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Allies
By 1907 there were two major defense alliances in Europe. The Triple Entente, later known as the Allies, consisted of France, Britain, and Russia. The Triple Alliance consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. -
Central Powers
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. The alliances provided a measure of international security because nations were reluctant to disturb the balance of power. As it turned out, a spark set off a major conflict. -
369th Infantry Regiment
The all-black 369th Infantry Regiment saw more continuous duty on the front lines than any other American regiment. Two soldiers of the 369th, Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts, were first Americans to receive France’s highest military honor, Croix de Guerre—the “cross of war.” Eight-month training period took place partly in the United States and partly in Europe. Real weapons were short supply, soldiers drilled with fake weapons- rocks instead of hand grenades, or wooden poles for rifles. -
1914 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
In June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, visited the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. As the royal entourage drove through the city, Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip stepped from the crowd and shot the Archduke and his wife Sophie. Princip was a member of the Black Hand, an organization promoting Serbian nationalism. The assassinations touched off a diplomatic crisis. On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared what was expected to be a short war against Serbia. -
Schlieffen Plan
On August 3, 1914, Germany invaded Belgium, following a strategy known as the Schlieffen Plan. This plan called for a holding action against Russia, combined with a quick drive through Belgium to Paris; after France had fallen, the two German armies would defeat Russia. As German troops swept across Belgium, thousands of civilians fled in terror. In Brussels, the Belgian capital, an American war correspondent described the first major refugee crisis of the 20th century. -
American Expeditionary Force and General John J. Pershing
The American Expeditionary Force, led by General John J. Pershing, included men from widely separated parts of the country. American infantrymen were nicknamed doughboys, possibly because of the white belts they wore. Most doughboys had never ventured far from the farms or small towns where they lived. However, doughboys were also shocked by the unexpected horrors of the battlefield and astonished by the new weapons and tactics of modern warfare. -
Sinking of British liner Lusitania
One of the worst disasters occurred on May 7, 1915, when a U-boat sank the British liner Lusitania off the southern coast of Ireland. Of the 1,198 persons lost, 128 were Americans. The Germans defended their action on
the grounds that the liner carried ammunition. Despite Germany’s explanation, Americans became outraged with Germany because of the loss of life. American public opinion turned against Germany and the Central Powers. -
Sinking of British liner Arabic
Despite this provocation, President Wilson ruled out a military response in favor of a sharp protest to Germany. Three months later, in August 1915, a U-boat sank another British liner, the Arabic, drowning two Americans. Again the United States protested, and this time Germany agreed not to sink any more passenger ships. -
Battle of the Somme
The scale of slaughter was horrific. During the First Battle of the Somme— which began on July 1, 1916, and lasted until mid-November—the British suffered 60,000 casualties the first day alone. Final casualties totaled about 1.2 million, yet only about seven miles of ground changed hands. This bloody trench warfare, in which armies fought for mere yards of ground, continued for over three years. Elsewhere, the fighting was just as devastating and inconclusive. -
Trench warfare
There were three main kinds of trenches—front line, support, and reserve. Soldiers spent a period of time in each kind of trench. Dugouts, or underground rooms, were used as officers’ quarters and command posts.
