![]() ![]() (Blackjack) Pershing, got to France and saw combat by early 1918. The AEF saw significant victories in Chatteau-Thierry and Belleau Wood on the Western Front.įor the first time US troops were shipped oversea in late 1917, millions of European soldiers on both sides had already died in trench warfare made more murderous in the industrial age by heavy artillery, machine guns, poison gas, tanks, and airplanes. Most of the American Expeditionary Force, commanded by General John K. The US eventually registered 9.5 million men for the draft after the passage of the Selective Service Act in 1917. WWI is considered by some the first truly industrialized war, with all kinds of nasty inventions being used to kill humans for the first time on a massive scale: trenches, fully-automatic machine guns, air planes, poison gas, and tanks made the war truly horrific, especially when paired with the initial, outdated tactics used by both sides that resulted in terribly costly charges against entrenched enemies. □ Watch: AP US History - Progressive Era and WWI US in CombatĪlthough not a huge deal in APUSH, it helps to know a bit about what warfare was like during WWI. Congress then approved the construction of more than 50 warships in just one year. After a nationwide speaking tour on behalf of preparedness, Wilson finally convinced Congress to pass the National Defense Act in June 1916, which increased the regular army to a force of nearly 175,000. Wilson urged Congress to approve an ambitious expansion of the armed forces. They pushed for “ preparedness” (greater defense expenditures). Many recognized that the US military was hopelessly unprepared for a major war. He meant without German militarism taking over, but failed to see the hypocrisy when it came to imperialism/colonialism Preparedness He said we needed to help Europe resist German despotism/tyranny and to “make the world safe for democracy” by allowing each country to rule itself without outside interference. They were almost right.įinally, Woodrow Wilson, who had initially won reelection in 1916 with the slogan “He kept us out of war!”, framed the war in humanitarian terms and with democratic values. They gambled that they could starve Great Britain into peace talks before the ticked-off US had time to mobilize and react. In that telegram, the Germans also announced they would be going back on their pledge not to sink US ships. The Zimmerman telegram was a message from Germany to Mexico-decoded and shared by the British-that urged Mexico to invade the US to keep the US occupied in exchange for German support for Mexico taking back parts of the Mexican Cession (1848). Third, the Zimmerman Telegram and resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare in 1917 tipped the scales and the US joined the war. The US did NOT join the war at this point, partly because the Germans apologized and pledged not to sink US ships again, but… ![]() (The boat was also carrying weapons for the British in violation of US neutrality, but the US initially denied it). ![]() The most famous incident was the sinking of the HMS Lusitania in 1915, which killed 123 Americans. In fact, they often destroyed lives too as the boats they attacked sank with crew and cargo. This meant they attacked Great-Britain-bound goods from underwater and did not confiscate or compensate. The Germans, by contrast, could not compete with the British Navy and relied on U-Boats, or submarines. Second, although the British were stopping US ships trying to trade with the Central Powers using their superior blue-water navy, they usually confiscated and bought the trade goods. German U-Boats and Sinking of the Lusitania The US was loaning vastly more money to the Allies (about $2.5 billion eventually) than to the Central Powers ($56 million). This diplomatic action placed American interests primarily in the Allies and created a political rift between the US and Germany in particular. ![]() This neutrality started to fail because of a few facts/events. British, especially) and because he wanted the US to play an impartial role in making a peace deal. The president at the time, Woodrow Wilson, wanted to keep the US out of WWI for a variety of reasons, not least because the US was a nation of immigrants (Germans vs. In good ol’ (George) Washingtonian tradition, the US tried to stay neutral and out of foreign alliances. ![]()
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