After WWI: Harding

 Book 9 Chapter 7

After WWI Lesson 1: Red Summer of 1919

It's known as the Red Summer, but it actually stretched well into the fall of 1919. From April through November of that year, a wave of white mobs attacked Black communities in cities across the country, killing hundreds, if not thousands of civilians. Red Summer refers to the blood they shed.

The post World War I period was marked by a spike in racial violence, much of it directed toward African American veterans returning from Europe, where they were often treated much better there than by white Americans, despite their brave service to the country. The bloodiest incident occurred in Elaine, Arkansas, where it is estimated that over 100 African Americans were killed. The racial violence of the Red Summer erupted in many other Southern locations as well as in the North, most notably in Chicago. The presence of racial hostility in the North was partly a reaction of Northern whites to the large influx of African Americans into Northern cities during the Great Migration, though this hostility did not prevent large numbers of African Americans from heading North.

Watch this video on the Red Summer.

Read the Tulsa Race Riots and the Red Summer of 1919.  Pay attention to the lynching map on page 5 - no state was exempt (except Utah) even though some of them are worse than others.

WWI Lesson 13: The Spanish Flu

Influenza—more specifically the Spanish flu—left its devastating mark in both world and American history in 1918.  The microscopic killer circled the entire globe in four months, claiming the lives of more than 21 million people. The United States lost 675,000 people to the Spanish flu in 1918-more casualties than World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War combined. Pharmaceutical companies worked around the clock to come up with a vaccine to fight the Spanish flu, but they were too late. The virus disappeared before they could even isolate it.

• Read Book 9 Chapter 3.
• Read pages 34-39 in Outbreak.  

WWI Lesson 12: Ending the Fighting

After more than two years of exhausting fighting that gave neither side a significant advantage, teh war finally approached its turning point in 1917.  The collapse of Russia's monarchy early that year gave Germany hope that Russia would drop out of the war.  When that happened, Germany would be able to move nearly one million troops from the east to the western front.  America's entry into the war in April increased Germany's desire for Russia to quit fighting.  Germany's strategy in 1917 was to close down it's eastern front and then end the war in the west before American forces could make a difference.  It did not expect the Americans to be ready to fight quickly.  Meanwhile, German submarines continued to sink Allied ships as fast as they could as part of  Germany's strategy to starve the Allies into submission.

Russia did drop out of the war as Germany hoped, and the Americans were as slow to get involved in fighting as it expected.  Nevertheless, Germany failed to defeat France and Great Britain in 1917.  By early 1918, Germany itself was in a desperate situation: by that point, its leaders knew that if they did not win the war quickly, they stood no chance of winning.  So, for the first time since the opening of the war, Germany switched from a primarily defensive strategy to an offensive one.  Even so, the war would drag on through most of the year.

Without Germany's reinforcements from the eastern front, the Allies might have won the war sooner.  Instead, as spring opened in 1918, German troops on the western front outnumbered those of the Allies for the first time since early in the war.  With fresh American troops arriving in France at a rate of about 10,000 a day, Germany had to act quickly to keep its numerical advantage.  Ultimately, it was unsuccesful and a stalemate ensued again.

While American troops were helping defeat the Germans through the summer of 1918, mounting troubles within Germany and Austria-Hungary were ensuring the Central Powers' doom.  Citizens of both countries were fed up with war and their political leaders.  

Early in the morning of November 11, 1918 the German representatives signed an armistice agreement.  Its terms called for cease-fire at 11:00 AM on the same day - the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year.    Many countires still celebrate November 11th as Armistice day, and we consider it Veteran's day here in the US.

