World War I
The United States joined the First World War in 1917. The war brought victory abroad, repression at home, and a bitter debate over America's global role.
Causes of the war
World War I began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. Underlying causes included militarism, alliance systems, imperial rivalries, and nationalism, often remembered with the acronym MAIN. The Allies (Britain, France, Russia) fought the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire).
American neutrality
President Wilson declared neutrality, but trade and loans tied the US increasingly to Britain and France. Germany's submarine warfare killed Americans, most notably when a U-boat sank the British liner Lusitania in 1915, killing 128 Americans among nearly 1,200 dead.
Entering the war
In early 1917, Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare, and the Zimmermann Telegram, a German proposal for Mexico to join the war against the US in return for lost territory, was revealed. Congress declared war in April 1917. Wilson framed the war as making 'the world safe for democracy'.
The American Expeditionary Forces
The Selective Service Act (1917) drafted millions of men. Under General John Pershing, about two million American soldiers reached France, arriving in large numbers in 1918 and helping stop Germany's final offensives. About 116,000 Americans died, roughly half of them from disease, including the 1918 influenza pandemic.
The home front
The government mobilised the economy through agencies such as the War Industries Board, sold Liberty Bonds, and promoted the war through the Committee on Public Information. The Espionage Act (1917) and Sedition Act (1918) punished criticism of the war; socialist leader Eugene Debs was imprisoned for an anti-war speech. Black workers moved north for war jobs, accelerating the Great Migration.
Wilson's Fourteen Points
In January 1918, Wilson outlined the Fourteen Points: open diplomacy, freedom of the seas, free trade, arms reduction, national self-determination, and a League of Nations to keep the peace. The armistice ending the fighting came on 11 November 1918.
The Treaty of Versailles and the League
The 1919 Treaty of Versailles imposed harsh terms on Germany, including blame for the war and heavy reparations. It created the League of Nations, but the US Senate, led by Henry Cabot Lodge and others worried about losing independence in foreign policy, rejected the treaty. The United States never joined the League.
Worked example
A young Black man from Mississippi might move to Chicago in 1917 for a factory job, then be drafted and serve in a segregated unit in France, where some Black regiments, such as the 369th Infantry 'Harlem Hellfighters', fought with distinction under French command. Returning home in 1919, he might face the violent 'Red Summer' of race riots, showing how war-for-democracy rhetoric clashed with reality.
Key takeaways
WWI began in 1914, driven by militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism. The US stayed neutral until submarine warfare and the Zimmermann Telegram led it to war in April 1917. About two million Americans reached France; about 116,000 died. The home front saw mobilisation and repression of dissent. Wilson's Fourteen Points proposed a League of Nations. The Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles, and the US never joined the League.
Flashcard
Assassinated 1914
Check your understanding
Why did the United States never join the League of Nations?