Topic 5

Woodrow Wilson, the U.S. and the Great War

A. Wilson and the “irony of fate”: War in Europe

1. Wilson: a complete amateur in foreign affairs, and no one realized this more than Wilson himself. “It would be the irony of fate if my administration had to deal chiefly with foreign affairs.”

2. World War I: Long-range causes

– Imperialism – Created a lot of international tension as nations seeking to build empires often found they were trying to control some of the same areas in Africa and Asia.

– Conflicting goals in southeastern Europe – In particular, Austria-Hungary and Serbia wanted to expand their influence and control.

– A web of Alliances that made it difficult to contain and limit any serious disagreement

3. The trigger: the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his Wife, June 28, 1914. Ferdinand's death at the hands of the Black Hand, a Serbian nationalist secret society, set in train a series of events that culminated in the world's first global war.

4. Austria-Hungary's Reaction

– Austria-Hungary's reaction to the death of their heir was three weeks in coming.  Arguing that the Serbian government was implicated in the actions of the Black Hand (whether it was or not remains unclear, but it appears unlikely), the Austro-Hungarians decided to take the opportunity to stamp its authority upon the Serbians, crushing the nationalist movement there and cementing Austria-Hungary's influence in the Balkans.

– It did so by issuing an ultimatum to Serbia which, in the extent of its demand that the assassins be brought to justice effectively nullified Serbia's sovereignty.  Sir Edward Grey, the British Foreign Secretary, was moved to comment that he had "never before seen one State address to another independent State a document of so formidable a character."

– Austria-Hungary's expectation was that Serbia would reject the severe terms of the ultimatum, thereby giving Austria-Hungary an excuse for launching a limited war against Serbia.

– However, Serbia had long had Slavic ties with Russia.  While not really expecting that Russia would be drawn into the dispute to any great extent other than through words of diplomatic protest, the Austro-Hungarian government sought assurances from her ally, Germany, that she would come to her aid should the unthinkable happen and Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary.

– Germany readily agreed, even encouraged Austria-Hungary's warlike stance.

5. One Thing Led to Another:

– Austria-Hungary, unsatisfied with Serbia's response to her ultimatum declared war on Serbia July 1914.

– Russia, bound by treaty to Serbia, announced mobilization of its vast army in Serbia’s defense.

– Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary by treaty declared war on Russia on August 1.

– France, bound by treaty to Russia, responded by announcing war against Germany on August 3. 

– Germany promptly responded by invading neutral Belgium to reach Paris quickly

– Britain, allied to France by a more loosely worded treaty declared war against Germany on August 4, 1914

B. Wilson and the American Response

1. Unofficial – Sympathy but mostly no desire to fight.

2. Official – Neutrality declared by Wilson, yet less than three years later Wilson asked for war. Germany’s violations of American neutral rights which Wilson believed threatened the rights of all mankind.

3. Neutral Rights: the Crucial difference:

– England’s violations created inconveniences.

– Germany’s violations destroyed American lives and American property.

4. The British blockade and Wilson’s response

5. The German U-boats (Unterseeboot): February 1915

– Wilson’s Response: “strict accountability”

– Lusitania crisis – American lives were lost and the sinking violated the traditional rules of naval warfare!

– To avoid war, the Germans gradually put their U-boats or a shorter leash, ordering them not to attack civilian ships. But by early 1917, the German government decided it could not hold back; it must “go for broke.”

6. Germany and unrestricted submarine warfare: January 9, 1917 and Wilson’s first response

7. Final events that led to war:

– The Zimmerman note – proposes a German-Mexican alliance aimed against the U.S.

– The Germans sink five American ships

8. Wilson asks for war

9. Finally, to sum up ….

– Both sides violated our neutral rights with that crucial difference ….

• British – inconveniences

• German – destruction of lives and property

• German violations made British violations appear to be very mild in comparison, and Wilson and most members of Congress concluded that these actions threatened all mankind, not just the U.S.

C. War: Over There

1. General John J. Pershing and the American Expeditionary Force (AEF)

– Selective Service Act – May 1917

– Pershing, a soldier’s general – American troops needed a lot of additional training

– American entry: the turning point, but it took time for American troops to reach the front and for the scales to tip in the Allies’ favor

2. A Summary of the Western Front, 1914-17: Rats and gas! And airplanes.

– Life in the trenches - Death was a constant companion to those serving in the line, even when no raid or attack was launched or defended against.  In busy sectors the constant shellfire directed by the enemy brought random death, whether their victims were lounging in a trench or lying in a dugout (many men were buried as a consequence of such large shell-bursts).

– Similarly, novices were cautioned against their natural inclination to peer over the parapet of the trench into No Man's Land.

– Many men died on their first day in the trenches as a consequence of a precisely aimed sniper's bullet.

– It has been estimated that up to one third of Allied casualties on the Western Front were actually sustained in the trenches.  Aside from enemy injuries, disease also took a heavy toll.

– Rat Infestation - Rats in their millions infested trenches.  There were two main types, the brown and the black rat.  Both were despised but the brown rat was especially feared.  Gorging themselves on human remains (grotesquely disfiguring them by eating their eyes and liver) they could grow to the size of a cat.

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