Episode 13 - World War 1

Emancipation Podcast Station

Welcome back to The Emancipation Podcast Station - the place to hear about history researched and retold through the eyes of Middle school and HS students.

Last time on the show…

Today we discuss The United States in World War I. Let’s dive in.

The presidency of Woodrow Wilson - And Presidential podcast

1. Gabe - Woodrow Wilson was the first southern president since James Polk

He was in the KKK he segregated the federal government and in his 1st term the KKK had a revival he went for the democratic side and and went by the slogan he kept you out of the war which is ironic because we went into world war one in his second term.(g(h

2.-Ethan- He was the 28th president of the US. Wilson made the Federal Reserve System. Which allowed the government control over currency so that we didn’t experience a second great depression. He also tried to lower tariffs and improve worker protection.

3. - Blake - Although Woodrow Wilson was very racist he shared a lot of the same views as Theodore Roosevelt in which he wanted to go after the big business’.

4.Ricky-As everyone here can agree, Woodrow Wilson was a racist.

5. Skylar - Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia on December 28th, 1856. His family was extremely religious. President Woodrow Wilson was a progressive democrat. He served two terms in office from 1913 to 1921. Woodrow wanted to expose corruption, regulate economy, eliminate unethical business practice, and improve the conditions of society. Wilson campaigned for “new freedom”. He promised banking, tariff, and business reform.
6. Elijah- President Woodrow Wilson was serving in office from 1913 to 1921. As a young boy he experienced the civil war and his mother treated the wounded Confederate soldiers. When he started to grow up he attended Princeton. As Blake said Woodrow Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt shared views on big business but Teddy Roosevelt believed that some monopolies are good and Woodrow Wilson did not think this, he thought all monopolies are bad for a economy.
7. Ben- Corrupt businessmen exist and eventually there would be a president that’s a bit fishy. But in his second term he went against child labor and liked the idea of establishing a minimum possible wage. His slogan was, “He kept us out of war.” even though world war 1 started during his presidency.

Blockades, u-boats and sinking of the Lusitania

1. Gabe - The germans had these things called u boats which were the submarines of that day. Germans also had unrestricted submarine warfare starting with the sinking of the Lusitania which had many americans on board and started us joining the war mexicans trying to take land and a few others.(hunter)

2.-Ethan- The Lusitania was also known as the RMS or Royal Mail Ship since it carried some mail. It was set to sail from New York to Great Britain. This kind of allowed Germany to take the advantage and say that they were going into active war territory. This meant that Germany would attack this ship and everyone on it.

3. - Blake - At this early point in the war the Germans had blood on their hands, innocent blood. This made the U.S. angry of course which is how we got into the war.

4.Ricky-they sunk the Lusitania in under 18mins, which I find insane. The Titanic sunk in 2hours and 40mins.`

5. Skylar - The British declared the entire north sea a war zone in November of 1914. They said any ship that comes in here may or may not get blown up, sunk, shot up, ect. You could not bring any contraband and if you did you would for sure get blown up, contraband included food. This was basically started the Germany and Austria-Hungary.
6. Elijah- The submarines of the time were U boats and the german people used these U boats. The main thing that brought us into WWI was germany using unrestricted submarine warfare sinking Lusitania and the Zimmerman telegram.
7. Ben- The Lusitania was the biggest ship in the world at the time, until being passed up by the Mauretania, then the Mauretania got passed up by the Olympic. Technology was advancing fast, and they used it for good and bad.

Zimmermann Telegram

1. Gabe - mexicans sent the zimmerman Telegram asking the germans to help them straight after the germans started sinking our boats reclaim texas new mexico and arizona which was short lived when we entered the war Woodrow(hunter)
2. - Blake - The Zimmermann Telegram was like Gabe said a telegram sent by the Germans asking Mexico for support in return for their lost territories. The telegram was intercepted and make public to the American people to make them angry and want war.

3.-Ethan- Mexico didn’t really think they could back Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, so this deal didn’t seem so sweet to them. All it really did was make America angry. The Zimmerman telegram was kind of what brought the US into the war along with the “unrestricted submarine warfare” and the Lusitania sinking.

4.Ricky-this was basically Germany asking support from Mexico, and when America got wind of it it boosted support to go to war with germany.

5. Elijah-The Zimmerman Telegram was a telegram from the Germans asking Mexico to help them in the war and to take down the United States and if they do so they can reclaim all the territory that they lost.
6. Skylar - Germany was getting desperate for help. Arthur Zimmerman is the man who sent the telegraph to the Mexicans in January of 1917. This was a cry for help. Germany needed the mexicans to help slow down the US from staying out of the war, obviously because the US had a strong army and the Germans knew they were going down.

7.Ben - The telegraph was encrypted, so that any postal services in america or england, but then it was caught and decoded, then sent to america, then published for all of america to see. I think America was scared of losing their land.

