World War I (#12)
Woodrow Wilson
28th president of the United States, known for World War I leadership, created Federal Reserve, Federal Trade Commission, Clayton Antitrust Act, progressive income tax, lower tariffs, women's suffrage (reluctantly), Treaty of Versailles, sought 14 points post-war plan, League of Nations (but failed to win U.S. ratification), won Nobel Peace Prize
trench warfare
A form of warfare in which opposing armies fight each other from trenches dug in the battlefield., Fighting with trenches, mines, and barbed wire. Horrible living conditions, great slaughter, no gains, stalemate, used in WWI. No man's land in between trenches
Triple Entente
A military alliance between Great Britain, France, and Russia in the years preceding World War I.
Bolsheviks
A party of revolutionary communist Marxists, led by Vladimir Lenin, who seized power in Russia in Nov 1917. L;ed to the declaration of Russia as the Soviet Union
Fourteen Points
A peace program presented to the U.S. Congress by President Woodrow Wilson in January 1918. It called for the evacuation of German-occupied lands, the drawing of borders and the settling of territorial disputes by the self-determination of the affected populations, and the founding of an association of nations to preserve the peace and guarantee their territorial integrity. It was rejected by Germany, but it made Wilson the moral leader of the Allies in the last year of World War I.
unrestricted warfare
A policy that the Germans announced on January 1917 which stated that their submarines would sink any ship in the British waters; sparked USA entry into World War I
League of Nations
A world organization established in 1920 to promote international cooperation and peace. It was first proposed in 1918 by President Woodrow Wilson, although the United States never joined the League. Essentially powerless, it was officially dissolved in 1946.
American Expeditionary Force
About 2 million Americans went to France as members of this under General John J. Pershing. Included the regular army, the National Guard, and the new larger force of volunteers and draftees and they served as individuals
Calvin Coolidge
(1923-1925) and (1925-1929), taciturn; small gov't conservative; laissez faire ideology; in favor of immigration restriction (Immigration Act); reduced the tax burden; the Bonus Bill was passed over his veto; Revenue Act of 1924; Kellogg-Briand Pact; "Silent Cal" favored the expansion of big business
Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated, 1914
(crown prince) heir to Austrian throne from 1896: assassinated on June 28, 1914 during good-will mission in Sarajevo, Bosnia (Aus-Hung) by Serbians, sparking WWI: caused Germany and other Austro Allies to declare war on Serbia and its allies
Eugene Debs
1855-1926. American union leader, one of the founders of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World, and five-time Socialist Party of America Presidential Candidate.
William Jennings Bryan resigns as Secretary of State, 1915
After Lusitania, Bryan decides to step down because he does not want to be Secretary of State during war. Some people call him cowardly for doing this, but after numerous unsuccessful attempts at the presidency, his political career was done anyway
Central Powers
An alliance during World War I that originally consisted of Germany and Austria-Hungary. Other nations, including Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire, joined later.
Mitchell Palmer
Attorney General who instituted raids on suspected communist radicals and anarchists during the first Red Scare (the "Fighting Quaker")
World War I begins, 1914
Austria, Germany vs. Serbia, Russia. France vs. England. Wilson offers to mediate the dispute but no one listens. Germany begins by invading France through the neutral country of Belgium, severely angering their neighbors, just so they could enter the country from the north instead of the east, where French troops were concentrated
Lusitania sinks, 1915
British vessel carrying Americans through war zone - 128 Americans die when Germany sinks the ship. Wilson writes a stiff note to Germany, which, if not accepted, would essentially declare America's war upon Germany. Fortunately, to keep the USA neutral, the Kaiser agrees to suspend unrestricted submarine welfare, which is only resumed with the Zimmerman telegram later
Henry Cabot Lodge
Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he was a leader in the fight against participation in the League of Nations. He mostly disagreed with the section that called for the League to protect a member who was being threatened. Supported expansion so the country could economically compete with other countries
irreconcilables
During World War I, Senators William Borah of Idaho and Hiram Johnson of California, led a group of people who were against the United States joining the League of Nations. Also known as "the Battalion of Death". They were extreme isolationists and were totally against the U.S. joining the League of Nations.
preparedness
Eastern Republicans like Roosevelt were the first to clamor for "preparedness" (greater defense expenditures). Leading the campaign was the National Security League, organized by a group of business leaders to promote preparedness and to extend direct U.S. aid to the Allies, if needed. At first, President Wilson opposed the call for preparedness, but later he changed his policy and urged Congress to approve an ambitious expansion of the armed forces (just in case the neutrality is threatened into war). Preparedness was controversy because troops needed to be at war at a moment's notice of declaration, but mobilizing troops for war - planning for war - was against the rules of official neutrality.
dollar diplomacy
Foreign policy created under President Taft that had the U.S. exchanging financial support ($) for the right to "help" countries make decisions about trade and other commercial ventures. Basically it was exchanging money for political influence in Latin America and the Caribbean. Made other countries dependent on the US by heavily investing in their economies
U-boat
German submarine, taken from the German 'Unterseeboat'
World War I ends, 1918
German will to fight collapses realizing they can no longer win, and the German people begin rioting. Armistice (Treaty of Versailles) signed on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
Zimmerman telegram, 1917
Germany proposes military alliance between Germany and Mexico against America; offers to return the Mexican Cessation territory to Mexico. Publication outrages American public.
reservationists
Members of the Senate who were ready to ratify the Treaty of Versailles with modifications; the group is often divided into the "mild" Reservationists, who wanted only minor changes, and the "strong" Reservationists, who favored the significant changes advocated by Henry Cabot Lodge.
