Over There

1. Listen to "Over There," a song written during World War I by George M. Cohan, an American composer and entertainer. Then answer these questions:

• What is the mood of this music? Does the mood match the lyrics? Explain.

• According to this song, why should young men fight in the war?

• What do you think Cohan's purpose was in writing this song?

2. Listen to "On Patrol in No-Man's Land," a song written by James Reese Europe in 1919 about his experience as a lieutenant in the 369th Regiment of the U.S. Army. Then answer these questions:

• What is the mood of this music? Does the mood match the lyrics? Explain.

• According to this song, what dangers do soldiers have to look out for?

• What do you think Europe's purpose was in writing this song?


3. What differences are there between "Over There" and "On Patrol in No-Man's Land"? Which song gives a more realistic version of what the war was like for combatants?

MORE WWI MUSIC

Propaganda

This propaganda leaflet was dropped by German airplanes behind American lines during World War I. Nearly 370,000 African Americans were drafted into the U.S. Army starting in the fall of 1917 (they were not allowed to join the Marines, and the Navy took African Americans only as cooks and kitchen help). Although more than half of the black troops were in combat units, they remained segregated from white troops. Subjected to racist harassment (including demeaning insults from white officers), black troops were continually reminded of their second-class citizenship. By stressing racist conditions in the United States, leaflets such as this attempted to destroy morale and encourage desertion among African-American troops.

1) To whom is the document addressed?

2) Who do you think wrote the document? Why?

3) What arguments are used to make those points? Do you find the arguments convincing? Why or why not?

4) What was more dangerous: propaganda or machine guns? Explain.

5) Write a letter in response to the document? What would you say in reply? (1 paragraph)

Harlem Hellfighters

More than 2 million Americans served in Europe during World War I. Eager to promote democracy around the world, many entered the war with great enthusiasm. But their first taste of battle left them more realistic about the horrors of war.

After reading the excerpt from Max Brooks The Harlem Hellfighters answer these questions in your Interactive Student Notebook:

1) Why did so many men, especially African Americans, enlist to go 'Over There?'

2) Would you stay or would you go?  Why?

3) Why is the large number of casualties during World War I typically not discussed?

4) Many of the 369th Regiment decided to stay in France after the war. Why might they have done this?

5) What comparisons can you make between the Harlem Hellfighters and the Buffalo Soldiers?

Zimmermann Telegram

In January of 1917, British cryptographers deciphered a telegram from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German Minister to Mexico, von Eckhardt, offering United States territory to Mexico in return for joining the German cause. This message helped draw the United States into the war and thus changed the course of history. The telegram had such an impact on American opinion that, according to David Kahn, author of The Codebreakers, "No other single cryptanalysis has had such enormous consequences." It is his opinion that "never before or since has so much turned upon the solution of a secret message." In an effort to protect their intelligence from detection and to capitalize on growing anti-German sentiment in the United States, the British waited until February 24 to present the telegram to Woodrow Wilson. The American press published news of the telegram on March 1. On April 6, 1917, the United States Congress formally declared war on Germany and its allies.

Can you decode the message?

The first 'wall' along our southern border with Mexico was started during WWI 100 years ago; not because we feared the Mexicans or radical Islam, but because we feared the Germans!

What is the legacy of the Zimmerman Telegram today?

You Sank My Battleship!

Battleship wasn't always a board game. The original version, reportedly created as a French World War I game, was played on square grids, and each player drew in where their battleships were located. It wasn't until 1931 when the Milton Bradley Company turned what was a simple two-player, paper-and-pen game into the popularized children's board game. The gist of the game -- both then and today --is to capture or sink the other person's battleships through a series of strategic moves.

Many variations have appeared over the years from the distinctive plastic ships and pegboards of the classic board game to numerous online versions. Our classroom version brings us full circle to World War I: the large 'aircraft carrier' has been replaced with the historic Lusitania and the submarines with German U-boats. Can you sink American neutrality?

1) Which boat do you think is the most valuable? The least? Why?

2) What strategies did you develop as you played the game?

3) Why did the Germans target a defenseless passenger ship like the Lusitania? How did the attack pull America closer to war?

4) What was the Sussex Pledge? How did the German U-Boats change the 'rules of engagement?'

5) What modern weapons have changed the way we fight wars today?

The Lusitania

On May 7, 1915, the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania, rival of the Titanic, was torpedoed by a German U-boat and sunk. Of the 1,959 people on board, 1,198 died, including 128 Americans. The sinking of the Lusitania enraged Americans (even though they had been warned) and hastened the United States' entrance into World War I.

1) Would you know how to escape a sinking ship? List 5 steps you could take to ensure your survival.

2) What did the passengers of the Lusitania do wrong?

3) Titanic vs Lusitania: Who survived and why?

4) Was anyone on board both Titanic and Lusitania when they sank?

What's So Great About the GREAT WAR?

Newsreel 2    Newsreel 3

Woodrow Wilson, born in the 'Confederate States of America,' remembered the devastation, the deprivation, and the degradation that comes from losing a war. He carried that with him.

On August 4th, he wrote to the leaders of the newly warring nations that he would “welcome an opportunity to act in the interest of European peace.”

Almost from the outset of the war, Woodrow Wilson was trying to find diplomatic solutions. He believed if all the heads of state could sit at a table and confer, they could probably have ended this war. There didn’t have to be a war here...

What changed his opinion leading him to quote: "We are glad to fight thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its peoples...the world must be made safe for Democracy!?"

Or to put it in another way:  "I cherish peace with all my heart. I don't care how many men, women, and children I need to kill to get it!"  -The Peacemaker