Good afternoon. We had finished talking the battle of verdun last wednesday, which for many people epitomizes, the tragedy of the First World War. However, verdun does not have the distinction. If you want to use that term as the bloodiest battle of the First World War. Instead, that distinction is at this place called the somme, which occurred in the same year of 1960. There was no strategic objective at the somme. Its a little river valley in northern france. The only reason the site was selected for major offensive is, as you can see down here at the its where the french lines and the british lines came together. And the idea was that both armies could attack together to break through the german lines in the open country and that cavalry charge that the were always talking about. Many of the soldiers who would be fighting at the somme, least in the british army, were those volunteers who had enlisted when the call to arms came in 1914, had seen kitchener appeal to them and for that reason were known kitcheners army. Not only were men induced to come, as you saw those those posters of women wanting to induce to join up. But the british came up with yet another idea to appeal for volunteers. This was just before they decided to introduce conscription. The military draft. The idea was that you could get young men from the same village or town, from the same business or factory from the same university. They could join together. They could serve together. And this would create a esprit de corps right . And these men would be with their their friends, their mates, their chums, their pals. And for this reason, they became as the pals battalions. And there are all sorts of posters like this one that went up. I love this one. Trying to get the london cyclist to all join together. Right, right in. The battle. Hop off your bicycle and give the beastly, handsome, good british. Heres another. Theyve really used sport to try to get young men to join. Whether its rugby, football or or the Old Fashioned kind. These these were also other ways to appeal for men to join up. But no one seem to think about was what would happen when these units of men all from the same village, town or university, went into battle together. If the turned out to be a slaughter, the somme very was the invention, the creation, the brainchild of someone weve already talked about. The british commander, sir douglas haig. Haig planned a week long bombardment followed the explosion of, several mines that had been burrowed underneath the german trenches that would be blown up at the moment of the attack. And haig assured his soldiers that the enemy fortifications the enemy trenches would be utterly destroyed and that they could simply walk across. No mans land. That was the promise. This is what british civilians all at their cinemas. Wow. See, i can make this work here. Now, this never to work, right . Here we go. The craters created by those explosions, by way still exist. Today. The german werent destroyed. Some of the dugouts that the germans had put in place were 20 to 30 feet deep. So the shells never reached them. When the shelling stopped, the german soldiers simply climbed out of their dugouts, set up their machine guns, and started firing. By the end of the first day, july the first, 1916, the army had suffered 58,000 casualties, 20,000 of whom were dead. It still ranks as the worst day in British Military history. Many those who were sent over the top were those pals, battalions. A soldier from north of ireland named Herbert Beattie, who was in these first attacks on the 1st of july, sent a letter home shortly after. And you ought to write this down. I would just like to read this small passage to you. This is what Herbert Beattie wrote. Dear mother, tell them there is not another grosvenor fellow left but myself. We tramping over the dead. Theres only 400 left out of about 1300. Mother, if god spares to get home safe, i will have something awful to tell you. If hell is any worse, i would not like to go to it. When her baby wrote those words, he was only 17 years old and he was far from the only teenager. This battle, despite this disaster at the somme, on that first day, haig ordered the attacks to continue just because. Just second. Well into the autumn. And it was only the weather itself, finally forced haig to call off the attacks in november of that year. By the time the battle of the somme ended. At the end of 1916, the british had suffered 420,000 casualties. The french, who also took part in this offensive, suffered 200,000 of the germans estimated suffered around 650,000. And for all that, the allies gained, about five miles of land. There was no break. Yes, sir. Survived. The beatty survived. Thats a good question. Ive been trying to find out, and i dont know. And im not sure if he was in that photograph, but but ive been ive been looking ive been able to out more questions about the somme. Yes, sir. Why general haig decide to continue the fighting despite the horrendous casualties on the first day . Because he thought that if just kept pushing, the germans were on verge of cracking and then they could break through. The problem was he never went to the front, so never saw what the conditions were like. His, his headquarters was always about 20, 25 miles behind the front. Battles like verdun or battles like the somme are expensive, hugely expensive. And what the allies and the germans and the austrians and all the rest who took part in the war, soon discovered was that these wars were mass consumption wars. They were total wars. And this meant that you had to create a new kind of politics to fight these wars. You had to you had to get rid of at least temporary. The free market. Laissez faire economies that most of these countries were used to. You had to go over to poland economies to do. The western allies created Coalition Governments or what were sometimes called governments of national unity. And by the latter years of the war, all of these countries had such governments. These are all parliaments systems. So in these of national unity, these governments, these Coalition Governments, most if not all of the major parties, parties are paid, you know, take for you participated. Just paid it in these governments and and these three were among the most successful probably. Lloyd george the man the center of the most of all he still known in britain as the man who won the war. Its the man who won the war in germany by the end of 1916. By the end of 1916, the germans had, for all intents and purposes, a military dictatorship. A dictatorship that was run by hindenburg, but most especially his chief of staff, Erich Ludendorff wilhelm, the second was still emperor. He was still kaiser, but he was in a figurehead. It must be said that the german was never really able to create the kind of war that you found in france or certainly in britain. But they would be running the country for the rest of the war. The big problem, of course, the central powers was, the British Naval blockade, which cut them off from the outside world. Germany depends on resources, not just its industries, but also its farming. And this was of the other central powers as well. And they couldnt get out beyond the north sea to trade with anybody. This led to increased levels of of hunger. And in the winter, 1916, 17, the infamous turn of winter, when in germany, especially in most places, about only thing to eat were turnips, literally, theres no bread, no potatoes little meat. And you might imagine what kind of a legacy this left, the memories that this among not just adults, but among the children who lived through this. It was during the First World War that a new term was created, a new term entered our lexicon, the home front. And thats because for the first time, the home front became a front of war. The home front was not only the place where civilians lived, worked, they were the creator heirs of the material that was needed for these wars. They were also attacked as well. The germans very early in the war, began aerial bombing raids of cities that they could reach in france. But especially in england. This is an amazing photograph of one of the german, the zeppelins, during a bombing raid over. You can make out big ben right there when these airships were no longer usable, the british developed tactics to get at them. The germans switched out to using planes to at least bomb london, including the famous gotha bombers. And i dont if these these photographs can even begin to do justice to how big these were. But i must say that i cant imagine. Cold. It must have been to fly the channel in that exposed position. You know, i wouldnt do that in august. Never mind november or february. But they did. Yeah. These like night raids, especially cold war. They would. Why didnt they do this . Like, during the 19 . So it would be especially cold if youre like, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Because if they didnt during the day, then theyd be subject to fighter planes being sent against them as well. Now these these bombing raids were that the damage they caused was minimal. But of course, the injuries were not. And the thing here is we tend to associate the idea of bombing cities with world war two. This is on during world war one. And of the germans tending to have to go up in the air to bomb french cities. They had those huge, long range artillery pieces. The paris guns, for example, that could bomb german. Yes, sir. For the Strategic Bombing for terror bombings. I we call them terrible. I mean, they had no specific target. They would just fly over an area, just spill out the bombs when they could and they couldnt carry many anyway. So. When i opened this course, i was talking about the various allied powers. I out that the United States did not factor into any other considerations of the european leaders during the july crisis of 1914. In fact, the United States would be a dominant player by 1918. And you really cannot talk about european history. The first half of the 20th century without talking about the United States and about talking about one man in particular. This man, the then us president , Woodrow Wilson. Wilson as you probably know, has come in for quite a bad lately because of his undeniable racism. Thats a subject that we have to leave to one side here. I want to focus on his impact on europe and the world. But Wilson Wilson at the start of the war was determined, most americans, that the United States should stay out of this conflict. He famously said at the beginning of the war that he hoped that all americans would be neutral in deed as well as in thought, and he wanted it to stay that way. The problem was that, quite frankly, there were simply too much money to be made in this war. The allies from the start began to purchase huge amounts of material from the americans and the americans in world war one were not the arsenal democracy that would be in world war two. Okay. The americans in world war one were much more important to the allies as supplier of primary materials goods. They were very important. Crucially important in the production and supply of steel, and not least food. The germans have been very happy to have bought these goods from the americans, but of course they couldnt because of the naval blockade. And although this bothered wilson, he didnt do anything to stop it. The American Economy was in a recession in 1914. The war changed all that to pay for these massive amounts of goods. All of the allies turned to the money. The british became the sole purchaser for all the allies in the United