Section 4

US Enters the War

            -Neutrality

                        -Woodrow Wilson declared US was staying out

-Most Americans agreed

                                                -Most still rooting for Allies

                                                            -Though had huge German population

            -German u-boats launched unrestricted submarine warfare

                        -Any ship heading towards England was a target

                                    -Cargo ships, military ships, other ships

                                                -Lusitania (passenger ship) sunk in 1915

                                                            -Germans sunk more passenger ships

-US complains, threatens to enter waràGermany stops attacks on cruise ships only for a while

            -Zimmermann Note

                        -Secret message from Germany to Mexico

                                    -Asked that if US joined war, that Mexico should join the Central Powers

                                                -Germany would help Mexico reclaim lost land

                        -Allies intercept and decode message

                                    -US ticked at Germany

                                                -US declares war in April 1917

End of the Fighting

            -Germany knew US entering war was bad news for them

                        -Needed big victory before US got too involved

                                    -Since Russia left war, could focus on Western Front

                                                -Made huge gains (got within 40 miles of Paris)

                                                            -Huge costà800k soldiers lost

            -Second Battle of the Marne

                        -US/Allies stop Germany from advancing and started offensive

                                    -Germans just giving up

            -The 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month

                        -Armistice (truce / agreement to stop fighting)

Peace

            -Woodrow Wilson had his plan for peaceàFourteen Points

                        -Reducing weapons, freedom of the seas, choose own gov’t

                        -League of Nations

                                    -Organizations where countries could talk about issues

            -Other Allies didn’t like Wilson’s planàwanted to punish Germany

                        -Big Four (Italy, England, France US)

            -Treaty of Versailles

                        -Harsh on Germany

-Forced to pay war reparations

                                    -Forced to give up land it acquired

                                    -Forced to admit full responsibility for starting war

                                    -German army limited to 100k

                                    -German navy eliminated

                        -Germany HAD to accept treaty (they lost war)

                        -League of Nations created

                                    -Goal: world peace, cooperation

                                    -Germany excluded from L of N

                                    -US doesn’t join L of N (Senate opposed treaty)

            -Allies make treaties with other Central Powers

                        -AH broken into 2 countries

                        -Ottoman Empire dismantled

                                    -Middle Eastern lands turned into “mandates”

                                                -Colonies in reality

Costs of the War

            -Human tolls

                        -8.5 million soldiers killed

                        -13 million civilians dead

                        -About 22 million soldiers wounded

                        -At same time as war, flu epidemic (50 million dead)

            -Economic costs

                        -War cost about 330 BILLION

                        -Farmland devastated, factories and cities destroyed

                        -Economic chaos

            -Political changes

                        -Communism in Russia

                        -New gov’t in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Ottoman Empire

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