Why did America Enter The First World War ? SSLC History Questions and Answers

• The term imperialism refers to the Policy of extending a country’s  rule over the others. 
• The aggressive behavior of one state against the other  
• A country’s dominant over the political and economic interest of  another nation to exploit its natural resources

• Colonialism refers to the policy of acquiring and maintaining colonies especially for exploitation. 
• The policy adopted by the European countries from AD 1492 –AD 1763 is known as Colonialism.

• The combined army of foreign powers defeated the Boxers and marched to Peiking the capital of China. 
• Empress dowager fled the capital. 
• The U.S.A and England formulated the open door policy or  “Me too policy “ 
• The Chinese territories were partitioned among the foreign powers for trade rights. Thus China became an international colony.

• The Americans, the French and other foreign countries signed similar treaties  with  China. 
• In 1854 the Chinese rebelled against the native Manchu rulers  and the foreigners.  This rebellion was known as Taiping rebellion.

• Some powerful nations took over the complete charge of the finances  of a weaker nations. 
• This method was called Economic or tariff control . 
• For example before World War I, the Turkish economic system was actually controlled by the Ottoman  Public  Dept  Administration.

• In June 28, 1914 the Austrian Crown Prince and his wife Isabella  were assassinated at Serajevo, the capital of Bosnia by a Serbian lad. 
• Austria sent an ultimatum to Serbia with humiliating terms.  
• When Serbia ignored the ultimatum , Austria declared war on Serbia on  28th July 1914.

• In 1917 Germany drowned four merchant ships of America, including Lusitania  with  her  submarines. 
• More than hundred Americans died in this incident which made  the American  president  Woodrow  Wilson angry. 
• Hence,  on the  6th  April  1917  Woodrow  Wilson  declared  war  on Germany. 
• So America  entered the war.

• German army was reduced 
• A huge war loss was imposed on Germany. 
• Germany gave up Alsace and Lorraine to France. 
• She also gave up her the Saar coal field to be occupied by France  for a period of 15 years.

• The General Assembly 
• The council 
• The Secretariat 
• The International  Court of Justice. 
• International Labour organization

• The main cause of the depression was the collapse of American  share market. 
• It was due to speculation on borrowed money. 
• The great Depression began on Oct 24, 1929 with the fall in the prices  of shares.

• The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA ) was passed to reform  the conditions of the workers by raising their wages and lowering  their  working hours.

• The  term ”Fascism” is derived  from  the Latin word  “Fasces”.   
• It  means  a bundle or  group. 
• Mussolini of Italy , who organized in the beginning groups of  young persons or ganges called the Faces, who created terror  among the people who were considered enemies of the nation.

• Charismatic leadership 
• Single party rule under the dictator 
• Terror and 
• Economic control.

• One people,     
• one state  
• one leader.

• This agreement was signed  between Neville Chamberlain  and    Hitler at  Munich.   
• By this agreement Germany was allowed to  annex Sudetenland but  not   to  conquer   any other  territories. 
• In 1939, Hitler violated the munich agreement by annexing the  whole of Czechoslovakia.

• Hitler demanded Poland to construct a military road. 
• He also  demanded the  surrender  of Danzig, 
• When  Poland refused it Hitler made a lightening attack known as Blitzkrieg on Sept 1 1939. As Britain wanted to protect Poland declared war on  Germany on  Sept 3  1939  and France  was  also  joined  with  Britain. 
• Thus started the Second world war.

• The  Russian  followed  the   Scorched   Earth  Policy. 
• They abandoned  the villages and set fire to crops, roads, railways, factories and even houses. 
• So  that  Germans  could  not  gain  anything. 
• After a long besiege of five months, Germans were able to capture only the empty  city  of Moscow  and  they retreated  in Jan ,  1944.

• On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked the American fleet  stationed at  Pearl Harbour. 
• This disastrous attack forced Americans to enter into the war. 
• The very next day the USA declared war on Japan.

• To maintain  international  peace  and security 
• To develop  friendly  relations among  nations 
• To settle  international  disputes  by  peaceful  minds 
• To be a centre for all nations to achieve these goals

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) 
• UNESCO 
• UNICEF 
• ILO 
• FAO  
• IBRD