United States Entry into World War I: A Documentary Chronology

—Curriculum Unit Overview—

Introduction

In this curriculum unit, students reconsider the events leading to U.S. entry into World War I through the lens of archival documents.

Note: This unit may be taught either as a stand-alone lesson or as a prequel to the complementary EDSITEment curriculum unit The Debate in the United States Over the League of Nations. It may also be taught in conjunction with the EDSITEment curriculum units African Americans Soldiers in World War I: The 92nd and 93rd Divisions and African American Soldiers After World War I: Had Race Relations Changed?.

Guiding Questions:

What is the most compelling evidence explaining why the U.S. entered World War I?

Learning Objectives

• List important events leading to U.S. involvement in World War I.
• Take a stand on a hypothesis for U.S. entry into World War I, supported by specific evidence.

• Review the curriculum unit. Locate and bookmark suggested materials and other useful websites. Download and print out documents you will use and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.
• Download the blackline masters for this unit, available here as a PDF file. Print out and make an appropriate number of copies of any handouts you plan to use in class.
• Before printing any oversized documents, use the Print Preview function of your browser to see how each will look. Change the settings in Page Setup, as desired, by selecting Print Preview from the FILE option in your browser. Use the Print Preview function after making changes.
• This unit is a Web quest. Given specified resources on the Internet (though not necessarily limited to those resources), student groups are challenged to create a slideshow using archival documents to tell the story of U.S. entry into World War I. No single cause would be sufficient to explain something as complex as the reasons behind U.S. entry into World War I. It's difficult to discuss the reasons, however, without talking about them separately. In this lesson, the students are looking for primary causes and a way to understand the process by which the U.S. entered World War I.
• This unit is intended for students familiar with the basic facts about World War I.
• For background on the entry of the U.S. into World War I, read the following essays from "An Outline of American History" (USIA, 1994), available on From Revolution to Reconstruction, a link from the EDSITEment resource American Studies at the University of Virginia:
• War and Neutral Rights
• United States Enters World War I

Unit Lesson Plans

1. United States Entry into World War I: Two Diametrically Opposed View

2. Some Hypotheses About U.S. Entry Into World War I

3. A Documentary Chronology of World War I

• The EDSITEment-reviewed website Links to the Past offers a lesson entitled Woodrow Wilson: Prophet of Peace (from the Teaching with Historic Places Lesson Plan), inspired by the Woodrow Wilson House in Washington, D.C. It features some excellent archival documents and activities, some of which are used in this lesson, for teaching about Wilson and especially his fight for the League of Nations.
• Students interested in World War I poetry and prose can consult the following EDSITEment resources:
• The Academy of American Poets
• An Anthem for Doomed Youth, on Great War Primary Documents Archive, offers short accounts of and some pieces from WWI writers.
• Prose and Poetry on First World War.com, a link from Great War Primary Documents Archive
• In the mid-1930s, the Nye Committee investigated the relationship between the munitions industry and foreign policy. Though its conclusions are still disputed today, the committee's report had a profound influence on American isolationism between the World Wars and on the peace movement. A principal Nye Committee Report on the growth and influence of the munitions industry after World War I is accessible from Documents of World War I, a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website Great War Primary Documents Archive.
• President Wilson established the Committee for Public Information to influence public opinion, encourage enlistment, demonize the enemy, and increase the sale of war bonds. Students interested in studying the propaganda produced by the CPI can consult:
• Propaganda Posters - United States of America, with six pages of posters and the essay Domestic Propaganda During The First World War, on First World War.com, a link from the EDSITEment resource Great War Primary Documents Archive.
• Propaganda Leaflets also on Great War Primary Documents Archive
• Links to Archival Audio: World War I Propaganda on the EDSITEment-reviewed website American Memory

