1. The U.S. in World War One
The War to
end all wars…

2. Reasons for the U.S. to enter the War
• The major cause of the U.S. entry
into WWI was the unrestricted
submarine warfare undertaken
by the Germans.
• German U-Boats sank three
American merchant ships in
March 1917
• When the Zimmerman telegram
was released to the American
public that same month,
Americans were outraged
• The U.S. Congress issued a
declaration of war on April 6,
1917 against Germany
U-20 and sister ships in
harbor at Kiel
1915 painting depicting
the sinking of Lusitania by
the U-20.

3. Mobilizing for War:
• Selective Service Act, May of
1917
• Bernard Baruch named as
head of War Industries Board:
it set price quotas, allocated
raw materials, and developed
new industries
• Herbert Hoover named to
head the Food Administration
• Many southern blacks moved
north for jobs
• Mexican immigrants worked
the fields of the Southwest
• Women worked in industry
and in the military

4. Silencing Dissent:
• Espionage Act of 1917:
Prohibited use of the
mail to send
treasonable materials
• Sedition Act of 1918:
barred “disloyal
utterances” Blessed are the Peacemakers by
George Bellows, The Masses 1917

5. Major American Offenses Turned the Tide of War:
• Chateau-Thierry (one of the
first actions of the American
Expeditionary Force (AEF)
under General John J. "Black
Jack" Pershing)
• Belleau Wood ("The deadliest
weapon in the world is a
Marine and his rifle!" –
Pershing)

6. Major American Offenses Turned the Tide of War:
• Saint-Mihiel (It was one of the
first U.S. solo offensives in World
War I and the attack caught the
Germans in the process of
retreating)
• Meuse-Argonne (the battle's
pressure on the Germans was an
important factor in their agreeing
to the armistice)
• An armistice began on November
11 at 11:00 a.m. (the eleventh
hour of the eleventh day of the
eleventh month)

7. Working For Peace:
• Even before the war was over, U.S. President
Woodrow Wilson offered a plan for peace: The
Fourteen Points.
-points 1-5 aimed to eliminate the fundamental
causes of war
-points 6-13 dealt with issues of self-
determination and specific territorial issues
-point 14 proposed the establishment of a
League of Nations, an organization where
nations could discuss their problems and
resolve disputes without resorting to war

8. Talks Begin
• The peace conference
would begin in January 1919
in the Versailles Palace in
France.
• President Wilson would
represent the United States.
Unfortunately, President
Wilson would be
disappointed when most of
his Fourteen Points would
be rejected by the European
nations.

9. The Treaty of Versailles Reflected the
Desires of the European victors:
• Britain demanded reparations and France
wanted territory returned that was lost in a
previous war. Wilson’s desire for a League of
Nations would be honored.
• However, when Wilson brought home the
treaty, he faced opposition. Many U.S.
senators (the ones who must approve
treaties) believed that the charter for the
League of Nations would deprive them of
their power to decide if the United States
should participate in future wars.
• Wilson refused any compromise and the
Senate rejected the treaty. The U.S. would
settle with the Germans in the early 1920s.
The U.S. would retreat into “isolationism.”

10. Wilson’s Fight For Peace (Fourteen Points)
1. open treaties
2. freedom of the seas
3. tariffs lowered or
abolished to encourage
free trade
4. arms reduction
5. consideration of the
interests of colonial
peoples
6-13. boundary changes
and self-determination
of ethnic/national
groups
14. A League of Nations

11. Wilson’s Failure to Ratify the Treaty:
• American people were suspicious of the
provisions for joint action against aggression
• Representatives and Senators wanted the
treaty to declare the constitutional right of
Congress to declare war.
• Wilson chose an American delegation that
failed to include enough Republican Senators
• Wilson refused to compromise with Senator
Lodge

12. The Demands of Allied Peace on
Germany:
• -demilitarization
• -return of Alsace-Lorraine to France
• -33 billion in reparations
• -war-guilt clause
• -ignored the sacrifices and desires of Russia
• -ignored the claims of colonized peoples for
self-determination

13. The Effects of the Treaty on the
German people:
• -humiliated Germany
• -set Germans against
the treaty
• -set reparations that
Germany could not pay
• -stripped Germany of
the colonies it needed
to pay reparations
• -political instability and
violence resulted

14. The Aftermath of World War One
• In 1918, the United States entered into a period of
economic prosperity because:
-the war was not fought on American soil
-there was a feeling of optimism in the U.S.
-wartime production boosted America’s economy
• Greater public support for women’s suffrage resulted from
public acknowledgement of the contribution of American
women during World War One. (19th Amendment)
• The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia led to the first Red Scare
in the U.S.