Exist and get to unpack them a little bit a little bit and learn about the reality of the experience. I wanted to start first by talking about how this connects to the First World War overall. Its not just america has these myths, but even the sense of how we understand the First World War to begin with, and we think of the kind general narrative that we attached to it, one of the most common narratives is that world war i was a senseless slaughter. We already talked about why this war even occurred. But once its underway, it is sort of predominant image and we get that image a lot from popular culture, those are the kind of images i have up here for you, of the idea that this really was just meant and then sent needlessly to their death. I have an example, all quiet on the western front. You are gonna like this image. This is the cover for the first english edition of the novel. Youll recognize that image from something we discussed last class, and last class was with a german war bond poster and that soldier was meant to represent germanys last hope. The one who is willing to sacrifice for his country, and now it become sort of recycled as a different image. Now its an image of a man who is needlessly sacrificed first country. This one over here is from a movie from the 1960s, called all what a lovely war, i think this little part over here is pretty destructive. The ever popular wargames with songs battles and a few jokes. Right . Really the ideal of the politicians and the generals, play at war. Its a war game for them, but its the man on the battlefield who actually have to suffer. Now, im not trying to suggest to you that world war i did not involve senseless slaughter. What i do want to suggest to you is that this overarching image kind of obscures other realities to the war. In a more general sense. So here is one example of this. We have this notion of how many people die over all of war, we have less of a notion that actually the majority of soldiers will survive. Most men actually will come home, so theres tremendous numbers of casualties, but theres also a high rate of survival. So here we have a statistic, nine out of ten british soldiers will actually come home. So thats one thing that the senseless slaughter conception kind of obscures for us. And the other is, it obscures for us the reality that, in fact, soldiers spent a lot of their time outside of the trenches. They were obviously fighting, but the majority of their time was either spent and reserve trenches, or far beyond the lions. We could take this even ones that further to point out that, for all those men that are in the front lines, here needs to be two or three men behind the lines supporting them. So there are large numbers of men who survived not because they were not on the front lines that law, but because so many men are not combatants. Theyre actually serving in the rear. Those are people that we never really factor into our narrative and we just think about the First World War about since the slaughter. Last point i want to make here about this is that, when we have this myth of senseless slaughter overall connecting to the First World War, it kind of obscures the fact that in 1918, there is a learning curve that happened. There is a breakthrough in a trench stalemate, the war does and in 1918, and i have the snap up here to kind of show you that at this moment, we had movement in 1914. Trench stalemate, and the 1918 is in the movement again. And so there is going to be some learning that occurs about how to fight this war. And that kind of challenges a little bit this notion of that the generals were just stupid, obtuse willing to sacrifice millions of men without thinking about it. They were not actually trying to convey and make improvements of how they thought. The point that im trying to make here, is that, we can think about myths not just to point out how they are wrong, but by the second thing then we can actually learn a little bit more about the war itself. So this is something we can do overall, for world war i. What about the United States . What i have for you today, i have six myths about America World war i but i would like to talk about. And do the same thing that i did in this introduction. So the first mid here, myth number one, america was neutral until april 1917. April 1917, thats where the United States officially enters the war against germany. What im going to argue is untrue about this myth, is that wall officially the United States was neutral, that does not mean that americans were on involved. The key point here, is that neutrality, does not mean non involvement. And we can get a sense of how this is a different concept, neutrality non involvement. If we take a look at what will joe wilson tells the people in 1915, we have the countdown to war. Something we thought we discussed right . The assassinations of france ferdinand, the german army invading belgium. This is the motive or will joe wilson has to say to the American People, where are we in this conflict . What is the stake as this war is spreading across europe . And this is the quote that we always hear. This is the one that gets pulled out again and again. We must be impartial, as well as action. Woodrow wilson to told us to be impartial. But there is another thing that will joe wilson said that i actually thing is a little bit more revealing of what is going to happen. And that same neutrality address, he said, the effect of the war upon the United States will depend on what american citizens say and do. So hes recognizing, right from the very beginning, that the government can say americans are neutral. The government can say that we have a policy of treating both sides of the same. But what the government does is only getting the one side of the story right . What American People decide to do, that is really going to tell the tale of how american behaves in a social period of neutrality. What do the American People do . Again, there are wellknown parts of the story and lesser known parts of the story. One of the wellknown parts . Well we know for instance that the banks, american banks, and lend overwhelmingly to the allied side. That is a pretty wellknown part of the story. We know that american manufacturers, right, sell their goods overwhelmingly to the alex side. That is another welcome part of the story. Whats really less well known, is what the average american says and does. What average americans overly to, is that they reach into their pockets and they contribute to humanitarian aids causes. They realize theres some way for them to be involved in the conflict, and the way for them to be involved in the conflict is through humanitarian. The person who starts this ball rolling, is Herbert Hoover. Herbert hoover organizes a massive relief effort for belgian civilians. Here you can see, the kind of propaganda he uses right . You have literally hungry children, holding out hamptons, they have no food. They need to be fed. Hes got propaganda here, as people donating clothes and people donating food to help feed the civilians. Herbert hoover, its amazing what he does. Statistics say that, in terms of the amount of aid that he and the amount of money that he raised, there was no greater humanitarian effort organized by americans until the recent tsunami. That is how tremendous this response was. Herbert hoover is a private citizen, he has no official capacity. What does he do, he buys his own ships, about 40 ships, he paints them his own color, he flies his own flag, he negotiates