• The Academy of American Poets [http://www.poets.org/]
• Rupert Brooke, A Soldier
  [http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15695]
• American Memory [http://memory.loc.gov/]
• Lusitania (image)
  [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/i?ammem/pan:@field
  (NUMBER+@band(pan+6a11970))]
• Murder on the High Seas
  [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=rbpe&fileName=rbpe13/rbpe132/
  13201300/rbpe13201300.db&recNum=1]
• American Memory audio for World War I propaganda
  [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/nfor:@band
  (World+War,+1914-1918--Propaganda.--United+States)]
• June 28, 1914
  [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/today/jun28.html]
• May 7, 1915
  [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may07.html]
• April 6, 1917
  [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/apr06.html]
• American Memory: Sources
  [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/sources.html]
• PBS History
  [http://www.pbs.org/neighborhoods/history/#us]
• The Great War
  [http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/]
• Interactive Timeline
  [http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/timeline/]
• Woodrow Wilson (American Experience)
  [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wilson/index.html]
• Peace Without Victory (Jan., 22 1917)
  [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wilson/filmmore/fm_victory.html]
• The American President [http://www.americanpresident.org/]
• Woodrow Wilson: Presidential Years
  [http://www.americanpresident.org/history/woodrowwilson/
  biography/PresidentialYears.common.shtml]
• American Studies at the University of Virginia [http://xroads.virginia.edu/]
• From Revolution to Reconstruction
  [http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/index.htm]
• United States Enters World War I
  [http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/H/1994/ch9_p2.htm]
• War and Neutral Rights
  [http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/H/1994/ch9_p1.htm]
• Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities
  [http://www.iath.virginia.edu/]
• George W. Norris, Speech Against Declaration of War
  [http://www.iath.virginia.edu/seminar/unit10/war2.htm]
• Avalon Project at the Yale Law School
  [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm]

• The Bryce Report
  [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/brycere.htm]
• Digital Classroom [http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/]
  • First Page
    [http://media.nara.gov/media/images/28/21/28-2050a.jpg]
  • Cartoon: President Calls Congress April 2
    [http://media.nara.gov/media/images/50/1/a0121.gif]
  • Cartoon: Reasonable Program of National Defense, 11/20/1915
    [http://media.nara.gov/media/images/50/1/a0851.gif]
  • Image of Telegram to Wilson with Translation of Zimmerman Telegram
  • Page 1
    [http://media.nara.gov/media/images/19/29/19-2802a.gif]
  • Page 2
    [http://media.nara.gov/media/images/19/29/19-2803a.gif]
  • Page 3
    [http://media.nara.gov/media/images/19/29/19-2804a.gif]
  • Page 4
    [http://media.nara.gov/media/images/19/29/19-2805a.gif]
  • Letter from Wilson to Henry Cabot Lodge (about meeting with
    Foreign Relations Committee)
• Page 1
  [http://media.nara.gov/media/images/31/31/31-3090a.gif]
• Page 2
  [http://media.nara.gov/media/images/31/31/31-3091a.gif]
• Photostat of the Zimmerman Telegram
  [http://media.nara.gov/media/images/19/29/19-2801a.gif]
• Presidential Proclamation 1364 of April 6, 1917
  [http://media.nara.gov/media/images/28/21/28-2050a.jpg]
• Great War Primary Documents Archive
  [http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/]
• 19 April, 1916: Wilson on the Sussex Case
  [http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1916/sussex.html]
• 19 September, 1914: The Status of Armed Merchant Vessels
  [http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1914/armship.html]
• 26 August, 1915: Wilson's Change of Attitude on War Loans
  [http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1915/warloans.html]
• An Anthem for Doomed Youth (WWI literature site with examples.)
  [http://www.lib.byu.edu/~english/WWI/main.html]
• Commentary on The Bryce Report
  [http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/comment/bryce.html]
• German Admiralty Declaration Regarding Unrestricted U-Boat Warfare
  [http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1915/admiral.html]
• German Ambassador's Assurances About American Ships
  [http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1915/arabic.html]
• Great Britain Declares War on Germany
  [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwone/mirror01_01.shtml]
• Lord Kitchener
  [http://www.gwpda.org/photos/bin03/imag0264.jpg]
• Notable American Volunteers of the Great War
  [http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/comment/volsnote.html]
• President Wilson's Declaration of Neutrality
  [http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1914/wilsonneut.html]
• President Wilson's First Warning to the Germans
  [http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1915/strict.html]
• President Wilson's War Message
  [http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1917/wilswarm.html]
• Propaganda Leaflets
  [http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1915/propleaf.html]
• Telegram about Assassination of the Archduke
  [http://www.lib.byu.edu/estu/wwi/1914m/gooch/1-12.htm]
• Telegram from Wilson re: Sinking of the Lusitania
  [http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1915/lusitania1.html]
• U.S. Policies on Loans to Belligerents
  [http://www.lib.byu.edu/%7Erdh/wwi/1915/usloans.html]
• U.S. Protests Against Maritime Warfare
  [http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1915/usmarit.html]
• Wilson War Message to Congress
  [http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1917/wilswarm.html]
• Narrow Miss by a German Torpedo
  [http://www.gwpda.org/photos/bin14/imag1387.jpg]
• Woodrow Wilson
  [http://www.gwpda.org/photos/bin02/imag0141.jpg]
• Documents of World War I
  [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/ww1.htm]
• Nye Committee Report
  [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/nye.htm]
• Opposition to Wilson's War Message
  [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/doc19.htm]
• First World War.com
  [http://www.firstworldwar.com/]
• Domestic Propaganda During The First World War
  [http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/propaganda.htm]
• Propaganda Posters - United States of America
  [http://www.firstworldwar.com/posters/usa.htm]
• Prose and Poetry
  [http://www.firstworldwar.com/poetsandprose/index.htm]
• Second Inaugural Address of President Woodrow Wilson, 4 March 1917
  [http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/wilson1917inauguration.htm]
• U.S. Declaration of War
  [http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/usofficialawardeclaration.htm]
• Map of the World Showing the Possessions of the US, Britain,
  France, and Germany
  [http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/~worldwarone/WWI/
  TheGeographyOfTheGreatWar/images/Figure1-WorldAtlas.jpg]
• The Geography of the Great War
  [http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/~worldwarone/WWI/
  TheGeographyOfTheGreatWar/index.html]
• Map of the World Showing Nations at War: December 31, 1914
  [http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/~worldwarone/WWI/
  TheGeographyOfTheGreatWar/images/Figure9-Page11.jpg]
• Map of the World Showing Nations at War, August 1, 1918
  [http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/~worldwarone/WWI/
  TheGeographyOfTheGreatWar/images/Figure36-Page36-sm.jpg]

