American literature - přednášky

18. 10.

The US in WWI

• The US remained on the sidelines of WWI, adopting the policy of neutrality favoured by President Woodrow Wilson

• They tried to support their economic – they played It both ways → commerce and shipping with European countries on both sides of the conflict

• Neutrality, however, was increasing difficult to maintain in the face of Germany’s unchecked submarine aggression

• the sinking by U-boat of the British ocean liner Lusitania—traveling from New York to Liverpool, England with hundreds of American passengers onboard—in May 1915 helped turn the tide of American public opinion against Germany – many people died because of these attacks, that helped to turn American public opinion against Germany

• Wilson ordered the arming od American ships so that they could defend themselves against U-boat attacks

• German submarines sank three US merchant ships during March with heavy loss of life – many Americans died

• Wilson, supported by his Cabinet, by most newspapers, and by a large segment of public opinion, made the decision on March 20 for the United States to declare war on Germany – that was because Americans died, huge economic losses because of Americans died

• The United States later declared war on German ally Austria-Hungary on December 7, 1917

• The Allies’ military effort against Germany was upheld by U.S. supplies and by enormous extensions of credit

• The United States’ production of armaments met not only its own needs but also France’s and Great Britain’s

• American loans to the Allies worth $7,000,000,000 between 1917 and the end of the war maintained the flow of U.S. arms and food across the Atlantic – that’s what they needed to win the war – not only for US, but also for France and ?

• System of conscription was introduced by the Selective Service Act of May 18, 1917 (1917 is important to know)

• There were only 85,000 U.S. troops in France when the Germans launched their last great offensive in March 1918; but there were 1,200,000 there by the following September

• The U.S. commander in Europe was General John J. Pershing

• The sweeping domestic propaganda campaign executed by the Committee on Public Information, overseen by George Creel

• tens of thousands of government-selected community leaders giving brief carefully scripted pro-war speeches at thousands of public gatherings - they had posters and speeches to convince public that it’s important to take part in war

• General repression and harassment of people either opposed to American entry into the war or of German heritage

• Rumors about a German-induced attempt to start uprising among Black Americans caused a wave of lynchings to occur in the Southern United States

• Other forms of propaganda included newsreels, photos, large-print posters

• 1917 - the United States maintained only a small army, one which was in fact smaller than thirteen of the nations and empires already active in the war

• Selective Service Act - 4 million men into military service were drafted. By the summer of 1918, about 2 million US soldiers had arrived in France; by the Armistice of November 11 approximately 10,000 fresh soldiers were arriving in France daily – the US dropped 4 million..

• In 1917, Congress gave US citizenship to Puerto Ricans when they were drafted to participate in World War I, as part of the Jones Act – another strategy to convince people to take part in war

• Germany overestimated the effectiveness of U-boats in slowing the American buildup – they tried to slow down transfer

• The Germans were unable to replace their losses – their sources were limited = advantage of Allies

• The US helped the British Empire, French and Portuguese forces defeat and turn back the powerful final German offensive (Spring Offensive of March to July, 1918)

• The Americans played a role in the Allied final offensive (Hundred Days Offensive of August to November)

• The Allies achieved victory over Germany on November 11, 1918

• The U.S. declaration of war also set an example to other states in the Western Hemisphere: Cuba, Panama, Haiti, Brazil, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Honduras were all at war with Germany by the end of July 1918

• Dominican Republic, Peru, Uruguay, and Ecuador contented themselves with the severance of relations. – they stopped business with Germany

• The Turks signed a treaty with the Allies in late October 1918

• Austria-Hungary - an armistice on November 4

• Germany was finally forced to seek an armistice on November 11, 1918, ending World War I

• the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, Allied leaders stated their desire to build a post-war world that would safeguard itself against future conflicts of such devastating scale – this is why it was called Great war

• the Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28, 1919, would not achieve that lofty goal

• Germany felt tricked into signing the treaty

• Fourteen points – Wilson’s idealism

• Eight treated specific territorial issues among the combatant nations.

• Five of the other six concerned general principles for a peaceful world: open covenants (i.e. treaties or agreements) openly arrived at; freedom of the seas; free trade; reduction of armaments; and adjustment of colonial claims based on the principles of self-determination

• The fourteenth point proposed what was to become the League of Nations to guarantee the “political independence and territorial integrity [of] great and small states alike.”