Ch 19. Study Guide: Safe for Democracy - The United States and World War I
Suppression of Domestic Dissent and Post-War Repression
Patriotic Americanism and the Status Quo:
The intense wartime and post-war propaganda kindled an identification of patriotic Americanism with strict support for the political and economic status quo.
Radical and progressive movements faced severe governmental and social suppression, crippling demands for fundamental social reform.
Destruction of Radical and Socialist Movements:
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW): The radical union was effectively destroyed through federal prosecution and state-level repression.
Moderate Labor Unions: Left in complete disarray following post-war strikes and government hostility.
The Socialist Party: Crumbled under the immense weight of governmental repression and internal ideological fractures:
The New York state legislature expelled five legally elected Socialist members.
The United States Congress denied Victor Berger the House seat to which he had been democratically elected from Wisconsin.
Internal divisions over the Russian Revolution of 1917 further fractured and weakened the party.
Impact on Progressivism:
The suppression of demands for fundamental social change was a devastating rebuke to Progressive reformers who had enlisted in the war effort with hopes of democratizing American society.
President Woodrow Wilson's inability to secure a just and democratic peace based on his original Fourteen Points compounded the overwhelming sense of defeat among Progressives.
Woodrow Wilson and the Versailles Peace Conference
The Peace Negotiations:
Late in 1918, President Woodrow Wilson traveled to France to personally attend the Versailles peace conference.
Wilson proved less adept in diplomatic negotiations than his European counterparts, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George and French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau.
Although Wilson's Fourteen Points explicitly called for "open covenants openly arrived at," the actual negotiations at Versailles were conducted in complete secrecy.
Key Outcomes and Flaws of the Versailles Treaty:
Establishment of the League of Nations: The treaty created the League of Nations, the international body central to Wilson's vision of a peaceful international order.
Moral Guilt and Economic Reparations:
Lloyd George persuaded Wilson to agree to a clause declaring Germany morally responsible for World War I.
The treaty imposed astronomical financial reparations on Germany, variously estimated between and , which utterly crippled the German economy.
Violation of Wilsonian Principles: Despite Wilson's pledge of a "peace without victory," without territorial acquisitions, and without vengeance, the Versailles Treaty was an exceptionally harsh and punitive document.
The Map of Europe Redrawn in 1919
Application of Self-Determination:
The treaty applied the principle of self-determination to Eastern Europe, completely redrawing the geopolitical map of the region.
Four major empires collapsed or were drastically reduced:
The Austro-Hungarian Empire ceased to exist.
The Ottoman Empire was completely dismantled.
Germany was significantly reduced in geographical size.
Czarist Russia lost vast territories in Eastern Europe.
Emergence of New European Nations:
A group of new independent states emerged from the ruins of these empires: Finland, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Yugoslavia.
Ethno-Linguistic Realities:
Some of these newly created nations enjoyed genuine ethno-linguistic unity.
Others comprised highly unstable combinations of diverse, historically hostile nationalities (such as Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia).
The Global Wilsonian Moment and Colonial Aspirations
Global Impact of Rhetoric:
Wilson's rhetoric of national self-determination reverberated across the globe, inspiring colonial peoples in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East seeking independence.
Colonial peoples took Wilson's ideals far more seriously than Wilson himself did; Wilson privately believed that colonized nations required a long period of "tutelage" before being capable of self-government.
Global Responses to the Fourteen Points:
Eastern Europe: People carving out new nations regarded Wilson as a "popular saint."
Egypt: Al-Ahram, the leading Arabic newspaper published in British-ruled Egypt, gave extensive front-page coverage to Wilson's war message to Congress and the Fourteen Points.
China: Students in Beijing gathered outside the American embassy shouting "Long live Wilson," demanding that China be liberated from foreign imperialist domination.
Japan: Japanese diplomats proposed including a clause in the charter of the new League of Nations that formally recognized the equality of all people regardless of race.
Rejection of Self-Determination Outside Europe and Mandates
Failure of Colonial Self-Determination:
Secretary of State Robert Lansing warned that the phrase "self-determination" was "loaded with dynamite" and would "raise hopes which can never be realized."
Advocates of colonial independence traveled to Paris to lobby peace negotiators, but were systematically rejected:
Arab Leaders: Demanded a unified, independent Arab state carved out of the former Ottoman Empire in the Middle East.