States eventually save money. They had the best credit. Okay. But even the british could only borrow so much. And by 1917, the 1917, there was a dramatic change in the history of the world. Up until this point, the United States had been a debtor nation. It had owed the rest of the world a special the europeans money, lots of money. Thats how the had funded their Industrial Revolution in 1917. That changed. And the United States became a creditor nation. The rest of the world owed it money, and that would continue. The United States would be a creditor nation until 1986, until the reagan deficits made the United States a debtor again. In 1986, which weve been ever since back at this time. By 1917. Even the british line of credit had run out and the allies had to borrow huge sums of money from the american after the United States got into the war. This would create something called the war debts crisis, which i can see from some of the looks your faces. Sounds very dry. Its not. But im going to get to that when were talking about the and the thirties. Here, its enough to know that already without firing a shot, the United States was already a crucial player in this war. Any qualms . Wilson had about supporting the allies were put one side thanks to the revulsion that he and Many Americans felt about germanys answer to the allied blockade of europe. And that was the use of german submarines or uboats to sink ships. This almost brought United States into the war as early as may 1951, when an ocean liner called the lusitania was sunk off the coast of of ireland. The lusitania, when it sunk, took down with it over hundred civilians. And 128 of those civilians were american citizens citizens. 100 of those 1200 were children. Now, you remember, this is at a time before governments started using euphemisms like, collateral damage. And the lusitania sinking outraged americans. And it came very close to taking the americans into the war. Yes, maam. Just once you take out an air in the newspapers, know in the New York Times saying dont take this ship. They did it. They did. But but nobody it. Seriously. The ad was in there and it was with the shipping schedule. So you couldnt say you didnt see it. But nobody nobody took it seriously. Oh, sorry. You didnt do. Turns out like i was carrying weapons and stuff. That is simply a bomb and is still disputed this day. And if we go through all of the claims and counterclaims. We will be here till 5 00 tonight. So im going to leave that to one side. But yeah, its been claimed for time. The germans back and they they they renounced using uboats to sink civilian ships. But the of total war really meant that that couldnt last forever. In january 1917, the germans announced that they were going to resume unrestricted submarine warfare. And this is a poster, german poster showing from a sinking ship around the french british coasts during this period, which is quite a bit. Now, the German Government knew hindenburg and ludendorff were behind, by the way. They knew this would bring the americans into the war, but they had a logic to this, and the logic was this by early 1917, britain was the one country that was standing germany and final victory. The reasoning was, if we can starve, i mean, literally starve the british people. Britain will be forced to sue for peace with britain out of the war. We can defeat the french. Wars over. And we will win. The americans will come into the war. But their army is so small and it will take them so long to mobilize that they will not have any presence on the battlefield. So. So from that perspective, this plan makes sense. Guarantee. The foreign minister, this man arthur zimmermann, went a step further. He decided that the germans could distract the by inducing mexico to join the war. And for reasons ive never been able to fathom to have japan switch sides. But japan taking on was german territory in asia, in the pacific, they switched sides, who knows . But thats the reason. In berlin. Okay, second. And in the process in the process, the americans be so distracted on their own southern border that that they would not able to have any influence in europe to sweeten the. Zimmermann promise that the mexicans that they would these three states texas new mexico and arizona territories that had been taken from mexico during the earlier mexican war of 1840 648. What they know. Ill go back to our slide is that the british were reading the german diplomatic codes. The british had broken the diplomatic. Again, we know about Bletchley Park in world war. Well, they were doing it in world war one, too. Sneaky brits and they gave the zimmermann telegram to wilson. Wilson handed it to the American Press. And when the American Press published the zimmermann telegram, a storm loose. These are just two cartoon ins from american newspapers at the time showing showing this. I love the fact that in both of them to drive home the fact that were talking about mexico, the two mexican characters have to be wearing sombreros. You know, this one was more and this drives home the point now for the first time this war reaching into parts of america that until then had felt untouched by the war had no reason being worried or concerned about. The war that was enough. On the 2nd of april, Woodrow Wilson went to the us congress and asked congress for a declaration of war against. Congress debated the motion for four days. Before finally agreeing. But on six of april, the states went to war. Im sorry. I just want to get through that. Yeah. Why wouldnt the royal navy able to combat uboats . They did, but they werent always successful. The technology was. Was not as developed. We might like to think. Yes, maam. On the other slide, there was. What did it say on california for japan . And i believe. Yes. The idea was that the japanese switched sides, theyd get california. So never tanks. So they were like they have germany for myself. Then they had mexico for mexico. But then the japan for getting california interesting. I thought the germans went to california too. But happiness. Yeah. That was the idea. Yes, sir. You mentioned that in 1915 that the second lusitania nearly brought the americans in the war. What was it again that stopped americans from entering . The germans backed off. They said, okay, we will not sink any civilian ships on the high. Its the end of unrestricted warfare. Thats kept the americans out of airplanes. In 1915. But when that was re announced in 1917, that was the real reason that the americans came into the war. This was the final straw because again, up then that submarine warfare was people on the east coast. If you live in in far west, whats it got to do with you . This made it with you . Yes, sir. Oh, what is it . Okay, so then mexico. I got this point. Just like a major civil war. So what exactly . Germany. Expecting them to be able to accomplish through the strike. The americans and the relations between mexico and the United States were very bad at the time, probably. But like mexico at the time would have been like, you know, kind of a mess and the war and everything, right . So yeah, but that wasnt that in the calculations in berlin, they they they were concentrating was distracting the americans. And thats what mattered to them. When i. About the home front. Oh, yes, maam. Just go back to slide. Like how far back . Just one. Just one. Yeah. Perfect. Thank you. If we guys missed anything, we can go over this at an hour session. Okay. Yeah. So the americans are in the war by april now. That doesnt mean. Theyre immediately sending forces overseas. Its going to be a while before the americans can have any kind of effect on the war. Okay. Get move on. When i was talking about the homefront earlier, there was one vital element that i left out, and that element was women. Women in all of the warring countries were absolutely crucial to this war, to the war of all the countries. Of course, women have been working in factories with the start of the industrial, so theres nothing new about. What changed was the kind of work women did because the first time women were doing jobs that had been exclusively, exclusively given over to only men. That was the big difference. The work that women did occurred in in italy, in germany, in britain, an eventually in the United States. The one thing that women were not allowed to do was to go to war itself. The idea of women taking up arms was simply an impossible idea for any any leader of either side to countenance war was mens work. The fighting was mens work. There was one exception and that was russia early in the war czar nicholas. The second was petitioned by a few women to be allowed to join the army and amazingly, he granted these petitions after first of the two revolutions in 1917. 2500 women signed up to join what was called the womens battalion of death. I love that term. Womens battalion of death. And i love this photograph because picture here is none other than that, british suffragette emmeline pankhurst, how she got to russia in the middle of a war beyond me, but she managed to do it. Okay. These women took part in the last offensive of the russian army in the summer of 1917, and they captured over 2000 german soldiers when many their male counterparts were running for home. But they split apart after the bolshevik. The british finally to accept women into military service in in the of 1917, simply because they needed as many men as possible in the trenches. And so they created what was called the Womens Army Auxiliary Corps to do non frontline jobs and as well so as well nurses youve got this Womens Army Auxiliary Corps. I have to say those are the ugliest uniforms ive ever seen. And they had to have been devised by a man only. A man would come up with Something Like that. But before war was over, women, british women were serving in other branches. This is a motorcyclist, which with what was then the royal flying army corps or the royal flying women were nurses. They were serving in the royal navy again desk jobs. And of course, in the factories doing what as i said, was traditionally mens work or so it was thought. Americans tend to think that rosie the riveter this symbol is only connected with world war two. In fact, rosie the riveter had a mother and older sisters in world war one. Like these women. When the United States entered, the war, the United States immediately imposed conscription, the military draft. And that meant all young men were liable for military service. And that meant that these businesses these factories needed women workers, which they immediately employed. Women were also recruited to serve in what was called the land army. These would be women who would work on the farms to the place of the male farmers who had to go into military service. And of course, there thousands of of nurses. Yes, sir. Can you back aside . I can. At the very bottom. I mentioned something about tuition. Are they being trained to like, work the field, or are they actually taking, like, school . I think is for women who attend the university of virginia and theyre going to get free tuition in exchange for. Yeah. All right. Join the land army. Ladies and gentlemen, you can get free tuition here. Women didnt the university of virginia in those days. Philadelphia was another. Who knows . Women went to mary washington. Uva was male until about 1970. Okay. I wasnt there. So i dont know if some of you find out why that is there. I would love find out. Please, please let me know. Okay. Yeah. The nurses of the american commander of the American Forces in france, john j. Pershing, one of things that he immediately needed when he got france were telephone operators. And one of the things that he immediately discovered was that men made lousy telephone operators. He wanted to recruit women. The u. S. Army said, no, you cannot. And pershing ignored them and he did it anyway. And he had the signal. Higher. What known as the hello girls. These were women serving in france. American women who had been telephone operators in the. They were recruited by. The signal service brought over to. To france. Pershing. Absolutely. These women because they were efficient and they could quickly translate from french into english and english into french like this young. When the war was over, they were told they had not served in the us, even though they had been recruited by the signal corps. And they didnt get recognition until 77. And of course many of them were dead. The us navy was not nearly so skittish about recruiting women. The us navy recruited 13,000, what were called units. Wrap your head around that title. Of course they not allowed to serve on ships. The american women who got closest to the front lines were not recruited by the us military. They were part of what you might call a private army. The salvation army. Like these women i can personally attest to their importance because my grandfather was, an american soldier on the western front and he said if there was one organization, one group that was always there for the soldiers, it was the salvation army. And i love this photograph as a woman. I think theyre baking pies for them or maybe cakes now. These experiences were vital. The sense that many of these nations at the end of the war finally had to accept that women should be first class citizens in, that they should be granted the right to vote. And in many nations they were the two holdouts of the major powers in world war one. But not grant women the right to vote. Were france and italy. The others did did. French and Italian Women would have to wait until 1946 before they would get right to vote. But dont get me wrong. These experiences of the great war were quickly forgotten. As soon as the emergency over. And in many countries the same lessons about the need for women. The vital roles that women play in war had be relearned between 1939 and 1945. Ill go with this real quick. Does it make any questions . No. Okay. Yes, sir. Why was france and italy, the two holdouts that all didnt give them the right to vote . They just wouldnt it. Okay. Women not going to be given the right to vote. Those anglo, they do that. Because anglosaxons. Yes, maam. I wonder if it had anything to do with the catholic church. It could have. I suppose. But the german states like bavaria gave women the right vote. Austriahungary gave women the right to vote. So they could be. But id be surprised about that. In total war, as in all these days, all these countries were involved in total war of emotions or stirred up. Right. And this became apparent from the start in the great war, and there was a lot of fear, a lot of anger, a lot of hysteria. And some of it was in reaction to the creation of these war economy as to by the end of the war. There was a form of military discipline that was imposed in most of these countries. You did not the right to quit a job necessarily. You did not have the right to strike in many of these countries. So you combine all that together and its understandable why there would be this kind of hysteria that developed. And im going to concentrate mainly on on britain in the United States, time sake. But as you can see from this, from newspaper front page in britain as early as 1915, anyone with a german name who had a shop or store a business, who was known in the community had to worry about their home, their business being attacked. And this occurred also when particular incidents took place, such as the zeppelin raids or, the the german german bombing raids later on or the sinking of the lusitania when the lusitania was. Seven german immigrants were killed in london by. So these these waves of hysteria could be could be quite bloody and quite awful. And as you see from this photograph when some of these incidents occurred. Yes the police would show up, but they would do a whole lot. You know. One of the targets for this anti hysteria that you found in the allied countries that you might be surprised about revolved around the monarchies. This is a photograph of two european monarchs before the war pic the kaiser yeah hes the one on the left because hes got his sword. Now what about the spain on. Yeah. Is that the russians are no that is george the fifth king of england. Britain should say theyre at a wedding. The crown heads europe were inter married. A lot of them are these both of these men were grand grandsons of queen victoria. And whats more they had this this very strange habit of giving each other honorary titles. Their military forces. And so there is some wedding something. And so the kaisers dressed in a british uniform and george, the fifth is in german uniform. Now, this photographs, were not kept in the family closet. The newspapers were beginning to print photographs before the war started. And so these kinds of photographs were not unknown. There are others with the kaiser, with with nicholas. Second, the russians are. The point here is, is that these crowned heads because, they were intermarried, were subject rumors that they might be trained secrets with each other. They might be talking. This is especially a problem for. The British Royal family. I this is an appropriate time to talk about this. Before the First World War, the the British Royal familys name was the house of saxecoburg gorter was pronounced that it didnt help. Also that George Office wife was known as mary teck. Tech is a principality. Germany. During