Questions- Chapter 30

These are due Tuesday, February 11, 2014.

Chapter 30 Questions

1. What did Wilson mean by “overt acts” by Germany? What finally pushed the US into the war?
2. What economic factors mitigated against the US joining the war?
3. Upon what idealistic moral foundation did Wilson establish the case for going to war? How did the Fourteen Points reflect his ideals?
4. What is the relationship between wartime propaganda and wartime limits on free speech? What happened to Eugene Debs?
5. How did the need to increase wartime economic production increase the federal government’s power and interference in the economy? What federal agencies were established to increase economic production and to help pay for the war? (see pp. 700 and 704)
6. How were workers’ concerns and needs impacted by the crisis of war? How did labor conflict escalate racial tensions, and why?
7. How did the war impact the women’s movement? What did the passage of the Sheppard-Towner Act in 1921 signify about attitudes toward women?
8. Why was conscription necessary—and controversial, especially considering the US’s late entry into the war? How long did it take to get troops into Europe after the US declared war?
9. In what battles did the American Expeditionary force play a major role? Where were these battles? Ultimately, what were the most important American contributions to the war?
10. Why was Wilson undercut as a negotiator at the Paris Conference? What role did partisan politics in America play? How did his dream of a League of Nations actually weaken his effectiveness in negotiations?
11. Explain what impact the war had on imperialism.
12. Create a chart depicting what France, Italy, and Japan received from the negotiations.
13. How did the treatment of Germany in the negotiations undercut the hopes for a lasting peace?
14. What were the main criticisms of the potential League of Nations? Who were the “irreconcilables?”
15. What price did Wilson pay over the controversial Treaty of Paris?
16. What did Lodge do to try to kill the League of Nations? What paradoxical response did Wilson then have?
17. Why was the election of 1920 called a “solemn referendum?” What was the actual and symbolic result?
18. What were the long-term consequences of the failure of the Treaty of Versailles?