America Mobilizes

Chapter 18 Section 2

Raising An Army

• Selective Service Act of 1917

• 24 million men registered

African American Soldiers

• 400,000 registered under the act–more than half in France–noncombat missions–excluded marines and navy

• 369th Infantry Regiment –two received France’s Cross of War

• Women and the Army Corps of Nurses

Mass Production

1. Shipyard builders exempt from draft

2. U.S. Chamber of Commerce promoted the workers by giving flags to families & asking automobile owners to give rides to work.

3. Shipyards used fabrication techniques

4. Government usage of commercial and private ships

• Where in Jersey was one of the largest shipyards during WWI?

Convoy System

• German U-Boats attacking merchant ships in Atlantic

• Vice Admiral William S. Sims suggests the convoy system

• Heavy guard of destroyers escort merchant ships across Atlantic in groups and shipping losses cut in half

• U.S. aided in the North Sea Mine Barrage

Fighting in Europe

• U.S. supply freshness & enthusiasm in Allied war effort

• Determination to hit Germans hard

• American Expeditionary Force led by General Pershing

• Americans named Doughboys• Impressed by the sophisticated

sites of Paris• Horrified and shocked by the

horrors or war

New Weapons

• First large scale use of modern weapons

• Machine guns refined and changed warfare as it was known

• The tank and Airplane were the two most innovative as they began mechanized warfare

Observation Balloons

Poison Gas

Hazards

• Horrific injuries• Filth• Lice and rats• Polluted water

• Poison gas• Stench of decaying bodies• Lack of sleep and shell shock

(permanent emotional collapse)

• Trench foot which led to amputation• Infection of gums and throat (trench

mouth)

Allied Offensive

• Russia pulled out of the war in 1917

• Germans shifted to western front

• Americans arrive just in time to help stop the German advance at Cantigny in France.

• After several battles of pushing Germans back, The Second Battle of Marne was won by the Allies with American help

Collapse of Germany

• November 1918 – Austria-Hungary surrendered to Allies

• German sailors mutinied against government authority

• Socialist leaders establish a German Republic in Berlin

• Germans too exhausted to continue fighting

• 11th hour, 11th day, 11th month of 1918 Germany agreed to ceasefire and signed armistice

The Toll

• Bloodiest war in history up to that time

• 22 million deaths/half civilian• $338 billion costs

Alvin York

• American war hero who fought in the Meuse-Argonne area

• Sought exemption as a conscientious objector

• decided that acceptable to fight if cause is just

• killed 25 Germans and captured 132 prisoners

• promoted to sergeant and became a celebrity

Eddie Richenbacker

• Famous fighter pilot of WWI

• racecar driver prior to war

• Repeatedly fought the Flying Circus (German Air Squadron led by the Red Baron)

• engaged in 134 battles and downed 26 enemy aircraft

• Allied pilot with the most victories “American ace of aces”

More about Richenbacker

–German heritage led to belief he was spy in 1916 during trip to Paris

–Became an engineer and practiced flying in his free time

–Developed principles of aviation warfare

The Red Baron

• Rittmeister Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen