Saylor.org HIST212: "World War One and the United States"

Today we're going to focus on the origins of the First World War and why the United States is drawn into this horribly destructive conflict that begins in 1914 and ends in late November of 1918. We're going to focus on, number one, the causes of the war itself. And then we're going to look at America's response to the war. And lastly, we're going to focus on, once the United States joins the war, the impact of the conflict on the United States. So before we get started discussing how the U.S. responds to the war, it's important to understand the background causes of the conflict. The war is brought about through a number of different factors, and so there's really no one single cause of the conflict. So we'll begin by looking at some of the broader background causes. These are causes that are beginning in the 1880s, in some ways even before the 1880s, and continuing into the early – the first decade of the 1900s. And there are a number of different factors. One of these is that we see older European nations beginning to be fragmented by the forces of nationalism. And nationalism meaning that people within these old empires, like the Austro-Hungarian Empire, including the Russian Empire even, for instance, were beginning to demand freedom and independence. In other words, saying that we all speak the same tongue, we belong to the same ethnicity, therefore we should have our own state. And so as a result, many of the older empires of Eastern Europe, including Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, which controlled sort of the Balkans, parts of what are now modern-day Turkey, were beginning to be fragmented. Another factor that begins to influence, of course, background cause of the war is that there were growing divisions between the central nations of Europe and sort of the western and eastern nations of Europe. Germany particularly was concerned with France. They fought a number of wars in the 19th century. Germany wanted to kind of isolate and keep France from being a threat to it. And so Germany and Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, create an alliance against France and Russia, Germany's sort of two traditional adversaries. And they call this the Triple Alliance. Well, of course, France and Russia respond to this by creating another political alliance called the Triple Entente, which is just a fancy French word for agreement or alliance. And as a result of this, European nations are beginning to sort of square off against each other. We're beginning to form these military and political alliances against each other. We also see another factor that is influential in the causes of World War I, which is growth of imperialism and colonization during this period. Germany, which was one of the youngest kind of the great nations of Europe, wanted to gain control over many of the colonial areas of Africa, of parts of East Asia. And Germany goes out of its way to try to establish colonial territories. Well, of course, much of this had already been occupied by France and by Great Britain. And Germany was struggling to gain control over some of these territories. And so as a result of this, you see competition between Germany, between France, between the United Kingdom, over control of areas in Africa, areas that are part of Asia, and it becomes a growing struggle between these regions. And so gradually, by the beginning of the 1900s, Europe was becoming less stable. The growing competition between Germany and France, Russia, the United Kingdom was trying its best to stay out of this, but it was gradually being drawn into this conflict as well. In addition, there was also an arms race forming during this time period, growing military buildups, especially between the United Kingdom and between Germany. The United Kingdom or Great Britain had the world's most powerful navy, and Germany begins to challenge this. Germany wants to be a powerful nation. It was a powerful continental nation, but Germany recognizes that they need a powerful navy in order to rival Great Britain or the United Kingdom. And so Germany begins a race to build dreadnoughts, which were these kind of early battleships, a fancy name for battleships. And so we begin to see a growing arms race in Europe. But all these factors gradually begin to destabilize Europe and put Europe far more at risk of a war. He's assassinated by nationalists, by a nationalist terrorist group. We have a sensationalized image of the Archduke being assassinated by these Serbian terrorists. But as a result of this assassination, Austria-Hungary, which controlled this territory, demanded that Serbia, the nation in which the Archduke is assassinated, demanded that Serbia basically accept the military occupation by Austria-Hungary. Serbia had enjoyed a certain amount of autonomy within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Austria-Hungary demands that they be occupied. Well, Serbia refused. And Serbia was supported in this by Russia, because Serbians were ethnically Slavic, the same kind of ethnic background as Russia. And Russia says to Austria-Hungary, if you attack Serbia, then you are attacking Russia, and you're going to be at war with us. Well, Germany, because of its political alliances, supported Austria-Hungary. And so Germany basically was pushing Austria-Hungary to punish Serbia, because Germany was convinced that it could stand up to a war with Russia. The situation was ripe for a war. Well, Germany, one of the reasons they were pushing Austria-Hungary so hard to go to war with Serbia is that they had a plan to deal with both France and Russia, the neighbors to the west and to the east. And this is the plan that was called the Von Schlieffen Plan, and it was a plan that German military leaders had come up with to deal with the possibility of a two-front war. In other words, a war between France and Russia. And German