APUSH 32
MARCH 2nd, 2017
REWIND NEXT WEEK on PRE-CIVIL WAR (WED. 8th)
Election of 1916
We weren’t in the War yet. (But even during WWII we stopped and had elections) We had Woodrow Wilson for the Democrats. Charles Evans Hughes for the Republicans. Charles is winning in the East and it looks like he’s going to win but Wilson makes a comeback in the Midwest. So, he wins in the Midwest and the Far West. This was a mistake by Hughes because the election hinged on the California vote, and Hughes snubbed the governor of California so Wilson won California. Wilson ran on the slogan that he “kept us out of war”. So, he wins the election but, war is on the horizon.
Woodrow could see the U.S. being sucked into the vortex of conflict, so he tries to mediate a settlement between the Central Powers and the Allies. People at war are belligerents. So, Wilson tries to achieve “peace without victory”. But the two powers had put in too much blood and treasure, so there was pressure on the governments for victory. So, Wilson is unsuccessful.
Hussain-McMahon Correspondents. McMahon is the British High Commissioner for Britain, he tries to convince Hussain (Hashemite, part of Muhammad’s family) to start an Arab revolt in Egypt against the Turks. The Turks are part of the Central Powers. He is thinking that if he can get the Arab’s to attack the Turks, it will take away Turkish military, making Britain’s fight easier to fight. “We are willing to give you your independent area in the middle east when this is all over” McMahon to Hussain. British have a sphere of influence over the Middle East. T.E. Lawrence is the British Officer who fights with the Arabs. Feisal is Hussain’s son, who fights alongside “T.E. Lawrence of Arabia”.
When Britain went to war, that meant all her colonies were in war.
Moving backwards, this is how U.S. got involved in the war. 1,198 people die on the Lusitania which was a British passenger liner, headed into Liverpool. It is sunk by a submarine. They were going into a zone that had unrestricted submarine warfare. Out of these 1,198 people, 128 were Americans. Most of these Americans were women and children. The question here is: We get all upset about this, but what is wrong with these people? They got on a ship that was headed into a warzone? U.S. is upset, the ship sinks in only 18 minutes. Later, the German captain said he fired one torpedo, but the people heard multiple. Turns out, there were 4200 cases of small arms ammunition on a British passenger ship. We considered them sneaky. This was untraditional warfare. A short time later, the Arabic is sunk, two Americans killed on this too. This is 1914, Berlin does not want U.S. in the war. This is very early in the war. Berlin listened to U.S. complaints and Berlin made it restricted submarine warfare. Sh...
