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“The Americans” Textbook, Holt McDougal

https://www.biographyonline.net/military/wwi/people-first-world-war.html

https://www.britannica.com/event/battles-of-the-Meuse-Argonne

https://www.loc.gov/collections/stars-and-stripes/articles-and-essays/a-world-at-war/timeline-1914-1921/

https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-troops-score-victory-at-cantigny

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/10-significant-battles-of-the-first-world-war

https://www.ncpedia.org/wwi-technology-and-weapons-war

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Alvin_York

https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=62#

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Machine guns were improved greatly during the First World War. This type of gun was originally created by an American, however, Germans eventually recognized how to use them in war to cause significant damage and even improved them in ways. They created air-cooled machine guns to be used on airplanes and redesigned the machine guns to be easier to move on the ground. This changed the face of the war and can be seen causing tremendous damage during the Battle of the Somme in 1916, when German troops caused nearly 60,000 British casualties in one day using a line of machine guns.

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Germans were the first to introduce the use of chemical warfare in 1915 when they used poison gas in a surprise attack against Belgium. When this deadly addition to the war was first used, the gas would be contained in cylinders and rolled into enemy territory, but this soon was advanced into using artillery shells to contain the gas and shooting them at the enemies. This was relied on heavily by the Germans during their fighting because they knew that the enemies would either suffer from the fumes or, at the very least, weaken their fighting due to the gas masks they had to wear.

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Airplanes in WWI were originally made of canvas, wood, and wire, and were primarily used for observing the enemy. Troops then began using planes as a way of additional offensive, as they shot enemies from the planes using rifles, pistols, and machine guns. Eventually in 1916, Germans began arming their planes with machine guns connected to the engine, so they could shoot enemies without hitting the propeller of their own plane. This idea spread to other armies and fighting in the air soon became a deadly offensive.

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A U.S. Senator during the time of WWI, he led conservative senators in their opposition to certain aspects of the Treaty of Versailles, specifically the League of Nations. They believed it took rights away from citizens and Congress.

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The German Kaiser from 1888 to 1918, he was well known as a militarist and became a recognizable figure during the First World War. He often discussed publicly and very vocally about war and his ideas based around military, which is why he was so well known as a militarist. He didn’t actively try to start or advance WWI, however, he was blamed for the conflict because of his stance on military and his public outbursts.

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United States President during the time of the war, he desired peace among the nations and kept the U.S. neutral towards the war until 1917, when he declared war on Germany.

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A Bosnian Serb Nationalist, he assassinated the Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand, and his wife. This assassination led to Austria-Hungary calling for war against Serbia, this being the spark that began World War I after other nations got pulled into it.

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A U.S. Soldier famous for being a hero during World War I. He led a U.S. attack against a German machine gun nest during the U.S. led Meuse-Argonne Offensive in which York and other U.S. soldiers took 32 of their machine guns, killed 28 and captured 132 Germans.

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Important French military leader during WWI. He took command of the XX Army Corps when the war first began, and later helped lead his military to multiple victories in battle. When the Allied forces began deteriorating, he took control of the force as a whole and helped score another victory for the Allies in March 1918, then took a final victory at the Second Battle of the Marne, leading to the fighting to come to an end.

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The U.S. Army plans to fight alongside the Allies in order to work to end this long battle against Germany. Citizens' minds across the country are split about this decision, however, it is clear that everyone simply wants the war to end. The entrance of the United States into this World War may just be the push the Allies need for the battles to end.

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General of the U.S. Army during WWI, led the American Expeditionary Force (AEF). Picked to be the AEF’s commander by President Woodrow Wilson, he led the Army in the fighting in Europe and led the U.S. Army independently, despite France and Britain’s desire for combined forces. Pershing’s decision and style of leadership helped tremendously in leading Germany to defeat.

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APRIL 5, 1917 – United States Congress announced the end of the nation's neutrality in the First World War. Following President Woodrow Wilson's plan for resolving the war, it was announced to citizens around the country that the United States would be joining the fight. It was the continuous and growing tension between the states and Germany that caused the President to decide to get involved.

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Finally, by 1907, two major alliance systems formed, a result of the growing competition. The Triple Entente, or the Allies, was made up of France, Britain, and Russia, while The Triple Alliance was made up of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.

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Because of the immense competition resulting from nationalism and imperialism, the stronger nations wanted to improve their military power, too. This desire for military strength only caused more competition between the nations to be stronger than the others. Germany began with the strongest military power, and other nations soon began fighting to become stronger.

