Chapter 23: America and the Great War

I. The Road to War
A. The Collapse of the European Peace

• Competing Alliances
• “Triple Entente” (Britain, France, Russia) vs. “Triple Alliance” (Germany, Austria-Hungry, Italy)
• Underlying struggle btw Britain & Germany
• June 28 1914, assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia
• In less than year, entire Euro continent & part of Asia in War

B. Wilson’s Neutrality

• Wilson -> “remain impartial in thought as well as deed”
• German & Irish Americans --> support German cause, Wilson & many --> support for Britain
• Economic Ties to Britain
• Brits imposed naval blockade on Germany, US continued to trade with Brits (not truly neutral)
• Ally war demands --> economic Boom in U.S.
• 1915 U.S. gone from neutral power --> arsenal of allies
• Lusitania – British passenger liner, also carrying munitions, that was sunk by German submarine and resulted in the death of 128 Americans
• Wilson demanded Germany not repeat attacks and recognize Americans neutrality & and ability to safely travel in belligerent waters
• 1916 Brits arm merchant vessels to compete against German submarines --> Germany declares would fire on such vessels w/o warning
• Germans sink unarmed French Sussex (killing American passengers) --> Wilson demands an end to “unlawful” tactics --> Germans agree
• Germans relented b/c marginally effective tactics not worth drawing Americans into war

C. Preparedness vs. Pacifism

• Wilson battling for reelection needed to acknowledge factions opposing intervention
• --> Policies attempted to balance demands of defending national honor & economic interests against demands of taking no action that would increase chance of war
• 1915 Wilson endorsed ambitious proposal for large & rapid increase in armed forces
• 1916 Democratic convention --> “He kept us out of war”
• 1916 Election – Wilson narrowly beats Hughes

D. A War for Democracy

• Jan 1917, speech before congress, Wilson created own rational behind going to war
• U.S. had no material aims
• Committed to using war as vehicle for constructing new world order based on progressive ideals that motivated American reform
• Peace through permanent league of nations
• Provocation for War
• German policy --> assaults on enemy lines in France with unrestricted submarine warfare (allied & amer. Ships) to cut off Brit supplies
• Zimmermann Telegram – Feb 25th, intercepted telegram from German foreign minister Arthur Zimmermann to Mex government
• In case of war Mexicans should side with Germans against Americans
• Would regain lost provinces
• March 1917 – collapse of Czarist Russia
• U.S. would not be allied with monarchy
• April 2nd – Wilson asks Congress for Declaration of war
• Protect democracy & rights and liberties of small nations
• April 6 Congress passes Declaration of war

II. “War Without Stint”
A. Entering the War

• When U.S. entered, Europe in stalemate
• Most immediate effect on sea conflict
• Destroyers aided assault on U-Boats
• Warships escorted merchant vessels
• Submarine mines in North Sea
• Russian Revolution --> Russia withdraws from war, treaty with Germany giving up land and freeing up western troops
• --> American ground troops necessary

B. The American Expeditionary Forces

• U.S. had few and inexperienced soldiers
• Selective Service Act – national draft
• American Expeditionary Force (AEF) - 3 million from draft, 2 million into army services voluntarily
• Most diverse fighting force US had ever assembled
• Women allowed to enlist --> roles in hospitals and offices
• 400,000 black soldiers – segregated units w/ white commanding officer

C. The Military Struggle

• General John J. Pershing – commanded AEF as it joined Allied forces
• Chåteau-Thierry - June 1918, American forces helped repel German attack that brought Germans 50 miles from Paris
• July 18 Allies halted German advance and began own offense
• Meuse-Argonne Offensive – Sept 26 1918, American fighting force began 7 week attack that helped push Germans back towards own border & cut major supply lines
• Germans faced with invasion of own country --> sought armistice to prelude negotiations
• November 11, 1918 Great War ended

D. The New Technology of Warfare

• Machine guns & high-powered artillery --> development of trench warfare
• Development of tanks, flamethrowers, chemical weapons allowed forces to attack entrenched soldiers without direct combat
• --> Need for elaborate maintenance and supplies
• Airplanes played significant role – bombers, fighters, reconnaissance
• New naval battleships – turbine propulsion, hydraulic gun controls, electric light & power, wireless telegraphy, navigation aids
• New technologies --> High Casualty Rates

III. The War and American Society

• Mobilizing industrial economy for total war required great government involvement in industry, agriculture, and other areas
• Required strenuous effort to ensure loyalty & commitment of people

B. Organizing the Economy for War
∑ Financing the War - $32 billion appropriated by gov for expenses directly related to the conflict

