The United States in

World War I

Sunk on May 7, 1915.

1200 died, 127 were Americans

The Sinking of the Lusitania

Just after the war began, President Wilson declared that the United States would remain neutral.

This response was called isolationism—a policy of not being involved in the affairs of other nations.

The U.S. was supplying the Allies. By 1917, Britain was purchasing $75 million worth of war goods from American businesses each week.

United States Stays Neutral

In 1915, Germany announced that the waters around Great Britain would be a war zone in which Germany would destroy all enemy ships.

This angered most Americans and caused tensions to rise between the United States and Germany.

German Submarine Warfare

In 1916, Wilson assured Americans that he would not send troops to Europe.

He proposed a “peace without victory,” which angered the Allies.

The Allies wanted the central powers to pay for wartime damage and destruction.

Germany resumed unrestricted sub warfare on February 1, 1917, and days later, Wilson asked Congress for the authority to install guns on U.S. merchant ships.

Wilson’s re-election

Germany sent a telegram to a German official in Mexico.

It proposed an alliance between Germany and Mexico.

If Mexico joined Germany in the war efforts, Germany would help Mexico reclaim lost territory in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona.

The plan backfired.

The Zimmerman Note

The British intercepted the Zimmerman Note, decoded it, and sent it to American officials.

Once in the newspapers, more Americans began to call for war against Germany, but Wilson still resisted.

The Russian Revolution, and more German sub warfare eventually caused the U.S. to declare war on April 6, 1917.

On May 18, 1917, the U.S. passed the Selective Service Act, which required men between the ages of 21 and 30 to register to be drafted into the armed forces.

The army was not ready to go to war and had to spend time training recruits, and obtaining supplies.

Americans in Europe

African American soldiers were segregated into separate units.

Many objected to African American soldiers being trained to use the weapons.

Latinos also experienced discrimination. Many did not speak English, and once they

completed the training for English speaking skills, they would fight with other American troops.

Segregation in the Army

The first U.S. troops arrived in France in late June 1917.

The convoy system was used to transport the troops.

When American troops arrived in France, the Allies desperately needed help and wanted the Americans to start fighting as soon as they arrived.

Arriving in Europe

In November 1917, the Bolsheviks took control of Russia’s government and set up communism.

The leader, Lenin withdrew the Russian army from the Eastern front and signed a peace treaty with the central powers.

March 1918, Germany launched a series of attacks on the Allies.

By late May, the Germans had pushed the Allies back to the Marne River, 70 miles northeast of Paris.

Allied Setbacks

American troops finally saw combat after 12 months of being in France.

They soon learned to dig trenches and set up barbed wire.

The American troops were a major factor in the war.

U.S. Troops in Action

Some women also signed up to serve overseas.

The U.S. Army Signal Corps recruited French speaking American women to serve as switchboard operators.

They were known as “Hello Girls” and kept the lines of communication open between the front lines and headquarters.

American Military Women

During the war, more than 20,000 nurses served in the U.S. Army.

Women also served in the Navy and marines as typists, bookkeepers, radio operators, electricians, or telegraphers.

On July 15, 1918, the Germans launched their last offensive at the Second Battle of the Marne.

During the fighting, the U.S. had blown up every bridge the Germans had built across the Marne River.

The German army retreated on August 3.

The War Ends

The Allies began a counterattack in September 1918.

By November, the Allies reached and occupied the hills around Sedan, France, near Belgium.

By late 1918, the war was crippling the German economy, civilians lacked food and supplies, food riots and strikes broke out in Germany and revolution swept across Austria-Hungary.

There was no motivation for Central Power soldiers to fight.

The Armistice

In early November, Austria Hungary signed a peace agreement with the Allies.

The Allies demanded that Germany leave all territories it had occupied, surrender its aircraft, heavy artillery, tanks, and U-boats, and allow Allied troops to occupy some German territories.

On November 11, 1918 at 11:00, the armistice went into effect, and the Great War was over.

Some 8.5 million people had been killed, and this was seen as the “War to end all Wars.”