• Read Book 9 Chapters 1 and 2 on the end of war and Treaty of Versailles.  
• Look at this summary of Wilson's Fourteen Points

(NOTE:  While Wilson tried to create the League of  Nations, the United States never joined because the US Senate refused to ratify the treaty.  The league eventually failed because of its inability to prevent another world war.  In 1946, after the second world war ended, it was replaced by the United Nations.  The league's failure was almost guaranteed by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.  The harsh economic conditions imposed on Germany caused a negative backlash that made the treaty itself the object of German hostility.  As early as 1922, Adolf Hitler gave a speech against the Treaty.  During the late 1920s, the Nationalist Society, or Nazi, Party rose in Germany on the issue of the treaty.  In 1933, Hitler, the leader of the party, became chancellor of Germany.  Under his rule, Germany systematically undid all the restrictions the treaty had placed on it and went to start another world war.)

WWI History Lesson 11: The Home Fronts

In addition to its unprecedented geographical extent, World War I introduced something else new to warfare by affecting civilian populations in ways never before experienced.  Aerial bombing and long-range artillery brought the terrors of combat directly into civilian homes.  The need to keep vast forces constantly supplied with food, equipment, arms and ammunition, airplanes, ships, and vehicles at the same time able-bodied men were being lost to military service taxed countries to their breaking points.  Governments assumed even greater control over every aspect of peoples' lives.

As the war groudn on, it affected more and more apsects of the daily lives of civilians.  Accustomed freedoms were taken away, shortages of all kinds of consumer goods made life harder, traveling became more difficult, and life in general became harsher and less comfortalbe.  At the same time, people grew more anxious about how the war was going, and more and more families lost sons, brothers, and fathers in the fighting.

Despire the general hardening of conditions and miseries that people suffered, the war brought positive changes.  In most of the countries, it helped break down social class distinctions.  Even more significantly, it advanced the emancipation of women by bringing them into the workplace, thereby widening their future economic opportunities.  It also helped them win the right to vote in several countries after long years of struggling for political equality.  In Great Britain, for example, the Representation of the People Act of 1918 lowered the voting age for men to 18 to reward young soldiers returning from the war.  For their contributions to the war effort, women were also granted some voting rights.  Full voting equality would not come until 1928, but the 1918 law was a huge turning point.

•  Watch America in the 20th Century: WW1 on the Homefront
• Read Century for Young People pages 33-41. 
• Read Treaties, Trenches, Mud and Blood pages 115-124

WWI History Lesson 10: Enter the United States

 When the United States finally declared war on Germany in early 1917, World War I was already two and a half years old.  American involvement in the war did not begin then, however.  During its years as a neutral power, the United States has supplied large quantities of vital materials to the nations fighting in the war.  At the same time, thousands of individual Americans had joined Allied services to help fight.  Many American pilots were already flying combat missions for British and French aviation units.

Through those years, US President Woodrow Wilson repeatedly insisted his government behave as a true neutral by doing nothing to favor one side over the other.  Nevertheless, it was clear to everyone that the United States was more sympathetic to the Allied Powers than it was to the Central Powers.  The United States claimed to be willing to trade with all the nations, but the reality was different.  American exports and finanical loans helped keep the Allied Powers fighting.  The German government did not regard the United States as truly netural but wanted to avoid provoking the Americans into the war on the Allies' side.

Most Americans wanted nothing to do with the war.  They were disgusted with the long history of European conflicts and regarded the European War, as they called it, as none of their business.  Americans were glad to be safely thousands of miles away from the fighting.  Few could see any benefits in joining the war.  Also, while the war was having a devastating effect on the economies of Europe, it was helping many American industries boom.  American factories and farms were growing richer supplying Europe with products the embattled countries needed.  While public sentiment generally favored the Allies, millions of Americans of German decent sympathized with Germany.  Additionally, millions of Americans of Irish decent had strong anti-British feelings because of the long history of Britain domination of Ireland.

• Read Treaties, Trenches, Mud and Blood pages 101-115

More than 350,000 African Americans served in the American Expeditionary Force in France.  Because of the US Army's rigid racial segregation policies, most were allowed only noncombat support duties.  Some, however, such as the 367th Infantry distinguished themselves in combat.  Many fought alongside the French and received many medals.  

