Week 2 - January 11 - January 16 - World War I

I thought I would clarify some ideas from comments responded to the last blog. The blog has been set up to thing critically about the issues that arise from the readings or discussion in class. They are not meant to create extra work. The blog itself will serve as an additional resource for individuals who do not get to all the readings if they choose to look at it. However, it will replace one of the APPARTS assignment given in class for Thursdays or Fridays so as to allow students to reflect on what is being read or discussed through another avenue. Also, I do believe that students will read this an interact with it because students who have really sought to be successful in the course have taken all suggestions and resources I've provided, including Saturday school, and run with it. Finally (with regard to last week's readings), I feel that the notecards would not have been as effective if I had given them out sooner because students would have been asked to review information, that in most cases, we had not yet covered. They are now serving as review for most information we've covered in class already. Still, I will think about passing them out earlier next year as I plan for upcoming APUSH courses.

Now, to this week's information...

This week's lessons have been based around World War I. Considering it was a war with so many casualties and no real resolution, it has a tremendous effect on the course of history immediately afterward and maybe that's one of its most important attributes: the effects of the war rather than the causes or the length or military strategy that arose from it. Still, one cannot help but wonder about the amount of responsibility that might be placed on the U.S. because of how we, along with the other nations, chose to engage in the idea of imperialism during the Progressive Era. If the "greed" that caused major countries to seek out other lands caused tensions between those major countries, and others felt the need to take over lands particularly after the U.S. beat Spain during the Spanish-American War, would World War I have happened?

We became a threat with Imperialism, other countries felt the need to react (or had started taking over other lands) and the tensions arose. German nationalism certainly did not improve the situation, but military alliances would not have been so intense if not for imperialism.

Trench warfare, military technology (including the use of poison gas, the machine gun, fighter planes, the tank, flame throwers, grenades, and submarine warfare), and deep-rooted nationalism all changed how this particular war was fought. People fought with bravery and intensity and the results were catastrophic.

Finally, the mistreatment of German-Americans (and the violation of their civil liberties), the number of casualties, Wilson's proposed 14 Points, the experiences on the front line, and the results of the Great Migration to the north (particularly of African Americans), are all things covered in the primary source readings this week. The readings provide us with insight to how, although the U.S. only participated in the war for one year, it was a participation that would provide an immeasurable impact on us as a country and the world as a whole.