-
By 1907 there were two major defense alliances in Europe.
The Triple Entente, later known as the Allies, consisted of France, Britain, and
Russia. -
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. -
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 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. -
in August 1915, a U-boat
sank another British liner, the Arabic, drowning two Americans. -
One of the worst disasters occurred on May 7, 1915, when a U-boat sank the
British liner Lusitania (lLQsG-tAPnC-E) 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. -
Germany agreed not to sink any more passenger
ships. But in March 1916 Germany broke its promise and torpedoed an unarmed
French passenger steamer, the Sussex. The Sussex sank, and about 80 passengers,
including Americans, were killed or injured. Once again the United States warned
that it would break off diplomatic relations unless Germany changed its tactics.
Again Germany agreed. -
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. -
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. -
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.” Next came the
sinking of four unarmed American merchant
ships, with a loss of 36 lives. -
To meet the government’s need for more
fighting power, 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. -
In July and
August, they helped win the Second Battle of the Marne. The tide had turned
against the Central Powers. In September, U.S. soldiers began to mount offensives
against the Germans at Saint-Mihiel and in the Meuse-Argonne area. -
S 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. -
To popularize the war, the government
set up the nation’s first propaganda agency, the Committee on Public
Information (CPI). Propaganda is a kind of biased communication designed to
influence people’s thoughts and actions. The head of the CPI was a former muckraking
journalist named George Creel. -
On November 3, 1918, AustriaHungary
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. -
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. -
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. -
Wages in most industries rose during the war years. Hourly wages
for blue-collar workers—those in the metal trades, shipbuilding, and meatpacking,
for example—rose by about 20 percent. A household’s income, however, was largely
undercut by rising food prices and housing costs. -
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. -
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.
