• in 1914, a precarious international peace in Europe slid into total, global war on the basis of what seemed to be a series

es of minor
incidents
• the major powers of Europe were organised in 1914 into two competing alliances
o the Triple Entente (later the Allies) linked Britain, France, and Russia
o the Triple Alliance (later the Central Powers) united Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy
• the chief conflict was between Great Britain and Germany
o boiled over when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Serbian separatists
 the local controversy escalated through the complex system of alliances that held Europe together
✓ Germany used the incident to declare war on France
✓ Great Britain jumped into the war to support the alliance
✓ Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire formalised war shortly thereafter
• within months, all the major players had chosen a side, and virtually the entire European continent (and part of Asia) was
embroiled in a continent-wide war
• though Wilson asked Americans to remain impartial in the European war, most Americans sympathised with Britain
o economic realities (specifically a British blockade) made it impossible for the US to deal with the war on equal terms
 brutal German tactics pushed Americans away from supporting Germany in the conflict
o the sinking of the British passenger liner the Lusitania by German submarines was the nail in the coffin
 1,198 civilians (including 128 Americans) died in the submarine attack
• American domestic politics prevented Wilson from committing the United States to war
o the question of whether America should make military and economic preparations for war sparked a heated debate
between pacifists and interventionists
o though Wilson began to build up the American military, Democrats used the slogan "He Kept Us Out of War" at the
Democratic convention in 1916 + Wilson squeaked out a narrow victory to earn a second presidential term
• early in his second term, Wilson supplied his own justification for American intervention that united public opinion
o in a speech before Congress in January of 1917, he presented a plan for a post-war order in which a permanent league of
nations would maintain a new peace ("a peace without victory")
 Germany reacted by unleashing unrestricted submarine warfare against American and Allied ships
• in late February of 1917, Americans intercepted a telegram sent by the German foreign minister Zimmerman to the government of
Mexico
o it proposed that in the event of war between Germany and the US, Mexico should join Germany against America in
return for their "lost provinces" of the north (New Mexico, Texas, California, etc.) after the war
o the Zimmerman telegram inflamed public opinion and built immediate anti-German sentiment for war
• in March 1917, a revolution in Russia put into place a new, republican government which made the idea of America joining the
Allies much more palatable
• on the rainy evening of April 2nd, 1917 (two weeks after German subs had torpedoed three more American ships) Wilson appeared
before Congress to ask for a declaration of war, and he was granted it
• European armies, stuck at a bloody stalemate for years, were exhausted by the time America entered the war
o America's Navy immediately helped limit Ally losses at sea
o a major commitment of American troops became necessary when Russia, led by V. I. Lenin and his new Communist
government, cut a deal with the Central Powers and retreated back home, freeing up more German troops for the
Western Front
• despite some controversy, Wilson won passage of the Selective Service Act (or military draft) in mid-May which brought another 3
million American men into the military
o when this new crop of soldiers (the American Expeditionary Force) hit the European continent, they used their raw
numbers and fresh legs to beat back every German advance they faced
 faced with an invasion of their own country, German military leaders pressed for an armistice (an end to the
fighting) instead of a total surrender
• on November 11, 1918, more than four years after it began, the Great War shuddered to a close
• World War I was a proving ground for a range of new military technologies
o trench warfare epitomises the conflict
o the enormous destructive power of newly-improved machine guns forced men into ditches they built to "hold" their
position
 anyone in a traditional open-field position was an easy target
 new technology threatened men "safe" in their trenches
o tanks, flamethrowers, chemical weapons, and fighter planes made it possible to attack soldiers from a greater distance
o the Navy modernised quickly in the war and came to rely on diesel engines, turbine propulsion, hydraulic gun controls,
electric light and power, wireless telegraphy, and advanced navigational aids
• all of the technology made possible the stunning numbers of casualties attributed to the war
o nearly nine million European men were killed in the war
 British = 1 million
 French = 1.7 million
 Germans = 2 million
 Russians = 1.7 million
o only 112,000 Americans died in the war
 mostly due to the brief involvement
 many of them died from a dangerous flu epidemic sweeping the globe
• all of the new war technology required new systems of economic and logistical management to keep up
o the federal government appropriated 32 billion dollars for the war, where the annual budget of the United States had
rarely breached 1 billion dollars previously
 o to raise money, the government:
 sold 23 billion dollars in Liberty Bonds to the American public
 put new, heavy taxes on "excess profits" on corporations and individuals in high tax brackets
o to organise the economy for war, Wilson implemented "war boards" to advise American industries and to ensure war
needs were met without paralysing the domestic economy
 the War Industries Board coordinated government purchases of military supplies but was prone to corruption
 the National War Labour Board pressured industry to grant important concessions to workers in order to avoid
strikes that might hurt the flow of goods to the war front
• to ensure American commitment to the cause, Wilson's Committee on Public Information organised a massive US propaganda
campaign
o seventy-five million pieces of printed material went out in support of the war
o journalists were encouraged to exercise self-censorship when reporting war news
