Germany's Dissatisfaction

A U-534 used during WWII
Source.

During World War I there were two opposing sides, the Allies and the Central Powers. A military strategy that England had was to make a blockade, when ships block or make a line to prevent a country from receiving resources, in Germany. If Germany was blocked in, then they wouldn't be able to import or export supplies for their army. Because of this, Germany was upset with England. Germany couldn't import or export weapons, military supplies, or even food. 

Germany was also upset with the United States. Since the United States couldn't send in goods to Germany and they didn't challenge the British Blockade, the Germans were mad with the U.S. The U.S. then couldn't import foodstuffs, or fertilizer for crops. This led to famine in 1917 where about 750,000 Germans starved to death because of the blockade.

President Woodrow Wilson
Source.

Germany felt the need to get rid of the blockade themselves, therefore they used U-boats, or a small German submarine, to sink the ships blocking them from the rest of the world. The Germans would sink many British ships claiming them to ammunition, or bullets/rounds, or other weapons. However those ships were not military ships, they had both British and American civilians inside. On May 7, 1915, a German U-boat sank the British liner, the Lusitania. They claimed it contained ammunition, when it really claimed more than 1,000 civilians. Of the 1,198 civilians, 128 of them were American citizens. This lead to the American public being against the Central Powers.

Woodrow Wilson, a president of the United States, wanted, " a peace without victory... a peace between equals." He basically didn't want war, or that neither opposing side to harm each other. One of Wilsons goals was to have all countries join a "league for peace" to extend democracy, keep the freedom of the seas, and reduce weapons. In other words he wanted a "League of Nations" however that did not do anything to stop World War II from happening.

Education and Inequality

Schools had many advantages
but they still had many
issues to address. Source.

Before, not many people had the privilege of receiving an education. Only those who could afford it were able to get educated. However, by not going to school, many people were uneducated, and didn't learn the English language. By creating public schools, people were given the opportunity to be able to train for a better job, achieve American citizenship, have scientific and technological knowledge, and be able to live better lives. By creating public schools, we were able to assimilate, or merge different cultures together with our own, immigrants and stabilize a prosperous democratic nation.However, there were many different problems with the first few public schooling systems. For example, it wasn't formal schooling, and students would leave after four years to find a job.

By establishing a public school system, it helped many families assimilate. It helped tem learn English, and taught students math, and how to read and write. It also helped families by providing them with childcare for employed parents, and prevented children form working at sweatshops or factories.

Despite the public schooling system, back then it had many issues. One of those issues being that they perpetuated inequality. For example, there were different opportunities for whites and blacks. Until 1940, African Americans were allowed to attend elementary school. Also, only 1% of African Americans were able to attend high school. Another issue was that mainly European immigrants were encouraged to attend schools instead of people of color.


Old public school
located in Maryland. Source.

Some people or parents didn't want to send their children to school in fear of their kids being "Americanized". which means that they were afraid of their kids forgetting their culture and where they come from. They resented replacing their native language with English. Also, since in public schools, kids had to read the parts of the Bile, many Catholics didn't agree with the fact that they had mandatory reading of the Protestant Bible.

Now public schools are for everyone, however their are still many issues on inequality that need to be addressed and fixed.

The U.S. After the War

Countries that were or weren't a
part of the League of Nations.
Source.

After World War I, many countries were afraid of a war like World War I to happen again. Therefore the League of Nations was created so that if a war like that was to happen again, the League would stop it. However, the U.S. was not a part of it. The United States opposed the League of Nations because if they were to become a part of it, when a war broke out the U.S. would have to fight in the war which is what Americans didn't want. They were also afraid of anyone who was foreign and Communism. In order to alleviate some of their fears, the U.S. went to isolationism, and nativism.

During the war, production in the U.S. boomed. There were many jobs available that produced supplies for the soldiers fighting in Europe. Also, women were able to work in places where only men were allowed to work since they weren't allowed to fight. However, after the war was over, the soldiers went back to where they used to work, but the unemployment rate was still pretty high.
 
Also, after the war many Americans were afraid of Communism spreading. Communism is a form of government where the government controls everything. There is also no private property allowed. The government controls every TV channel and what is broadcasted in it, and also radio stations, controlling what is said on them. If Communism would come the United States, it would mean the end of Capitalism. 




United States Non-Interventionism
Source. 

After World War I, the United States became an isolationist country. They isolated themselves both economically, didn't trade with other countries, and also politically, by having a neutral stance in world affaires. They managed to achieve this by regulating immigration, in fear that foreigners would be a threat to American jobs and economy. They became isolationist because many Americans didn't want any more dead soldiers, their sons being the soldiers. However this plan proved to be ineffective because in 1929 the stock market crashed leading to the Great Depression. Also, by staying isolated during the events of World War II, the war came to United States instead of the United States going towards the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor.


Why the U.S. Joined World War I

Countries that fought in WW1.
Allies vs. Central Powers. Source.

World War I, or otherwise known as the "Great War" was one the most significant war. It included many different countries around the world. There were two armies, one called the Allies, and the opposing side called the Central Powers. The Allies mainly included Great Britain, Russia, France, Italy, and the United States. The Central Powers were mainly Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire.

There were many interesting things about this war.The one I found most interesting was that trench warfare, when the opposing troops fought each other from a series of narrow ditches, which lasted three years with barley any progress made. They were also infested with rats, diseases, and you ran the risk of getting shot and killed during the fighting. One of the most significant things about World War I in my opinion was that it was caused by such a small dispute. However the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was technically what started the war, it was actually a series of events leading to the "power keg" to exploding.


Evolution of warfare.

One thing I learned about World War I was that it was caused by bad alliances, imperialism, nationalism, and militarism. I also learned that trench warfare lasted for about three years with little to no progress on each opposing side. Because of these fighting techniques, we have adapted to using new fighting strategies. Now, how we fight in war is very distinct from how we war used to be fought. Now, we have new advanced and sophisticated weapons. Some examples of advanced weapons would be drones, jets or planes, and radios. Also, another difference would be that women are now allowed to fight in wars. In addition, during 1914, wars were fought with big armies in one big field. Now in 2015, wars are won by sending in small teams to either capture or kill the enemy target/leader using stealth during the evening or night. By doing so, many lives are saved while still getting the job done.



Trench warfare during WW1. Source.

On November 11, 1918, the allies were able to win the war against the Central Powers. At first the U.S. didn't feel the need to join the war for many reasons. Some of those reasons were that no U.S. lives or property were at risk and it was very far away. However, in 1917, the U.S. finally joined the war to collect debts the Allies owed to them. A year after the U.S. joined the war, they defeated the Central Powers, proving that the U.S. was indeed one of the strongest countries ever.