This event was a major effect of world war i on american society in 1917 and 1918.

Q: What events in 1917 caused the US to enter ww1?

Germanys resumption of submarine attacks on passenger and merchant ships in 1917 became the primary motivation behind Wilsons decision to lead the United States into World War I.

Woodrow Wilson, a leader of the Progressive Movement, was the 28th President of the United States (1913-1921). After a policy of neutrality at the outbreak of World War I, Wilson led America into war in order to “make the world safe for democracy.”

Inhaltsverzeichnis Show

How the War began
U.S. Neutrality
America enters the War
Winning the War
Peace and aftermath
What was an effect of World War I on the United States?
What was the effect of the world war 1 on US culture and society?
What events in 1917 caused the US to enter ww1?
What social changes occurred after ww1?

Like Roosevelt before him, Woodrow Wilson regarded himself as the personal representative of the people. “No one but the President,” he said, “seems to be expected … to look out for the general interests of the country.” He developed a program of progressive reform and asserted international leadership in building a new world order. In 1917 he proclaimed American entrance into World War I a crusade to make the world “safe for democracy.”

Wilson had seen the frightfulness of war. He was born in Virginia in 1856, the son of a Presbyterian minister who during the Civil War was a pastor in Augusta, Georgia, and during Reconstruction a professor in the charred city of Columbia, South Carolina.

After graduation from Princeton (then the College of New Jersey) and the University of Virginia Law School, Wilson earned his doctorate at Johns Hopkins University and entered upon an academic career. In 1885 he married Ellen Louise Axson.

Wilson advanced rapidly as a conservative young professor of political science and became president of Princeton in 1902.

His growing national reputation led some conservative Democrats to consider him Presidential timber. First they persuaded him to run for Governor of New Jersey in 1910. In the campaign he asserted his independence of the conservatives and of the machine that had nominated him, endorsing a progressive platform, which he pursued as governor.

He was nominated for President at the 1912 Democratic Convention and campaigned on a program called the New Freedom, which stressed individualism and states’ rights. In the three-way election he received only 42 percent of the popular vote but an overwhelming electoral vote.

Wilson maneuvered through Congress three major pieces of legislation. The first was a lower tariff, the Underwood Act; attached to the measure was a graduated Federal income tax. The passage of the Federal Reserve Act provided the Nation with the more elastic money supply it badly needed. In 1914 antitrust legislation established a Federal Trade Commission to prohibit unfair business practices.

Another burst of legislation followed in 1916. One new law prohibited child labor; another limited railroad workers to an eight-hour day. By virtue of this legislation and the slogan “he kept us out of war,” Wilson narrowly won re-election.

But after the election Wilson concluded that America could not remain neutral in the World War. On April 2,1917, he asked Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.

Massive American effort slowly tipped the balance in favor of the Allies. Wilson went before Congress in January 1918, to enunciate American war aims–the Fourteen Points, the last of which would establish “A general association of nations…affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.”

After the Germans signed the Armistice in November 1918, Wilson went to Paris to try to build an enduring peace. He later presented to the Senate the Versailles Treaty, containing the Covenant of the League of Nations, and asked, “Dare we reject it and break the heart of the world?”

But the election of 1918 had shifted the balance in Congress to the Republicans. By seven votes the Versailles Treaty failed in the Senate.

The President, against the warnings of his doctors, had made a national tour to mobilize public sentiment for the treaty. Exhausted, he suffered a stroke and nearly died. Tenderly nursed by his second wife, Edith Bolling Galt, he lived until 1924.

Learn more about President Wilson’s first wife, Ellen Axson Wilson, who died during her term.

Learn more about President Wilson’s second wife, Edith Bolling Galt Wilson.

On April 6, 1917, the United States of America officially entered World War I. Over the next year and a half, millions of Americans served overseas and supported the nation’s war effort at home. Their contributions helped win the war and shaped both America and the world for generations.

How the War began

For decades, tensions had been growing between the nations of Europe. In the summer of 1914, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary was assassinated, setting off a sequence of events that eventually drew most of Europe into full-scale war. The Central Powers (led by Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire) fought the Allies (led by France, Great Britain and Russia) as the conflict spread from Europe to the Middle East and then to other parts of the world.