• History Matters [http://historymatters.gmu.edu/]
• U.S. Entry into World War I (Syllabus)
  [http://historymatters.gmu.edu/syllabi/Streeter/lecture_outlines/
  021_ww1entry.html]
• Bryan Resignation Letter (June 9, 1915)
  [http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/seminar/unit10/bryan1.htm]
• War is the Health of the State
  [http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/WarHealth_PeoplesHx.html]
• Emma Goldman Papers
  [http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Goldman/]
• Excerpt from “Preparedness: The Road to Universal Slaughter”
  [http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Goldman/Curricula/AntiMilitarism/
  preparedness.html]
• The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
  [http://www.gliah.uh.edu/index.cfm]
• World War I Chronology
  [http://www.gliah.uh.edu/historyonline/ww1_chron.cfm]
• University of Albany History 101 Syllabus (Spring 1997)
  [http://www.albany.edu/faculty/gz580/his101/index.html]
• Internet Public Library [http://www.ipl.org/]
• Bureau of Labor Statistics Data
  [http://www.bls.gov/data/home.htm]
• Compensation from before World War I to 1935
  [http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/cm20030124ar03p1.htm]
• USGS
  [http://info.er.usgs.gov/]
• USGS Mineral Resources
  [http://minerals.usgs.gov/]
• Iron and Steel Historical Statistics
  [http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/of01-006/ironandsteelslag.html]
• Sulfur Production Historical Statistics
  [http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/of01-006/sulfur.html]
• Lead Production Historical Statistics
  [http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/of01-006/lead.pdf]
• Aluminum Production Historical Statistics
  [http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/of01-006/aluminum.pdf]
• U.S. Army Center of Military History
  [http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/]
• World War I : The First Three Years
  [http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/amh/AMH-17.htm]

• Links to the Past [http://www.cr.nps.gov/]
• Woodrow Wilson: Prophet of Peace
  (From Teaching with Historic Places Lesson Plan)
  [http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/14wilson/14wilson.htm]
• Activities
  [http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/14wilson/14putting.htm]