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Chapter 21: United States and World War I (1914– 1921)
Important Keywords
American Expeditionary Force: American military force that served in France in 1917 and 1918 under the command of General John J. Pershing. Both women and blacks served in the American army during the war, although black units were segregated and usually had white officers.
War Industries Board: Board that regulated American industry during World War I; it attempted to stimulate war production by allocating raw materials to factories that aided the war effort.
Committee on Public Information: Agency created during the war whose mission was to spread pro-Allied propaganda through the press and through newsreels; newspapers were asked to print only articles that were helpful to the war effort.
Fourteen Points: Plan for the postwar world that Woodrow Wilson brought to the Paris Peace Conference; Wilson’s plan proposed open peace treaties, freedom of the seas, arms reductions, and a League of Nations. Britain and France were openly suspicious of these plans, but they supported the creation of a League of Nations.
League of Nations: World body proposed by Woodrow Wilson as part of his 14-point peace plan.
The League was created but without the participation of Germany, Bolshevik or Communist Russia, or the United States.
As a result, the League remained a relatively ineffective body throughout its existence.
Key Timeline
1914: Outbreak of World War I in Europe
Woodrow Wilson officially proclaims American neutrality in World War I
National Security League founded to prepare America for war
1915: Sinking of the Lusitania by German U-boat
1916: Germany torpedoes Sussex, then promises to warn merchants ships if they are to be attacked
Woodrow Wilson reelected with campaign slogan of “He kept us out of war”
1917: Zimmermann Telegram
Germany declares unrestricted submarine warfare
United States enters World War I, stating that U.S. rights as a neutral had been violated
Russian Revolution; Russian-German peace talks
Conscription begins in United States
War Industries Board formed to create a war economy
Espionage Act passed
American Expeditionary Force lands in France
1918: Military success by American Expeditionary Force at Chateau-Thierry
Sedition Act passed; free speech limited (illegal to criticize government or American military forces)
Wilson announces the Fourteen Points
Armistice ends World War I (November 11)
1919: Paris Peace Conference creates Treaty of Versailles
Race riots in Chicago
Wilson suffers stroke during speaking tour promoting Treaty of Versailles
Senate rejects Treaty of Versailles; United States does not join the League of Nations
War and American Neutrality
In 1914, Europe was ready for war.
Aggressive nationalisms divided nations and threatened multinational states like the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Conflicts over Balkan spheres of influence and colonial possessions complicated relations between the great European powers.
Most dangerously, the most important European states formed two alliance systems.
This meant that two countries fighting would likely involve their allies and start a European war.
On June 28, 1914, Serbian terrorists assassinated Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, starting a diplomatic chain reaction that led to a war involving most of Europe in August.
Germany and Austria-Hungary were the Central Powers, while Britain, France, and Russia were the Triple Entente.
Italy joined the Allies, and Turkey joined the Central Powers.
President Wilson admired British politics and distrusted German militarism.
However, on August 4, 1914, he declared American neutrality.
Americans overwhelmingly wanted to avoid war, regardless of their sympathies.
Americans wanted to keep trading with both warring parties.
The war drained resources, making the US a desirable source of raw materials and manufactured goods.
European war orders ended the 1913 US recession.
British and French navies controlled the Atlantic, giving them an edge in American trade.
British ships prevented American ships from transporting goods to Germany.
German submarines sank Allied ships carrying American goods to Britain and France.
Growing Ties to the Allies
By 1916, trade with the Allies had increased 400% while trade with the Central Powers had almost stopped.
In 1915, the Wilson administration allowed Wall Street banks to lend the Allies money to keep buying American goods.
Many Americans literally bet on an Allied victory.
Some interest groups urged the federal government to prepare for Central Powers war.
In late 1914, the National Security League began an information campaign to convince Americans that war was necessary.
By 1915, Congress strengthened the army and navy.
Peace organizations arose nationwide to counter this, many were led by women.
German submarine warfare polarized Americans against the Central Powers.
The Germans could only attack British and French supply ships with U-boats because Allied warships dominated the sea.
U-boats warned ships before sinking them.
The Allies then equipped merchant ships with guns to sink unarmored submarines.
