Wednesday, January 15, 2014

The Main Causes of WW1

The Main Causes of WW1

militarism: The belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interest.
militarism ties into the start of world war one because there was an arms race between Germany, France and Britain. during the 1900 countries were trying to get the biggest guns the fastest ships and best planes. War was used as a way to settle disputes between countries. The glory of war was taught in school at a young age to promote nationalism.

Alliances: A union or association formed for mutual benefits. During world war 1 it was countries that worked together incase on country was attacked. 
Before World War I, the alliances were: 
Triple Alliance- Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy
Triple EntenteUnited Kingdom, France, and Russia
When the war began, the alliances became: 
Central Powers- Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire
Allied Powers- United Kingdom, France, Russia, Serbia, United States and to a much lesser degree was Japan

because there was so many people tangled up in the alliances that when one country declared war on the other, other countries came to fight hint "world war."

imperialism: A policy of extending a country's power and influencing through diplomacy or military force.
Germany being a late bloomer for becoming a country until 1871 felt left behind in exploiting other countries so Germany having the strongest army in Europe decided to use their force and try and get more land because with more land comes more money.

nationalism: A patriotic feeling, principles or effort. Nationalism played a huge part in the start of world war 1 because when countries started going to war they need soldiers and support. posters and school were telling people how america needed them and talked up the war. doing this would give more money to support the war and would supply more then just soldiers but nurses and more equipment such as more boats and more. 

the spark of ww1: The spark that started World War I was the assassination of Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. The assassination happened on June 28, 1914. even thought Austria's Archduke Franz was not very well liked his assassination by a Serb nationalist was a great excuse to attack Serbia. Austria-Hungary took a month to finally declare war on Serbia which gave time for the other countries to prepare.



Lusitania: On May 7, 1915, the British ship Lusitania, which primarily carried people and goods across the Atlantic Ocean between the United States and Great Britain was torpedoed by a German U-boat and sunk. there was 1,959 people on board 1,198 died, including 128 Americans. The sinking of the Lusitania made americans mad and then the U.S. joined the war.

Sussex pledge: A promise made in 1916 during world war 1 by Germany to the United states before the united states entered the war. In 1916 Germany had made a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare was allowing armed merchant ships but not passenger ships to be torpedoed without warning


Unrestricted sub warfare: unrestricted submarine warfare is a type of navy strategy to sink other enemy ship without warning. The use of unrestricted submarine warfare was announced on January 9th, 1917. Germany war hoping that this would shock the U.S and that they would not join the war but that is not what happened.


Zimmerman note: Was a 1917 diplomatic proposal from the German Empire for Mexico to join the Central Powers, in the event of the United states entering World War 1 on the side of the Entente Power. The proposal was intercepted and decoded by British intelligence.


Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Boston Police Strike

Boston police strike
(1919)
During the year 1919 people were still recovering from world war 1 and also for that time people were going on strikes all over the U.S.  Dressmakers were striking along with other factory workers. People were going on strikes for workers right. In Boston police were doing the same thing.  New recruits to the police force would receive two dollars per day. Their wages were even lower than the earnings of most unskilled factory workers. Officers worked seven days per week, with a day off every other week, during which they could not leave town without special permission. The Boston Police went on strike on September 9, and the newspapers made sure people knew of it . Some newspapers were falsely reported that gangs were running wild and attacking women throughout the city. In actuality, the strike prompted a lot of property damage but did not seriously endanger the safety of the community partly because of the quick response of the government. At the time it was illegal for police officers to strike so police officers would call in sick but it was strongly discouraged. Still on September 9th by 8:00 p.m. a crowd estimated at 10,000 gathered in Scollay Square (a center of amusement halls and theaters) soon after 8:00 a cigar store window was broken and the store was swarmed and everything was taken. Looting followed this as well as mayhem, this included rock throwing at streetcars and overturning the carts of street vendors downtown and in South Boston until well into the night of September 9.

sources:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-boston-police-department-goes-on-strike
http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/history/item/4829-the-boston-police-strike-of-1919