World Events Set Stage for Isolationism

1. What was the Japanese reaction to the Treaty of Versailles? (pgs. 4 - 5)
The Japanese were greatly angered by the Treaty of Versailles because it was of no benefit to their nation whatsoever and was seemingly extremely racist as it favored the allies greatly.
2. Read the pull-out box on page 4 entitled, "Japan Becomes a Great Power." Cite specific evidence Japan was becoming a strong power that rivaled European & American interests. And, why specifically was Japan threatened by U.S. actions?
Japan was gaining strength as a world power because their nation began adopting different aspects of western culture like banking, trade, and military structure and powerful nations throughout the world began to view Japan as more of a rival than an inferior country. Japan began to feel threatened by the U.S. because they were taking control of nearby islands and western society was fast approaching their doorstep.
3. Why was the Washington Naval Conference convened and what was accomplished? (pg. 6) (Note: Japan signs the agreement.) The Washington Naval Conference was convened in order to deal with the growing concerns of Japan and their expanding navy. The conference wished to slow down the arms race between the U.S. and Japan as tensions built between the two nations. The conference was successful in limiting the size and number of battleships and also opened further trade with China.
4. The Senate's willingness to ratify the Kellogg-Briand Pact relected two strong and widely held sentiments. What were they? (pgs. 6 - 7)
The sentiments that were relected were the united state's ability to to permit military action only in self-defense and that it was not necessary to attack any nation that did not abide by the treaty.
5. Why did Hitler enjoy popular support in Germany for most of the 1930s? Give three reasons. (pgs. 9 - 10)
Hitler enjoyed popular support for most of the 1930s because he made sure that he was portrayed to the public as a stand-up guy who only looked to pursue their best interests. He seemingly was merely attempting to gain back the land stolen from Germany after the first World 2War and build them up to a powerful nation once again. He was succesful in blaming certain ethnic and social groups for what occurred after this war and also helped in strengthening the poor German economy.
6. Japan voiced its intentions to invade China for what two reasons? (pg. 10)
Japan claimed that they were going to invade China because they wished to obtain plentiful natural resources that their country lacked and did not want to have to trade with china to get them and they wanted to expand their territory and power.
7. Compare the Reichstag fire and the explosion on the Japanese railway in Manchuria. What did they accompllish?
Both these incidents were similar in the way that they both were caused by groups of people who felt oppressed by the government and were greatly affected by the actions their leaders had commited and they seemingly both accomplished very little as the government continued to oppress its people.
8. Why was the united States unable to oppose Japan in the early 1930s with a significant military force? (pgs. 11 - 12)
The United States was unable to match the Japanese military becuase it had just recently greatly lowed its number of troops by a total of 2.7 million making them far less powerful militarily.
9. Describe the major similarities and differences among liberal democracy, fascism, and socialism. (pg. 8) The differences pertaining to these three types of government rule mainly deal with who holds the most power. In liberal democracy power is given to the people while in fascism and socialism power is mostly in the hands of the government. In socailsim practically everything is controlled and owned by the government and it is fairly close in its societal restraints to communism. Fascism is not much better but people have more freedoms and their is more social variety such as the existence of seperate financial classes. The similarities between these three is the fact that the people do withhold some rights and freedoms, the most being held with democracy, and they are not considered as restrictive as communism. Democracy will usually have a president and differednt branches of government while socialism and fascism usually have a single ruler holding the greatest power.

Great Depression Outline

The United States government attempted to use several different methods in solving the problems caused by the great depression during the 1930’s. President Hoover’s way of thinking was that over time the economy would repair itself but soon realized this was not an option. Roosevelt however took a more tactical approach proposing his New Deal plan to resolve the depression, and this was composed of what was known as the three R’s, relief, reform, and recovery. This directly helped solve the primary issues of the depression and, given time, this plan proved to be highly successful and provided a necessary fix for a desperate nation.

Problems: Economy: stock market crash, unemployment, debt, tariffs, banks

Non-economic: homelessness, agricultural

How’s: Relief- Emergency Banking Act, FERA, FDIC; helped to solve the immediate problems that needed to be dealt with first such as widespread poverty

Reform- SEC, AAA, CCC; this helped with banking and economic issues as well as farming nd labor. These were essential to reform in order to help end the depression and prevent such a thing from recurring in the future

Recovery- TVA, NRA, Social Security, Wagner Act- These acts also helped in preventing future issues and provide assistance for people who could not provide it for themselves. These acts came from examining past issues to prevent them from happening again.

Success: The New Deal was quite successful in a preventative manner and focused on making sure a similar incident was less likely to occur in the future. It was not totally successful in resolving the Depression however and it took several more years after the introduction of the New Deal for the country to be somewhat stable once again. National hope was restored and confidence was built by Roosevelt’s efforts.

Succesful Acts:

Federal Securities Act and SEC

Conclusion: In conclusion the primary method of government action was FDR’s New Deal which dealt mainly with relief, reform, and recovery of the nation. It helped to solve economic problems as well as social issues created by the Depression. It was mainly successful in its preventative measures and did not exactly provide immediate relief for many of the nation’s problems; however it restored national hope and confidence in government.

The Twenties Woman

1. Note two ways women's fashions changed.
During the 1920's, women began wearing clothes such as tight fitting felt hats, high-heel shoes, bright colored dresses above the knees, and skin-toned silk stockings as opposed to the old ankle-length dresses and petticoats of Victorian times. They also lost their long hair in exchange for a new shorter look that they often dyed jet black.

2. Note two ways women's social behavior changed.
Women began seeking equality with their male counterparts and asserted this desire by drinking in public, smoking cigarettes, and discussing sex openly which would have wrecked their public image a few years earlier.

3. Note two words that describe the attitude reflected by these changes.
Assertive and rebellious

4. Note one way women's work opportunities improved.

Women's work opportunities improved when the thriving economy created new jobs that women could fill in places like offices, factories, and stores. These jobs included secretaries, typists, store clerks and office-machine operators as the recent boom in big businesses required new clerical workers.

5. Note two ways women's home and family life improved.

Women's home and family lives changed when new technological advances created household appliances that made household labor much easier and social changes like the appearance of the local supermarket introduced things like ready-made clothes, sliced bread, and canned foods.

6. Note three negative effects that accompanied women's changing roles in the 1920s.

Not all changes during this time period were positive ones however, as adolescents became more rebellious and began resisting parental control similar to the flappers who rebelled against society and this caused many family problems. These new rebellious women also caused many people such as those used to the prior traditions of the late 19th and earlier 20th centuries to frown upon and disapprove of their actions. This created a dissociation between the older and younger generations of women. The birth-rate also dropped substantially during this time due to new innovations in contraception and this was also looked down upon by people such as church leaders and ardent Catholics who did not believe in birth control.

The U.S. enters World War I



1. How did the United States raise an army?

In 1917 once the U.S. had declared war on Germany, they realized they were not prepared and severely lacked troops as only 200,000 men were enlisted in the armed forces. In order to fill this void, Congress passed the Selective Service Act. This act required that all men in the U.S. register with the government. Soon 24 million men had registered and of these 3 million were chosen to fight in the U.S. army.



2. How did U.S. soldiers help win the war?

U.S. soldiers helped to win the war by preventing German U-boat attacks by using the convoy system. With this sysytem, a group of destroyers would help escort merchant ships across the Atlantic. This greatly minimized U-boat attacks and by Fall of 1917, shipping losses were cut in half. Along with this newly introduced convoy system, the U.S. also deployed a large amount of troops in Europe who not only helped to win many decisive victories but positively impacted the spirits of the tiresome allied troops.

3. What were the estimated economic costs of the war?

The war was a very expensive one as its total cost was roughly 338 billion dollars. The United States suffered severe economic losses of approximately 32 billion dollars, 52 percent of the nation's gross national product during that time.



4. What did the war cost in terms of the number of civilian deaths; military deaths?; injuries?; and refugees?

The war was very costly in terms of deaths, injuries, and refugees. There were an estimated 22 million deaths with about half being civilian and half soldiers. In terms of injuries there were about 20 million wounded and as for refugees there were about 10 million.



5. Define armistice.

Armistice is a mutual agreement between opponents to end hostilities between them.

World war I Begins

1. What are the four main causes of World War I? Give an example for each as to why it was a cause.

Alliance System- Alliances between European nations caused a domino effect of countries declaring war when Germany and Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia

Nationalism- Caused Gavrilo Pricip to assassinate archduke Franz Ferdinand which in turn began the first world war

Militarism- European nations had greatly enhanced their armies in recent years to help protect colonies they established throughout the world

Imperialism- European nations, specifically Austria-Hungary and Germany who wanted to gain territory further South in order to access warm waters and gain new trade routes, sought to expand their territories across Europe and throughout the world

2. How did the June 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand become the spark for WWI?
After the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip, Austria-Hungary sought to declare war on their longstanding enemy, Serbia. They asked Germany to help them in this war as Germany had the strongest military in the world at the time and was an ally of Austria-Hungary. When Germany agreed this triggered all of the European alliances to declare war on each other and thus began the war.

3. What happened within the first few months of fighting?

During the first few months of fighting, trench warfare originated along with the use of heavy artillery, barbed wire, and poison gas in battle. This combination of new-age technology made crossing open ground extremely difficult and entering enemy trenches impossible without heavy casualties. Both sides soon realized that military tactics had failed to keep up with new technology and consequently an unprecedented number of men died.

4. Generally, why did the United States want to stay out of the war?

The U.S. wanted to remain neutral simply because they did not feel it was necessary to enter the war without a legitimate cause or reason. They decided to engage in a policy of isolationism, which meant that they would remain neutral while trying to bring about peace in Europe.

5. Specifically, Why did the following groups of Americans tend to oppose U.S. participation in the war? Naturalized citizens; socialists; pacifists; parents.

Naturalized Citizens- these citizens so no valid reason to enter into a war that did not involve them and did not wish to see their nation brought down by a war that really only involved Europe

Socialists-These citizens did not wish to enter the war because they also saw no valid reason for entry and therefore this would be a direct contradiction to their ideals. They also knew that it would ruin the economy and the American way of life.

Pacifists- These people did not want to enter the war simply because they saw no way in which violence could be a solution to any problems and they did not want to see their fellow Americans killed in the senseless act of war especially without good reason.

6. How did Germany respond to the British naval blockade of Germany’s ports? What was the U.S. response?
When Britain initiated its blockade on Germany, which greatly relied on imports to supply food and raw materials for its people, Germany responded by continuing its unrestricted submarine warfare and attempting to destroy British ships. The U.S. responded to this by warning Germany to abide by international submarine laws or they would have no choice but to use force.

7. What forced the United States into the war?

The U.S. sought to stay out of the war until a German U-boat sunk the British ship, the Lusitania, which had been carrying 128 Americans on board. Even after this, president Wilson was still reluctant to declare war and simply gave Germany a stern warning, but after constant pressure from former president Theodore Roosevelt, several unanswered acts of violence toward the U.S. by Germany, and the discovery of a German telegram requesting that Mexico become an ally to Germany and declare war on the U.S., president Wilson finally felt it was necessary to declare war.

America as a World power

1. What role did President Roosevelt play in ending the Russo-Japanese War?

After Japan had asked Roosevelt for his assistance in bringing an end to the war he agreed and arranged a meeting in New Hampshire on his presidential yacht. They eventually came to an agreement and the Japanese accepted a substantial sum of money and also half of the island of Sakhalin.

