The effects of the war in America

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The effects of the war in America
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I. U.S.s entry into the war led to a labor
shortage in the US

• This caused
• women to enter the workforce
• about 150,000 Mexicans to enter
• the country
• African Americans to move north in search for new
  opportunities

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II. The Great Migration

• 1. The movement of African Americans from the
  South to northern cities between 1915 and 1930
• 2. They were moving north to escape
  discrimination and difficult living and working
  conditions.
• 3. African Americans encouraged one another to
  Get out of the South

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III. Racial violence

• 1. African-Americans who moved north usually had
  a higher standard of living than in the south.
• 2. July 2, 1917- East St. Louis Illinois- White
  rioters rampaged the streets of this
  African-American neighborhood where 39 A-As were
  killed in the violence
• 3. Why should African-Americans fight in war when
  they do not receive the freedoms they are
  fighting for?

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IV. American Attitudes

• 1. Many Americans believed that the U.S. should
  have stayed out of the war (political, religious,
  and/or personal reasons).
• 2. Wilson created a committee on Public
  Information in 1917 to encourage the American
  people to support the war

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3. Patriotic Organizations

• Many American groups popped up that discriminated
  against anything German (i.e. books, language,
  music, sauerkraut, dachshunds, hamburgers)
• Some groups promoted Americanization- this was
  to prepare foreign-born residents for full
  American citizenship- education was the main
  goal.

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V. U.S. opposition to War

• 1. The Quakers and the Mennonites were
  particularly opposed to the war because of the
  pacifism in religion- the refusal to use violence
  to settle disputes.
• 2. Some Americans considered anyone against the
  war effort to be traitors they often encountered
  violence and abuse.
• 3.The Socialist Party in America opposed the war
  because they felt it was a struggle to control
  foreign markets.

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VI. Silencing the opposition

• 1. Congress passed The Espionage Act and The
  Sedition Act- These outlawed acts of treason and
  made it a crime to criticize the government
• 2. Many Americans believed this went
• against 1st amendment rights
• 3. Schenck vs. the United States- 1919 Supreme
  Court Case that stated that in times of war some
  things presented a clear and present danger to
  the country

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The End of World War I
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I. The Great War finally ends

• 1. Late summer of 1918, the Allied powers had a
  major offensive on the Western Front
• 2. The Germans began to riot in the fall of 1918.
  The Chancellor asked for an armistice in October,
  and Kaiser Wilhelm stepped down from the throne
  Nov 9-

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(Central Powers defeat!)

• 3. Bulgaria first to fall, followed by the
  Ottoman Empire
• 4. Revolution in Austria-Hungary- split into
  separate nations
• 5. Germany- Kaiser William II abdicated new
  German Republic- signed armistice

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II. The Peace Treaty

• 1. 1100 a.m. on Nov 11, 1918
• the warring parties signed a cease-fire
  (armistice)
• 2. The nations met in Paris, France, at the
  Palace of Versailles, for a peace conference in
  January of 1919.

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III. Peace in Europe

• The Big Four
• David Lloyd George (Britain)
• George Clemenceau (France)
• Woodrow Wilson (U.S)
• Vittorio Orlando (Italy)- left during peace talks
  didnt receive territorial claims)

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• B. Allied nations (except
• Russia) met in Paris (Jan.
• 1919)
• C. Believed each Central
• Power should have a
• separate peace treaty

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• IV. Versailles Treaty with Germany
• The official signing June 28, 1919
• Required Germany to accept
• all blame (guilty of starting the war)
• 2. Germany must pay 33 billion (cost of war 400
  bil.)

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• 3. Germany lost territory- returned
  Alsace-Lorraine to France, lost all colonies
• 4. Overall, the Treaty of Versailles dismantled
  the great empires of pre-WWI days.
• Disarmed Germany

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V. Wilsons 14 Points

• the U.S. Peace Plan,
• which expressed the
• aims of the Allies and
• called for world peace

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A. The 14 Points General Plans

• 1. No secret treaties
• 2. Freedom of the seas for all nations
• 3. Removal of all economic barriers.
• 4. Reduction of all national armaments (military
  supply)

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• 5. Fair adjustments of all colonial claims
• s 6-13 - points dealt w/ specific countries
• 14. Establishment of a general association of
  nations (League of Nations)

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B. The 14th Point- League of Nations

• 1. It became part of the Versailles Treaty
• a. Two main aims of the League
• 1. promote international cooperation
• 2. peacefully settle disputes and
  reduce armaments.
• b. The League was to include all
  independent, sovereign nations

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• C. The U.S. did not join the League of Nations
• 1. Wilson refused to compromise
• treaty failed to pass the senate- the US did
  not join
• 2. Many republican Senators were
• concerned that the League would drag
• the U.S. into world affairs
• 3. Overall, the US wanted to return to a policy
  of isolationism

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How might WWI have affected future international
affairs?
The treaty of Versailles left Germany bitter and
may have led to the future conflicts we know are
just around the bend!!!
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• The 6 Effects of WWI
• US Entry into the war in 1917
• Widespread death and destruction in Europe
• Treaty of Versailles
• League of Nations
• Break-up of German and Austro-Hungarian Empires
• Creation of several new nations

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End of World War I and Woodrow Wilsons
Presidency

• 1918 - 1921

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• When we last discussed Wilson, the Fourteen
  Points Plan was issued, the Versailles Peace
  treaty was in the process of ratification and
  Wilson headed back to the United States

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President Wilson's Voyage from France to the
U.S., June-July 1919
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Ratification of the Versailles Treaty

• I. Republican Controlled Congress
• a. Congress was angry at Wilson for traveling
  to Europe to help with the peace treaty
• b. Wilson did not include Republicans in his
  peace delegation

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• c. Henry Cabot Lodge (R) selected as the new
  chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
  Committee
• d. Wilson and Cabot did not like each other!

Henry Cabot Lodge 1850-1924
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American Defeat of the League of Nations

• II. Irreconcilables
• a. Group of Republican Senators (39) announced
  they would not approve the League of Nations in
  the existing form (major critics of Article X)
• b. Irreconcilables wanted Wilson to
  compromise

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• c. Wilson returned to Europe to finalize the
  treaty- found problems waiting in Europe
• d. July, 1919 Lodge realized there was no hope
  of defeating the treaty but wanted to
  Americanize the treaty

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• e. In 1919, while Woodrow Wilson and Congress
  battled over the Versailles Treaty the strong
  U.S. war economy came to a sudden stop

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• f. Post WWI U.S. Economy
• i. demobilization transition from wartime to
  peacetime production levels
• ii. 4.5 million soldiers returned to the U.S.
  forcing women and African-Americans out of work

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• iii. brief economic boom- Americans spent what
  they saved during the war
• iv. recession of 1920-1921 by 1921 5 million
  workers were unemployed
• v. farm crisis European war markets did not
  exist causing prices to fall dramatically

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• g. Wilson began a presidential tour in
  September of 1919 to gain support for the
  ratification of the treaty and the League of
  Nations
• h. September 25, 1919 Wilson gave a final
  speech pleading for the League of Nations,
  collapsed that evening

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• i. Wilson suffered a stroke which paralyzed one
  side of his body
• j. Wilson did not meet with his cabinet for 7 ½
  months
• k. Lodge Reservationists came up with a plan to
  attach to the treaty which would reserve the
  constitutional war declaring power to Congress

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Why did the Treaty of Versailles Fail in the
United States?

• 1. Lodge-Wilson feud
• 2. Traditionalism
• 3. Isolationism
• 4. Disillusionment
• 5. Partisanship between the Republicans and
  Democrat
• 6. Wilson