Chapter Summary: The Great War

The First World War was a devastating calamity in which 10 million soldiers lost their lives fighting for their countries. This figure is ridiculous, but when one realizes that, that does not include the civilians who lost their lives during the fighting, the number seems even more ominous. This terrible event happened, and America tried to stay neutral for a while; however, we eventually found ourselves entangled in its web of destruction and for the a little more than the last six months of the war America was part of the fighting. The Germans were no fools, when America and its “dough boys” joined in the fighting they knew it was a big deal, it even lead to a strike by the Germans. “We must strike,” General Erich Ludendorff told his fellow commanders, “before America can throw strong forces into the scale.” But what was the final act that pushed America past the point of no return? What effect did America actually have while fighting? Why was it such a big deal that this one country joined in the fighting? What was going on in America, while its soldiers were out fighting on another continent somewhere in the world? The purpose of this paper is to examine those questions and discuss the influence that America had while fighting in Europe in the Great War as well as the politics that occurred internationally after the war ended.

Germany’s aggressive sweep through Belgium has also captured the empathy of Americans. Some atrocity stories, mostly spread by British propaganda, prove to be false but enough prove to be true that one American magazine refers to Germany as the bully of Europe. Before the war, American trade with Britain and France was more than double its trade with Germany. During the first two years of the war, Americans transatlantic trade has become even more lopsided as the Allies flood American manufacturers with orders For all sorts of war supplies including dynamite, cannon powder, submarines, copper wire and tubing, and armored cars. in January the president called for a “peace without victory a peace between equals” in which neither side would impose harsh terms on the other. Wilson hoped that all nations would join in a league for peace that would work to extend democracy, maintain freedom of the seas, and reduce armaments. on January 31st the Kaiser announced that U-boats would sink all ships in the British waters, hostile or neutral, on site. The German decision meant the United States would have to go to war, but the president held back saying he would wait for actual overt acts before declaring

At first, the United States took a neutral stance toward aiding any particular side during the Great War. However, a german submarine sank the british ship Lusitania, which resulted in the deaths of 124 American citizens. Woodrow Wilson started implementing “preparedness” a program to expand the american military. The defining moment was when the United States discovered, of the Zimmermann Telegram. This german telegram was intercepted by the British, and called for Mexico to join wars and attack the United States. The war affected both government and society. First, the war had a major impact in Americans everyday lives. Such as the Selective Service Act of 1917, which required millions of men to enter the draft. For government, we got several

It is 1918 and women have recently been struggling with being treated unfairly because of the war. But, as the Great War is now taking place women are actually getting their rights and freedoms. Since the men have had to go to work and even some have been drafted and made to go work the women are now taking over their jobs to keep the economy running. The women are excited and glad they can finally work so they can prove they can do anything men can do though. They are having to work in factories mostly that are extremely dangerous and filthy. But they are willing to do whatever that needs to happen.

World War One, appropriately named the Great War in the heat of its battles, was the war that many thought would end all other wars. And at the time, it certainly seemed that would be the case. It was a new type of a war, there were new, terrifying weapons, leading to deaths in numbers unseen from previous wars. The battles dragged on, it became trench warfare. There seemed to be no end in sight for the longest time. But the war did end and the people and politicians of the 1920s were left to deal with the aftermath. Most of the men that went to war went home from the front lines, others were not as lucky, or possibly, they were luckier to have died a noble death considering what was to come. The effects that the war left were felt both

The United States later declared war on German ally Austria-Hungary on December 7, 1917 (Keegan, 1998). Germany’s resumption of submarine attacks on passenger and merchant ships in 1917 became the primary motivation behind Wilson’s decision to lead the United States into World War I. Following the sinking of an unarmed French boat, the Sussex, in the English Channel in March 1916, Wilson threatened to sever diplomatic relations with Germany unless the German Government refrained from attacking all passenger ships and allowed the crews of enemy merchant vessels to abandon their ships prior to any attack. On May 4, 1916, the German Government accepted these terms and conditions (Keegan, 1998). This has come to be known as the Sussex Pledge.