U-boats torpedoed ships without warning, killing crew and passengers.
Americans found this form of warfare barbaric and began calling Germans "Huns."
On May 7, 1915, the Lusitania sinking galvanized American opposition to the German submarine campaign.
The Lusitania carried passengers and munitions.
Germans printed warnings against ship travel.
The casualties—nearly 1,200 men, women, and children, including 128 Americans—shocked Americans.
President Wilson strongly condemned the sinking diplomatically but opposed war.
Germans sank the Arabic in August. Wilson denounced this attack.
The German government promised to search passenger ships for military contraband before sinking them to appease the Americans.
US-German relations worsened.
On March 24, 1916, a U-boat sank the French passenger and supply ship Sussex.
If Germany continued to attack civilian ships, President Wilson threatened to cut diplomatic ties.
German leaders wanted to avoid an American war entry.
The Germans caved and signed the Sussex Pledge, promising not to sink ships without warning.
Wilson risked war if the Germans resumed full submarine warfare.
The Breakdown of German-American Relations
President Wilson appeared to have won peace.
“He kept us out of war” was the Democratic slogan for his 1916 peace campaign.
Wilson narrowly defeated the reunited Republicans and their candidate, former New York governor and Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes, in the reelection.
Wilson's second inauguration led to war. European wars were bloody stalemates.
On January 31, 1917, Germany declared unrestricted submarine warfare to win.
They sank any Allies-supplied ship from then on. Neutral flags are useless.
Germans realized this would likely lead to war with the US.
They thought they could starve Britain and France before the Americans could help.
On February 3, Wilson cut ties with Germany. He requested Congress legalize merchant ship arming.
German foreign minister Arthur Zimmermann foolishly sent an inflammatory diplomatic note to Mexico as war loomed between Germany and the US.
In a German-American war, he encouraged the Mexicans to attack the US and promised German support for a Mexican reconquest of the American Southwest.
British intelligence intercepted and gave the Zimmermann Telegram to the Americans.
The Zimmermann Telegram enraged Americans and fueled war preparations.
Germans sank American ships bound for Britain and France as promised.
This violated the American belief that neutrals should sail wherever they wanted.
On April 2, President Wilson personally requested war against Germany from Congress.
Six senators and 50 representatives opposed the war, even though Congress overwhelmingly supported it.
Wilson tried to maintain American neutrality, but by the time the US entered the war, it was an Allies supply depot.
America in the War
In early 1917, the Allies were losing. Russia couldn't wage modern war.
In March 1917, the tsar was overthrown after many defeats and domestic chaos.
After the tsar's overthrow, the liberal government wanted to stay in the war and maintain relations with the western Allies.
This was doubted as Russian armies disintegrated.
The Germans might be able to move many troops from the Russian front to the western front.
Britain and France were exhausted. Disgusted French soldiers mutinied after a bloody offensive, denouncing callous leadership and demanding better treatment.
President Wilson sent troops to Europe.
General John J. Pershing was their leader.
Men between 17 and 46 could be drafted.
Pershing initially led few men to France due to the small American army.
The US military would need to expand greatly to fight a modern total war.
May brought the Selective Service Act.
Men between 17 and 46 could be drafted.
In segregated units with white officers, 400,000 African Americans served in the military.
11,500 nurses and office workers wore uniform.
The army was unprepared, but the Navy was.
The Allies were suffering from German U-boats sinking ships in the Atlantic.
In May 1917, the US Navy led a convoy organization.
Navy-protected convoys were less vulnerable to submarine attack.
Better patrolling and convoys greatly reduced shipping losses.
The German submarines' strategic mission failed by war's end.
The American Expeditionary Force in France
By the end of the war, the American army had 4 million men, 2 million of whom were in France, thanks to volunteers and the draft.
In November 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution ended Russian war participation.
German troops flooded France.
By June 1918, they were 50 miles from Paris after a series of offensives.
Americans stopped the German advance on Paris at Chateau-Thierry.
September saw the AEF eliminate a German salient at St. Mihiel.
The American Meuse-Argonne Offensive began in late September and lasted until November.