• Watch about the Harlem Hell Fighters 

WWI History Lesson 9: Animals Go to War

 Animals have always been a part of wars. They have served as food for troops, hauled weapons and supplies, carried soldiers into battle, carried messages, done sentry duty, helped find wounded soldiers, and raised troop morale as pets and mascots.  World War I may well have been the war in which animals played the largest and most varied roles.  Unfortunately, it was also probably the war in which the most animals died.  Machine gun bullets, artillery shells, bombs, poison gases, barbed wire, harsh weather, food shortages, diseases and brutal working conditions were as cruel to animals as they were to human beings.

Animals made countless valuable contributions to the efforts of all the nations fighting in the war.  Millions served, and some even received military commendations.  Animals helped transport personnel, did much of the heavy labor that could not be done by men or machines, carried untold numbers of messages, and helped save thousands of human lives.  They also served as loyal and affectionate compantions to soldiers, sailors, and others starved for reminders of waht life was like away from war.

Read this article on animals in WWI

Watch this quick video on animals in WWI

• Look at pages from Eyewitness book on animals

• Read Treaties, Trenches, Mud and Blood pages 87-100
• Watch the movie War Horse today or tomorrow (Saturday)

WWI History Lesson 8: The War in the Air

When the war opened in 1914, few people expected airplanes to play any kind of combat role.  Planes had been invented barely a decade earlier, and most were so small and flimsy they could barely carry a single person, let alone a dangerous weapon.  At best, they were expected to be useful for high-altitude reconnaisance but not much more.  Instead, airplanes underwent rapid developments and emerged from the war as the military weapon of the future.

Watch about Aviation in WWI here

Ace Pilots

As aerial combat grew more frequent, a new class of skilled fighter pilot devleoped.  These were the elite pilots who squeezed every ounce of speed and manueverability out of their planes to put themselves in the best positiosn to shoot down enemy aircraft.  Pilots who shot down at least five enemy planes were dubbed "aces".  To help raise morale both within the military and at home, many air services created special awards to recognize their ace pilots.

The most successful and famous fighter pilot the war - and probably of all wars- was Germany's Manfred Freiherr von Richtofen better known as the Red Baron.

Watch about Red Baron 

Observation Balloons

While airplanes were playing rapidly increasing roles in the war, lighter-than-air craft were also advancing.  Observation balloons were used by all participants throughout the war.  They were even used on seagoing ships, which benefitted from their being able to spot enemy vessels far over the hroizon that were not visible form lower altitudes.

The wireless radio technology used during the war did not lend itself well to voice transmissions.  Radio messages could be sent in Morse code but took much longer to transmit than voice communications conveying the same messages.  Radio equipment was also too heavy to work well in small aircraft.  Because observation balloons were tethered to the ground or to ships, they could easily be wired with telephones.  This made it possible for the obervers manning them to speak directly to ground - and ship-based command centers with no delays.

Zeppelins

One of the most frightening developments of the war was the use of huge airships to bomb civilian areas.  Most major participants in the war had their own airships, but the unrivaled leader in that technology was Germany's Graf (Count) Ferdinand von Zeppelin, whose name came to be a synonym for giant airshipos.  

Watch about Zeppelins here

The Emergence of Bombers

Airplanes started dropping bombs early in the war.  Initial efforts, however, were merely individual pilots' crude attempts to drop random bombs by hand while flying reconnaissance missions.  The development of real bombers awaited advances in aircraft and engine design that enabled construction of planes large and powerful enough to carry heavy loads over great distances.  Germany was the first nation to build a successful heavy bomber, the Gotha.  During the summe rof 1917, it began sending squadrons of Gothas on daytime raids against targets in England from bses on the coast of Belgium.  As had been the case with the first zeppelin raids two years earlier, the Gotha raids caused public panic.