Between the trench complexes lay “no man’s land”—a barren expanse of mud pockmarked with shell craters and filled with barbed wire. Periodically, the soldiers charged enemy lines, only to be mowed down by machine gun fire. Trench warfare continued for over three years. -
Sinking of French passenger liner Sussex
March 1916 Germany broke its promise and torpedoed an unarmed French passenger steamer, the Sussex. The Sussex sank, and about 80 passengers, Americans, were killed or injured. The United States warned that it would break off diplomatic relations unless Germany changed its tactics. Again Germany agreed, but there was a condition: if the United States could not persuade Britain to lift its blockade against food and fertilizers, Germany would consider renewing unrestricted submarine warfare. -
Zimmermann Note
First was the Zimmermann note, a telegram from the German foreign minister to the German ambassador in Mexico that was intercepted by British agents. The telegram proposed an alliance between Mexico and Germany and promised that if war with the United States broke out, Germany would support Mexico in recovering “lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.” -
Germany blockades the North Sea
The results were two fold. First, American ships carrying goods for Germany refused to challenge the blockade and seldom reached their destination. Second, Germany found it increasingly difficult to import foodstuffs and fertilizers for crops. By 1917, famine stalked the country. An estimated 750,000 Germans starved to death as a result of the British blockade. Americans had been angry at Britain’s blockade, threatened freedom of the seas and prevented American goods from reaching German ports -
Wilson's "Peace without victory speech"
After the election, Wilson tried to mediate between the warring alliances. The attempt failed. In a speech before the Senate in January 1917, the president called
for “a peace without victory. . . . a peace between equals,” in which neither side would impose harsh terms on the other. Wilson hoped that all nations would join in a “league for peace” that would work to extend democracy, maintain freedom of the seas, and reduce armaments. -
Bolshevik Revolution
Revolutionaries ousted the czar in March 1917 and established a provisional government. In November, the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin and Trotsky, overthrew the
provisional government. They set up a Communist state and sought peace with the Central Powers. -
Selective Service Act of 1917
Congress passed the Selective Service Act in May 1917. The act 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 one in five was foreign-born. -
Convoy System
German U-boat attacks on merchant ships in the Atlantic were a serious threat to the Allied war effort. American Vice Admiral William S. Sims convinced the British to try the convoy system, in which a heavy guard of destroyers
escorted merchant ships back and forth across the Atlantic in groups. By fall of 1917, shipping losses had been cut in half. -
War Industries Board
The main regulatory body was the War Industries Board (WIB). It was established in 1917 and reorganized in 1918 under the leadership of Bernard M. Baruch, a prosperous businessman. The board encouraged companies to use mass-production techniques to
increase efficiency. It also urged them to eliminate waste by standardizing products—for instance, by making only 5 colors of typewriter ribbons instead of 150. The WIB set production quotas and allocated raw materials. -
Food Administration
To help produce and conserve food, Wilson set up the Food Administration under Herbert Hoover. Instead of rationing food, he
called on people to follow the “gospel of the clean plate.” He
declared one day a week “meatless,” another “sweetless,” two days “wheatless,” and two other days “porkless.” Restaurants removed sugar bowls from the table and served bread only after the first course. -
Raising money for the war
The United States spent about $35.5 billion on the war effort.
The government raised about one-third of this amount through taxes, including a progressive income tax (which taxed high incomes at a higher rate than low incomes), a war-profits tax, and higher excise taxes on tobacco, liquor, and luxury goods. It raised the rest through public borrowing by selling “Liberty Loan” and “Victory Loan” bonds. -
Anti-German sentiment in America
The main targets of these attacks were Americans who had emigrated from other nations, especially those from Germany and Austria-Hungary. The most bitter attacks were directed against the
nearly 2 million Americans who had been born in Germany, but other foreign-born persons and Americans of German descent suffered as well. -
Eugene V. Debs arrest
The Espionage and Sedition Acts targeted socialists and labor leaders. Eugene V. Debs was handed a ten-year prison sentence for speaking out against the war and the draft. -
Emma Goldman
The anarchist Emma Goldman received a two-year prison sentence and a $10,000 fine for organizing the No Conscription League. When she left jail, the authorities deported her to Russia. -
Big Bill Haywood and the IWW
“Big Bill” Haywood and other leaders of the Industrial Workers of
the World (IWW) were accused of sabotaging the war effort because they urged workers to strike for better conditions and higher pay. Haywood was sentenced to a long prison term. (He later skipped bail and fled to Russia.) Under such federal pressure, the IWW faded away. -