leaders knew that Germany could not survive a two-front war. Germany just didn't have enough military equipment, didn't have enough troops to deal with this. But they were convinced that they could fight a two-front war if they could quickly defeat France and then redeploy all their troops east to deal with Russia. They thought the war with Russia would be much longer and more difficult, but Russia was slower to mobilize. And so if they could quickly deal with France, defeat France, and then send all the troops east to deal with Russia, they could win a conflict. And so in August of 1914, with it becoming very clear that Serbia was not backing down, Russia was not backing down, Austria-Hungary was not backing down, Germany launches their invasion. They swing through neutral Belgium and they attack France with the goal of destroying or at least capturing Paris. The attack begins well, but it quickly bogged down. And unfortunately for Germany, they were unable to capture Paris. They were very close, but they were unable to capture. And so this first couple of weeks of warfare, which was very rapid warfare, very rapid attack through Belgium and into the plains of France, bogs down. And bogs down into a very horrible form of warfare that becomes quickly known as trench warfare. That both sides start digging in, start digging trenches, and they start preparing for a long-term conflict. And the trench line ultimately stretches basically from the North Sea all the way down across eastern France, down basically to neutral Switzerland. And this is where the majority of the fighting takes place between the fall of 1914 and the fall of 1918. And a conflict in which millions and millions of men lose their lives in really the most sort of horrible, horrible ways possible. And as a result of this trench warfare, it's just this ugly, ugly conflict that in many ways is – really had never been seen before in the history of the world. Well, the United States was of course watching this war break out in Europe. American leaders were very concerned about what was going on in Europe because there were of course many immigrants in the United States. The United States was a nation of immigrants. We were a nation of British, of French, of German, of Eastern European. And so there was a lot of concern because Americans took very strong opinions of both sides. There were a lot of European immigrants who supported Germany, a lot of European immigrants who supported France and Great Britain in this conflict. And so as a result, America's president, Woodrow Wilson, was very concerned that the United States remain neutral. The United States not take any sort of a formal position on the conflict, that the US didn't want to take sides. And he also encouraged Americans to remain neutral in attitude and in mindset as well as politically and economically. And so as a result of this, the US worked very hard to maintain an attitude of neutrality, to promote the idea of not wanting to get involved in this horribly destructive trench warfare, this warfare that was just utterly devastating the nations of France and Great Britain and Germany. And instead to maintain this sort of sense of armed neutrality that the United States would not be pushed around by either side in the conflict and instead would insert that we were a powerful independent nation. American ships were sailing to Europe, to Germany, and to Great Britain with supplies. American bankers were giving out huge loans to Germany and huge loans to Great Britain. And increasingly, the United States is getting drawn into this conflict economically. American was also very concerned because American ships were being sunk by both sides. We're running into mines laid by the British. We're being sunk by submarines that the Germans were beginning to send into the Atlantic Ocean to go after shipping. And so increasingly, the Americans were frustrated. American politicians, such as Woodrow Wilson, were frustrated that the United States was being affected by this war. And so gradually, we see these new challenges to American neutrality, one of the first being in 1915 when the British ocean liner Lusitania is sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland on its way from the United States to Great Britain. And a number of Americans are killed in this horrible sinking. And, of course, the United States is very frustrated by this. And Woodrow Wilson, President Wilson, demands an end to unrestricted submarine warfare, demands that the Germans also pay reparations for the loss of American lives. And the Germans are willing to do this. They're afraid of offending the United States. And so gradually, pressure between the United States and Germany subsides a little bit. But as the war continues, once again, the pressure resumes. And in 1917, once again, Germany does something that frustrates and angers Americans. In March of 1917, one of the German ministers receives the German Foreign Secretary, Arthur Zimmerman, essentially offers the nation of Mexico a compromise. He offers the nation of Mexico an opportunity to help Germany in its war against Great Britain. And here we have this secret promise that, of course, is exposed and it's revealed to the American people and to the American press. Here we have Germany, who's not at war with the United States, promising Mexico all this territory if Mexico is willing to support it in the conflict with – potential conflict with the United States. And, of course, Americans are outraged that Germany is seeking an alliance with Mexico against the United States and are, of course, very, very angered and frustrated with this. Germany also resumes submarine warfare. And once again, in 1917, American ships are being threatened and are being sunk. And so as a result of this, President Woodrow Wilson finally decides in April of 1914 that the US can no longer remain neutral and that the United States needs to