• 1) “Liberty Bonds” – gov’s attempted to solicit loans from American people
• 1920 - $23 billion
• 2) New taxes – excess corporation profits, steeply graduated income & inheritance taxes
• $10 billion
• Organizing the Economy
• 1) Wilson established Council of National Defense (1916) – set up local defense councils in every state, econ mobilization rested on large-scale dispersal of power to local communities
• Proved completely unworkable
• Council members (influenced by engineering gospel and “scientific management”) urged more centralized approach
• Divide power through several planning bodies supervising a specific sector of the econ
• 2) War Industries Board (1917) – coordinated government purchases of military supplies
• Restructured in 1918 and put under control of Bernard Baruch
• Baruch appeared to provide centralized regulation of economy
• WIB, in fact, plagued by mismanagement and inefficiency
• American resources and productive capacities > WIB
• Government was working to enhance private sector through mutually beneficial alliance
• Lessons of the Managed Economy
• Spectacular accomplishments (organization of domestic food supplies and railroads)
• Leaders of gov and industry convinced of a close, cooperative relationship btw the public and private sectors
• Hoped to continue wartime experiment in peacetime

C. Labor and the War

• The National War Labor Board (April 1918) – resolve labor disputes & pressured industry to grant important concessions to workers
• 8 hr work day
• Maintenance of minimal living standards
• Equal pay for women doing equal work
• Recognition of the right of unions to organize and bargain collectively
• Insisted workers forgo strikes and employers not engage in lockouts
• War provided workers w/ important temporary gains but did not stop labor militancy
• Ludlow Massacre (1914) - Western Federation of Minders struck against Rockefeller coal mines --> strikebreakers & militia attacked workers’ tent colony --> 39 dead

D. Economic and Social Results of the War

• War --> Boom, began 1914 b/c of Euro demands, accelerated 1917 from US demands
• “Great Migration” – migration of many African Americans from rural south into northern industrial cities
• Push – poverty, indebtedness, racism, violence
• Pull – prospect of factory jobs in urban North, opportunity to live in communities where blacks could enjoy more freedom & autonomy
• Increase in black communities --> race riots
• War = new opportunities for women
• Worked in wide range of industrial jobs left behind by men
• After war women either fired or quit these jobs
• Women in Industry Board – formed to oversee movement of women into jobs left behind by men in military, remained even after war --> Women’s Bureau – permanent agency dedicated to protecting interest of women in the work force

IV. The Search For Social Unity
A. The Peace Movement

• Pre 1917: German Americans, Irish Americans, religious pacifists, intellectuals, Socialist Party, Industrial Workers of the world
• War = meaningless battle among capitalist nations for commercial supremacy
• Women’s Peace Party (1915) – developed by Carrie Chapman Catt, efforts to keep US from intervening in war
• Post 1917 – National American Woman Suffrage Association supported war and presented itself as patriotic organization, Catt abandoned peace cause --> called for woman suffrage as war measure
• Jane Addams, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and others still opposed war
• Maternal Opposition to War – moral and maternal basis for pacifism

B. Selling the War and Suppressing Dissent

• War --> boost to religious revivalism --> support for war
• Committee on Public Information (CPI) – directed by George Creel, supervised distribution of pro-war literature
• Urged “self censorship” in news
• At first presented facts --? anti German propaganda (The Kaiser: Beast of Berlin) --> encouraged Americans to think of Germans as savages
• Espionage Act of 1917 – stiff penalties for spying, sabotage, obstruction of war effort; empowered post office to ban seditious material from mails
• Sabotage Act & Sedition Act (1918) - any public expression of opposition to the war = illegal; officials could persecute anyone who criticized pres or gov
• Acts targeted anti-capitalist groups (Socialist party & IWW)
• Repressing Dissent
• American Protective League – group whose members served as “agents” discovering dissenting individuals
• National Security League, Boy Spies of America, American Defense Society
• “100 Percent Americanism”
• Anti-German measures

V. The Search for a New World Order
A. The Fourteen Points

• Jan 8, 1918 Wilson presented principles nation was fighting for --> fourteen points
• 8 recommendations for adjusting postwar boundaries & for establishing new nations
• right of all peoples to self-determination
• 5 general principles to govern international conduct in future
• freedom of the seas
• open covenants (no secret treaties)
• reductions in armaments
• free trade
• impartial mediation of colonial claims
• League of nations
• Flaws
• No formula for deciding how to apply “self-determination”
• Little about economic rivalries and their effect on international relations
• Lenin’s Challenge
• Dec 1917 Lenin issued own war aims (very similar to Wilson’s)
• Wilson’s last minute attempt to keep Russia in war
• Wilson realized Lenin = competitor in postwar order

