Here is some help and things to think about for the short answer questions.

19) The Treaty of Versailles

1. Creates 9 new nations (including Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia) and shifts boundaries of others, British, French mandates
2. Places various conditions on Germany:
   • must admit guilt —War guilt clause
   • disarmed and cannot have an army
   • pay reparations, or war damages —$33 billion
3. The Treaty‘s Weaknesses
   1. War-guilt clause —Germany must accept sole responsibility for war
   2. Germany cannot pay $33 billion in reparations that Allies want
4. Strong opposition to treaty in U.S.
   1. Many politicians did not like that Wilson negotiated treaty without consulting Congress
   2. League of Nations- Some think League threatens U.S. foreign policy of isolation

 

20) Trench Warfare Begins- In WWI it was not long before both sides realized that traditional warfare would not win this war

• Armies equipped with new weapons
  1. tanks, machine guns, poison gas, new artillery, submarines, planes
     1. Machine Guns- These weapons were first used in the American Civil War to devastating effect
     2. But with World War One their effectiveness reached frightening new levels
     3. Firing up to 600 bullets a minute (the equivalent of 250 men with rifles), Machine Guns were then deemed to be weapons of mass destruction

1. Planes
   1. They had everything from mini scout planes to huge blimp like bombers called Zeppelins
   2. Air warfare was not seen as important as any other type so it did not have its own category
      1. Initial airplanes flimsy and just used for scouting
      2. Initial dogfights —individual air combats involved pilots shooting pistols
      3. Was not until mounted machine guns powered by the propeller belt (interrupter gear) that plains became a lethal devices

2. Tanks- were used to used to ―mow down‖ barbed wire and soldier

1. Based on the caterpillar track (first invented in 1770 and perfected in the early 1900s), early tanks were fitted with:
   1. maxim type guns or Lewis guns
   2. amour plating
   3. their caterpillar tracks were configured to allow crossing of an eight- foot wide trench.
   4. Although these beasts were powerful, they were not so reliable and most broke

2.  Gas

1. These were highly toxic, and very effective weapons
2. Chlorine gas, killed thousands

• Mustard gas —this burned the lungs of the inhaler leaving them to die in agony.

• Trench Layout- To protect themselves from the constant barrage of automatic gunfire and heavy -duty artillery, each side dug a series of trenches that extended for over 475 miles from Switzerland to the North Sea
  1. The rival trenches were typically about 250 yards apart, although in some places the trenches were so close that a soldier could practically touch his enemy in the opposing trench.
     1. The space between the trenches was referred to as ―no man‘s land
     2. No man‘s land was typically gutted by bombs, crossed by tons of barbed wire, and dotted with land mines

• Trench warfare consisted of long artillery bombardments followed by charges from infantrymen across no man‘s land toward enemy lines

 

21) Americans Question Neutrality

• Divided Loyalties
  1. Naturalized citizens concerned about effects on country of birth
  2. Many feel ties to British ancestry, language, democracy, and legal system
  3. S. has stronger economic ties with Allies than with Central Powers
• Unrestricted Submarine Warfare— sinking ships without warning rather than stopping them, searching them and if weapons found—allowing passengers to get into life boats prior to sinking
  1. Sinking of the Lusitania- boat sunk British liner Lusitania; 128 Americans among the dead
     1. Germany defended the sinking
     2. Germany claimed Lusitania contained armaments for
  2. Public opinion turns against Germany
     1. New York Times called the Germans ―savages drunk with blood
     2. President Wilson protests, but Germany continues to sink ships

• Zimmerman Note- Proposals for a German alliance with Mexico, suggesting the Mexican government should make common cause with Germany, try to persuade the Japanese government to join the new alliance, and attack the US
  1. Germany, for its part, would promise financial assistance and the restoration of former territories of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona to Mexico
• American Isolationism- Many politicians did not like that Wilson negotiated treaty without consulting Congress
  1. League of Nations
     1. Some think League threatens U.S. foreign policy of isolation
     2. The treaty committed the US to war in defense of League members

• US Senate rejects the treaty

1. US. and Germany sign separate treaty
2. US. never joins the league of Nations