mhall Honors US History Project: World War I, the Treaty of Versailles, and the Great Depression
By mh2992
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Nationalism
Because the European nations had mostly won wars in this period and the citizens built up extreme pride in their nations. -
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Imperialism
During this period, powerful countries started to take over smaller regions that were abundant in resources. Japan took over an area of Korea and some pacific islands. The US imperialised the Philippines, and the Europeans increased their influence over their previous colonies. The US, however, was slightly different in it's reasons as it needed more people to buy its over abundance of supplies. -
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Militarism- The Arms Race
From 1900-1914 the arms race that had been going on in Europe since 1871 intensified. In preparation for war, many countries increased the size of their armies. They also stockpiled vast amounts of military equipment and weapons. When the USA got wind if the activities of its foreign trade partners, it too started to stockpile on weapons, and other military supplies, despite all previous US policies stating to stay out of foreign affairs. -
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Alliances
During this time, European countries started building up alliances with each other. France, Britain, and Russia built an alliance known as the allied powers, and was later joined (during the war) by Italy (originally allied with central powers), Belgium, Serbia, and the US. The other side of the war was waged by the central powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the ottoman Empire. This meant that if you attacked one country, you were declaring war with the rest of their allies also. -
Germany's Blank Check to Austria-Hungary
After the ongoing rivalry between Serbia and Austria-Hungary climbed to new highs with the assaination of Ferdinand, The Hugarians found support from Germany. Germany sent its ally, Austria-Hungary, a letter stating that it would help its allies as stated in the alliance, Germany was behind whatever action its ally, Austria-Hungary, wanted to take following the unfortuante assassination of the Hugarian heir to the throne. -
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie
On this day, Sebirians decided to assassinate an important leader of Austria-Hungary along with his wife. This lead to the first outbreak in fighting of the future world war. -
WWI Begins
After the assassination of Ferdinand, Austria-Hugary declared war on Serbia. WIth no clear decision on how they were suppose to help their allies, the Germans decided to attack the French, but the Hungarians thought that they would help them with the Russians. When the Germans attacked the nuetral Belgium to get to France, the British decided they couldn't ignore this action and declared war on Germany within hours. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
The Germans attacked the Lusitania, a British ocean liner and sunk it. This resulted in the death of over 1,100 people aboard, including more than 120 Americans. As the British were one of America's primary trade partners, when Germany decided to declare unrestricted submarine warfare, the tensions between America and Germany rose. After this incident the Germans told the US they would not attack the British or American ships, so the US didn't push for entering the war at this time. -
Germany's resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare
With the stalemate on the western front between the British and Germans, Germahy decided to resume unrestricted warfare on British ships, as they believed this was their key to victory. -
Zimmerman Telegram
On this day, the Zimmerman Telegram, whose contents was known to US leaders since Febuary 26, was published by public newspapers all across the county. In the letter, Arthur Zimmerman proposed forming a German alliance with Mexico. The letter asked Mexico to attack the US if it entered the war in Europe. Even though the US knew Mexico would not attack them, they saw this as a serious threat. This event was another major reason the US joined the war. -
US entry into the war and her impact on it
The US declared war on Germany on this day, offically joining the first World War. Their support was the deciding factor on the western force. The Russians had pulled out on the east, so the Germans could focus their full strength on the western front. The US entry into the war balanced out the German advntage, and they demoralized the Germans. The war ended soon after the US entered. The entire US economy was adjusted to contribute to the war as much as possible and it also grew extra crops. -
Effects of WWI
The first world war had a vast effect on the lives of many people, and European countries. The world war ended 4 monarchies: Russia (1917), Austria-Hungary and Germany (1918), and Turkey (1922).The war allowed the formation of the Sovet Union from Russia and Austira-Hungary became Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. The Ottomans only kept whet is now,Turkey, in Europe and gave up the reat of its land elsewhere. The war had over 9 million soldier and 5 million civilain casualties. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was signed on this day. It stated that a leage of nations would be formed, and Germany could not join it. Germany also had to give up much of it's land and colonies. It was made into a demiliarized zone and limited the size and supplies of the German army. It also stated that Germany had to pay reparations and other financial obligations. -
Dawes Plan
The reparation comission meet and decided on letting Germany pay in increments from small to larger amounts as its economy recovered. The US gave the German goverment money to try and revive its economy to pay it's debts, but the Germans eventually ended up relying on US loans to pay the reparations. -
Young Plan
This plan reduced the overall amount of money Germans owed to $29 billion that was to be paid over 58 years. They agreed to stop supervising German finances and remove troops from Germany. -
Great Depression
The stock market crash happened on this day, and many Americans panicked as they lost great amounts of money. Americans all across the country started withdrawing money from banks causing them to shutdown which in turn worsened the economy. The depression was made worse by most american families being in debt and a sharp decline in employment which caused a decline in purchases of products. This caused companies to shutdown making the economy fall even more. -
Rise of Hitler
Though Hitler had been participating in politics for many years, he really started to rise in popularity after being appointed Chancellor of Germany on this day. After this appointment Hitler formed a dictatorship, and roused a sense of Nationality in Germany. -
Work Cited
For timespan pictures and works cited page: https://docs.google.com/a/viedu.org/document/d/1aWwF4Io5ymDHMtLXn7pNbihOH4Vzuvfjkh9nEfpa4mg/edit?usp=sharing