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As nations in Europe continued to grow in strength, they often extended control over different groups of people. This eventually led to competition between Germany, Britain, and France over desired colonies.

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Nationalism often led to a competitive atmosphere surrounding the nations around the world. Rivalries resulted from this competition and many nations feared the strength of others due to contrasting interests and cultures.

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World War I; 1914-1918

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On June 28th, 1919, World War I officially ended with the signing of the treaty. Allied troops primarily negotiated the treaty, with little input from Germany, in order to create new boundaries for Germany and assign liability, which ended up being Germany who had to pay for the damage of the war. This treaty included, in total, 15 parts and 440 articles.

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The war finished when Germany signed the Armistice at Compiègne, France on November 11th, 1918. However, the war’s official end among all nations was considered to be on June 28Th, 1919 with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

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September 26th, 1918 – This battle was the last battle of World War 1; U.S. and French troops joined forces to advance against the German troops, who were weakened from retreating from Marne River. From September 26th to November 11th, 1918, the two troops moved in through the Argonne Forest, slowly fighting to get rid of the German troops, and after the U.S. advancing 10 miles and France 20 miles in the forest, the Argonne forest was cleared of German troops.

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June 2nd, 1918 – German general attempted his final offensive against the French after a big win for their side, however, the French general predicted the attack and prevented it from hurting his army. French troops landed attacks on German troops as they attempted to cross the Marne river, and American, British, and Italian troops took care of the Germans who managed to completely cross the river. Allied forces began a counterattack, however, the German troops retreated, allowing the Allied forces to cross the Marne river themselves and land their attacks. This resulted in a German loss, and became the final attack began by the German army.

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May 28th, 1918 – The first independent American operation in the war; U.S. troops were sent to Cantigny, France, to defend against the German troops, who had taken the village over. With the U.S. victory of returning the village to the Allies, Germans were deprived of a vital spot for observation of the other side, and it was now clear that the U.S. power was stronger than the Germans originally thought.

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January 8th, 1918 – Speech stating Wilson’s 14 points he had for a basis of world peace and to stop the war. In these points, he discussed what he saw as the causes of the war, as well as ideas for terms to be discussed after the war ended to maintain peace among the nations. These 14 points became a large basis for the Treaty of Versailles following the end of the war.

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Finally, Russia redeveloped their government to be a representative one instead of the intense monarchy they had been previously, which gave Americans a reason to go to war, as they blamed the war on the fight between democratic governments and monarchies.

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Following this, Germany sunk four more ships which took 36 more American lives, after they had already taken hundreds before this.

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First, the Zimmerman note was sent from Germany to a German ambassador in Mexico; this letter held a proposition for alliance between Germany and Mexico, as well as a threat directed towards the U.S. as Germany announced that they would help Mexico gain land back from the United States, if they ever decided to go to war.

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On April 2nd, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson explained his resolution to the war to Congress. A few days later, on April 6th, Congress passed this resolution, and the neutrality the United States had held for the first three years of war was destroyed; the United States joined the war. Following an increase in tension between the United States and Germany, three events caused for the United States to break their original plan of neutrality, which Wilson called the “overt acts.”

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July 1st - November 1st, 1916 – Considered the biggest battle of WWI and one of the bloodiest battles in history with over 1.5 million casualties between the Allies and Central powers. This war consisted of the French and British powers joining forces to fight against the Germans along the Somme river in France.

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May 31st - June 1st, 1916 – largest naval battle of WWI; fought with German fleets against British fleets, in which the German general attempted to outsmart two British fleets, but failed, resulting in a British win. The battle involved 250 ships in total with approximately 100,000 men; 14 British ships and over 6,000 British men were lost while 11 German ships and over 2,500 German men were lost. German fleets retreated to avoid a total loss and they never challenged the British on the North Sea again.

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February 21st - December 18th, 1916 – Longest battle of World War I and considered one of the costliest. German troops attacked the French town of Verdun; French troops held ground and eventually were able to overpower German troops and retake lost ground after German strength decreased in the summer, leading to a French victory in the winter of 1916. The battle resulted in over 430,000 German casualties and about 550,000 French casualties.

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May 7th, 1915 – Germans sinking the British ship Lusitania killed 1,198 people, 128 being Americans. This was the first event to cause tension between the U.S. and Germany during the war.

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The war first began on July 18th, 1914, when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia in retaliation to the assassination of their Archduke, Franz Ferdinand, and his wife. This war was expected to be small and short, however, a ripple effect of countries joining this war stemmed from an alliance system the countries created through the years. This resulted in an all out world war.