World War I and its Aftermath

1914-1920
Developments in 1914

M.A.I.N. Causes
• Militarism
• Alliances
• Imperialism
• Nationalism

Wilson declares the US neutral.

Neutrality

• Germans submarine warfare

• Lusitania
• Wilson’s warning
• Economic ties to Europe
• US in recession
• Favored Allies due to British blockade
• JP Morgan sent loans
• Opinion at Home
• Americans favored Allies
• Immigrants neutral but sympathetic
• British propaganda
Debate Over War Entry

For Against
• Eastern Republicans • Midwest/Western Americans
• Teddy Roosevelt • Feared involvement
• Started preparedness • Populists
• Wilson • Socialists
• National Defense Act of 1916 • Progressives
• Bryan, Jeanette Rankin
 Election and Peace Efforts

• Election of 1916
• Wilson – Democrat candidate
• Roosevelt joined Republicans, destroyed
Progressives
• Charles Evans Hughes became Rep candidate
• Wilson won with promise of peace – “He kept us
out of war”
• Struggle for peace
• Sent advisor Edward House to Europe to negotiate,
failure
• Wilson hoped for “peace without victory”
 Causes of Entry

• Resuming of unrestricted sub warfare

• Zimmerman Telegram
• Russian Revolution

War declared on April 6, 1917, in Congress

Mobilization

• Industrial & Economic

• Wartime agencies and commissions, influential of New Deal
• War Industries Board, Food Administration, Fuel Administration, Railroad
Administration, National War Labor Board
• $33 billion raised through loans and taxes, drive for Liberty Bonds
• Public Opinion
• Committee on Public Information
• Nativism, American Protective League
• Espionage and Sedition Acts of 1917 and 1918, upheld in Schenck v. US
 Mobilization

• Military
• Selective Service Act of 1917, all men 21-30 had to register
• Thousands of African Americans served, supported by Du Bois
• Society
• Everyone had to adjust
• Women replaced men’s jobs, helped support the 19th Amendment
• Mexicans migrated into the United States
• African Americans migrated north
 The War

• Trench Warfare
• Artillery, machine guns, gas, tanks, planes
• Bolshevik revolution took Russia out of the war
• Germany focused on France, Western Front
defined by trenches
• US started producing ships, started a convoy
system with Britain
• US Expeditionary Force led by General
Pershing, responsible for segment of the front
by the summer of 1918
End of the Fighting

• Last German assault on the Marne, then Bellau Wood

• In fall 1918, Allied Offensive on the Meuse and the Argonne Forest,
drove the Germans through the border near St Mihiel
• Armistice signed on November 11

112,432 FATALITIES
Wilson’s Fourteen Points

• Germany had to give up Alsace and Lorraine

• Had to evacuate Belgium, Romania, and Serbia
• Freedom of the seas
• End to practice of secret treaties
• Arms reductions
• Impartial colonial adjustments
• Self-determination for nationalities
• No trade barriers
• League of Nations, very important to Wilson
 Treaty of Versailles

• Big Four met to discuss peace terms in 1919

• Treaty included:
• Germany lost Asian and African colonies
• Accepted blame for war, had to pay reparations
• Self-determination and independence to territories
• Signers would join the League of Nations
• Reservationists and Irreconcilables opposed US ratification
• Didn’t want European influence in US
• Wilson adamant, suffered stroke on campaign and never recovered
• Treaty never ratified, US never joined League
 Postwar

• Demobilization
• Returning soldiers took jobs from women and African Americans
• Business boom gone, farm prices fell
• Consumer buying spree, inflation, short boom and recession
• Red Scare
• Anti-Communism and xenophobia, immigration restrictions
• Palmer Raids
• Labor Conflict
• Unions lost popularity, distrusted
• Strikes of 1919 in Seattle, Boston, US Steel Corporation
• Race Riots
• Migration and competition caused resentment
• Large riots in St. Louis and Chicago
The Modern Era of the 1920s
Republican Domination

Business Doctrine
• Teddy Roosevelt died, along with him Progressive influence
• Old-style Republicans returned
• Accepted limited government regulation
Election of 1920
• Harding won on campaign of “return to normalcy”
• New era of solid Republican control
Harding Presidency

• Questionable leadership abilities

• Elected a good cabinet to delegate responsibility
• Reduced income tax and raised tariffs
• Released Debs
• Not corrupt himself, but surrounded by it
• Teapot Dome
• Died in presidency, never implicated
Coolidge Presidency

• Man of few words, believer in business

• Easily won in 1924, beat new Progressives under La Follette
• Believed in hands-off government
• Did little other than watching budget
• Cut spending and helped farmers/laborers

“Silent Cal”
Election of 1928

• Hoover served as Secretary of

Commerce
• Chosen as Rep candidate
• Governor Al Smith chosen by Dems
• Hoover promised to extend prosperity
and end poverty (lmao)
Economy of the 20s

• Mixed
• Recession -> Prosperity -> R.I.P. economy
• High standard of living, but 40% in poverty
• Prosperity caused by increase in manufacturing
• Scientific management, Ford’s assembly line
• Oil and electricity rather than coal
• Govt offered tax cuts, lax laws
• Increased speculation, low Federal Reserve rates
Consumerism

• Appliances available
• Advertising appealed to desires
• Spending on credit, not always affordable
• Automobile industry boomed
Problems

• Price drops and new tech left farmers in debt

• Union membership dropped
• Higher wages
• Open shop policies
• Business was favored so strikes failed
 THE JAZZ AGE

• Youth rebellion
• Brought by African Americans, symbol of
modern culture
• New medium of radios, NBC and CBS aired
• Movie and sports stars became public icons
Family in the 1920s

• Women mainly voted with their husbands, still expected to stay home
• Those in the work force worked clerical jobs
• Young people revolted against sexual taboos, culture encouraged
promiscuity
• Birth control reached acceptance
• Flapper look gained popularity
• Better divorce laws
• Compulsory education laws
New Culture

• Literature characterized by depressed

and disillusioned authors
• Art Deco architecture popular
• Art explored architecture and rural
life
• Immigrants influenced music
• Harlem Renaissance
• Influential poets and jazz musicians
• Marcus Garvey’s ideas of black
nationalism and pride
• Back-to-Africa
Religious Divide
Modernists
• Faith redefined by changes
• Critical view of Bible
• Accepted Darwinism
Fundamentalists
• Rural preachers
• Literal interpretation
• Creationism
• Blamed liberals for moral decline
• Preached message through radio
Scopes Trial

• Tennessee outlawed the teachings of Darwin in

schools
• Teacher, Scopes, taught it anyway, arrested
• William Jennings Bryan defended fundamentalists
• Convicted but later overturned on technicality
Prohibition

• The idea was practical during the war,

but was only a measure of Progressive
temperance after
• Lax enforcement, became fashionable to
drink illegally
• Gangs controlled bootlegging
• Republicans and Southern Dems
supported it
• Opposed by Northern Republicans
• Repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment
Nativism

• Immigration spiked after war, mainly southern and eastern

European Catholics and Jews
• Nativists and isolationists wanted to limit competition
• Quota Acts limited “undesirable” ethnicities
• Mainly banned Asians and S/E Europeans
• Sacco and Vanzetti
• Italian immigrants wrongly tried and executed
• KKK resurged, targeted “un-Americans”
• Declined after leader involved in crime/scandal
Peace Efforts

• Rep presidents scaled back defense

• Washington Conference (1921) – World powers agreed upon naval
disarmament treaties
• Five-Power - maintain ratios
• Four-Power – respect Pacific territories
• Nine-Power – Open Door Policy
• Kellogg-Briand Pact signed by many world powers
• Denounced war as a means to achieve goals
• Proved ineffective
Foreign Policy

• Coolidge’s ambassador negotiated peace between

investors and the Mexican govt who demanded
ownership of all resources
• Coolidge kept troops in Nicaragua and Haiti, but
drew out of the Dominican Republic
• Oil-drilling rights gained in the Middle East
• Fordney-McCumber Tariff increased foreign duties
• Europe struggled to recover, couldn’t pay war debts
• US now a creditor nation, but was hard on Europe
• Dawes Plan helped them, but stopped along with
the crash
• Europeans saw America as greedy, led to
isolationism in 30s