The Gotha raids began losing their effectiveness as British air defenses improved.  A key advance in neutralizing bombers of all types was the development of more effective antiaircraft guns.  

Naval Aviation

Aerial warfare was not limited to land-based forces.  The navies of most of the nations fighting in the war made pioneering contributions too, especially in the field of airships.  In the naval sector of the war, aircraft were invaluable for spotting submarines.  Those vessels actually spent a large majority of their time on the surface because they coudl operate underwater on battery power for only limited periods.  Britain began employing airships to search for German U-boats in 1915.  

The next step in naval aviation was to build ships on which airplanes could both take off and land.  In August 1917, an airplane made the first successful landing on the deck of a British ship that had been converted from a cruiser.  The modern aircraft carrier was born.  Carriers did not play a big role during the last year of the war, but they pointed the way to the future.

• Look at the pages on air war from the Eyewitness book

WWI History Lesson 7: The War at Sea

The years leading up to the outbreak of WWI saw massive buildups of modern battleship fleets in many of the world's navies.  When the war finally began, it was naturally expected that powerful new battleships would meet in epic fleet actions similar to those of the Napoleonic Wars a century earlier.  To almost everyone's surpise, however, the great new battleships saw little action and faced each other in only a few, inconclusive battles.  The real naval war was not between rival warships but between warships and enemy merchant ships.  

Meanwhile, the most important vessles of the war proved to be submarines.  This was especially surprising because before the war began, few people even imagined submarines could become effective weapons in war.  Another unexpected turn in the war was the growing importance of airplaines in naval operations.  When the war began, few people suspected airplanes would ever become weapons.  By the end of the war, however, sevearl nations were building aircraft carriers to extend the war in the air out to sea.  This development pointed the way to the central importance of air power in 21st century navies.

The importance of World War I's naval phase is best understood by considering what each navy's objectives were.  Throughout history, navies have played important roles transporting troops to assaults on enemy territories. With the notable exception fo the Allies' Gallipoli campaign, however, the first world war saw few such naval actions.  The navies' main objectives during the war were to disrupt enemy shipping while protecting their own nations' shipping.  Great Britain and Germany depended especially heavily on foreign trade to feed their peoples and supply their industries.  Trade disruptions seriously weakended them.

UBoats

German submarines were known to the Allies as "U-boats" after their German name Untersee boots.  At the start of the war, Germany had fewer than 30 U-boats, to which it added about 80 new boats per year throughout the war.  More than half of all U-boats were lost in action during the war, but they sank more than 5,000 allied and neutral ships.

Watch about Uboats here

The Lusitania

On May 7, 1915, Germany scored a small tactical success that became a public relations disaters.  On that date, on of its submarines sank the British ocean liner Lusitania off the cost of southern Ireland.  More than 1,000 civilian passengers, including more than 100 Americans, died when the ship went down.  The public outcry in Britain and the United States was great. The fact that the Lusitania was carrying war materials that made it a legitimate military target, was not information given to the public.  This turned the American public opinion strongly against Germany.  The US would not declare war on Germany for another two years, but her Lusitania sinking contributed to that decision

Watch about the Lusitania here

• Read The Century For Young People Chapter 2 pages 27-32
• Read pages in the Eyewitness book on submarines
• Read Treaties, Trenches, Mud and Blood pages 73-86

WWI History Lesson 6: Weapons of War

One of the most imporant things to understand about World War I is the momentous changes new technologies brough to warfare.  Almost everymajor conflict of the past several centuries has been influenced by at least one new invention or other technology not available in earlier wars.  Obvious examples range from more powerful and easier-to-use firearms, steam-powered warships, and teleghraphic communications during the 19th century to the GPS guidance tools, smart bombs and drone reconnaissaince of our modern age.