This massive offensive involved a million American soldiers, cut a vital German supply line, and convinced the enemy they had lost the war.
On November 11, 1918, Germany declared an armistice.
The war killed 115,000 Americans, half of whom died in battle and the rest from disease, including the 1918 flu pandemic.
The 8 million European deaths dwarfed these losses.
Eddie Rickenbacker, the leading American flying ace, and Alvin York, who killed 25 German soldiers and captured 132 more in the Meuse-Argonne fighting, returned home heroes.
The Home Front
The government sought ways to engage Americans in the war.
Liberty Bonds could help civilians fund the war.
Celebrities like Charlie Chaplin promoted these bonds as a patriotic act.
In a massive regulatory expansion, the federal government took over most of the economy.
Food production and consumption were regulated by the 1917 Lever Food and Fuel Control Act.
The Food Administration was led by Herbert Hoover, famous for feeding European refugees.
Here, he increased food production and promoted "Wheatless Mondays" and "Meatless Tuesdays" to save food.
Farmers needed more time to harvest, so daylight saving time was introduced.
Fuel was conserved by a Fuel Administration.
It promoted "Fuelless Mondays" and "Gasless Sundays" to help Americans.
War production was supported by industrial resource allocation by the War Industries Board (WIB).
By the end of the war, the WIB was harnessing the nation's industrial might under Wall Street tycoon Bernard Baruch.
Railroads were under government control, allowing transportation priorities.
This unprecedented control of the economy has led some historians to view World War I as Progressivism's apex.
The government had powers that were unthinkable a few years earlier due to the wartime emergency.
Much of this was achieved with business and farm leaders' cooperation thanks to administrators like Baruch and Hoover.
The New Deal and World War II government agencies were modeled after World War I's economic mobilization.
But such an increase in government power also raised concerns about freedom.
Progressivism's triumph would provoke a backlash.
Regulating Thought
Regulation of public speech ultimately discredited government power.
In 1917, the government established the Committee on Public Information (CPI).
The CPI informed Americans about the war under journalist George Creel.
Explaining became propaganda. Lectures, books, posters, and films portrayed Germans as barbarians.
Newspapers were encouraged to censor anti-war stories by Creel.
Liberty Leagues were formed across the US to spy on neighbors and report any suspicious activity or disloyal talk to the authorities.
The war increased distrust of immigrants and "hyphenated Americans," especially German Americans.
Congress was convinced to test immigrants' literacy by the National Security League.
German music, food, and language were banned in some communities due to anti-German hysteria.
Individual German Americans were harassed or worse.
In April 1918, a German-American man who had joined the navy was mobbed and lynched in St. Louis.
Dissent was suppressed legally by the federal government. Interfering with the draft was illegal under the 1917 Espionage Act, and postal authorities could seize treasonous mail.
Criticizing the government, Constitution, or armed forces was illegal under the 1918 Sedition Act.
Thousands of Americans were charged with violating these laws, and over 1,000 were convicted.
For opposing the war, Eugene Debs was imprisoned.
Robert Goldstein, a film producer, was sentenced to three years in prison for making a film about the American Revolution in which the British were portrayed as villains.
Because the British were allies in the war, this previously unexceptionable view of the struggle for American independence was deemed sedition.
The government used these laws to break up radical organizations like the IWW.
Social Change
The war opened up economic possibilities for African Americans.
With millions of men entering the military and wartime demands on their capacity, northern industries needed workers.
African Americans living in the South moved north in the Great Migration.
During the war, 600,000 African Americans made this journey.
The war also made it possible for women to step into jobs that had not been open to them before the war.
Although most would leave these positions once the soldiers began returning home, their efforts during the war would help make the case for women’s suffrage.
Wilson and the Peace
Wilson wanted to lead the postwar international order.
He published his Fourteen Points, an idealistic program to build a peaceful world, while the war was still going on.
It included open diplomacy (no more secret military treaties), freedom of the seas, national self-determination, and a League of Nations.
Wilson attended the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, defying presidential precedent.
The "Big Four" allies—Britain, France, Italy, and the US—would lead peacemaking.