o to suppress dissent, the CPI paid for advertisements in magazines that implored citizens to report to the authorities any
evidence among their neighbours of disloyalty to the cause
o citizens groups emerged to "root out disloyalty" in German-American communities and ban expressions of German
culture, including music, food, and authors
• many German Americans were fired from their wartime jobs on the suspicion they could be secret saboteurs
o the Espionage Act of 1917 gave the government new tools to combat spying, sabotage, or "obstruction of the war effort"
o the Espionage and Sedition Acts made it illegal to publicly express opposition to the war and allowed officials to
prosecute anyone who criticised the president or the government
 during this time, American 1st Amendment protections went largely unrecognised
o these tools were put to use against the Socialist Party and the IWW (the Industrial Workers of the World
 in all, over 1,500 people were arrested and jailed in 1918 for opposing the US war effort
• in his search for a new world order, Wilson laid out his aims for the post-war world
o his grandiose Fourteen Points fell into three broad categories
 eight were recommendations for adjusting post-war territorial boundaries
 five were general principles that would govern international conduct
✓ freedom of the seas
✓ open covenants over secret treaties
✓ reductions in weapon stockpile
✓ free trade
✓ impartial mediation of colonial claims
 a League of Nations would implement these new principles and territorial adjustments and resolve future
international conflicts
o his vision reflected his belief that the world was capable of a just and efficient global government
• other European powers (and American Republicans) were in no mood for a generous, egalitarian peace process after Germany
ceased fighting (did not surrender)
o at the Paris Peace Conference, Wilson was greeted by European leaders who wanted to punish Germany harshly, and
he was unable to win the approval of some of his broadest principles
o Wilson's only major accomplishment was the creation of a permanent international organisation to oversee world
affairs
 in early 1919, the Allies voted to accept the covenant of the League of Nations
• Wilson presented the Treaty of Versailles to the American Senate shortly after the Paris Peace Conference but ran into vindictive
Republican opposition
o not to be done in, he embarked on a gruelling, 8,000-mile cross-country speaking tour to arouse public support but
suffered a series of serious health problems during the trip (including a stoke)
 the treaty went unapproved by Congress
• at home after the war, the nation struggled to reconvert to the pre-war economy
o inflation raged (prices rose 15% a year) for a time
o five million people lost their jobs
o labour unrest increased dramatically
 1919 saw an unprecedented wave of labour strikes
✓ in Seattle, a walkout by shipyard workers evolved into a general strike that brought the entire city
to a standstill
✓ in Boston, police struck to demand recognition of their union → the city erupted into violence and
looting (the National Guard had to be called in by President Calvin Coolidge)
• Coolidge declared that "there is no right to strike against the public safety" and tapped into a broad middle-class hostility to
unions and strikes
o helped defeat the greatest strike of the era
 involved 350,000 steelworkers in several Midwestern cities
 climaxed in Gary, Indiana, where eighteen strikers were killed
• though black WWI veterans were celebrated alongside their white counterparts when they came back after the war, white
Americans did little to incorporate blacks into daily life
o blacks were more determined than ever to fight for their rights
 nearly half a million blacks moved to the industrial North during the war, from the rural South where the
racial climate had become savage and murderous
✓ in 1919, more than seventy blacks were lynched in the South
✓ in the North, white workers were convinced that blacks were making the workplace more
competitive → increased tensions in cities like Chicago and St. Louis
➢ in Chicago, during the red summer of 1919, the stoning death of a black teenager near a
white beach led to rioting that shut down the city for a week (for the first time since the
slave revolts, blacks fought back against white harassment, and the birth of black
nationalism was born)
• many Americans regarded the industrial warfare and racial violence of 1919 as frightening omens of instability and radicalism
 o after the Russian Revolution of 1917, Communism was no longer simply a philosophical theory but the basis of an
important global government
 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (the USSR; the Soviet Union) announced the formation of a Communist
International whose purpose was to export revolution across the world
 the fear was that Communism would come by force to the US unless actively crushed
✓ pockets of radicals did exist in America in this era, and they did attack people and positions of power
in the United States using coordinated bomb detonations (one such bomb killed thirty-eight people
on Wall Street)
✓ States began to pass laws to imprison political radicals
 the greatest contribution to the fear of Communist influence came from the federal government itself (= the
anti-communist Red Scare)
✓ on New Year's Day, 1920, the US Attorney General and his young assistant, J. Edgar Hoover,
orchestrated a raid on alleged radical centres throughout the country and arrested more than 6,000
people
• though most Americans feared the influence of Communism, some stood up to the federal government's heavy-handed, often
unconstitutional efforts to root out subversion
o the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was born in this era
o people accused of political dissent began to lean more heavily on the Bill of Rights to protect themselves and their
politics
o the Supreme Court in this era titled in favour of the freedom of speech, and in doing so put in place the legal precedents
the Americans still rely on today
• in many ways, 1920 (and the ratification of the 19th Amendment) marked the end of the era of progressive reform in America
o Wilson's successor, Warren G. Harding, a Republican, embraced no soaring ideals, only a vague promise of a "return to
normalcy" in America
 his election signalled a retreat from the spirit of idealism that had marked the progressive era of Teddy
Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson