U.S.

History Review Sheet – 1912-1921 – World War I

Names

Woodrow Wilson - The twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout

Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as
president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in
1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican
vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912.

John J. Pershing - An officer in the United States Army. Pershing led the American
Expeditionary Force in World War I and was regarded as a mentor by the generation
of American generals who led the United States Army in Europe during World War II.

Charles Evans Hughes - Republican politician from the State of New York. He
served as Governor of New York (1907-1910), United States Secretary of State
(1921-1925), Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1910-
1916) and Chief Justice of the United States (1930-1941). He was the Republican
candidate in the 1916 U.S. Presidential election, losing to Woodrow Wilson.

Theodore Roosevelt - The twenty-sixth President of the United States, and a

leader of the Republican Party and of the Progressive Movement. He became
President of the United States at the age of 42. He served in many roles including
Governor of New York, historian, naturalist, explorer, author, and soldier. Roosevelt
is most famous for his personality: his energy, his vast range of interests and
achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" persona. Negotiated for
the U.S. to take control of the Panama Canal and its construction in 1904.

William J. Bryan - An American lawyer, statesman, and politician. He was a three-

time Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States. One of the most
popular speakers in American history, he was noted for his deep, commanding
voice. President Woodrow Wilson appointed him Secretary of State in 1913, but
Bryan resigned in protest against what he viewed as Wilson's provocative language
in dealing with the Lusitania crisis in 1915.

Robert Lansing - Served in the position of Legal Advisor to the State Department
at the outbreak of World War I where he vigorously advocated against Britain's
policy of blockade and in favor of the principles of freedom of the seas and the
rights of neutral nations. He then served as United States Secretary of State under
President Woodrow Wilson between 1915 and 1920. He was nominated to the office
after William Jennings Bryan's resignation.

Newton Baker - An American politician of the Democratic Party, and a notable

figure in the Progressive movement. He served as the 37th mayor of Cleveland,
Ohio from 1912 to 1915 and as Secretary of War from 1916 to 1921.
“doughboys” - The men America sent to France in the Great War, who licked Kaiser
Bill and fought to make the world safe for Democracy.

Col. House - an American diplomat, politician, and presidential advisor. Commonly

known by the purely honorific title of Colonel House, although he had no military
experience, he had enormous personal influence with President Woodrow Wilson as
his foreign policy advisor until Wilson removed him in 1919.

A. Mitchell Palmer - the Attorney General of the United States from 1919 to 1921.
He was nicknamed The Fighting Quaker and he directed the controversial Palmer
Raids.

“Big Four” - a quartet of debutantes in the Chicago social scene during World War I,
described as "the four most attractive and socially desirable young women in
Chicago. ?

Henry Cabot Lodge - an American statesman, a Republican politician, and noted

historian.

William Borah - a prominent attorney and longtime United States Senator from
Idaho noted for his oratorical skills and isolationist views. One of his nicknames later
in life was "The Lion of Idaho."

“revisionists” - The critical reexamination of historical facts, with an eye towards

rewriting histories with either newly discovered information or a reinterpretation of
existing information. The assumption is that history as it has been traditionally told
may not be entirely accurate.

“irreconcilables” –

Warren G. Harding - an American politician and the 29th President of the United
States, from 1921 to 1923.

“Ohio Gang” - a group of politicians and industry leaders who came to be

associated with Warren G. Harding, a President of the United States of America.

Calvin Coolidge - the thirtieth President of the United States (1923–1929). A

Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of
Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state. His
actions during the Boston Police Strike of 1919 thrust him into the national spotlight.

Herbert Hoover - the thirty-first President of the United States (1929–1933), was a
mining engineer and humanitarian administrator. As the United States Secretary of
Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he
promoted economic modernization. Food collector for WWI troops. Meatless
Tuesdays, etc.
George M. Cohan - a United States entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist,
actor, singer, dancer, director, and producer of Irish descent. Wrote ‘Over There’
tune for WWI.

Eddie Rickenbacker - best known as a fighter ace and Medal of Honor recipient.
He was also a race car driver and automotive designer, a government consultant in
military matters and a pioneer in air transportation.

James M. Cox - a Governor of Ohio, U.S. Representative from Ohio and Democratic
candidate for President of the United States in the election of 1920.

F. Madero - a politician, writer and revolutionary who served as President of Mexico

from 1911 to 1913. As a respectable upper-class politician he supplied a center
around which opposition to the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz could coalesce. However,
once Díaz was deposed, the Mexican Revolution quickly spun out of Madero's
control.

V. Huerta - a Mexican military officer and president of Mexico. Brutal.

V. Carranza - one of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution. He ultimately became

President of Mexico and during his administration the current constitution of Mexico
was drafted.

Alfred von Zimmerman – Author of the Zimmerman note.

Wilhelm II - the last German Emperor and King of Prussia. Often referred to as The
Kaiser in the United Kingdom and United States.

William H. Taft - an American politician, the twenty-seventh President of the

United States, the tenth Chief Justice of the United States, a leader of the
progressive conservative wing of the Republican Party in the early 20th century.
During World War I he helped set national labor policy that reduced strikes and
generated union support for the national cause.

Dates

August 1914 - The first British shots of World War One occurred near a small
Belgian village in August 1914.

May 7, 1915 - the German U-20 (submarine) sank the British ocean liner Lusitania.
Approximately 1200 civilians died; more than 100 were U.S. citizens.

April 6, 1917 - the United States formally declared war against Germany and
entered the conflict in Europe.

November 11, 1918 - The Allied powers a signed a cease-fire agreement with
Germany at Rethondes, France, ending WWI.
1920 –
Places

Mexico – Sent the Zimmerman Note, not good relations with the US.

France – An Allie in WWI, part of the Triple Alliance.

Belgium - The neutrality of Belgium was violated in 1914 when Germany invaded
Belgium as part of the Schlieffen Plan.

Things

Communism - a socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of a

classless, stateless society based on common ownership of the means of
production.

“Red Scare” - been retroactively applied to two distinct periods of strong anti-
Communism in United States history. characterized by heightened suspicion of
Communists and other radicals, and the fear of widespread infiltration of
Communists in U.S. government.

“Palmer Raids” - a series of controversial raids by the U.S. Justice and Immigration
Departments from 1919 to 1921 on suspected radical leftists in the United States.
The raids are named for Alexander Mitchell Palmer.

Causes of World War I – Franz Ferdinand is assassinated.

Election of 1912 – Taft, Wilson, Roosevelt. Republican split allows Wilson to win.

Election of 1916 - Wilson , Hughes, Wilson wins.

Lusitania - a British luxury ocean liner, sunk by German UBoat 20.

“Zimmerman Note” - dispatched by the Foreign Secretary of the German Empire,

Arthur Zimmermann, on January 16, 1917, to the German ambassador in Mexico,
Heinrich von Eckardt, at the height of World War I. The Telegram's intention was to
get Mexico to go to war against the United States, thereby diverting U.S. resources
from aiding the Allies in Europe in their war against Germany.

Armistice - the effective end of a war, when the warring parties agree to stop
fighting.

War Ace - a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy
aircraft during aerial combat.

Trench Warfare - a form of war in which both opposing armies have static lines of
defense. Trench warfare arose when there was a revolution in firepower without
similar advances in mobility. Reached peak bloodshed on the Western Front of World
War I.

Weapons of WWI – secret weapons – gas, flamethrower, tanks, zeppelin.

Prohibition - a sumptuary law in a given jurisdiction which prohibits alcohol.

Typically, the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic
beverages is restricted or illegal.

Women’s Suffrage - to the economic and political reform movement aimed at

extending the right to vote to women.

Fourteen Points - Listed in a speech delivered by President Woodrow Wilson of the

United States to a joint session of the United States Congress on January 8, 1918.
This speech was intended to make a plan for peace in Europe after World War I. The
idealism displayed in the speech gave Wilson a position of moral leadership among
the Allies, and encouraged the Central Powers to surrender.

League of Nations - an international organization founded as a result of the Treaty

of Versailles in 1919–1920.

Triple Alliance - a military alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy

that lasted from 1882 until the start of World War I in 1914. ?

Triple Entente - the name given to the loose alignment of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire after
the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907. The UK already had the Entente
Cordiale with France since 1904, while France had concluded the Franco-Russian
Alliance in 1894.

New countries after WWI –

Isolationism - a foreign policy which combines a non-interventionist military policy

and a political policy of economic nationalism. Leaves other countries alone.

Amendments:

16th – Allowed income tax

17th – Direct election of senators

18th - established Prohibition in the United States. Repealed now.

19th - neither the individual states of the United States nor its federal government
may deny a citizen the right to vote because of the citizen's gender.

Essays
1 – Discuss the Federal Reserve System: What is it? How did it come about? What
are it’s functions? Why is it important?
2 – Discuss how the US entered WWI. What incidents led to this? How did the US
contribute to final victory?

3 – Discuss the “secret weapons” of WWI: Which were the most successful?

4 – Discuss the Treaty of Versailles: Why was it controversial? What was the League
of Nations? Discuss the roles of Wilson and Borah in the debate…What was the final
outcome?