What sets World War I apart from other wars is both the large number of technological innovations used and the enormity of their impact on the conduct of the war itself.  The war's new weapons, forms of transportation, and forms of communication greatly changed the ways in which all future wars would be fought.  It is fair to say that military and government leaders on both sides of the war did not always know how the new technologies should be used and were often surprised by their impacts.

Read the article on WWI weapons here and watch this two-minute video here

• Look at pages on weapons in the Eyewitness World War I book
• Read Treaties, Trenches, Mud and Blood pages 61-72

WW1 History Lesson 5: Other Fronts

World War I was dubbed a world war because it was fought over a large part of the globe.  The coutcome of the war was decided mostely by events in Europe, especially on the western front, but fighting in other parts of the world also had important consequences.  To many observers, the European fronts were the "main events" and other fronts were merely "sideshows," but those other fronts were equally dangerous to the people involved in them. 

After western Europe, the second most important war zone was eastern Europe, where the war had originally started.  Major battles were also fought in the Middle East and in four parts of Africa, and significant naval battles were fought far from all these places.  Most surprisingly, perhaps, the  last battles of the war were fought in East Afrida, where the war may be said to have finally ended.

The Eastern Front

Watch about the Russian Army in WWI here

East Asia

Watch this video on East Asia in WWI

Turkey and the Dardanelles

The fourth great empire to enter the war was the old Turkish Ottoman Empire, whose rule had once extended over Turkey, the Balkans, parts of Eastern Eruope, North Africa, and much of the eastern Mediterranean region.  By the early 20th century, however, revolts, foreign wars, and government mismanagements had reduced the empire to its Turkish core, parts of the Balkan Peninsula, and most of the Middle East region from Asia Minor in the north to what is no Saudia Arabia in the South.

Decaying from long years of poverty adn inefficient and corrupt government at all levels, the Ottoman Empire was often disparaged as teh "sick man of Europe"  As an ally, the empire prom ised to be more a drain on manpower and resources than a contributor to the war effort for either side.  However, Turkey had one great asset that both the Allies and Central Powers coveted: control over the Dardanelles Strait that separated European Turkey from its Asia Minor provinces.  It was a channel connecting the Mediterranean and Black Seas.

The Black Sea to Turkey's north was the back door to Russia and eastern Europe.  The Dardanelles was the eky to that door.  Through it, ships could carry weapons, troops, and goods to supply Russia or to support an invasion of the Central Powers from their rear.  Consequently, both the Allies and the Central Powers courted Turkish friensship as the was was beginning.  Ultimately, diplomatic blunders on Britain's part moved Turkey's government to lean toward the Germans.  In October 1914, and unusual incident in the Mediterranean led to Germany winning a Turkish alliance.  After a British naval squadron chased two German warships across the Mediterranean, the German ships took refuge in the harbor of Turkey's capital - Constantinople.    

Watch about the Gallipoli Campaign here

Africa

Watch about Africa in WWI here

• Look at the pages in the Eyewitness book on this topic
• Read Treaties, Trenches, Mud and Blood pages 48-60

WWI History Lesson 4: Trench Warfare

When people think about World War 1, the first images likely to spring to their minds are the weary, mud-covered soldiers in tin helmets languishing in filthy trenches on the western front.  Most soldiers serving in western Europe did spend time in trenches, 

• Look at the Eyewitness WWI book pages 18-19
• Watch this video on Life in the Trenches
• Read The Century for Young People Chapter 2 pages 23-26 on Shell Shock
• Read Treaties, Trenches, Mud and Blood pages 30-47

WW1 History Lesson 3: Stalemate on the Western Front

Throughout the history of great European wars, huge armies had traditionally swept into enemy territories hoping to overwhelm resistance through the speed and weight of their forces.  This is exactly what the Schlieffen Plan called for the German army to do against Belgium and France.  The plan had been worked out in such detail it even contained a precise schedule of when each invastion step should occur.  A key element of the plan was for the right flank of the German army to sweep so far to the west that its last soldier could touch the sea.  This naturally meant the Germans would have to advance far into Belgium.