2. What events led to the building of the Panama Canal? What happened regarding Columbia? (Be specific) Many Americans believed that the panama Canal was necessary because it would create a shortcut between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and would greatly shorten the time ships took to travel between the two. The U.S. needed permission from Columbia before building the canal however because Panama was a province of Columbia. When Columbia refused the residents of Panama ignited a furious rebellion.

3. What did the Roosevelt Corollary state?

The Roosevelt Corollary stated that the U.S. was willing to use force in protecting any economic interests it had within Latin America.

4. How did Taft use Dollar Diplomacy to enforce the Roosevelt Corollary on Nicaragua? (Be specific)

Taft used dollar diplomacy to enforce this by seeking to promote order and stability in foreign nations that would best promote American commercial interests and he demonstrated that he was willing to use force to do so.

5. Why did Woodrow Wilson invade Mexico?

Woodrow Wilson invaded Mexico because he viewed the Mexican government as oppressive and having poor leadership after Madero had overthrown Diaz and after a group of American sailors had been arrested in Tampico. This was a direct contradiction to Wilson's "Missionary Diplomacy" and therefore he felt it was necessary to invade Mexico.

6. What were three major foriegn policy goals achieved by the United States in the early 20th century. Be sure to provide an example or two of each.

1. The U.S. expanded its foreign trade successfully which greatly contributed to the U.S. economy-China, Japan

2.The U.S. gained economic power in Latin America by instituting the Roosevelt Corollary and "Missionary Diplomacy"

3.The U.S. expanded its military and moreover its naval forces to protect its international interests-Nicaragua, Mexico

Objective Assessment
As you view each photograph take note about what you see. (note people, background, objects) Pretend you were describing the image to someone who could not see it. Try to avoid making judgments. Where are these children? List any clues relating to their surroundings. Describe any tools or objects you see. Describe their clothing. What do their clothes reveal about their work?
Subjective Assessment
What questions do you have about each of these photographs?Based on your observations, list three things you might infer about the lives of these children. (Be sure to consider Hine's notes
about the photographs when considering this.

Photograph A: In this photograph there is a small, young girl seen in a cotton mill with a seemingly frightened expression upon her face. She is wearing raggy and dirty clothing from long, tough working hours and has dark brown braided hair. To her right are the few windows within the building and to her left are the cotton machines and she is standing in a narrow isle beteen them.

Photograph B: In this photograph there are five teenage girls standing in front of what appears to be a house in Macon, Georgia, with saddened and tired expressions on their faces. Their clothes are dilapidated and filthy so one can assume they endured rigorous labor.

Photograph C: In this photograph there is a small, female child appearing to be around the age of four or five standing in a cotton mill between two rows of milling machines. She is not wearing any shoes and her white dress has darkened with filth. She seems much too young to be doing any physical labor yet somehow she can still work steadily in this environment.

Photograph D: In this photograph there is a young boy selling newspapers on a busy street in St. Louis. He is wearing all black with a jacket, hat, and boots and has a saddened look on his face. There are a few men passing by on his right and do not pay any attention to him.

Photograph E: In this photograph there are several young boys working at a coal company in PA. They are covered from head to foot in dirt and the faces you can see appear bleak and miserable. Most of them are sitting down and appear to be looking through piles of coal.

Photograph F: In this photograph there are several teenage boys working at a Glass Works company in Indiana. Their clothes are torn and dirty and they appear to be working diligently. They seem to be very fatigued and appear tired.

Photograph G: In this photograph there are many adults and children shucking oysters at an oyster canning factory. They are mostly dressed in aprons and very focused on their jobs and they are all working at two long tables in the center of the room.

Photograph H: In this photograph there are several children going into a building to work the night shift on a cold winter night. They are mostly dressed warmly for the winter and appeared to be mostly around eleven or twelve.

One could infer that these children live hard, tiring lives and must have matured much more quickly than children today who do not have to do nearly as much work. One could also infer that these children lacked much of the things we consider necessities today.