Today, in class, we got on the computers and talked about the test that may be coming up soon.
The Allied powers (main ones at least) were the countries of Great Britain, Spain, France, and eventually the US. The Central Powers consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire.
Mr. Bruns continued his PowerPoint and what not. He talked about the British and American Propaganda. During War time, Americans changed from making peacetime goods to wartime goods. Munition businesses even pushed the US into war to make money. The Lusitania was the ship that Germany sunk in 1915, killing dozens of passengers. By doing so, they broke the international laws.
The Sussex was a ship sunk by Germany as well, and President Wilson addressed Congress in April and issued an ultimatum to the Germans: End the attack on unarmed ships or risk the severing of diplomatic relations. Germany responded on May 4th, with what is called the Sussex Pledge. This said that they will no longer sink passenger ships, and would give warning before sinking merchant ships. They would follow this until February of 1917, when they would sink some submarine and junk.
The goals of propaganda were trying to sway people into getting into the war. The War Industries board was headed by Bernard Baruch and it regulated industry in the US. It encouraged the mass production of goods. After this organization was intitiated, production in factories increased by 20%. The food administration, which was headed by future president Herbert Hoover, urged people to conserve food. They had "meatless days" and "wheatless days," They also encouraged people to make "victory gardens," which were planted by schools and homes.
The Committee on Public Information's goal was to influence US public opinion to support WWi in their own way. The committee used newsprint, posters, radio, telegraph and movies to broadcast its message. They also Americanized German words: German Measles became "liberty measles." Clever.
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