-
Allies
the Triple Entente;;
one of the two major defense alliances in Europe;;
consisted of France, Britain, and Russia -
Central Powers
the Triple Alliance;;
one of the two major defense alliances in Europe;;
consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary & Italy;;
Germany and Austria-Hungary, together with the Ottoman Empire—an empire of mostly Middle Eastern lands controlled by the Turks—were later known as the Central Powers -
1914 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
June 1914: heir to the Austrian throne visited the Bosnian capital Sarajevo → as the royal entourage drove through the city, Gavrilo Princip shot the Archduke & Sophie (wife);;
Princip: member of the Black Hand, an organization promoting Serbian nationalism;;
July 28, AH declared a war against Serbia (RS);;
August 1: DE obligated by treaty to support AH, declared war on RU;;
August 3: DE declared war on RU’s ally FR;;
Germany invaded Belgium (BE) → UK declared war on DE & AH -
Schlieffen Plan
August 3: DE invaded BE, following a strategy known as the Schlieffen Plan;;
called for a holding action against RU, combined with a quick
drive through BE to Paris; after FR had fallen, the two DE armies would defeat RU -
Sinking of British liner Lusitania
a U-boat sank the UK liner Lusitania off the southern coast of Ireland;;
of the 1,198 persons lost, 128 were Americans;;
DE defended their action on the grounds that the liner carried ammunition;;
despite DE’s explanation, Americans became outraged with DE because of the loss of life;;
American public opinion turned against DE &the Central Powers;;
despite this provocation, President Wilson ruled out a military response in favor of a sharp protest to DE -
Sinking of British liner Arabic
a U-boat sank another UK liner, the Arabic, drowning two Americans;;
the US protested ⇒ DE agreed not to sink any more passenger ships -
Sinking of French passenger liner Sussex
DE broke its promise and torpedoed an unarmed FR passenger steamer, the Sussex;;
the Sussex sank: about 80 passengers, including Americans, were killed or injured;;
the United States warned that it would break off diplomatic relations unless DE changed its tactics;;
DE agreed, but there was a condition: if the US could not persuade UK to lift its blockade against food and fertilizers, DE would consider renewing unrestricted submarine warfare -
Battle of the Somme
First battle: July 1, 1916 - mid-November
:the UK suffered 60,000 casualties the first day alone;;
final casualties totaled about 1.2 million;;
trench warfare: armies fought for mere yards of ground;;
continued for over three years -
Zimmermann note
a telegram from the DE foreign minister to the DE ambassador in Mexico that was intercepted by UK agents;;
proposed an alliance between Mexico and DE and promised
that if war with the US broke out, DE would support Mexico in
recovering “lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.” -
Committee on Public Information
to popularize the war;;
the nation’s first propaganda agency;;
the head of the CPI: former muckraking journalist George Creel;;
“Four-Minute Men”: spoke about everything relating to the war: the draft, rationing, bond drives, victory gardens & topics such as “Why We Are Fighting” & “The Meaning of America.”;;
while the campaign promoted patriotism, it also inflamed hatred & violations of the civil liberties of certain ethnic groups & opponents of the war -
Selective Service Act of 1917
required men to register with the government in order to be randomly selected for military service;;
by the end of 1918, 24 million men had registered under the act;;
of this number, almost 3 million were called up;;
about 2 million troops reached Europe before the truce was signed, and three-fourths of them saw actual combat;;
most of the inductees had not attended high school, and about 1/5 was foreign-born -
Convoy System
in which a heavy guard of destroyers escorted merchant ships back and forth across the Atlantic in groups;;
American Vice Admiral William S. Sims convinced the British to try this;;
fall of 1917: shipping losses had been cut in half;;
the U.S. Navy also helped lay a 230-mile barrier of mines across the North Sea from Scotland to Norway;;
the barrier: designed to bottle up the U-boats that sailed from DE ports & keep them out of the Atlantic Ocean;; -
Espionage and Sedition Acts
Espionage Act (June 1917) & Sedition Act (May 1918);;
a person could be fined up to $10,000 & sentenced to 20 years in jail for interfering with the war effort or for saying anything disloyal, profane, or abusive about the gov or the war effort;;
target: socialists & labor leaders;;
violated the spirit of the First Amendment -
Food Administration
to help produce and conserve food;;
Wilson set up the group under Herbert Hoover;;
restaurants: no sugar bowls on the table & served bread only after the 1st course;;
homeowners: “victory gardens” in their yards;;
schoolchildren: tomatoes & cucumbers in public parks after school;;
American food shipments to the Allies tripled;;
Hoover set a high gov price on wheat & other staples ⇒ farmers responded by putting an additional 40m acres into production ⇒ their income ↥ by almost 30% -
War Industries Board
reorganized in 1918 under Bernard M. Baruch (prosperous businessman);;
encouraged companies to use mass-production techniques to ↥efficiency & eliminate waste by standardizing products;;
set production quotas & allocated raw materials;;
industrial production ↥ by about 20%;;
however, the WIB applied price controls only at the wholesale level ⇒ retail prices ↥ (in 1918 they were almost doubled as before the war);;
corporate profits ↥ (esp. in chemicals, meatpacking, oil & steel) -
Second Battle of the Marne
July–Aug. 1918;;
the turning point of the war;;
Allies advance steadily after defeating DE;;
RU pulled out of the war in 1917 ⇒ DE shifted their armies from the eastern front to the western front in FR;;
the Americans arrived just in time to help stop the German advance at Cantigny in FR;;
Several weeks later, U.S. troops played a major role in throwing
back DE attacks at Château-Thierry and Belleau Wood;;
July & August: helped win the Second Battle of the Marne -
Austria-Hungary surrenders to the Allies
November 3: Austria-Hungary surrendered to the Allies -
Establishment of the German Republic
DE sailors mutinied against government authority;;
everywhere in DE, groups of soldiers and workers organized revolutionary councils;;
November 9: socialist leaders in the capital, Berlin, established a German republic ⇒ the kaiser gave up the throne -
Cease-fire and armistice
although there were no Allied soldiers on DE territory and no truly decisive battle had been fought, DE was too exhausted to continue fighting;;
at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day, in the eleventh month of 1918, DE agreed to a cease-fire and signed the armistice that ended the war;;
armistice: an agreement made by opposing sides in a war to stop fighting for a certain time; a truce -
National War Labor Board
to deal with disputes between management and labor;;
established by President Wilson;;
workers who refused to obey board decisions could lose their draft exemptions;;
“Work or fight”;;
However, the board also worked to improve factory conditions;;
pushed for an eight-hour workday;;
promoted safety inspections;;
enforced the child labor ban
