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CHAPTER 21
America and the Great War
1914–1920
This chapter covers foreign affairs in Wilson’s administration, the war in Europe, American neutrality and
preparedness, America’s entry into the war, domestic affairs during World War I, Wilson’s Fourteen
Points and his fight for the Versailles Treaty, and the transition from war to peace in America.
CORE OBJECTIVES
1. Describe the outbreak of the Great War and the distinctive nature of the fighting on the Western Front,
and explain why the United States entered the conflict.
2. Explain how the Wilson administration mobilized the home front, and analyze how mobilization ef-
forts shaped American society.
3. Describe the major events of the war after U.S. entry, and explain the U.S. contribution to the defeat of
the Central Powers.
4. Evaluate Woodrow Wilson’s efforts to promote his plans for a peaceful world order as outlined in his
Fourteen Points.
5. Analyze the consequences of the war at home and abroad.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
1. An Uneasy Neutrality
A. The Outbreak of War
B. An Industrial War
C. Initial American Reactions
D. Neutral Rights and Submarine Attacks
E. The Debate over “Preparedness”
F. The Election of 1916
G. America Goes to War
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2. Mobilizing a Nation
A. A New Labor Force
B. A Loss of Civil Liberties
3. The American Role in the War
A. The Bolshevik Revolution
B. Crucial U.S. Contribution on the Western Front
C. The End of the War
4. The Politics of Peace
A. Wilson’s Key Errors
B. The Paris Peace Conference
C. The Treaty of Versailles
D. The Debate over Ratification
E. Physical Breakdown and Political Failure
5. Lurching from War to Peace
A. The Spanish Flu
B. Suffrage at Last
C. The Economic Transition
D. Race Riots
E. The Red Scare
F. Effects of the Great War
LECTURE IDEAS
1. To help prepare a general lecture on key military events of World War I, see the following resources:
2. To help prepare a lecture that focuses on Americans’ contribution to the military effort in World War I,
see the following references:
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3. To help give your class a good understanding of American diplomatic relations on the eve of World
War I, deliver a lecture on Wilson’s foreign policy. Useful references include:
4. The Great War era in America was also a period of important labor and political unrest. Lay out for the
students exactly what Eugene Debs and the Socialist party advocated and draw the connections be-
5. Wilson’s struggle for the League of Nations and American resistance to Article X really ended up de-
fining his presidency in many ways. Talk about Wilson’s life, his personal struggles in the White
House, and the forces that eventually defeated him. Helpful resources include:
6. A lecture on post–World War I America lays the groundwork in important ways for understanding the
economic, social, political, and cultural domains of the 1920s. Be sure to include the economic transi-
tion back to peacetime production, labor unrest (including all the strikes of 1919), racial tensions in the
country, and the growing sense of disillusionment felt by an array of Americans. See the following:
7. Students are very intrigued by the idea that public opinion for war is cultivated over time. Show them
examples of enlistment posters and liberty bond advertisements, and share with them the story of
George Creel, the Committee on Public Information, and the “four–minute men.” This information is
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IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES / FLIPPED CLASSROOM SUGGESTIONS
1. Divide the class into several groups and ask each group to identify why the United States entered
World War I. Then have each group present its findings and discuss the causes identified.
2. Have students identify Wilson’s Fourteen Points for peace near the end of World War I. Then ask them
to determine if the Treaty of Versailles actually was based on Wilson’s proposal.
3. In an effort to help students understand the human cost of the war, ask them to examine memoirs of
soldiers involved in World War I and record some of the short-term and long-term effects of the war
on the soldiers. The History Teaching Institute at the Ohio State University, for example, offers a list
4. Ask students to determine why there was so much racial friction in the United States after World War I
and to give specific examples of that tension.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Analyze why the various revolutions in Mexico posed problems for Woodrow Wilson. What actions
did Wilson take to further America’s involvement concerning these revolutions?
2. Discuss how German submarines threatened America’s neutrality during the early stages of World
War I.
3. How did Americans initially react to the outbreak of war in Europe in 1914? How did their thoughts
on the war evolve by the time the United States officially entered the conflict?
4. Why did President Wilson favor American neutrality at the beginning of World War I, and why did
the United States eventually enter it?
5. What roles did women play in the war effort? Did their contributions help pave the way for the adop-
tion of the Nineteenth Amendment?
6. Why was there such an outspoken and vocal debate over America’s preparedness policy before its en-
try into World War I? What other challenges did the United States confront while mobilizing for war
in 1916–1917?
7. What were President Wilson’s Fourteen Points? How did he hope to use the Fourteen Points as a road
map for peace at the end of the war, and were his intentions too idealistic?
8. Discuss how Woodrow Wilson helped win the war but lost the peace at home.
9. What was the Red Scare? Why did Americans fear that Communists and anarchists were infiltrating
the United States?
10. Detail America’s economic transition from wartime to peacetime after the end of World War I.
PRACTICING CITIZENSHIP
This chapter talks about the home front in America during World War I, noting that the government and
citizens helped mold public opinion toward a positive conception for going to war. The chapter also
makes it clear that civil liberties—such as the First Amendment right to protest the war—were denied in a
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