Wilson proclaims neutrality, 1914
On August 14, 1914. Us does not become involved until 1917. This is Europe's war - use Washington's advice to stay out of European affairs. But the question was made: If Germany rules the continent, how long will America itself be saved? Also, America had a hard time being neutral because they gave far more loans to England and the Allied Powers than they did to Germany and the Central Powers. If the Central Powers won the war, this money would be given to the hands of Germany.
Red Scare, 1919
Post World War I period in US when there was a suspicion of communism, anarchy, and socialism and fear of extremist governments the US.
Treaty of Versailles, 1919
Refused to allow either defeated Germany or Communist Russia to participate in peace conference negotiations; forced Germany to sign a war-guilt clause that was used to justify imposing large war reparations payments; changed the map of Europe by returning Alsace-Lorraine to France and dissolving Austria-Hungary into the separate states of Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia; create the League of Nations to discuss and settle disputes without resorting to war; left a legacy to bitterness between the victors and Germany. , U.S. and other Allies' treaty with Germany following World War I. Germany ceded border territories and colonies, agreed to disarm and pay reparations, and the League of Nations was created., The peace treaty that ended WWI, New nations were formed (i.e. Poland), Formed League of Nations, Forced Germany to pay $33 B in reperations, and said Germany could not enter the Rhineland
self-determination
The ability of a government to determine their own course of their own free will; allowing people in a territory to decide for themselves under which government to live
The Great Migration
The migration of thousands of African-Americans from the South to the North. African Americans were looking to escape the problems of racism in the South and felt they could seek out better jobs and an overall better life in the North., 1914-1945; mass movement of African Americans from the South to the North; reasons = jobs, prejudice, crop failures; leads to race riots in the North
the "war guilt" clause (in Treaty of Versailles)
The part of the Treaty of Versailles that insisted that Germany must agree to take the blame for the war [by themselves]
"100% Americanism"
The idea that American views are put ahead of all other views regardless of homeland., The end of WWI brought about this movement which celebrated all this American and attacked all ideas and people it viewed as foreign or anti American. People were afraid that immigrant ideologies would lure Americans into radically revolting against the government. It also brought about a revival of the KKK and felt that if you were not a white Anglo Saxon protestant you needed to do your best to act like one.
Espionage and Sedition Acts, 1917-1918
Two laws enacted to impose harsh penalties on anyone interfering with or speaking against U.S participation in WW1
William Jennings Bryan
United States lawyer and politician who advocated free silver and prosecuted John Scopes (1925) for teaching evolution in a Tennessee high school (1860-1925); three time presidential candidate and secretary of the state before World War I
"He Kept Us Out of War"
Wilson's campaign slogan in 1916 reminding the public that they weren't entangled in WWI
John J. Pershing
an American general who led troops against "Pancho" Villa in 1916. He took on the Meuse-Argonne offensive in 1918 which was one of the longest lasting battles- 47 days in World War I. He was the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe during World War I. Demanded a draft to recruit more forces, demanding 3 million men by 1919
Influenza epidemic, 1918-1919
an influenza epidemic started in the armies and spread to America after WWI, killing 700,000 Americans; A highly contagious respiratory disease, also known as the grippe or the flu. In 1918-1919, a particularly severe form of influenza, known as the Spanish flu, killed millions worldwide. More U.S. soldiers in World War I died of influenza than of war-related injuries.
Germany resumes unrestricted warfare, 1917
break the Sussex Pledge because they are overconfident and think they are about to win the war (which they were) and that the USA wouldn't be able to join the war in time (which turned out not to be true - the USA turned the tide of the war in Allied favor); big mistake by the Germans to provoke the Americans at this point because they probably would have won if not for this declaration because the USA would have remained neutral.
Wilson presents the Fourteen Points, 1918
for a better world, Jan 1918. Calls for a League of Nations in the 14th point, which the United States threw away (did not accept) because Wilson did not invite his opposing Republicans to Versailles with him to help draft the World War I treaty. The United States had helped to win the first world war only to throw away the peace. Because the 14 points were not successful, the war to end all wars did not end all wars.
restricted warfare
passenger and neutral merchant ships wouldn't be targeted by German U-boats. Only military vessels were prone to attack.
Arabic & Sussex pledges, 1916
pledges made by the German government after sinking the British passenger ship Arabic in 1915 and the French steamer Sussex in 1916. The pledges agreed to pay an indemnity and offered public assurances that German u-boats would not sink passenger ships; the later implied the virtual abandonment of submarine warfare which didn't happen. A key not of the Sussex Pledge is that Germany agreed to limit attacks if the US helped end England's blockade
U.S. enters WWI, 1917
provoked by Sussex Pledge, Zimmerman telegram, and proportionality of loans in regard to trading