The Great War has been over for about two years. My family lives in a small cottage close to one of the old training camps and an air force base, in Long Island, New York. The base is best known as Mitchell Air Force Base. It’s really frightening living close to one. You just never know what could happen because, just a year ago, there was a plane shot down by American Force and the ground shook vibrantly. Our small and crowded house has only 2 bedrooms and there are 7 of us. When the war just got over, we were told that Roland, my husband, died because of a perforated bowel, which means a hole in his intestines. When were heard he was in the hospital, we were going to go see him, but recently our car had been taken away for parts needed

America’s entry into the war was due partially to Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare. The Lusitania was a British passenger steamship which was carrying 128 Americans; it was sunk by a German submarine off

The attributes of trench warfare during the twentieth century lead to a mass communication failure. Although new methods of communication expanded exponential growth during the years of the war, the recognition of communication holistically failed to reach full potential regardless of their benefits. As the situation began to exacerbate, miscommunication based on trench warfare paved the way as professional soldiers declined and replacements of civilization soldiers inclined. The battlefield failures occurred in multiple degrees, these failures shared the same theme of a mass communication catastrophe.

The sinking of the British passenger ship Lusitania is one out of 3 serious of events of America’s involvement in World War I. Before it happened, Germany is becoming more and more powerful especially technology wise. One of which surprised the British was Germans maximization of the U-Boot since Great Britain is the strongest naval power in all of Europe. In response to this, they would use water mines in the English channel to defend against the Germans. This triggered the Germans to be very aggressive and suspicious. The Germans are suspicious of the United States and Great Britain has weapons on that ship. They would give 3 days of warning to both U.S. and British to turn those weapons in or they will see as enemy threat and therefore blow up the ship. In the first day, U.S. and Britain refuse to say they have any weapons on the ship. And in the 2nd and final day of the warning, United States and Britain decided to stand pact and thinking this is just a regular passenger ship. However, Germany did not bluff and they

When World War I was initially called “The Great War” by the people of those times, great did not mean good. Great was the word used to show the magnitude of the war. The war was massive. It was gigantic in terms of the impact it had on literally the entire world. Only later in time would the event become known as World War I.

My head snapped up and I came back to reality, even me, Death, gets lost within thought, within the on goings of the world. I noticed that I had been staring at the young Hubbermann boy. I had seen him before, in the Hubbermann’s kitchen. Once thin and frail like the pages of the books collected by the book thief. To a man heavily cloaked in leather. Stalingrad was not the place to be. The destination many men had taken their final breath. In the Great War Hans Hubbermann escaped my grasp. This time, nobody could escape my grasp. The war was like a manifestation of me. My presence spread over Stalingrad like the bacteria, I was everywhere, but nowhere at the same time. I was as atrocious as a whirling tornado. The world burned of hatred.

This violation resulted in U.S demanding that germans abandon unrestricted submarine warfare which the Germans eventually complied with in 1915. The German government decided to declare a war zone around the British Isles. They noted that any enemy ships, even those flying a neutral flag, would be sunk by the new submarines or U-boats. The U-boats worked primarily on a surprise tactic meaning this action violated the international protocol of providing for the safety of any passengers on a surrendered ship. In 1915 after this tension building move the passenger liner Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat. This sparked an enormous uproar in the U.S ending with the demand for the Germans to again respect the established neutral rights. Although Germany had not made an official response to this demand unofficially German vessels were instructed not to sink passenger ships. Despite this the Arabic was sunk in 1915 with two U.S citizens aboard. This caused the Germans to make the “Arabic Pledge” promising that they would not sink a ship without providing for the safety of the noncombatants providing the ship doesn’t attempt to escape or otherwise

The Great War is upon us, and here I am stuck in this God-awful place. This prison. Every man in this Hell hole is utterly oblivious to the fact that the world is ending. They can’t seem to hear it, the explosion of missiles, the firing guns, the screams. Oh God, the screams, they’re the worst part. It’s been ongoing for years, and I’ve finally decided to cease my pointless attempts at getting the people here to believe me. But I still hear it. The gun shots and bombs. The screams. They fill my head every second of every day. I can’t sleep, can’t focus on anything, I just can’t stop hearing it. And I seem to be the only one. They never mention The War on the news or in the papers, but that’s to be expected. They’re trying to avoid a

The First World War was truthfully the world’s shocking transition to the Modern Era. The battlefields were brutal, the rivalries were intense, and the consequences were devastating. Eventually, thirty two countries were involved, however, the gunshots could be heard all around the world.