today we took notes
WWI test will be late next week.
Causes of WWI:
Militarism: Having a strong army and navy. Countries wanted to have a balance of power in Europe. . Each power country had to keep up with other power countries in order to avoid being harrased because someone is most likely pick on someone they know that they can defeat.
Imperialism: There was compitetion for money, boundaries, etc. They would have disputes over were they boundaries should be located. WWI became a war of conquest. GB took much land from Africa and so did other countries, but the US did. At this time the world was pretty much being taken over by major european powers.
Nationalism: Having great devotion and loyalty to your own country. It was an issue because one would think that there country is so great that anyone not of pure descent was worse and should be put down or taken over. The problem with Austria Hungary is that their was a combination of ethnic groups. each ethnic group would care only of their enthic group and could care less about Autria Hungary powers. Basically they were crumbling from the inside. That was how nationalism hurt Austria Hungary.
Economic Competition: Competing for money power and resources, and colonies around the war. Competition leads to a lot of issues between countries and sometimes war breaks out. Countries were after power and prestige.
System of Alliances: Building alliances is done for protection. Alliances in 1914 were. Turkey Germany Bulgaria and Austria Hungary were the Central powers. Russia Great Britan US Serbia Italy France Portugal and more were the Allied powers. Russia came out of the war in 1917 because of bulshivick. The US took Russia's part in the war. Germany lost because they were fighting a two sided war. The two sided war ended when Russia dropped out but they were replaced by US and we were fresh and ready to fight and against Germany.
Assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand-A-H:
Black Hand was an organization that wanted to get all Serban in one counrty. They wanted to assasinate Ferdinand. TheY had many failed attempts. Their were six guys along his route trying to kill him. The conspirators were about ready to give up but then they found him and shot him. Gavrilo was the one who commited the murder but he wasn't killed because the death penalty didn't apply until you were 20 and he was 19. The Balkan Peninsula was nicknamed the powderkeg cause it could blow up at any time. Austria sends ultimatum to Serbia. Serbia refuses the ultimatum. A-H declares war on Serbia. Russia mobilizes to support Serbia. Germany declares war on Russia cuz Germany is A-H ally and wanted to avoid a two sided war. Frances enters war to help Russia. Great Britain gets in to help France after Germany invaded nuetral Belgium.
U.S Nuetrility:
It was important for our country to be impartial in thought because we were a country of immigrants. That was tough, but we were nuetral in action. We were following our longly old policy of isolationism. We probably held on to isolationism too long in our country. In 1916 WIlson ran the platform "he kept us out of war".Nuetral countries had the right to trade with warring countries. Jannet Rankin was the first woman voted into congress. she was a pacifist. The only one to say no tto war on Congress. See more on my blog post
Trench Warfare:
It was a very bad way to fight. Sometimes they would knock out their own alliances. They would hide in trenches to protect themselves. many people would die in trenches which made it smell really bad and rats would get the size of cats. it was very disgusting.
more......
Russia
-wanted control of the Dardenelle and Bosporus
A an H
-self preservation
Germany
-wnated part of France
-wnated Luxemburg and Belgium
-wanted most of western Russia
-make A&H and the Balkans a "sphere of influence"
-take over French and British colonies in Africa
US
-win and end the war
-Wilson's 14 points
even more...
Woodrow Wilson declared nuetrality. Which meant we were imartial in thought and action. We did that for about 3 years. In the 1916 election Wilson used the platform "he kept us out of war". He had defeated Hughes, the republican. Though more than half of the population didn't vote for Wilson.
The biggest reason US got involved with the war was because Germany was sinking French and British ships and in the process killing Americans. The second biggest reason was the Zimmerman note. This was a note sent by the Foreign Secretary of the Germany Empire, Aurthur Zimmerman to the German embassador of US. The British intercepted it and decoded it wihcih was the part that really made us mad. It said that Germany was going to sink any ship without warning. Germany thought that this would knock Britian out of the war and strongly beleived that we wouldnt enter the war when everyone else surrendered. This plan did not work, no one surrendered. If the general public supports the war it is easier to go into it. Propaganda was another reason. american business and German declaration of "unlimited submarine warfare" were two more reasons.
General John Pershing was the person in charge of US military in WWI. WWI is the only war where we are called dough boys. Ferdinand Foch was a sumpreme allied commander of all forces. he was the boss of Pershng. The Homefront refers to what people did back in US to help win the war, every country has their own homefront. Having a homefront is a neccessity.
War Industries Board was headed by Bernard Baruch. it regulated US industry, ecouraged mass production. Under this idustrialization increased 20%.
Food administration was headed by Herbert Hoover who urged people to conserve food. such as "meatless days" and wheatless days". "vistory gardens" were planted by school and homes. This administration made sure that people didnt hoard food. It was given the slogan "Food is Ammunition- Dont Waste It". They wanted to conserve food so that they could feed the troops.
Commitee on public information gave info to the public. They tried to Americanize German culture. George Creel was in charge.
US paid for WWI by income tax, liberty loans,
National War Labor Board settled disputes between workers and employeers and discouraged strikes. They said if you werent fighting you should suck it up and fight
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