enter the war. It needs to join the war and take a firm stand against Germany. Woodrow Wilson decides that Germany represents the greatest threat and that we have to join England and France in the war against Germany. And so America begins to prepare for war. And, of course, it takes the United States a long time to actually organize, to get troops in the field, to get military supplies. And, in fact, it takes until the spring of 1918 for American troops to be mobilized and to join the war. And as a result of this, when American troops finally arrive in France in the spring of 1918, they're faced with a huge German offensive. Germany knew that American troops were on the way and that Germany had to win this war. So the Germans began attacking. It crossed the trench line and actually made some pretty significant advances. But American troops arrived just in time and are able to turn the tide of this spring 1918 offensive. And eventually they begin pushing back and pushing the battle lines all the way to the border of Germany. And by the fall of 1918, the battle lines are essentially at the German border. And it's finally at this point that the German royal government collapses. A new German government asks for a ceasefire. And finally, on November 11th of 1918, a ceasefire is reached. In the fighting, in just a few short months of fighting, over 100,000 Americans are killed. Of course, millions and millions of Europeans, German, French, British, Russian are killed in this horribly destructive war. But the war ends in a very rapid way and ends for the United States, of course, extremely successfully. Well, the war itself, of course, proves to be a challenge. The war was actually not particularly well organized. All these progressive leaders in the United States, such as Wilson, felt that the government could do a very effective job of organizing. It was actually a far more complicated process. But the government eventually gets its act together and it really begins to direct Americans to organize the nation under a wartime footing, to begin organizing a draft in order to bring troops into the military, bring Americans into the military, war industries board to help coordinate the production of wartime supplies, a food administration and a fuel administration to help monitor food production and fuel usage. And in all these ways, the federal government, all these progressives are trying to implement progressive style reforms in order to prepare the United States for war. Probably among the most important of these progressive reforms is the decision that Congress passes in December of 1917 of the 18th Amendment, which bans the production, distribution, and sale of alcohol and brings about eventually the 1920s prohibition. Of course, the war preparations for war also have an impact on civil liberties. And one of the things that happens in 1917 is that the United States government works very hard to prevent people from challenging the war. There were a lot of Americans who felt that the United States was not justified in joining the war against England, against Germany. And they were very vocal in this criticism. And so the government creates in 1917, passes the Espionage Act that basically makes it illegal to speak out and question the war or committing crime, potentially as a war crime. And in the next year, they pass the Sedition Act, which makes it illegal to question the government. In other words, they say essentially criticisms of society is not free speech. That's what they're saying, that criticizing the government is not free speech. And so Americans need to be quiet and not challenge the government. And in fact, the U.S. government prosecutes a lot of people during the war in the immediate aftermath for criticizing the government. And so we see a huge impact on American civil rights during the war. And all these progressives who claim to be in favor of civil rights and claim to be in favor of the American public are really responsible for helping to bring about this really significant challenge to American rights. During the war. Well, finally, at the end of the war, of course, the United States is on the winning side. And Woodrow Wilson is very interested in ensuring a peace settlement that leaves the United States in a strong position, but also helps further his progressive ideas about international relationships. And so as a result, Wilson goes to Europe in 1919 to help negotiate the peace settlement at Versailles. And the peace settlement, which we'll discuss more in a subsequent lecture, really has some very profound consequences for Europe. And, of course, it's not received well in the United States. And so, as we'll discuss in a subsequent lecture, the settlement is really a source of conflict over the next 20 years, both in the United States as well as in Europe, and really does lead to a lot of tensions in the region. But ultimately, the war has, for the United States, of course, a very positive outcome because the United States emerges as one of the victors, and we emerge as one of the most influential nations. And it's really the impact of the outcome of the war that changes this situation. So as we'll talk about in a subsequent lecture, the United States sort of squanders its status as one of the key nations, key victor nations at the end of the war. And, in fact, it sort of chooses to retract from being involved in international affairs and gradually settles into more of a neutral stance, the kind of stance that the nation had enjoyed before it became involved in the war. And so, to sum up, the war, of course, has a huge and profound impact on the United States. 100,000 Americans are killed in the fighting, and as a result, we are responsible for turning the tide of victory in favor of the western entente, the western allies, Great Britain, France, and Russia. And this has profound consequences for the United States in the decades that follow.