War and Society, 1914-1920

© 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved.

Chapter 23Chapter 23

Europe’s Descent into War

• First World War (1914-1918)• Archduke Franz Ferdinand• Triple Alliance• Triple Entente• All sides expect quick victory, all are

disappointed• Bloody trench warfare stalemate on

Western front

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American Neutrality

• Wilson—neither threatened vital American interest

• Edward M. House and Robert Lansing– Wilson’s pro-British advisors

• William Jennings Bryan– Against pro-British tilt

• Germany had no advocates in government

• British blockade of Germany– Violates American neutrality, Wilson protests

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Submarine Warfare

• Unterseeboot (U-boat)• Lusitania (May 1915)

– 1198 killed, 128 Americans– Germans had warned the passenger was a target

• Bryan resigns when Wilson refuses to criticize both British blockade and U-boats

• Sussex pledge (1916)• 1916 preparedness measures

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The Peace Movement

• Women’s Peace Party

• Carrie Chapman Catt

• Jane Addams

• Midwestern Progressives– Robert LaFollete, George Norris

• American Union Against Militarism

• German and Irish Americans

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Wilson’s Vision: “Peace without Victory”

• “He kept us out of war” campaign slogan

• League of Nations

• Wilson’s crucial elements of lasting peace:– Freedom of the seas– Disarmament– Democratic self-government– Security against aggression

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German Escalation

• Russia’s imminent collapse• Germany concentrates on Britain and

France– Renew U-boat war

• "Zimmerman telegram“• American declaration of war: “make the

world safe for democracy”

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American Intervention

• Russian revolution (1917)– Vladimir Lenin and Bolshevik Party

• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918)– Publication of secret Allied treaties

• German 1918 offensive• American Expeditionary Force (AEF)

– John J. Pershing

• Allied 1918 offensive• Armistice 11-11-1918

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Mobilizing for “Total” War

• Compared to Europe, the U.S. was spared most of the war’s ravages

• War’s effect on American society– Biggest campaign for U.S. since Civil War– Wilson asked for total commitment from U.S.

citizens• Conscription

• In army, agriculture, transportation, industry

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Organizing Industry

• Food Administration– Herbert Hoover

• U.S. Railroad Administration– William G. McAdoo

• U.S. economy did well in war overall

• War Industries Board– Bernard Baruch

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Organizing Civilian Labor

• Labor shortage

• “Great Migration”

• Labor movement– Union membership– Industrial democracy

• National War Labor Board (NWLB)– Taft and Gompers

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Occupations with Largest Increase in Women, 1910-1920

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Total Membership of American Trade Unions, 1900-1920

Organizing Military Labor• Selective Service Act (1917)• African-Americans segregated and barred from

combat• IQ tests “prove” superiority of white Anglo-

Saxons– Also prove half of all men are mental age 13 or less

• Alvin York• 369th regiment

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Paying the Bills

• Raise income tax rates– Wealthiest hit hard, 67% top income tax rate– Corporations pay “excess profits tax”

• "Liberty Bonds"

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The First World War and the Federal Budget

Arousing Patriotic Ardor

• Committee on Public Information (CPI)– George Creel

• Expand democracy at home– Labor and industrial democracy– Women’s suffrage

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Wartime Repression

• CRI anti-German propaganda• Liberty cabbage and liberty sandwiches

– (Sour kraut and hamburgers)

• Immigration Restriction Act (1917)• German Americans: object of hatred• Eighteenth Amendment: Prohibition, 1919 • Espionage, Sabotage and Sedition Acts• IWW• American Protective League

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The Failure of the International Peace

• Germany’s surrender, 1918

• Wilson goes to Versailles Conference

• All combatants publicly accept Wilson’s Fourteen Points basis for negotiation– Free trade and freedom of the seas– Dispute resolution through mediation– Self-determination for nations– League of Nations

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The Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles

• Allies not committed to 14 Points– God gave us 10 commandments & we broke them,

Wilson gave us 14 points. We shall see”• Georges Clemenceau, France

– Vittorio Orlando, Italy walks out

• Treaty of Versailles (1919)– No free trade

– Partial self-determination

– Germany “war guilt” clause• lost land and paid reparations

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The League of Nations

• Wilson felt creation of League as most important point

• Would redeem failings of Versailles Conference

• Article X– Endowed the League with power to punish

aggressor nations via economic isolation and military retaliation

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Wilson versus Lodge: The Fight over Ratification

• Republicans win Senate majority in 1918

• “Irreconcilables"

• Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts

• Constitutional question of Article X

• Desire of some to humiliate Wilson

• Pueblo, Colorado

• Treaty defeated

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The Treaty’s Final Defeat

• Wilson would not accept alterations of the Treaty

• Lodge version of the Treaty was put to vote again – and was defeated

• United States never ratified the Treaty of Versailles– Legacy of Treaty’s defeat

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The Postwar Period: A Society in Convulsion

• Continued struggles between workers and employers

• Soldiers trying to reclaim livelihood vs. women, blacks, Hispanics who had been recruited to fill in

• Returning black veterans• Federal government moved to decentralize

power that had occurred during the War

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Labor-Capital Conflict

• Boston Police strike (1919)– Calvin Coolidge

• Steel strike (1919)

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Radicals and the Red Scare

• Radicalism sentiment on the rise in post-WWI labor movement

• “Red Scare”

• Russian Revolution splits U.S. Socialists

• "Palmer raids“

• Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti

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Racial Conflict and the Rise of Black Nationalism

• “New Negro”

• Frustrated ad disappointed African-Americans veterans

• Race riots

• Universal Negro Improvement Association – Marcus Garvey

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Conclusion

• Effects of war on the U.S. social fabric– Industrial workers, immigrants and radicals – Fear, intolerance, and repression resulted in

extreme class, ethnic, and racial tensions

• Collapse of the Progressive Movement

• Wilson’s dashed dreams for a new and democratic world order

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