Victor Burger
Finally, in a burst of anti-German fervor, Americans changed the name of German measles to “liberty measles.” Hamburger—named after the German city of Hamburg—became “Salisbury steak” or “liberty sandwich,” depending on whether you were buying it in a store or eating it in a restaurant. Sauerkraut was renamed “liberty cabbage,” and dachshunds turned into “liberty pups.” -
Shell shock, trench foot, and trench mouth
Constant bombardments and other experiences often led to battle fatigue and “shell shock,” a term coined during World War I to describe a complete emotional collapse from which many never recovered. Physical problems included a disease called trench foot, caused by standing in cold wet trenches for long periods of time without changing into dry socks or boots. . A painful infection of the gums and throat, called trench mouth, was also common among the soldiers. -
Committee on Public Information and the "four minute men"
Gov't set up nation’s first propaganda agency, the Committee on Public Information. The head of the CPI was George Creel. He persuaded nation’s artists and advertising agencies to create thousands of paintings, posters, cartoons, and sculptures promoting the war. He recruited 75,000 men to serve as “Four-Minute Men,” who spoke about everything relating to the war: the draft, rationing, bond drives, victory gardens, and topics such as “Why We Are Fighting” and “The Meaning of America.” -
Espionage and Sedition Acts
In June 1917 Congress passed the Espionage Act, and in May 1918 it passed the Sedition Act. Under the Espionage and Sedition Acts a person could be fined up to $10,000 and sentenced to 20 years in jail for interfering with the war effort or for saying anything disloyal, profane, or abusive about the government or the war effort. -
Second Battle of the Marne
Russia pulled out of the war, Germans shifted armies from eastern front to western front in France. May they were within 50 miles of Paris. Americans arrived in time to help stop German advance Cantigny in France. U.S. troops played a major role in throwing back German attacks at Château-Thierry and Belleau Wood. July and August, they helped win the Second Battle of the Marne. Tide turned against Central Powers. September, U.S. soldiers began to mount offensives against Germans. -
Conscientious objector
A redheaded mountaineer and blacksmith from Tennessee, York sought exemption as a conscientious objector, a person who opposes warfare on moral grounds, pointing out that the Bible says, “Thou shalt not kill.” -
Austria-Hungary surrenders to the Allies
On November 3, 1918, Austria-Hungary surrendered to the Allies. That same day, German sailors mutinied against government authority. The mutiny spread quickly. Everywhere in Germany, groups of soldiers and workers organized revolutionary councils. On November 9, socialist leaders in the capital, Berlin, established a German republic. The kaiser gave up the throne. -
Establishment of the German Republic
Everywhere in Germany, groups of soldiers and workers organized revolutionary councils. On 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 German territory and no truly decisive battle had been fought, the Germans were too exhausted to continue fighting. So at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day, in the eleventh month of 1918, Germany agreed to a cease-fire and signed the armistice, or truce, that ended the war. -
National War Labor Board
To deal with disputes between management and labor, President Wilson established the National War Labor Board in 1918. Workers who refused to obey board decisions could lose their draft exemptions. “Work or fight,” the board told them. However, the board also worked to improve factory conditions. It pushed for an eight-hour workday, promoted safety inspections, and enforced the child labor ban. -
Wilson's Fourteen Points
Even before the war was over, Wilson presented his plan for world peace. On January 18, 1918, he delivered his now famous Fourteen Points speech before Congress. The points were divided into three groups. The first five points were issues that Wilson believed had to be addressed to prevent another war. The next eight points dealt with boundary changes. -
Reparations and the War Guild Clause
First, the treaty humiliated Germany. It contained a war-guilt clause forcing Germany to admit sole responsibility for starting World War I. Although German militarism had played a major role in igniting the war, other European nations had been guilty of provoking diplomatic crises before the war. Furthermore, there was no way Germany could pay the huge financial reparations. Germany was stripped of its colonial possessions in the Pacific, which might have helped it pay its reparations bill. -
Agreements made in the Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles established nine new nations—including Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia—and shifted the boundaries of other nations. It carved five areas out of the Ottoman Empire and gave them to France and Great Britain as mandates, or temporary colonies. Those two Allies were to administer their respective mandates until the areas were ready for self-rule and then independence.