On August 2, 1914, Germany sent its first troops into Luxembourg, which was so small and weak it scarcely counted in the war.  Meanwhile, the government gave Belgium 12 hours to accept its demand for free passage through that country. The next day, as Germany declared war on France, Belgium rejected its demands and appealed to Great Britain for help.  Britain immediately began to mobilize.  On August 4, as German troops entered Belgium, Britain declared war on Germany.

Although the Belgians refused to give in, they knew as well as the Germans did that they had no chance of repelling the invasion.  Their army put up a strong resistance, and even Belgian civilians shot at the advancing Germans.  Civilian involvement in fighting went against accepted wartime practices.  The Germans responed by executing many of the Beligum citizens - including women and children and burning whole towns to the ground.  These actions aroused outside opinion against Germany and laid a basis for Allied propaganda denouncing Germans as barbaric " Huns."  

The Germans greatly underestimated the Belgian resolve.  (Very much like we are seeing with Russian and Ukraine today.)  Strengthened by the courageous example of their king, Albert 1, Belgian troops were read to die rather than surrender.  The German advance was also slowed by having to knock out a string of strong fortresses procteing the east Belgian city of Liege.  The Germans used a zeppelin airship to drop bombs on Liege, the first use of an aircraft as a bombing weapon did little damage, but it did start a future trend in which aerial bombing would bring the horrors of war ever closer to civilian populations.

Meanwhile, Russia was advancing on Germany from the East much more quickly than had been anticipated.  This forced Germany to divert troops from the west to the east much sooner than it had intended.  After Belgium finally fell to the Germans, the invasion force turned its full strenght to the south against France on August 23.  By that time, British army units were in position to suppport the French defense.  

Read about first Battle of Marne here

After stopping the German advance, the Allies pushed the exhausted German troops nearly halfway back to the northern border.  There the Germans dug long lines of trenches and settled in.  Being closer to their supply lines to the north made it easier for them to maintain their position there.  This would remain the main German position on the western front for nearly four years as the fighting became deadlocked.  Germans and the Allies struggled to find ways to break the deadlock in which their armies had become stuck.  During those four years, millions of bullets and millions of artillery shells were fired and millions of soldiers were wounded or killed, but the main battle lines barely budged.

Watch this video that shows the movement of the various armies along the Western Front in WW1.

In early 1915, Britain drew Italy into the Allied orbit.  Although Italy had been one of the principal members of the prewar Triple Alliance, it had insisted on remaining neutral when Germany and Austria-Hungary went to war.  By early 1915, the Italians sensed they could add to their territory by entering the war.  They asked for Austria-Hungary to concede some of its southern territories in exchange for Italy's joining the Central Powers.  After the Austirans declined their offer, the Italians turned to the British.  The British offered Italy portions of Austria-Hungary, Albania, Turkey and even North Africa in return for joining the Allies.  Britain controlled NONE of those territories, but had nothing to lose by making the offer.

Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary and launched an offensive against its northern neighbor through the rugged Tyrolean Alps.  They waged fierce battles in mountainous terrain that were very different from the fighting on other sections of the war.  Both sides suffered heavy losses and neither side made substantial gains. Just like the western front, it turned into a stalemate.   

Look at the DK Eyewitness World War I book pages 6-17 and 46-47.
Read Treaties, Trenches, Mud and Blood pages 4-29

History WW1 Lesson 2: Messages and Propaganda

Every nation fighting in the war advertised to recruit soldiers and sailors.  In the days before television and radio, posters were one of the mnost effective means of reaching the public.  Governments used skilled writers to compse persuasive appeals along with snappy slogans.  Professional artists added eye-catching illustrations.  The posters of different countries reflected cultural differences but generally appealed to the same basic emotions - patriotism, pride, fear, desire for revenge, shame, thirst for glory, and desire to learn new skills.  

