Chapter 11 – The First World War
Chapter Objective: To understand the causes of WWI, the reasons the United States entered the war in 1917, and the consequences of the war.
Section 1: World War I Begins
Main Idea: As WWI intensified, the United States was forced to abandon its neutrality.
Objective: Identify the long-term causes and immediate circumstance that led to WWI.
Questions:
1. Explain and provide examples of the long-term causes led to WWI? (Hint: MAIN)
2. What alliances divided Europe in 1914?
3. What was the immediate spark that caused the outbreak of WWI? (Hint: spark that lit the powder keg)
4. Why were so many nations pulled into the conflict?
Objective: Describe the first two years of the war.
Questions:
5. What was Germany’s Schlieffen Plan?
6. What was the new style of warfare that developed in Europe (especially along the western front)?
7. Describe the style of fighting along the Western Front.
Objective: Summarize U.S. public opinion about the war.
Questions:
8. What motivated those who opposed entering the war?
9. What motivated those who favored American entry into the war?
10. What factors increased American sympathy for the Allies?
Objective: Explain why the United States entered the war.
Questions:
11. Why did the German threat to sink all ships in British waters help push the United States to declare war?
12. What was the impact of the Zimmermann Note?
13. What were the events that convinced the United States that neutrality was no longer an option?
Section 2: American Power Tips the Balance
Main Idea: The United States mobilized a large army and navy to help the Allies achieve victory.
Objective: Describe how the United States mobilized for war.
Questions:
14. How did the United States raise an army during WWI?
15. How did the United States expand its navy so quickly?
Objective: Summarize U.S. battlefield successes.
Questions:
16. What was the significance of the convoy system?
17. How did the arrival of new American troops affect the spirit of the Allied troops?
Objective: Identify the new weapons of and the medical problems faced in WWI.
Questions:
18. Who led the American troops in Europe?
19. What new weapons and tactics were developed to overcome the stalemate in the trenches?
20. How did medical services respond to the physical and emotional wounds suffered by the soldiers?
Objective: Describe U.S. offensives and the end of the war.
Questions:
21. In what six important battles did the U.S. troops fight? What were the outcomes of those battles?
22. What made Alvin York a hero?
23. What caused the collapse of Germany?
Section 3: The War at Home
Main Idea: WWI spurred social, political, and economic change in the United States.
Objective: Explain how business and government cooperated during the war.
Questions:
24. Why was the WIB established?
25. How did the war affect the U.S. economy?
26. Why was the War Labor Board established? How did the WLB help the United States’ war efforts?
27. How did the U.S. civilians respond to the war?
Objective: Show how the government promoted the war.
Questions:
28. How did the government finance the war?
29. How did the government build support for the war? (included specific agencies and their actions)
Objective: Describe the attacks on civil liberties during the war.
Questions:
30. What groups were main targets for anti-immigrant hysteria during the war?
31. How did the Espionage and Sedition Acts affect civil liberties, especially free speech, in the United States?
Objective: Summarize the social changes that affected African Americans and women.
Questions:
32. What was the Great Migration?
33. What new opportunities did the war offer to women?
34. What were the effects of the worldwide flu epidemic that erupted during the war?
Historic Decisions of the Supreme Court - Schenck v. United States (1919)
Objective: To study the legal reasoning behind the Supreme Court’s opinion and the historical and contemporary significance of this case for freedom of speech.
Question:
35. What was Justice Holmes’ main argument in the Court’s opinion in Schenck?
Section 4: Wilson Fights for Peace
Main Idea: European leaders opposed most of Wilson’s peace plan, and the U.S. Senate failed to ratify the peace treaty.
Objective: Summarize Wilson’s Fourteen Points
Questions:
36. What were Wilson’s Fourteen Points?
37. Why did the Allies reject most of Wilson’s peace plan?
Objective: Describe the Treaty of Versailles and the international and domestic reactions to it.
Questions:
38. What were the main provisions of the Treaty of Versailles?
39. What were some of the weaknesses of the Treaty?
40. How did Americans react to the Treaty?
41. Explain American support for and opposition to ratification of the Treaty of Versailles and membership in the League of Nations?
Objective: Explain some of the consequences of the war.
Questions:
42. Why did Germany object to the Treaty of Versailles?
43. How did the war affect Germany?
44. How did the war affect U.S. power and prestige in the world?