the war, there were rumors that there might be some communications between the house of saxecoburg gotha and their cousins in germany. The wider h. G. Wells went so far as to say that george, the fifth court was alien and uninspiring. And when george the fifth heard this remark from h. G. Wells, didnt hear from him directly. Of course, george fifth responded, i might be uninspiring, but ill be if im an alien. In any event. The house of sykes goldberger utter the last time im ever going to pronounce that word name. They decided to change the name. They couldnt go back to the house of hanover. Thats german. They dont want the house of stuart scottish. They didnt the house of tudor. Thats. Plantagenet and thats french. And finally, someone said to george the fifth. Well you know, you really like windsor castle. And that is how they got the name the house of windsor, which they are to this day. When the kaiser heard about this villa was not a man who was known for having a sense of humor but when he heard about this name change, he told an assistant that this meant that he looked forward to seeing that famous play by william shakespeare, the house of sex or the merry wives of saxecoburg go to play on the house. Merry wives of the house of windsor. Anyway, if this kind of hysteria could reach the highest echelons in society, it could reach anywhere. Despite the name change of the house of windsor never quite got rid of that german tinge to them. Later in the war. This man, david lloyd, george was george the first Prime Minister and the Prime Minister every week goes to meet the monarch to discuss matters. And during one of these, during his weekly audiences, before he would leave downing street. Lloyd george, who did not like monarchy and who was welsh by the way. George lloyd. George would say to his assistants. Well, im off to go see my german. You go to see george. I dont know if george the fifth heard about that one either. He didnt like lloyd george. Cant imagine why. In this country when the United States got into the war, there was already campaign for what was called 100 americanism. They had to remember this country. The United States had witnessed tidal waves, not waves. Tidal waves of immigrants between the end of the American Civil War in, 1914. And, of course, many of. These immigrants, not all, but many came from europe and their cousins nephews, were now fighting this war. Sometimes on the sides. And so the idea in this country was forget your past, forget where you came, forget where your family came from. You are 100 american. And once the americans got into the war, this 100 americanism turned an anti german hysteria which caused the americans do all sorts of silly things. The teaching of the german language was banned. You could not listen to music made germans or composed by germans. No, no wagner. Things like that german street names were. Some town names were changed changed. Families. Their names. Some families. Schmitt became smith. I know a family whose last name was fuchs. If you see h. S fuchs, german. He became fox. Very english. Even dioxins got a name change. Dioxins. Ill give you a second. Dioxins became liberty dogs and this here is just too much for dogs. The same thing happened earlier in britain, by the way. Production in stone in the streets, because theyre called dioxins. Sauerkraut became liberty cabbage. Im not making up. German measles became liberty measles. This is true true. The problem was that as hysteria continued, it got uglier. It got uglier. Yes, sir. So my family, my grandparents, tell me stories about how because their last name is hesse, they tell me stories about how their parents would tell them stuff like. If anyone ever asked you about your last name, tell them its dutch. And then they. So we literally have, like, copies like they did not print it out, but print out written copies of, like family trees that are clearly like doctored to make it seem. If were dutch and were very much not dutch. And so my question is in like because they were up in like states where there is a lot of german population. How exactly did we manage to i dont say persecute but pressure these population that are very, very german . Well, in some places it was it was easier to do than others. Why . That your family felt compelled to do that in a very heavily german area . I dont know. But but the family mentioned earlier, fuchs, kim fox, they were laid live in cincinnati, ohio, which has a huge german population. But felt pressure to do it anyway. So, you know. But anyways, i say this, this, this, this antigerman got turned increasingly, as you can see from these liberty bond posters, which dont leave too much the imagination and eventually they deadly. This man Robert Paul Prager was recent german immigrant. He was living in a town called collinsville, illinois, in april 1918, a mob saw prager in the street. They concluded that prager, who some of them knew looked like a german spy. What a spy supposed to look . I dont know. But they concluded that prager looked like a german. They chased him down, bound him with an american flag. And when he realized that he was going to be hanged, lynched, he begged someone who could interpret for him. He couldnt speak english very well. And when nobody would step forward, he began to pray in german. And he was lynched. He was hanged. There were between 305 hundred people in this mob. The ringleaders were put on trial, but they were found not guilty. The jury concluded that they had committed patriotic murder. Thats what happens when you let kind of thing loose. Yeah. Were these kinds events like the patriotic and stuff . Were there moments of, like, calmness in the interwar . Or was this something that was, like, big throughout the end of the second world . I think in many