Today's Assignments:

• Analyze propaganda posters using the packet Mom printed for you.
• Watch American Propaganda  (it's only two minutes long)
• Create your own propaganda poster.  It can be for any of the countries.  What type of appeal do you wish to make?  Anger toward the enemy?  Fear of enemy invasion?  Simple pride in patriotism and desire to serve?  Your choices will help direct the wording of your poster and what kind of illustrations work best.  You can either draw to illustrate your poster yourself, or find illustrations on the Internet to add to your poster.

History WW1 Lesson 1: Introduction to WW1 and Causes

 World War 1 may have been the most important turning point of the 20th century.  It was not as large and devastating a conflict as WW2 would be, but it did even more to shape the world as it is today.  It razed most of Europe and destroyed four empires while also creating many new nationas.  It triggered the Russian Revoltuion and laid the basers for Balkan and Middle Eastern conflicts that remain unresolved today.  Most significantly, perhaps, it gave Germany grievances that Adolf Hitler's Nazi movement would exploit in its rise to power and thereby contribute to the Holocaust and WW2.  Indeed, the roots of that later world war are so deeply embedded in the first that the second world war might justly be considered a continuation of WW1.

WW1 also raised the United States to the status of a world power and inspired the creation of the League of Nations, the predecessor to the United Nations.  In addition, it fundamentally transformed military combat by introducing weapons of unprecedented destructive power and by taking combat closer to civilian populations than ever before.  It revolutionized naval warfare and gave the world aerial warfare.  Meanwhile, the war's impact on the home fronts of the nations involved set in motion vast social changes, extending democracy, giving more women the vote, and helping to liberate women in the workplace.

The war began in 1914 with plans based on 19th-century military thinking.  By the time it ended four years later, it had beocme a hightech 20th century war whose advances would influence the way future wars would be fought.  The most obvious military changes it introduced were weaponry.  These included more lethal machine guns, longer-range and more accurate artillery, more powerful battleships, deadly poison gases, mechanized tanks, submarines capable of sinking ships, and armed aircraft.  Each of these innovations forced changes in tactics and strategy and inspired further advances.

Understanding history involved much more than simply memorizing facts and dates.  WW1 had more battles than most people can name.  All one really needs to know about most of the battles is that they had little impact on the course of the war as a whole. It is more important to know what events were truly significant, why they happened as they did, and how they were connected to one another.

I want you to pay close attention to maps as we cover WW1.  It is imposible to understand any war without knowing something about its geography.  The expression WW1 was never used during the war itself.  Through the war's early years it was simply known as the European War because it involved mainly European nations.  As it expanded into other regions, it became known as the Great War because of its unprecedented size.  Eventually, it became known as the World War because it was being fought over a larger part of the world than any previous conflict in history.  It was only after the outbreak of the second world war in 1939 that the World War took on a number to become WW1.

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Understanding the causes of war is rarely easy, and the reasons for the outbreak of WW1 are especially difficult to comprehend even today.  The outline of events leading up to the start of the war in 1914 is clear, but it is important to learn why these events occurred.  Why did each nation involved in the war get into it?  What did it expect to gain?  What options did each nation have when it entered the war?

The first world war was complicated because the many nations fighting in it had very different reasons for doing so.  Some nations, such as France and Belgium, had little choice because they were invaded and threatened with conquest.  Others, such as Russian and Italy, might easily have stayed out.  Some nations, most notably Italy, could easily have fought on the side opposite to the one they  joined,  Even the United States, which eventually became an associated member of the Allied Powers in 1917, might conceivably have fought on the opposite side.

Today's Assignments:

• Read A History of US Book 8 Chapter 37.  
• Look at the timeline of WW1 Mom printed and keep it close to use throughout the study.  
• Look at the map of Allied and Central countries and keep it close to reference.
• Go to this site and read the articles on the causes of WWI