World War I
The American Pageant p 688-694 (you read/outlined this with the last chapter)
Chapter 30, The War to End War, 1917-1918 p. 696-718
Amsco AP Review: Chapter 22, p. 447-462
When the war erupted in Europe, the US quickly announced a position of neutrality. We did not want to get involved in the tangled mess that existed in Europe since the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The European nations had formed an extensive system of alliances in 1815 that evolved as the world inched toward war in 1914. When Russia declares war on Serbia all of Europe will be dragged into the war. The alliances are as follows:
Triple Entente Triple Alliance
AKA The Allies AKA the Central Powers
France Austro-Hungarian Empire
England (Great Britain) Germany
Russia Ottoman Empire
Serbia Italy (at first)
Eventually the US
Italy flip-flops
Germany, however, will emerge as the menace of this war: they threaten not only the Europeans of the Triple Entente but also the neutrality of the US. They will unleash unlimited submarine warfare on the world and eventually try to entice Mexico to go to war on their side against the US (this is the final straw for us!).
Since we had been imperialistic and, following the advice of Admiral Alfred T. Mahan, we had been building up our military, especially the navy. Wilson will arouse the country to patriotic heights by making the war an idealistic crusade for democracy. He actually states, kind of arrogantly, that we will fight in this war, “To make the world safe for democracy!” and that this will be, “The war to end all wars!” Oops! We will finally declare war on the Triple Alliance in 1917 but it will take nearly a year for us to get the heck over there. We will fight in 2 major/decisive battles, kick some German butt, and come home glorified and ready to party it up in the Jazz Age of the 1920s! Bring on the Ballyhoo!
1. Do PEDLIGS p 462 Amsco AP Review
2. Outline Chapter 30 in Bailey
3. Read all documents for this chapter. I will tell you when we’re going to use each one in class so you don’t have to read them all at once.
4. We’ll also be working on a photo “essay” for this chapter so you might want to start looking at some pictures on the web and see what aspect of WWI interests you the most.
5. Good WWI web sites are as follows:
http://www.worldwar1.com/reflib.htm Trenches on the Web
http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/ WWI document Archive
www.firstworldwar.com AWESOME
Read this about the HORRORS OF THE TRENCHES!!
The British Generals on the Western Front had a policy of attack; trench warfare was only considered to be temporary and they saw no point in supplying materials to make the front line habitable as it was anticipated that the trenches would be used only as a starting position for the next attack. Indeed, it was seriously thought that the soldiers aggressive spirit would be eroded if the trenches were too comfortable! As a result the soldiers had to live, fight, eat, sleep, wash and defecate in a narrow trench which was open to the elements, and often flooded for weeks at a time. The men's attempts to dig sleeping holes or "pozzies" in the rear of the trench was soon to be forbidden following a number of cave-ins in the wet weather when the occupants of the holes were buried. The men were subsequently expected to sleep wherever they could; in wet weather they lived under groundsheets or tents in the bottom of the trench on duckboards. The forward wall of the trench, known by the soldiers as the "horizon" was constantly under enemy observation and any part of the body which was poked over the top was promptly shot by snipers. The front line was regularly bombarded by mortars or high explosive shells, and often bombed or machine gunned by enemy aircraft.
This was bad enough in summer, but it is almost impossible to imagine what it was like to live in a waterlogged or snow and ice filled trench in midwinter for weeks at a time; even fires were forbidden because the smoke would attract enemy attention and the men could only huddle together for warmth, thus increasing the risk of louse infestation.
Latrines were ideally dug behind the front line trenches but obviously these could not be used during enemy attacks and a small pit was usually dug in the front line trench to accommodate the men; as the war progressed, if the trench was demolished by shell fire, dead bodies were incorporated in the repaired trench wall and the stench of putrefaction was added to that of urine and feces. It needs no imagination to understand what the trench conditions were like after the trench had been recently shelled!