World War I and Related Events

World War I and Related Events

• The "Big Four" at the Paris Peace Conference included Woodrow Wilson (US), David Lloyd George (UK), Georges Clemenceau (France), and Vittorio Orlando (Italy). These leaders shaped the Treaty of Versailles.
• Dr. William Gorgas eradicated yellow fever and malaria in Panama, enabling the Panama Canal's construction.
• Before 1854, Japan was isolated. The 1854 Treaty of Kanagawa forced Japan to open to trade, initiating its modernization and global power rise.
• Self-determination, championed by Wilson, is the principle that nations should govern themselves without outside interference.
• The "White Man’s Burden" justifies Western power's role in civilizing other nations, often used to support colonialism.
• The Harlem Hellfighters, the 369th Infantry, were a highly decorated black U.S. regiment in WWI, serving under French command.
• Woodrow Wilson, the 28th U.S. President, promoted the League of Nations, self-determination, and the 14 Points plan during WWI.
• Isolationism was a dominant U.S. foreign policy before and after WWI, advocating avoidance of international conflicts.
• The League of Nations was an international peace organization formed after WWI to avert future wars. The US did not join.
• Alaska was bought from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million, becoming strategically important.
• The Platt Amendment limited Cuba's independence after the Spanish-American War, allowing U.S. intervention.
• Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassination in 1914 triggered WWI.
• WWI labor conditions improved due to wartime demand, but workers faced long hours, poor conditions, and low wages. Unions gained more power.
• The 1918 influenza pandemic (Spanish flu) spread worldwide, killing millions, impacting global health and impacting soldiers returning from WWI.
• Theodore Roosevelt oversaw the Philippine-American War (1899-1902) after the U.S. annexed the Philippines.
• Grover Cleveland opposed the annexation of Hawaii after an American takeover of the monarchy.
• Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated in 1918, ending the German Empire and starting the Weimar Republic.

Other Key Events and Figures

• The German Spring Offensive of 1918 failed, highlighting the inability of Germany to decisively impact the war before the full American arrival.
• Buffalo Soldiers were African-American soldiers who served in the US Army in the West after the Civil War.
• Tensions between the U.S. and Mexico involved the Mexican-American War (1846-48), U.S. intervention in the Mexican Revolution, and General Pershing's 1916 expedition to pursue Pancho Villa.
• Victoriano Huerta seized power in a 1913 Mexican coup but faced opposition from the U.S. and Mexican revolutionaries.
• The Spanish-American War (1898) led to US control of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, establishing the U.S. as a global power.
• General Pershing's strategy for WWI focused on offensive actions and coordination with Allied forces, favoring independent American operations.
• The Selective Service Act (1917) allowed the U.S. to draft soldiers during WWI.
• European powers anticipated a swift war, unprepared for WWI's protracted trench warfare, extensive casualties, and new technologies.
• Propaganda was used to support war efforts, raise nationalism, and damage the enemy's image.
• The USS Maine explosion of 1898, likely accidental, escalated conflicts with Spain, triggering the Spanish-American War.
• WWI battles involved trench warfare, immense casualties, and technological innovations such as machine guns, poison gas, tanks and airplanes.
• The Sussex Pledge was a 1916 German promise to stop unrestricted submarine warfare, but it was broken, contributing to the US joining the war.
• Taft vs. Roosevelt (1912) presidential race resulted in a split Republican vote, allowing Wilson's election.
• Spanish General Valeriano Weyler's brutal tactics during the Cuban Insurrection increased public support for Cuban independence.
• Opposition to WWI included socialists like Eugene Debs who viewed the war as benefiting capitalists.
• U.S. democracy was questioned by critics who highlighted racial inequality, imperialism, and wartime compromises on civil liberties.
• In Panama, disease like yellow fever and malaria created significant problems during the construction of the Panama Canal; Dr. Gorgas's strategies addressed the spread of these diseases.
• The Russian Revolution (1917) removed Russia from WWI, installed a communist government, and paved the way for the formation of the Soviet Union.

Other Topics

• The Panama Canal, completed in 1914, connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, boosting global trade and military mobility.
• The Boxer Rebellion (1900) in China was an anti-imperialist uprising, and the U.S. joined the international response.