United States enters World War I

The United States in World War I

1. - Blake - Woodrow Wilson had originally planned to keep the U.S. out of the world war but unfortunately this changed with the Zimmermann Telegram and the use of “Unrestricted submarine warfare” was not taken lightly.

2. Gabe - once the germans started shooting down our ships starting with the Lusitania

And the mexicans wanted to fight us with the germans we had to join cause we didn't want to get destroyed by everybody

3.-Ethan- When entering the war, Wilson tried to keep from the war as much as he could, but with Germany’s increasing aggression, he had no choice but to get involved. The US officially went to war on April 6th, 1917. 1.3 million men and 20 thousand women joined up.

4.Ricky-this is going to be fun since we can finally talk about GUNS. Like the Gewehr 98 which now that I think about it was a german weapon, and the Colt ACP.45 M119 pistol, Basically this was a time where as weapons changed war. As they usually say “war never changes” but experimental weapons like the first kind of handheld machine guns were used. This war was the first and the last to world war to include chemical weapons like Ammonia and chlorine, and mustard gas, there was a reason chemical weapons were banned. And what was so weird about WW1 was all the world leaders were connected by family or friendship. After Merica’ broke diplomatic relations with Germany, they immediately, using a U-Boat, sunk the American liner Housatonic.

5.Elijah- As tensions were building with Unrestricted submarine warfare, the sinking of the Lusitania and the Zimmerman Telegram The United States had no choice but to join in the war. Wilson planned to keep the United States out of the war but these factors caused the US to join.

6. Skylar - like they said Woodrow tried to keep the United States out of the war. The germans messed with the States too much so they had to do what they had to do and joined the war on april 6th, 1917. World War I was the deadliest conflict in human history, claiming tens of millions of deaths on both sides.

7. Ben - Many different things made America decide to go to war, propaganda about Germany was going around and America just couldn’t handle it anymore. Many people thought it would be another painful but fairly short war, but it ended up being a long hard overall bad experience.
8. Hunter- WW1 was the bloodiest war during that time period and also the shortest.

Can you name one point in the fourteen points?

Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points

1. Gabe - Woodrow had this thing called fourteen points it was what he wanted to happen instead of wars well he died and he never got to see it happen and some of his idea didn't happen but a lot of his fourteen points were used in the United Nations.
2. - Blake - While President Wilson made several good points in his Fourteen Points not everyone supported them like the prime minister of france George Clemenceau who said: “Mr. Wilson bores me with his Fourteen Points; why, God almighty only has Ten!”.

3.-Ethan- The Fourteen Points were Wilson’s peace terms for ending the World War. The Europeans agreed with these terms but Wilson’s Allied didn’t really agree with the “Wilson Idealism”. He said to reduce military forces and he put it there twice for emphasis.

4.Ricky-this was basically Woodrow Wilson’s Gettysburg address, it was his famous speech. It was a speech about peace, about ending this war to end all wars.

5.Elijah-The Fourteen Points was Wilson's peace terms for ending the first World War And these were used in the United Nations but many other Countries did not join these terms. Wilson died before ever getting to see this happen and used.

6. Skylar - Woodrow Wilson’s fourteen points are Abe Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation. They were basically just how Woodrow felt at peace with his words.

7.Hunter- The 14 points are all points of Woodrow Wilson's thought of peace to end WW1.

8. Ben- With something as big as World War 1, there was something about it that didnt let it end, and the Fourteen Points understood that concept and addressed every single major problem.

Paris Peace Conference and Treaty of Versailles

More detail on the Treaty of Versailles and Germany

The League of Nations

The Treaty of Versailles

1. - Blake - Although the League of Nations was mostly viewed as weak for failing to prevent the second world war they were able to come together to write the Treaty of Versailles which ended the first world war although this didn’t last long until Adolf Hitler came into power and broke the treaty.

2.-Ethan- The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of The Allied to make the Treaty of Versailles. During this conference they made the League of Nations which their goal was to maintain world peace. It consisted of Britain, Italy, France, US, and Japan.

3.Ricky-The Treaty of Versailles severely limited the military of Germany and made them pay a fine SOOO big it took 96 years to pay off. Of course in WW2 they disobeyed these rules.

4. Elijah-The league of Nations were made to stop any world wars and was founded on January 10th 1920. The League was able to make the Treaty of Versailles and the peace conference which ended the First World War.
5. Skylar - The Treaty Of Versailles was a little extreme in my opinion. The made a limit on how many soldiers Germany could have which was 100,000. As well as bullets, boats, and U-boats. Germany couldn’t form a Union with Austria either. The treaty also put all the “war guilt” on Germany which they deserved that. The rest of it was just really Extra.

6.

7. Hunter- the paris peace conference was in 1919, also known as the Versailles peace conference, was the meeting of the allied powers after WW1 to set a peace treaty with the Axis powers.
8. Ben - This was kind of the time where everything started to eventually end. After all the fighting, different countries declared peace, and many things were sorted out. It was a big relief to people around the world.

That’s all we have time for today. Thanks for joining us in this emancipation from the box, that is learning.