Nguyen That Thanh (Ho Chi Minh): A young Vietnamese patriot working in Paris who appealed directly to Wilson for assistance in ending French colonial rule in Vietnam.
W. E. B. Du Bois: Organized a historic Pan-African Congress in Paris that presented a proposal for an independent, self-governing African nation carved from Germany's former colonies.
Other Movements: Representatives of Korean, Indian, and Irish independence movements pressed claims for self-determination.
Imperial Division and the Mandate System:
Great Britain and France had no intention of extending self-determination to their own global empires.
Middle Eastern Mandates: The victors partitioned former Ottoman territories into League of Nations "mandates" controlled directly by the Allies: Syria and Lebanon (French mandates), and Iraq and Palestine (British mandates).
Colonial Reallocation: Former German colonies in Africa and Asia were awarded as mandates to South Africa, Australia, and Japan.
Ireland: Was denied recognition at Versailles; only late in did Britain agree to establish the Irish Free State, while retaining control over the six counties of Northern Ireland.
Defeat of Racial Equality Clause: Wilson, with explicit support from Great Britain and Australia, engineered the complete rejection of Japan's proposed racial equality clause.
The Seeds of Future World Conflicts
Disillusionment and Anti-Western Nationalism:
The failure to apply the Fourteen Points to the non-European world produced deep cynicism regarding Western declarations of freedom and democracy.
This disillusionment triggered popular protest movements across Asia and the Middle East, sparking a powerful new anti-Western nationalism.
Rise of Anticolonial Communism:
Following rejection by Western powers, leaders such as Nguyen That Thanh (Ho Chi Minh) embraced communism as the vehicle for national liberation.
The reputation of Vladimir Lenin in the colonial world rapidly eclipsed that of Woodrow Wilson, positioning anticolonial communism as a dominant force in twentieth-century global politics.
Long-Term Destabilization:
World War II: German resentment over the harsh terms and moral stigma of the Versailles Treaty directly fueled the political rise of Adolf Hitler and the outbreak of World War II.
Late Twentieth-Century Conflicts: Ethnic conflicts stemming from the breakup of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, persistent political violence in Northern Ireland, and perpetual instability in the Middle East demonstrate that the world remained haunted by the decisions made at Versailles.
The Senate Debate over the Versailles Treaty and League of Nations
American Isolationism and Constitutional Concerns:
President Wilson returned from Europe viewing the League of Nations as the supreme legacy of the war.
A substantial portion of the American public and the United States Senate feared that Article of the League Covenant would commit the U.S. to open-ended military involvement in foreign conflicts ("foreign entanglements").
A majority of senators favored accepting the treaty with specific "reservations" asserting that League commitments could not override the constitutional power of Congress to declare war.
Wilson's Refusal to Compromise:
Wilson steadfastly refused to negotiate or compromise with Senate Republican leaders.
In October , while conducting a national speaking tour to rally public support, Wilson suffered a catastrophic stroke that left him severely incapacitated.
The extent of Wilson's physical and mental illness was kept secret from the public; his wife, Edith Wilson, effectively managed executive affairs for the remaining of his presidency.
Rejection of the Treaty:
Under Wilson's strict directives to reject any modified version, the Senate officially defeated the Versailles Treaty in November and again in March .
Legacy of World War I and the Election of 1920
The Shadow of American Internationalism:
Active U.S. military participation in World War I lasted barely , but it profoundly shaped the foreign policy of the twentieth century.
Although the nation briefly retreated into isolationism during the , Wilson's synthesis of idealism and power politics ("Wilsonism") established the enduring template for American foreign relations:
Promotion of global democracy and open economic markets.
Faith in a special American mission to instruct the world in liberty.
Willingness to intervene abroad militarily to protect U.S. interests and values.
The Election of 1920 and the Repudiation of Progressivism:
World War I brought an end to the Progressive Era and its belief in the transformative power of government intervention.
Republican candidate Warren G. Harding ran on a presidential campaign platform promising a "return to normalcy" and explicit repudiation of "Wilsonism."
Harding won a landslide victory, securing of the popular vote.
The war, which began with sweeping idealistic hopes for domestic and international social transformation, ultimately laid the groundwork for one of the most conservative decades in American history.
Key Terms and Historical Concepts
Liberal Internationalism: Woodrow Wilson's foreign policy ideology, asserting that economic and political freedom were interdependent and that American involvement in global affairs was necessary to spread democracy and peace.