ways what happened was antigerman hysteria turned an anti bolshevik hysteria briefly at the end of the war and then a more general feeling, the United States. And so by 1924 theres a massive crackdown on immigration. The United States for the first time really. But you can trace it back to. A lot of this. So. In early 1917, russia went through the first of two revolutions, which often called the february revolution. If you use the old julian calendar or the march revolution, if you use the gregorian, as i said before, i want to talk about the revolutions in depth. When we talk about russia. So i think theres more distinct topic to talk about. What is worth saying is that from this revolution on russia increasingly is fading, fades away as as a factor in the war. By the summer of 1917, the russian army has devolved into a series of debating societies. Okay. And whats important right now that with the disintegration of the russian armies, the germans could to move their forces from the Eastern Front to the western front. And that set the stage for what was really the final of the dice by hindenburg and ludendorff ludendorff was really the behind this one. And why theyre known as the ludendorff offensives. The idea was to take soldiers from the Eastern Front, put them through training to become crack soldiers. And then launch series of offensives beginning in march of 1918 that would finish the war before the americans could really come to be a major factor on the front. And indeed. These early offensives were quite successful. The allies really did have their backs to the wall. These were hardened soldiers, hardened troops who had had gone through the war. So in many ways, it seemed as if the germans were going to do in 1918 what they had failed to do. In 1914. We tend to think that the war ended by the fighting on the western front, but the on the western front was really one of four factors that ended the war. And ive mentioned this book before by david stevenson, the british historian of the war. And in this book, stevenson argues that there were three other factors that really as important. In some ways more important than the actual fighting on western front that brought about the end of the war. And i want to go them just very quickly the first factor that stevenson mentions is that germanys other partners began to pull out of the war. They had had enough this began with bulgaria. Theres a strange map in that. This began with bulgaria. At the end of september, 1918, with out of the war. The Ottoman Turks were isolated and. Theyre already under a lot of pressure with British Forces and British Empire forces coming from mesopotamia and up through palestine, into anatolia itself. So bulgaria pulled out of the war then the Ottoman Turks pulled out of the war. Yes. Well, when you say bulgaria in the territory territory, not no. September, i think september 29. Why remember that . Years. Oh, 1980. Sorry, 1988. Im talking about. And then finally austriahungary was simply disintegrating its various National Groups were pulling apart, declaring their own states. There was disintegration in the army. And so this germany on own. Related to this first factor was something that Woodrow Wilson did in 1918 when to the surprise of virtually everyone he announced what were called the 14 points i, i posted a copy of 14 points for you on blackboard. Were going to go into them detail when we talk about the paris peace negotiations. But the important point here is that wilson felt he had to issue the 14 points, mainly because of this guy, leon trotsky. When the bolsheviks took over russia at the end of 1917. Trotsky got control. The secret treaties that the czars government had signed with the other allies, the treaties dividing up the middle east, the treaties promising italy, various parts of the dalmatian and all that. And trotsky published them to the whole world. He reasoned that if people could see their governments had sent their sons to die, not for some cause. But for tawdry little land that they would rebel like the russians. Wilson felt that it was imperative that the United States show that the United States was in this war different purposes. And thats the genesis of the 14 points the. 14 points were important because they seemed to give the central powers, the Ottoman Turks, bulgaria, austriahungary, germany. It seemed to gave them a lifeline. It seemed that it gave them a way out out. And that brings to the third factor and that was the disintegration of germany itself. The german people had been able to carry on to continue war as long as they thought was a hope of victory. But when it became known that there was no hope for winning this war, revolution broke out in germany. It broke out first with the navy, the german navy decided that it was going to send the high seas fleet, out to the onto the high seas for one last glorious battle with the allied navy or navies, i should say, because this time the americans were there to german sailors knew, that this was a suicide mission. And so they simply rebelled. And this spread to the cities. Until this time, hindenburg and ludendorff had been able to hold the country together. With this. They knew the game was up and they were the ones who went to the civilian politicians and said, youve got to get us out of this. Youve got to negotiate. That meant the kaiser had to. Wilson had made it plain that he would not negotiate with germany as long as wilhelm second was still the emperor at first. Vilhelm wanted to lead army back into germany to put down this revolution. But once he was convinced that that was no longer a plausible. He did. The one thing that i think you can commend for. Instead of taking the country down into a horrible civil war, he agreed. Abdicate. He fled to holland and you know, its a