and was shown in the White House basement.
• Wilson wrote an introduction for the movie, praising the Ku Klux Klan.
• The film is considered groundbreaking for its filming techniques but is extremely racist.

Wilson's Personal Life

• Wilson's first wife, Ellen, died of kidney disease during his presidency.
• He remarried Edith a little over a year later.
• There is a series of love letters between Wilson and Edith.
• Edith Wilson played a significant role in US history.

Wilson's Foreign Policy

• Wilson rejected the imperialistic ideas of his predecessors.
• He believed the US should not seek foreign territory through conquest and should promote human rights abroad.
• His official foreign policy was isolationist.

Mexico

• In 1914, Mexico was under the brutal military dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz, who had been in office off and on for nearly 35 years.
• In 1911, Diaz was driven from power, creating a vacuum in the country.
• In 1913, General Victoriano Huerta murdered the current president and seized power.
• Wilson refused to recognize Huerta's government and demanded democratic elections.
• In April 1914, Huerta's government arrested nine American sailors in Tampico, Mexico.
• Wilson sent the military to occupy Veracruz, an invasion of Mexico, rather than working through diplomacy.
• Over 6,000 marines occupied Veracruz from April to November 1914.
• A rebellion developed in Northern Mexico under Venustiano Carranza.
• Carranza accepted support from the US but did not want their involvement.
• Wilson recognized Carranza's government in October 1915, creating a tenuous relationship between the two countries.
• In 1916, Wilson sent over 4,000 soldiers into Mexico chasing Pancho Villa, who was raiding towns in Mexico and the US.
• The Mexican government was unhappy about the US troops in their territory.
• Wilson went back on his word to be isolationist.

Europe in 1914

• In 1914, Europe was dominated by monarchies.
• The King of Great Britain, the King of Belgium, the Kaiser (King of Germany), and Czar Nicholas (King of Russia) were all cousins, grandchildren of Queen Victoria of Great Britain.
• Europe looked to be in good shape on the surface, with a prosperous economy and no major conflicts in nearly 50 years.
• However, there was mass poverty, child labor, growing nationalism and xenophobia, ethnic conflicts, and an arms race brewing beneath the surface.
• Europeans were obsessed with technology and industrial might.
• Nationalism and xenophobia made people eager to fight, believing it would be a short war.

Alliances in Europe

• The Triple Alliance was created in 1882 between Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Italy to keep France in check, stating that an attack on one is an attack on all.
• In 1914, the Triple Entente was signed between the United Kingdom, France, and Russia, which was an informal military alliance.

The Balkans

• The Balkans were an area that nations had been fighting over for centuries due to strategic resources and access to the Bosporus Strait.
• The Bosporus Strait is a waterway between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
• The area was known as the Powder Keg of Europe because fighting over the Balkans had started multiple wars.

Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

• In June 1914, a secret revolutionary group from Bosnia planned to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire's throne.
• Six men were stationed along the parade route, but most failed to act.
• One assassin, Gavrilo Princip, shot Ferdinand and his wife at close range, killing them both.

Start of World War I

• Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the assassination and declared war on Serbia in July 1914.
• Russia sent troops to the border with Austria-Hungary.
• Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, 1914.
• Germany declared war on France and sent troops into neutral Belgium to attack France from the north.
• Great Britain declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary.
• The Ottoman Empire declared war on Great Britain, France, and Russia.
• Italy switched sides in May 1915 and ended up on the side of the allied powers.
• The allied powers were Great Britain, France, Russia, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, and Serbia.
• The central powers were Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire.
• Within a year, Romania, Portugal, Greece, Belgium, and China were pulled into the war.
• Over the next four years, there were over 100 countries drawn into this war with fighting on four continents and nearly 70,000,000 soldiers involved.

US Neutrality

• Wilson vowed neutrality at the start of the war.
• Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, a pacifist, advised Wilson on how to stay out of the war.
• However, American industries produced and shipped war supplies to allied powers.

German U-Boats

• In 1915, Germany declared open warfare on the seas, stating they would sink any ship carrying military supplies.
• Germany had the largest and most powerful submarine fleet in the world at the start of World War I.
• In May 1915, a German U-boat fired a torpedo at a British passenger ship called the Lusitania off the coast of Ireland.
• The ship sank in just 18 minutes, killing nearly 1,200 people on board, including 128 Americans.
• The Germans claimed the boat was hauling weapons and ammunition and explosives. This was also true.
• Some Americans demanded war with Germany, but Wilson sought to remain neutral and wanted Germany to stop targeting passenger ships.
• He sent a letter of protest to the German government, which worked, and Germany temporarily stopped targeting these ships.
• William Jennings Bryan resigned, thinking Wilson's letter was too strong and would draw the US into war.

1916 Election

• Woodrow Wilson won reelection overwhelmingly in 1916, campaigning on the slogan "I kept you out of war."

Zimmerman Note

• In January 1917, Germany returned to unrestricted submarine warfare.
• The Zimmerman Note: Also in January 1917, Germany sent a secret telegram to Mexico, proposing that if the US entered the war, Mexico should declare war on the US and, in exchange, Germany would help Mexico recover their lost territories (Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas).
• British intelligence officers intercepted the telegram and gave it to Woodrow Wilson.
• The Wilson administration leaked rumors into the press.
• Wilson confirmed the note in a press conference, and Germany confirmed it a few weeks later.
• Americans who were previously calling for neutrality are now calling for war.

US Declaration of War

• In April 1917, Woodrow Wilson went to Congress and asked for a declaration of war.
• Congress declared war four days later.
• Wilson stated that the US was going to war to be the champions of rights of mankind and to make the world safe for democracy, not for imperial conquest.
• By the time the US entered the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire had almost dissolved, and the German people were starving due to the British blockade.
• The United States role in World War one is very limited.

US Military Preparedness

• At the time the US declared war, it had a very strong navy but almost no standing army.
• It had only around 125,000 men in the army compared to Germany which had an army 20 times bigger.
• There are five things needed to win a major war: soldiers, weapons, labor, food, and money.

Propaganda

• The United States put out propaganda posters encouraging people to join the war effort.
• The posters often tried to guilt or scare people into joining the war or helping out, such as the