The Domestic Front

Students must be able to describe how World War I impacted the domestic front. Students must know the contribution of civilians to the war production effort. U6 USHG - Era 6 The Development of an Industrial, Urban, and Global United States, 1870 1930 WHG Era 7 Global Crisis and Achievement, 19001945
7.1 Increasing Government and Political Power, Comparative Global Power, Twentieth Century Genocide, Global Technology, and Total War 7.2 World War I

Learning Objective

Your Contribution
How has your life changed since the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began?

Domestic Issues Before the War

Total War
World War I, as it was being fought was one of the first total wars that the world has seen. Everyone and everything is a involved.

Over Here:
World War I on the Home Front

Committee on Public Information

Committee on Public Information CPI produces propaganda Led by George Creel Defends Americas role in the war Highlights German atrocities Produces films

 Theodore Roosevelt raised the issue of whether these communities were loyal to their mother country or to the United States: Those hyphenated Americans who terrorize American politicians by threats of the foreign vote are engaged in treason to the American Republic.

The War at Home

Anti-German Sentiment Spreads

Germans = Huns German culture becomes publicly limited. Americans renamed:
Sauerkraut "liberty cabbage Dachshunds "liberty hounds German measles "liberty measles." Pretzels removed from the lunch counters in saloons.

A Lynching
Lynching of 29-year-old Robert Paul Prager, in April 1918, was the most horrendous antiGerman act. Dear Parents: I must on this, the 4th day of April, 1918, die. Please pray for me, my dear parents. Prager

The World Must Be Made Safe for Democracy

"There is one choice we cannot make, we are incapable of making. We will not choose the path of submission . . . President Woodrow Wilson in his address to Congress April 2, 1917

Espionage (1917) & Sedition (1918) Acts

The Espionage Act prescribed a $10,000 fine and 20 years' imprisonment for interfering with the recruiting of troops or the disclosure of information dealing with national defense. The Sedition Act made it a federal offense to use "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the Constitution, the government, the American uniform, or the flag. The government prosecuted over 2,100 people under these acts.

 You need at this time especially to know that you are fit for something better than slavery and cannon fodder. You need to know that you were not created to work and produce and impoverish yourself to enrich an idle exploiter. You need to know that you have a mind to improve, a soul to develop, and a manhood to sustain. Debs, June 16, 1918 Canton OH

Eugene V. Debs

 Film director and author Made The Spirit of 76 before America entered World War I, released after the declaration of war Movie depicts British brutality during the Revolution Sentenced to 10 years in prison / $5000 fine for undermining American morale

Robert Goldstein

Selective Service Act (1917)

Selective Service Act (1917)

At the onset of World War I, the American federal army was made up of less than 200,000 men. Wilson enacted the SSA in order to increase the size of the US Army in order to challenge the Central Powers. By the end of WWI, some 24 million men had registered, and some 2.8 million had been drafted. In fact, more than half of the almost 4.8 million Americans who served in the armed forces were drafted.

Paying the Bills

Then as now there were, the experts agreed, three basic ways to raise the money:
1. raising taxes 2. borrowing from the public 3. printing money

Controlling the Economy

A wide variety of agencies were created to control the economy during the mobilization.
1. 2. 3. 4. the the the the Food Administration Fuel Administration Railroad Administration War Industries Board

Cost of War
John Maurice Clark estimated the total cost of the war to be $32 billion. That amounted to about 46 percent of Gross National Product (GNP) in 1918.

 In 1914 Americans were netdebtorsto the tune of $2.2 billion. By 1919 Americans were net creditorsto the tune of $6.4 billion. New York becomes the chief financial center of the world. Many European civilians flocked to the United States for work as their countries fell into harsh recessions.

US Economic Growth

Woodrow Wilson, 1919

"I can predict with absolute certainty that within another generation there will be another world war if the nations of the world do not concert the method by which to prevent it."

 Create a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting the civilian life during World War I and Iraq War. Five items in each set

Assessment

References
Media
Over There | 1917 Performer: BillyMurray Composer: George M. Cohan

Information

Ebbert, Jean, and Marie-Beth Hall. The First, the Few, the Forgotten: Navy and Marine Corps Women in World War I. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2002. www.digitalhistory.uh.edu Gilbert, Martin.The First World War: A Complete History. New York: Henry Ellis Island Immigrants guardian.co.uk Holt, 1994. Kennedy, David M Over Here: The First The Beast of Berlin www.imdb.com World War and American Society. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. Draft Registration Digital History Online. http:// http://www.archives.gov/research/military/ww1/draft-registration www.digitalhistory.uh.edu 28 October Propaganda posters 2011. http://www.firstworldwar.com/posters/usa.htm Selective Service Online. http:// Wilson portrait www.selectiveservice.us/military-draft http://www.legacy-america.net 29 October 2011 John Maurice Clark www.peoples-history.com Economic History Net. Newspaper http://www.eh.net 29 October 2011 netfiles.uiuc.edu Debs quote www.marxists,org