World War I: Causes and Prelude

• As World War I began and spread throughout Europe, the United States aimed to remain neutral.

Key Terms

• Militarism: A policy of aggressive military buildup, giving the military authority over the government and foreign policy.
• Mobilization: Readying troops for war.
• Central Powers: The Ottoman Empire, Germany, and Austria-Hungary.
• Allies: France, Britain, Russia, Serbia, and later the USA.
• Stalemate: A situation in which no side can gain an advantage.
• Propaganda: Information used to influence public opinion.

Causes of World War I

• Imperialism: Main goal of European nations was to expand their territories and influence.
• Competition for land led to tensions, especially between Germany, Britain, and France.
• Militarism: Promoted over diplomacy in Europe, with nations modernizing and expanding their military.
• Nationalism: Countries acted in their own national interest, leading to conflict.
• Alsace-Lorraine was a source of trouble between Germany and France.
• Ethnic populations in Central and Eastern Europe sought self-government, and Russia protected Slavs in Serbia.
• Alliances: A complex system designed to bolster security, bound nations to aid each other in the event of attack.
• Germany and Austria-Hungary, and Russia and France were linked via treaty,
• Great Britain and France shared a loose alliance.

Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand

• The heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, was assassinated on June 28, 1914.
• Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist, killed the Archduke and his wife in Sarajevo, Bosnia.
• Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia and demanded they stop supporting terrorism in Bosnia or face war.

Expanding Conflicts

• Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28th.
• Russia stepped in to protect Serbia.
• Germany demanded Russia stop mobilization, but Russia refused.
• France backed up Russia and began preparing for war.
• Germany declared war on Russia on August 1st.
• The Schlieffen Plan was developed by Germany to avoid fighting Russia and France simultaneously.
• Germany invaded Belgium to reach Paris, leading Great Britain to declare war on August 4th.

Sides of the conflict

• Central Powers: Germany and Austria-Hungary.
• Allies: France, Great Britain, Serbia, and Russia (Triple Entendre, military alliance between France, Russia and Great Britain).
• The Schlieffen Plan led Germany through Belgium and northern France.
• Soldiers on both sides dug in trenches and fortified their lines, reaching a stalemate.
• Soldiers were stuck in lines of muddy.
• "No man's land" led to appalling rate of human loss.
• The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in 1914,
• Italy joined the Allies in 1915, and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers.
• The Romanians joined the Allies in 1916; stalemates persisted despite new additions.

Modern Warfare

• New technology such as machine guns and rapid-fire artillery met the youth that blindly joined the war.
• Charging across "no man's land" was suicidal due to artillery shells and machine guns.
• Morale sank and armies tried to erase the distinction of civilian vs soldier.
• German submarines shot down allied ships.
• Tunnels were dug under “no man's land” to plant bombs in enemy trenches and naval blockades starved the German people.

The American Response

• Americans were shocked by the war breaking out between European nations
• With 13% of the American population being immigrants or children of immigrants from these countries.
• Some German-Americans favored the Central Powers, most Americans supported the Allies.
• Many Americans had a distaste for Kaiser Wilhem II of Germany due to fears of frightening militarism and cold-blooded efficiency .
• Americans saw negative public view on Germans due to reports that Germany was killing civilians and destroying infrastructure and towns in France and Belgium..
• President Woodrow Wilson declared America neutral on August 4th, 1914, to protect investments.

The United States Declares War

• German submarine warfare played a large part in pushing the US into WW1.

Key Terms

• U-Boat: German submarine.
• Sussex Pledge: A promise from Germany to warn ships before attacking with U-Boats.
• Zimmermann note: A German proposal to Mexico for an alliance against the US.
• Autocrat: A ruler with unlimited power.
• Russian Revolution: Overthrew the Russian czar in 1917.
• German U-Boats aimed to prevent supplies and food from reaching British ports.
• Germany warned merchant ships before attacking but later began attacking without warning.
• Britain and Germany were competing to build the best navy in Europe.
• Britain cut the transatlantic cable connecting Germany to the US. and newspapers shaped public opinion.
• On May 7th, 1915 a U-Boat sighted the Lusitania, carrying weapons for the Allies, killing 1200.
• American public was furious, but Wilson urged for patience.
• On May 24th, 1916, a German U-Boat shot down the Sussex, killing 80 passengers.
• America threatened to cut diplomatic ties leading to the Sussex Pledge.
• On January 31st, 1917, Germany ended the Sussex Pledge.
• Actions aimed to weaken a potential American entrance in the war.
• Even though the Germans broke the Sussex Pledge, the Germans avoided attacking American Ships in February, which raised American hopes for peace.
• The Zimmermann Note: Germans offered Mexico territory in the US if Mexico declared war on the US.
• By early 1917, Russia suffered more than 1.5 million killed, roughly 2.5 million taken prisoner, and millions more wounded.
• Czar Nicholas II of Russia who was an autocrat was overthrown in March 1917.

