Connection Across Time

Although World War I took place in the the early 1900's we can still learn from it and take what matters from this battle. As we learned from the Treaty of Versailles, it was not meant for lasting peace because the treaty angered the Germans more than anything and caused another war due to their anger toward the other nations. Not only have we learned from the Treaty of Versailles, but we have also learned to make amends with other nations, the League of Nations was formed, this helped nations, and still does help nations make amends when they have disputes that need to be reconciled. Being able to take bits and pieces from our world's past is healthy because it allows us to become better and learn from past mistakes.

US Events

The Clayton Antitrust Act

The Clayton Antitrust Act (1914) passed by the U.S. Congress as an amendment to clarify the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. It was drafted by Henry De Lamar Clayton (see picture). This was meant to add more specific regulations to the Sherman anti-trust law. This law says specifically what companies cannot do. They could not lower costs to only some people, force another business to sell only one company's goods, buy another company if this makes a monopoly and stop labor unions from trying to get more wages and better working conditions from companies. The Clayton Antitrust Act was the basis for a great many important and much-publicized suits against large corporations. This event we can connect across continents because was the war was being fought over seas in Europe, over in American the government was trying to protect different companies.

Jeannette Rankin: First Woman Elected to Congress

Born into a farming family, Jeannette Pickering Ranking spent her childhood living on a ranch until her familiy picked up and moved to missoula to attend public school. She attended Montana State University and graduated with a degree in biology, but after visiting her brother in at Harvard she decided to try social work. In 1910 she became involved in the woman suffragemovement and became the fist woman to speak before the Montana legislature. As war in Europe loomed, Rankin turned her attention to work for peace, and in 1916, ran for one of the two seats in Congress from Montana as a Republican. She became the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress, and the first woman elected to a national legislature in any western democracy. Only four days after taking office, Jeannette Rankin made history in yet another way: she voted against U.S. entry into World War I by saying "I want to stand by my country, but I cannot vote for war."

Spotlight on

Lusitania was built by John Brown & Co. of Clydebank and was launched in 1906. The first British four-stacker, Lusitania was also the world's first quadruple screw steamer and the first ship to exceed 30,000 tons. Dubbed the "Greyhound of the Seas" she soon captured the Blue Ribbon for the fastest Atlantic crossing.  On May 7, 1915, the Lusitania was sunk off the Irish coast by a German submarine.The Lusitania took just eighteen minutes to sink. The speed and the angle of sinking made it extremely difficult to launch the life boats and the first one that did get into the water spilled its occupants into the sea. In the sinking, 1,198 persons lost their lives, 128 of whom were U.S. citizens. The incident worsened relations between Germany and the United States and encouraged American involvement in the war.

3 Works of Art

 Explosion, a painting by George Grosz (1917), shows the the destruction of a city. In the piece of art, the first thing that struck me was the colors in it. Red  is the first color that jumped out to me because it is the color of blood and the color of destruction. As we can see in the picture, everything is destroyed. The buildings are collasping and what seems to be people at the bottom of the painting are obviously suffering. This picture relates to World War 1 as it was extremely destructive and relentess towards the inhabitants of Europe.

Paths of Glory, 1917 by CRW Nevinson is a picture that i found in which I thought exemplified the idea of war. The bodies of two British soldiers are dead, burried and left unattented in the trenches. We spoke about this in class about how dead bodies would be left to rot away while other soldiers would have to fight and live around them day in and day out. The color of the soldiers uniforms blend into the muddy ground which gives the impression that they were left without attendence.The dark colors of the ground and the sky makes the picture have more of a sadden feeling as well.

 Sturmtruppe geht unter Gas vor (Assault under Gas) by Otto Dix was a picture that I picked because in class we talked about the different types of weapons that were new to warfare including different types of gases first used by the Germans like chlorine, phosgene and mustard. In the painting, we can see that the men are holding what seems to be canasters that releases the gas. The poisin blinded so many and burned the skin and lungs of the victims. The gas masks worn in the painting provided some protection for the soldiers. Gas attacks were a big part of the war because both sides began to use this weapon.

Important People

John J. Pershing

Born on September 30 1860, John J Pershing is best known for his involvment  as Commander of American armies in Europe during World War I. He graduated from West Point and served on the western frontier, in the Spanish American War, in the Philippines, and as commander of a punitive raid against Pancho Villa. Pershing is the only person to be promoted in his own lifetime to the highest rank ever help in the US Armies. His autobiography, My Experience of War, was published in 1931, winning the Pulitzer Prize for history in 1932. John Joseph Pershing died on July 15, 1948 in Washington, D.C. His live is still remembered for his work accomplished as Command of the Armies.








Earl Haig

Field Marshall Douglas Haig is most associated with the Battle of the Somme in World War One. Douglas Haig was Britain’s commander-in-chief during the Somme battle and took much criticism for the sheer loss of life in this battle. In 1906, Haig went to the War Office as director of military training. His responsibilities included the organization of a British Expeditionary Force (BEF) for deployment in the event of war with Germany. On the outbreak of war in 1914, Haig was commanding the BEF's 1st Army Corps  The battle of the Somme was one of the bloody of the First World War, more British soldiers had been killed than in any other battle before it. It earned Haig the title 'Butcher of the Somme', after he unnecessarily sent thousands of British troops to their deaths. Haig served as commander in chief of British Home Forces from 1918 until his retirement in 1921. He also helped establish the Royal British Legion and worked hard to raise funds for it. He was created an earl in 1919 and died on January 28 1928.

Erich von Ludendorff

Ludendorff was a German General who was a brilliant strategist and successful commander. He directed Germany's total war effort during WWI as he was the architect of the victory over the Russians at Tannenberg as he served as chief of staff to Paul con Hindenburg. His right-wing extremism manifested itself after the war in sympathy with the Kapp-Putsch and in participation in Hitler's revolt in Munich in 1923. For this he was tried and acquitted. He was a National Socialist member of the Reichstag (1924-28), and ran unsuccessfully for president in 1925.

Introduction

World War 1 was between the Allie Powers including France, Russia, Great Britiain along with Italy, Serbia, Greece, the United States and Japan against The Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungry along with Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. The War began in the summer of 1914 when Arcduke Franz Ferdinand was assinassinated and ended in 1918 with the Treaty of Versailles. The turbulent period after World War I called for a major readjustment of politics, economic policies, and views on the world.

Through this blog, I intend to show my knowledge of the first world war.

Essential Question: Why did the United States get involved in World War 1?
               The US became involved with WW1 because  the sinking of the Lusitania, an British cruise/transport ship, bound for Britain from New York. The German U-boat ring sought to sink all supply ships headed for Britain in order to starve the island. It sank the Lusitania as part of its efforts. 1195 people died, including 128 Americans. Also, Germany adopted restricted submarine warfare. But early in 1917 Germany again began attacking unarmed ships, this time American cargo boats, goading the United States into the war.