Panama Canal Zone: A ten-mile-wide strip of land across the Isthmus of Panama acquired by the United States in to construct and operate the canal, serving as a key symbol of American imperial power in Latin America.
Roosevelt Corollary: President Theodore Roosevelt's extension of the Monroe Doctrine, declaring that the United States had the right to exercise "an international police power" in the Western Hemisphere to prevent European intervention.
Dollar Diplomacy: President William Howard Taft's foreign policy strategy, which emphasized substituting financial investment and economic leverage for direct military intervention to promote American influence in Latin America and East Asia.
Moral Imperialism: President Woodrow Wilson's foreign policy approach, which held that American foreign interventions should be guided by moral principles and a duty to teach other nations democracy, rather than purely economic interest.
Lusitania: A British ocean liner sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland in May , killing passengers (including Americans), which outraged American public opinion and hastened the tilt toward war.
Fourteen Points: President Wilson's blueprint for a post-World War I international order, emphasizing free trade, open diplomacy, national self-determination, disarmament, and a League of Nations.
Selective Service Act: A federal law requiring all men within specified age ranges to register for the military draft, dramatically expanding the size of the United States armed forces during World War I.
War Industries Board: A federal wartime regulatory agency established in to oversee all aspects of industrial production, raw material allocation, and price controls to support the war effort.
National Woman's Party: A radical women's suffrage organization founded by Alice Paul that employed militant tactics, including picketing the White House during wartime, to secure the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.
Eighteenth Amendment: A constitutional amendment that prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors, heavily bolstered by wartime anti-German sentiment and grain conservation efforts.
Espionage Act & Sedition Act: Severe Federal laws passed in and that criminalized criticism of the war, the government, the draft, or the military, leading to the prosecution of over individuals.
Eugenics: A pseudo-scientific movement popular in the early twentieth century that sought to control human reproduction to eliminate supposedly undesirable genetic traits, heavily fueling anti-immigrant legislation and racial segregation.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP): Civil rights organization founded in that launched legal campaigns against lynching, disenfranchisement, and racial segregation.
Great Migration: The massive movement of over half a million African Americans from the rural South to Northern industrial cities during and after World War I, driven by jobs and fleeing Jim Crow oppression.
Tulsa Massacre: A violent racial conflict in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in which white mobs destroyed the prosperous African American business district known as "Black Wall Street," killing hundreds of Black residents.
Marcus Garvey: A Jamaican-born Black nationalist leader who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), advocating Black self-reliance, economic independence, and Pan-African movement back to Africa.
Red Scare of 1919–1920: A period of intense national hysteria provoked by fear of a Bolshevik communist revolution in the United States, resulting in widespread raids, illegal arrests, and deportations directed by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer.
Versailles Treaty: The peace treaty signed in that officially ended World War I, redrew global boundaries, established the League of Nations, and imposed severe reparations and guilt on Germany.
League of Nations: An international organization proposed by Woodrow Wilson to promote global cooperation and prevent future wars, which the United States Senate ultimately refused to join.
Review Questions for Analysis
Global Economic Position: Explain the role of the United States in the global economy by .
Roosevelt Corollary: What were the central assumptions underlying the Roosevelt Corollary? How did the doctrine affect American relations with European nations and countries in the Western Hemisphere?
Moral Imperialism: What did President Wilson mean by "moral imperialism," and what specific measures were taken to apply this policy to Latin America?
Progressive Constitutional Amendments: How did the ratification of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Amendments demonstrate both the restrictive and the democratizing nature of Progressivism?
Wartime Expansion of State Power: Why did Progressives view the expansion of federal governmental power during wartime as an ideal opportunity to reform American society?
Committee on Public Information: What were the major goals and propaganda methods utilized by the Committee on Public Information during World War I?
Coercive Patriotism: What were key governmental and private examples of coercive patriotism during the war, and what were the long-term effects of those efforts?
Eugenics and Anti-Immigrant Sentiment: How did the pseudo-science of eugenics fuel anti-immigrant sentiment and xenophobia during the early twentieth century?
Impact of War on African Americans: How did World War I and its immediate aftermath provide African Americans with new economic and social opportunities while escalating racial tensions?
Origins of the Red Scare: What were the major causes—both real and imaginary—that triggered the Red Scare of ?
Global Dynamics in 1919: Identify the primary goals of those pressing for global change and self-determination in , and contrast them with the goals of those who opposed them.