Period: Unit 5: World War I

“Big Ideas”

1. 
   When WW I erupted in 1914 most Americans saw no reason to involve themselves in the struggle among Europe’s imperialist powers and reaffirmed their belief in American exceptionalism as President Wilson proclaimed America’s neutrality.
   
2. 
   In response to Germany’s provocations and Allied war loans and sympathies, Wilson turned America’s participation into a crusade for democracy that transformed society.
   
3. 
   New technologies which transformed warfare and society resulted in enormous casualties and destruction and led to the defining feature of the war – trench warfare.
   
4. 
   President Wilson’s idealistic Fourteen Points clashed with European desires for security and revenge thus resulting in a harsh and punitive treatment of Germany in the Treaty of Versailles.
   
5. 
   European and Senate opposition, and especially Wilson’s own political errors, doomed American ratification of the Versailles Treaty and participation in the League of Nations.
   

1. 
   What are the background causes of WW I and what led the US to change its position from neutrality to intervention by 1917?
   

2. 
   How did the government mobilize industry, labor, natural resources, and public opinion to win the war?
   
3. 
   How did WW I impact women and racial and ethnic minorities?
   
4. 
   How did Progressivism and WW I revive the suffrage and temperance movements?
   

5. 
   How did advances in technology shape modern warfare during WW I?
   
6. 
   Why can American forces be credited with being the decisive factor in ending WW I? What roles did John J. Pershing and Alvin York play in the battle of the Argonne Forest and why are their efforts and the Argonne Forest significant?
   

7. 
   What were Wilson’s goals for peace, why were most of his 14 Points rejected in the Treaty of Versailles, and what impact did the treaty have on post-war Europe?
   
8. 
   To what extent was the defeat of the League of Nations a result of opposition forces in the US Senate or Wilson’s stubbornness and mistakes?
   
9. 
   How did WW I change America?
   

1. 
   To what extent is it fair to say that progressivism shaped America’s involvement in WW I? Cite historical evidence using the following indicators and justify your answer.
   

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  Why the US entered the war
  
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  How the nation fought the war
  
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  Wilson’s plan for peace World War I (1914-1918)
  

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  Causes of WW I – European and US Entry into WW I (1 day)
  
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    European Causes of WW I
    
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      Alliance Systems – Triple Entente and Triple Alliance
      
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      Imperialism
      
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      Militarism
      
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      Nationalism
      
      • 
        Immediate Cause – Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
        
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    Causes of US Entry into WW I
    
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      Economic Involvement – loans and war bonds
      
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      Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
      
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        Lusitania
        
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        Sussex Pledge
        
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      Zimmerman Telegram
      
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      Russian Revolution
      
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  The American Home Front (1 day)
  
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    Mobilizing American Troops, Resources, and Society
    
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      Role of Propaganda – cutting the trans-Atlantic cable, German atrocity stories, Committee on Public Information
      
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    Impact of WW I on women, ethnic and racial groups
    
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    Impact of WW I on American civil liberties – Sedition and Espionage Acts
    
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    Impact on morals and expansion of rights – 18^th and 19^th Amendments
    
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  Fighting and Ending the War (1 day)
  
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    Fighting the War
    
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      Impact of American forces in Europe
      
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      Impact of New Technologies of War
      
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  Ending the War (1day)
  
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    Wilson’ Plan for Peace and Treaty of Versailles
    
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    Battle over the League of Nations and rejection of the League and Treaty