B. Early Obstacles

• Allied leaders resented U.S.’s tone of moral superiority and separation from Allied forces
• Allied Intransigence – Britain and France wanted compensation and revenge against Germany
• Wilson against the Republican party

C. The Paris Peace Conference

• The Big 4 – Lloyd George (Britain), Clemenceau (France), Vittorio Orlando (Italy), Wilson (US)
• Idealism competing with national aggrandizement
• Wilson indirectly helped White Russian forces against Bolsheviks, and refused to recognize new government until 1933
• Wilson’s Retreat – economic & strategic demands constantly in conflict with principle of cultural nationalism
• Reparations
• Wilson initially opposed demanding compensation, but eventually accepted principle of reparations
• 1921 --> $56 Billion, 1930s --> became $9 million
• crippled already weak economy
• Successes
• Imperial possessions in “trusteeship” under League of Nations
• Blocked French proposal to break up Western Germany
• League of Nations - jan 25 1919

D. The Ratification Battle

• Wilson presented Treat of Versailles to senate on July 1919 --> Wilson’s Intransigence
• Henry Cabot Lodge – powerful chairman of Foreign Relations Committee who hated the president and used very possible tactic to obstruct delay and amend the treaty
• Wilson’s intransigence --> Senate would not budge --> appeal to the public

E. Wilson’s Ordeal

• While on tour to arouse public support Wilson reached end of strength --> stroke --> impaired function and increased intransigence
• League Membership Rejected
• Public interest in peace process fading b/c of ratification fight & other crises

VI. A Society in Turmoil

• New Social Environment –
• post 1918 no longer receptive to progressive reform
• severe post war economic recession

B. Industry and Labor

• War ended sooner than anticipated --> nation needed to establish economic reconversion
• 1920 – disastrous inflation that killed market for consumer goods
• Postwar Recession
• Loss of jobs
• Inflation wiped out modest wage gains
• Employers rescinded benefits they had conceded in 1917-1918 --> strikes
• Boston Police Strike – response to layoffs and wage cuts
• Without police Boston --> violence & looting
• Governor Calvin Coolidge called in National Guard --> officials dismissed entire police force & hired new one
• Steelworkers Strike (Sept 1919) – eastern & Midwestern steelworkers walked off job demanding 8 hr work day & union recognition
• Long, bitter, violent strike --> Riot in Gary, Indiana --> steel mill continued working with nonunion labor & public dissent --> Steelworkers’ Strike Defeated

C. The Demands of African Americans

• New Black Attitudes
• Accentuated African American bitterness
• Increased determination to fight for rights
• Chicago Race Riots (1919)
• Black teenager swimming in Lake Michigan stoned by whites and drowned
• Angry blacks retaliated in white neighborhoods
• Larger white crowds attacked black neighborhoods
• NAACP urged blacks to demand government protection AND fight back & defend themselves
• Marcus Garvey’s Black Nationalism
• Garvey encouraged African Americans to take pride in own achievements & develop awareness of heritage
• Reject assimilation into white society
• Pride in own superior race and culture
• United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) – pressed for creation of black businesses
• Leave America and return to Africa

D. The Red Scare

• Russian Revolution 1917 --> communism no long theory = important regime
• Formation of Communist International (Comintern) – export revolution around the world
• American Communist Party 1919
• Bombings --> Popular Antiradicalism
• “100 Percent Americanism” --> Red Scare
• Palmer Raids – Jan 1 1920, Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer & J. Edgar Hoover orchestrated raids on alleged radical centers & made many arrests
• Did not fight huge caches of weapons and explosives
• Most of arrested released
• Sacco and Vanzetti (1920) – 2 Italian immigrants charged with murder of paymaster in Massachusetts
• Convicted and sentenced to death under bigoted trail and injudicious circumstances
• Supported for Sacco and Vanzetti increased but calls for retrial rejected
• Aug 23, 1927 executed among international protest

E. The Retreat from Idealism

• 19th Amendment – Aug 26, 1920 – guaranteed women the right to vote
• --> passage of Shepard Towner Maternity and Infancy Act 1921 – provided funds for supporting the health of women and infants
• 1922 Cable Act – granted women the rights of US citizenship independent of their husbands’ status
• Election of 120
• Republican Warren Gamaliel Harding offered no ideals only vague promise of return to “Normalcy”
• Landslide victory --> new era