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AMERICA IN WORLD WAR I

U.S. DECLARES WAR!!

April 6, 1917, at President Wilson’s request, Congress declared war on Germany.

NOW THE US HAS TO PREPARE FOR WAR

DRAFTS

May 1917- Selective Service Act aka a draft

• 24 million registered• 3 million were drafted• Women could enlist (not for combat)• African Americans

• Served in segregated units• Couldn’t join the marines• Very few officers• Received the worst jobs

• Drafts during the Civil War were rioted against• Now drafts seemed to be needed because this

was the “war to end all wars”

GETTING READY FOR WAR

• Draftees would have to be trained

• September 1918 – began arriving a training camps• Learned to fire guns, dig trenches, use bayonet, dig a trench, put on a

gas mask, and throw a grenade

• Draftees would have only a few weeks from the time they arrived at camps to the time they were sent to Europe to fight

• The Convoy System

• To combat Unrestricted Submarine Warfare, ships began traveling in convoys

• A group of unarmed ships surrounded by a ring of destroyers, torpedo boats, and other armed naval vessels equipped with hydrophones to detect submarines

• Merchant ships losses dropped in half

GETTING READY FOR WAR CONTINUED

• American Soldiers in Europe

• American troops kept separate from Triple Entente soldiers• Healthier, stronger, more energy, and not demoralized• Pushed ahead of the British and French soldiers on the

front lines• 300k African-American soldiers were segregated from white

soldiers• Not accepted in the Marines – 1942 first would be

accepted• Harlem Hell Fighters

• Integrated with the French army and would

Earn the highest French combat metal – Croix de Guerre

TURNING THE TIDE OF WAR

• Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks over through the Republican government in Russia – November 1917

• Lenin signs treaty with Germany giving them West Russian industrial and rich farmlands

• Russia withdraw from the war allowing Germany to focus on a one fronted war

• Germany had one last attack on the Triple Entente before the US would arrive

• For the 1st time since 1914 Germany fought past the trenches and would make to 50 miles outside of Paris – May 1918

AMERICANS SAVE PARIS

• The Second Battle of Marne – 28k US troops joined the French and stopped a massive attack by the Germans

• Forced Germans back across the Marne and ended Germany’s hope for victory

• Tanks allowed for troops to cross trenches and roll through barded wire with ease

• August 8th, 1918 – Battle of Amiens – Entente troops stopped the Central Powers advancing and retook claimed lands

• General Von Ludendorff says “black day of the German army”• Advised the Central Powers to enter into a peace treaty with the

US• Only wanted a total surrender

• War in the Air

• Only 55 planes when the war started• Planes were built w/ wood frames mostly with open air cockpits• 1918 over 1,500 planes

• Organized bombing took place to confuse and frighten enemy troops• Not accurate at destroying targets

ENDING THE WAR• The Central Power began collapsing one by one

• Germany continued to beg for peace before fighting would reach German soil

• Still refused until Germany agreed to “total surrender”• Kaiser Wilhelm II retreated to Holland which allowed for a

new German Republic• Signed an armistice, or cease fire, on November 11, 1918

• 6 hours later all fighting had come to an end