sad, but in some ways comical that wilhelms in this emperor would have these this kind of of a result because when he crossed the border into holland he ostentatiously went up a surprised dutch border guard. And and handed him his sword. And the dutch cried cried. The dutch gave asylum. And thats where he would live until he died in 1941. But with that he was out. Yeah. I. Had announced his abdication without his consent. There may be something that i dont know. But in any way he went through with. He didnt to fight it. Now that didnt mean the war was over. And there were some on the allied side, most especially pershing, who argued that until the allied armies went into germany itself, until german people saw french, belgian, british, British Empire and american soldiers their streets, they would not accept that they were defeated. The british and the french, especially though, were anxious to see the end. Now they were anxious because they didnt want any more of their young men killed. Theyd seen enough young men killed. But they were also anxious to see the war end because they knew the longer the war went on. The more the americans would become a a if not dominant, a major force in the allied armies. And that would give wilson a stronger hand to play in the peace negotiations. And that was one thing that they did not want. Youve probably heard of this book, all quiet on the western front. This is the original german cover. Thats one of the Early English translations of the wider erich maria remarque. I was in the german army the last two years or so of the war. Its probably the most famous war novel all time. But what tells you in that book is that the german army was defeated in this war. The big that the nazis would tell that the army had been stabbed the back. That was untrue. And remarque, in one passage, id like to read you which i will send makes this. He says there are too many fresh and american regiments over for every german plane. There are five at least five english and american forever. Re one hungry, wretched german soldier. And here come the. Fresh and fit. Thats, i would argue, the american presence on the battlefield was important because from the allied perspective, that meant there was this on ending source of new manpower to lean on that could finish the war from the german. That meant that they were fighting an enemy that had not been bloodied over the last four years, that the war was lost. The americans recruited all over the country, including american indians. These are men, the choctaw nation. The sometimes called the original codebreakers. They were in the american military, though they were not american citizens at the time. American indians were not given citizenship until 1924. You may wonder why the people of puerto or american citizens Puerto Ricans were made. American citizens in 1917. So they could be drafted by right. These are the famous harlem hellfighters, the american was segregated during the First World War. Black american soldiers were not allowed to serve in combat units. The commander of this unit a, National Guard unit, one of his men in combat. So he turned to the french. The french were perfectly happy to have his men fight for them. And thats why these american soldiers are wearing french. And they were a highly decorated unit in the french army. The major American Battle of the First World War was one of the last it took place in this place called, the meuse argonne, between september and november 1918. This battle of the meuse. Is the picture i these two. These are correct. Here. The meuse argonne is the largest American Battle in history. 1. 2 million men took part. 1. 2 million mental part. At the opening of the battle. Just the opening day of the battle. The american artillery fired more or artillery shells. On that first day of the battle, the argonne. Then the union army fired cannonballs during the entire civil war that just on the first day, according to one reckoning, the of the argonne is the equivalent. Seven gettysburg. Which is astonishing when you about it because i would bet that not one american in 10,000 has ever heard of this battle. 26,000 americans died by the end end. Overall between the time americans entered the war, april 1917 and the war ended in the autumn of 1918, in that short period of time, 4 million americans. By november 1918 were serving in the military. 2 million were already overseas. And as i just said, over 1 million were in combat, most of them fighting at the argonne, like these four men. Yeah, those numbers by the end of the war, by the end of the war and the war came to a sudden end. At the 11th hour on the 11th day. Of the 11th month. Of 1918. The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. Yes sir. How did we lose so men at the short time . Because we didnt learn any of the lessons the other powers had learned during the war. The american commanders overall were not any better than the french, the british, any of the others. Yes, sir. 11 a. M. Or pm am. Okay. I ended a bit early, so you guys went a whole lot. I took you from the somme to Armistice Day in an hour and 10 minutes. Questions. Are you sure. Yeah. When i left, it was like a while ago. I just kept going. The leaders of the allied Coalition Governments were lloyd. No, i saw you blinking. You lied when i said that. You know, i was like. Yes. Lloyd. David lloyd. George was the Prime Minister. Great britain. George clemenceau. You only spell it for you. I got that when it was just. Oh, vittorio. Orlando. Just think of orlando, florida. He was the premier of italy and and again, you know, youre going to get your fill of these guys wednesday when i talk about the treaty of side. Nothing. Well that ladies and gentlemen, we can call it a day. I will see you on. Thank you all very much much