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CHAPTER 22
America and the Great War, 1914–1920
This chapter looks at the American role in the Great War. It outlines Woodrow Wilson’s foreign policies
toward Europe as war grew more imminent, as well as the reasons for American neutrality. Topics
include the nature of trench warfare and submarine attacks, which eventually spurred the United States
to enter the war in 1917. The chapter also covers domestic affairs during the war, including the challenge
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. An Uneasy Neutrality
A. The Great War
i. Causes
ii. Fighting Erupts
B. An Industrial War
i. Trench Warfare
C. Initial American Reactions
i. Supporting the Allies
ii. Neutral Rights and Submarine Attacks
E. A Loss of Civil Liberties
F. The “Poison of Disloyalty”
G. Waging War on Labor
III. The American Role in the War
A. The Bolshevik Revolution
ii. The League of Nations
C. The Treaty of Versailles
i. The Treaty Debate
ii. Let the People Decide
iii. A Stricken President
iv. The Treaty Under Attack
V. Stumbling from War to Peace
A. The Spanish Flu
B. Suffrage at Last
C. Economic Turbulence
LECTURE IDEAS
1. To give your class a good understanding of American diplomatic relations on the eve of World War I,
deliver a lecture on the contradictions of Wilson’s foreign policy. Wilson faced many challenges from
Latin America. Although he helped improve relations with Panama, he sent U.S. troops to occupy
(1986)
• Thomas J. Knock’s To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order
(1992)
2. The Great War era in America is also a period of important labor and political unrest. Lay out for the
3. Wilson’s struggle for the League of Nations and American resistance to Article X really ended up
defining his presidency in many ways. Talk about Wilson’s life, his personal struggles in the White
House, and the forces that eventually defeated him. Sources include:
• H. W. Brands’s Woodrow Wilson (2003)
4. 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
transition back to peacetime production, labor unrest (including all the strikes of 1919), racial
5. Students are often 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
IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES
1. Divide the class into several groups and have them identify why the United States entered World War
2. Have students review the following documents concerning the peace at the end of World War I:
• Wilson’s Fourteen Points (for instance at
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/wilson14.asp)
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/wilson14.asp)
Ask the students to determine if the Treaty of Versailles was actually based on Wilson’s Fourteen
Points. What aspects of the treaty reflect his ideas? In contrast, what aspects of the treaty reflect
Clemenceau’s position, with its greater focus on revenge and security for France? For background, see
3. In 1919 there were at least 25 race riots in the United States. Eighty African Americans were lynched,
including eleven war veterans. Ask the students to research the African American contribution to the
war effort and the conditions the soldiers and their families faced when they returned home. Why was
there was so much racial friction in the United States after World War I and how might it have been
prevented?
4. Divide students into groups and have them conduct an online search for American propaganda
images during World War I. Wartime saw numerous types of American propaganda--from calls to
join the army, aid in the domestic war effort, and contribute financially to images playing on
American fears, anti-German sentiment, and even eventually the anxiety around the spread of
5. As the European states were mobilizing for World War I, they were convinced that the war was going
to be short. It was soon realized that this assumption misjudged new technologies and means of
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Discuss and analyze the major causes that led to World War I.
3. Why was there such an outspoken and vocal debate over America’s preparedness policy prior to its
entry into World War I? What other challenges did the United States confront while mobilizing for
war in 1916-1917?
4. The general public’s fear of disloyalty, especially from German Americans, seemed to only grow
during the war. What roles did immigrants in the United States often play during wartime? What was
the purpose of the Immigration Act of 1917?
5. Discuss how Woodrow Wilson helped win the war but lost the peace at home.
7. What roles did women play in the war effort? Did their contributions help pave the way for the
adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment?
PRACTICING CITIZENSHIP
This chapter talks a great deal 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 rush to celebrate 100 percent Americanism. In the twenty-first century, the United
States has been at war in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Arbitrarily divide the class into two teams for a