While ordinary Europeans hailed Wilson as a hero for his inspiring vision of a better future, the other allied leaders were less impressed and determined to press their national interests.
Wilson wanted a Fourteen Points peace, but the French wanted to punish Germany.
Wilson made many concessions during the tough Paris negotiations.
Germany had to apologize for starting the war and pay reparations to France and Britain.
Germany lost colonies, 10% of its territory, and most of its military.
German diplomats had to sign the Treaty of Versailles or be invaded.
German resentment over this treatment sparked World War II.
Wilson was disappointed by the Treaty of Versailles, but he thought the League of Nations would allow it to be fixed.
Americans and the Middle East
The United States had little interest in the Middle East until Theodore Roosevelt's diplomatic involvement in the 1905–1906 Moroccan crisis.
Great Power rivalries during and after World War I focused American attention on the region.
Turkey, or the Ottoman Empire, ruled much of the Middle East before the war.
For over a century, Turkey had been declining.
The empire's leaders hoped to stop this decline by joining the Central Powers. This was a big mistake.
The Ottoman Empire fell after defeat in the war.
Jews inspired by Zionism had been settling in Ottoman-ruled Palestine since the late nineteenth century.
The Balfour Declaration, which supported a Jewish state in Palestine, was issued by the British in 1917 to weaken the Turks.
A Jewish state was also supported by President Wilson.
Many American Jews gave Zionists money.
Turkish authorities became wary of the empire's Armenian minority as the war turned against them.
In 1915, the Christian Armenians were massacred and starved by the Turks.
American missionaries and diplomats spread the word of these atrocities.
The Armenian genocide was protested by thousands of Americans in 1916 and 1917.
The breakup of the Ottoman Empire was American policy under President Wilson.
He also wanted the German and Austro-Hungarian empires to fall.
He called for "autonomous political development" in all Central Power-ruled territories.
The US was authorized to form the King-Crane Commission to study Middle Eastern political aspirations at the Paris Peace Conference.
According to the King-Crane Commission, Middle Easterners wanted independence.
The British and French who defeated the Turks were deeply mistrusted.
The Middle Eastern people preferred the Americans to control territory if any of the Allies were given a mandate.
They believed the Americans had no long-term interests in the region.
Britain and France's imperial ambitions were challenged by the King-Crane Commission.
These Allies buried the commission's report.
The British and French split most of the Middle East.
The British received mandates in Palestine, Transjordan, and Iraq, and the French in Lebanon and Syria.
Saudi Arabia alone was independent by the early 1920s.
Woodrow Wilson’s Defeat
The Constitution requires a two-thirds Senate vote to ratify all treaties.
Wilson did not include a senator in his Paris delegation.
Despite Republicans controlling both houses of Congress in 1918, he failed to bring a prominent Republican politician.
Wilson returned to the US to find Republicans opposed to the Treaty of Versailles.
Most Republican and some Democratic senators worried that the League's collective security provisions would draw the US into more wars.
Twelve senators were "irreconcilables" and refused to vote for the treaty and League.
Most Republicans followed Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Henry Cabot Lodge.
Lodge wanted the American ratification of the treaty to include League reservations.
This made his supporters "reservationists."
Lodge wanted to ensure that the League of Nations would not invalidate the Monroe Doctrine and that Congress would authorize American military actions on behalf of the League.
Important European leaders stated that they preferred the treaty's passage with reservations to its Senate failure. Wilson refused to compromise.
The president was too committed to the League to give in to his critics. Wilson's health was declining.
In September 1919, he embarked on a grueling speaking tour to persuade Americans about the League.
A stroke disabled Wilson on October 2.
The president recovered partially, but the stroke made him less willing to compromise, including on the League.
Wilson ordered loyal Democratic senators to vote against the League with reservations.
In 1919 and 1920, the Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations due to the reservationists' and irreconcilables' strong positions.
America never joined the League of Nations.
This severely weakened the League, which failed to prevent World War II.
The United States would remain active in world affairs in the 1920s after rejecting the League.
In 1921, Wilson left office physically broken.
His successor, Warren G. Harding, signed separate peace treaties with the former Central Powers that year to end America's involvement in World War I.