Unit 16: WWI

• World War I, originally called the Great War, transformed world power relations and redrew the map of Europe
• A reluctant belligerent, the U.S. played a supportive rather than a central role in the military outcome
• Long-term causes of WWI

  • Militarism
  • Alliances
  • Imperialism
  • Nationalism
• The assassination of the Archduke of Austria by a Serbian nationalist in 1914 escalated to war
• Germany had pushed Austria to retaliate against Serbia
• Serbia was under the protection of Russia
• By August alliance systems brought all the great powers into the war
• Few expected the long and bloody struggle which would ensue
• How nations joined the war

  1. Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia

  2. Russia mobilizes

  3. Germany declares war on Russia

  4. Schlieffen Plan

  5. Germany sweep into France, then go to Russia

  6. Great Britain declares war on Germany
• Central Powers


  • Germany
  • Austria-Hungary
  • Bulgaria
  • Ottoman Empire
• Allied Powers


  • Russia
  • France
  • Serbia
  • Great Britain
  • Albania
  • Greece
  • Romania
  • Italy
• Germany in France - stalemate, neither side able to gain advantage, trench warfare
• Russia invades Germany (Schlieffen Plan didn't work) - German troops in France sent to east to push back Russians, which may have cost Germany victory in west
• New weapons and technologies used in WWI

  • List them
• Wilson and most Americans wanted to stay neutral
• Many Americans had Old World ties and divided loyalties
• The English and Germans bombarded Americans with propaganda
• Economic ties hurt American neutrality
• Wilson opposed the British blockade of Germany but did not trade with the Germans
• Trade with the Allies increased dramatically
• In 1917, the U.S. gave $2,500 million in loans to the Allies, but only $27 million to the Central Powers
• The U.S. had become neutral in name only
• The Preparedness Movement wanted the U.S. to be in a position to aid Great Britain if necessary
• The National Security League promoted "patriotic education and national sentiment and service among people of the United States"
• In March 1916, Germany changed its submarine policy, but Wilson pushed for greater war preparation
• Opponents mobilized on the streets and in Congress
• Wilson won re-election in 1916 with the slogan "He Kept Us Out of War"
• Germany declared the waters around Britain to be a war zone and began unrestricted submarine attacks
• In May 1915 Germans sank the Lusitania, a British passenger ship secretly loaded with armaments, killing 1,198 people including 128 Americans
• Germans resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in February 1917, gambling that they could destroy the Allies before America intervened
• Wilson broke diplomatic relations with Germany, breaking the Sussex pledge where the German government had promised that U-boats would warn ships before attacking
• The White House publicized a note from the German foreign secretary to Mexico which proposed an alliance with Mexico if the United States entered the war (Zimmerman Telegram)
• The Zimmerman note provoked an outpouring of anti-German feeling
• Wilson issued an executive order authorizing the arming of merchant ships and allowing them to shoot at submarines
• In one month German U-boats sank 7 merchant ships
• Russia leaves the war, as the Russian Revolution gave support to the pro-war faction in the US
• On April 6, 1917, Congress declared war
• The U.S. used propaganda to sway American opinion to one that was useful to the country's needs
• Wilson appointed George Creel to head the Committee on Public Information that tried to promote public support
• The CPI enlisted over 150,000 people and published patriotic literature, sponsored huge rallies featuring movie stars, portrayed America as a unified moral community engaged in a crusade for peace and freedom, and depicted Germans as bestial monsters