Americans on the European Front

• American troops helped the Allies defeat the Central Powers in WW1.

Key Terms

• Selective Service Act: An act passed to authorizing a draft of young men for military service.
• American Expeditionary Force (AEF): A force made up of volunteers and national guardsmen.
• Convoy: A group consisting of unarmed ships surrounded by a ring of armed ships.
• Zeppelin: German floating airships
• Armistice: A cease-fire
• The US Congress sent the Allies naval support, supplies, arms, and $3 Billion in loans.
• The token force of 14,500 men led by General Pershing served mainly to boost Allied morale.
• Congress passed the Selective Service Act and were sent to bootcamps set by the US government to train them for the war.
• The Convoy System were sent to Europe safely, and no U-Boats sank a single American ship.
• American troops raised the morale in the French and British army, having a lot of energy.

Turning the Tide of War

• Followers of Valdmir Lenin, called the Bolsheviks, violently overthrew Russia's republican government in November 1917.
• Lenin signed a truce with Germany in December and a final peace treaty on March 3rd, 1918
• Germany sent hundreds reinforcements west for one final offensive before American troops could reinforce the British and French armies in large numbers.
• German forces attacked British lines on March 21, 1918 successfully splitting through the trenches and advancing deep into Allied territory.
• By the end of May 1918, they were only about 50 miles from Paris.
• American troops stopped German attacks at Belleau Wood and Chateau-Thierry, east of Paris
• 28,000 American troops that forced the Germans back across the river and into retreat.

Ending the War

• The Allies continued to press on against their enemy.
• The Central Powers were collapsing, one by one, in the face of Allied attacks and domestic revolutions.
• Two of Germany's allies, Bulgaria and the Ottoman empire, made a separate peace with the Allies in autumn.
• Austria-Hungary splintered in October as the Poles, Hungarians, Czechs, and Slovaks declared their independence from the emperor.
• German sailors in the German port of Kiel recognized the defeat, mutinied on October 29th.
• Generals pressured to end the war.
• A civil representative of the new Weimar Republic signed an armistice, or cease fire.

The Influenza Epidemic

• American troops arriving in France in 1918 carried with them an influenza virus that had been detected in the military training camp in Kansas in March.
• The virus swept across the Western Front in June, disabling 500,000 German troops,
• Cases showed up with a more deadlier wave within days or even hours.
• It got so bad that San Francisco began mandating its citizens to wear a mask and more Americans died from influenza than from battle.

Americans on the Home Front

• Americans and their government took extraordinary steps at home to support the war effort.

Key Terms

• Liberty Bonds: Sold to support the Allied cause.
• Price controls: Pricing determined by the government on the sale of food.
• Rationing: Distributing goods to consumers in a fixed amount.
• Daylight saving time: Turning clocks ahead one hour for the summer.
• Sedition: Any speech or action that encourages rebellion.

Financing the War

• The government sold Liberty Bonds by which they could later be redeemed for the original value of the bonds plus interest.

Managing the Economy

• The government called on industry to switch from producing commercial goods to war goods.
• Agencies were set up to oversee the nation's war related production and it had far-reaching powers.

Regulating Food and Fuel Consumption:

• Congress passed the Lever Food and Fuel Control Act in August 1917.
• The Lever Food and Fuel Control Act created an agency called the Fuel Administration, which sponsored gasless days to save fuel.
• Daylight saving time was created to increase the number of work hours and also reduce the need for artificial light and lower fuel consumption.

Explore the causes and events leading up to World War I. This includes factors contributing to violence, the alliance system, and key events like the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Learn about the Schlieffen Plan and the role of U-boats.