U.S. Neutrality

The United States remained neutral at the beginning of the war. Individual Americans supported one side or the other, although the majority were sympathetic to the Allies. Many contributed to relief efforts; others volunteered as ambulance drivers or nurses, or even as pilots and soldiers. However, most agreed with President Woodrow Wilson’s commitment to keeping the U.S. out of the fighting.

Overseas, the war continued through 1915 and 1916. On the Western Front (in France and Belgium) the fighting bogged down into trench warfare, with combatants on both sides living and dying below ground in squalid, filthy conditions. Most of the other battlefronts also remained deadlocked. The opposing armies threw millions of men at each other in massive battles, and technological advances provided new ways of inflicting death and damage, but neither side was able to gain the upper hand.

Some Americans felt that their country had a duty to step in to stop the slaughter, but most believed that the pointless carnage proved that the U.S. had been right to stay out of the war.

America enters the War

However, in early 1917, a series of events changed American attitudes. Earlier in the war, Germany had prohibited its submarines from sinking civilian and neutral ships, due largely to U.S. protests. In February 1917 it resumed unrestricted submarine warfare against all ships in the war zone. Shortly afterward, an intercepted German telegram revealed a plan offering Mexico territory it had lost to the U.S. during the Mexican-American War (1846-48) in exchange for its support.

These events finally brought the U.S. into the war on the side of the Allies on April 6, 1917. In the months that followed, over four million Americans of all backgrounds entered military service and prepared to go overseas. The U.S. government took an active role in mobilizing American industry and society in support of the war effort. In France, General John “Black Jack” Pershing led the effort to organize millions of incoming American troops into an effective fighting force. Meanwhile, German successes on other battlefronts allowed them to focus their efforts on the Western Front.

Winning the War

In the spring of 1918, the Germans launched a major series of attacks, finally breaking the stalemate and advancing all along the Western Front. U.S. forces were thrown into action, and helped turn back the German assault. Over the summer and into the fall of 1918, the Americans played an emerging role as the Allies finally pushed back the Germans on the Western Front. The Allies also advanced on other battlefronts. One by one, the Central Powers surrendered, until Germany stood alone. Finally, on the morning of November 11, 1918, Germany signed an armistice that brought the fighting to an end.

Peace and aftermath

At least 8.5 million soldiers had been killed and over 20 million wounded. In America’s relatively brief involvement, it suffered over 116,000 military deaths and 200,000 wounded. In addition, more than seven million civilians died worldwide, and countless others had been injured, starved, or made homeless. On top of this devastation, a global influenza (flu) pandemic in 1918 - 1919 struck down tens of millions more.

Against this backdrop of loss and suffering, the nations of the world came together in Paris to negotiate the post-war peace treaties. People around the globe hoped that the peace conference would lead to a new era of justice and cooperation.

Unfortunately, the resulting Treaty of Versailles and its related agreements failed to capture this spirit, and in fact planted the seeds of World War II and other future conflicts.

Legacy

World War I marked the end of the old European order and the beginning of an era that would be dominated by other forces, including the eventual rise of the United States as a global power. The mobilization of the U.S. economy and society and the service and sacrifice of millions of Americans helped bring an end to the war, and laid the foundation for the emergence of the U.S. as a world superpower later in the 20th Century.

What was an effect of World War I on the United States?

The war was a catalyst for the great migration of African Americans, and those who returned from the war, finding inequality intact, demanded civil rights. In addition, the conflict heralded the rise of conscription, mass propaganda, the national security state and the FBI.

What was the effect of the world war 1 on US culture and society?

The experience of World War I had a major impact on US domestic politics, culture, and society. Women achieved the right to vote, while other groups of American citizens were subject to systematic repression.

What events in 1917 caused the US to enter ww1?

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.

The most obvious sign of social change was the altered status of women. The Representation of the People Act 1918 granted the vote to all men over the age of 21, and 8.5m women over 30 who were householders or who owned property.