with the germans and the british to let him go through the blockade, the british blockade, and then with the germans to allow him to distribute this food in a german occupied territory. Right . He really in a sense, becomes almost a quasination in and of himself. He lists the help of average american citizens in this quest. So, aiding civilians is what overly decide what they want to do. They dont want to take a side against britain or germany, they are on the side of the civilian. The person who is caught up in this war, sort of no through no fault of their own. Now. What we tend to do is stop there in the story and just talk a lot of belgium right . Just talk about the western front. But if we think for a second when wilson said the effect of the war upon American Society depends on what americans say or do right . The thing he was really concerned about, and i think that he knew was, that america had just undergone this nasty wave of immigration. He knew in fact that we had people from all parts of the world, all parts of europe here in the United States. He did not want the war to tear americans apart. And in his sense, he was right to realize that different places where americans came from, was gonna influence the reaction to the war. We can see this through the humanitarian effort as well. So a lot of people, this is a map that comes from a friend of mine, michael never. We did some research into the Jewish American humanitarian aid efforts, and realize that he had massive immigration coming from russia. A lot of russian jews came from the United States at the time to the second century to flee religious persecution. If you look at this map, here it shows you the Eastern Front. Not the western front, but the Eastern Front of the war. You could see that actually, a lot of the places that were caught up with the heaviest fighting and therefore had the biggest refugee crisis, replaces that were heavily populated by jews. Whenever the army, and the Eastern Front theres a lot of moving back and forth. Whenever the army comes through, civilians get up in iran right . They run as fast as they can, because they dont want to get caught up in this fighting. And what begins to happen, you have warsaw in indiana, these massive numbers of refugees that are descending on the cities. They are overwhelmingly jewish refugees. American jews begin to organize to actually help these people. And for a lot of these russian jews, for people who are helping belgian civilians, its sort of a humanitarian impulse. We want to do the right thing. But for people who are helping russian jews, a lot of times, this is very personal for them. You have got refugee workers who walk around these encampments, and they go to people and ask them, do you have a relativity nighted states . And if someone says yes, i asked you know the names you have their address . They will write directly to that person and say, your answer, your grandfather, your former neighbor is in need of help. Can you send somebody out . Thats personal outreach. Thats really trying to make sure that the personal becomes political. Or the political becomes personal, however you want to put it. You can see this with italians, italians are also mobilizing their very very concerned about this as well. Places where they came from, and making sure they actually help those communities. And so in this case we can see that its the personal kind of, that money that motivates people to actually contribute to the humanitarian aid effort. But as the war goes on, it starts operating even we talk about belgium. Im not sure if you can actually see where these are caused by these things, absolutely fascinating. What these are, these are sacks, these are sacks that health flower. It showed you that first picture, six of fires actually going to germany relief. These are psyched for donated to whats happened is that belgian women who were very renown for their embroidery skills, have embroidered them and and sent them back to that kansas community. This is just a piece of kansas. Basically to say thank you. We say, people want to make a personal collection of who the sending money to, here is the flip side. People in belgium say thank you for this, inaudible and these go up peaks door fronts. And people are able to see that and its not personal collection thats begins to fuel humanitarianism as well. In fact one of the things that relief workers complain about on the american side, is that those close, the person who dont need all those calls and everything, they realize that when people dont a close, the relief workers have to go its all the pockets. Because what is happening is that americans are writing notes, the running notes to people in belgium, and theyre also something bibles things like that. And the agreement with the german authorities, no notes no nothing. Only close. Thats how desperate people are to make a personal collection connection as theyre going through this humanitarian aid. So the point here is that americans obviously are involved right . They are involved through these humanitarian efforts. And the point here is that the personal and the political become very closely connected. The abstraction of the cause begins to have personal meaning for people, either because theyre helping people they knew, or they start developing a sort of personal investment and former strangers that they are now helping friends . This begins to motivate people to really care about whats going on in europe now my last sort of major point about humanitarianism is that, humanitarianism is never neutral right . Its impossible if we agree that humanitarian is actively taken part in this and shaping it it is not given the geopolitics of the war, the vast majority of this aid goes to the allied side right . I didnt give you examples of any of this aid going to germany for instance. Its still going primarily to the allied side. And as much as americans are motivated by the empathy right . That they feel for the starving civilians, theres something in it for them as well. They are also motivated in a sense by the way they feel, that its increasing the stature of the United States in the world. And we can see a really good example of this and this poster from the red cross right . They are looking to us for help. Are you one of us . And i love how the us is almost says u. S. Its cork connecting the same thing here. This is the idea that in this conflict, it is america alone that can rise above and be above the fray. We are interested in in humanitarianism, and philanthropy, and doing the right thing. We are not interested in actually picking sides here or territorial gain or anything else that the european nations are involved in. We are actually above the fray. That is going to be important because what it means, is that in 1917, when will joe wilson actually asked for the declaration of war and he says to america, our war goals are better than everyone else is. We dont want any territory, we dont seek any indemnities. We are servants of mankind. When he says that to the American People, in a way, the American People are already there. Theyve got their through their own humanitarian efforts. Hes not just coming out of the blue, theyve already begun to see themselves as a nation they can actually rise above and do some good in the world. And so, what i think is important here is not just the thing back, american im being neutral. But to also pay some more attention to what average americans are doing and that period of neutrality, and what will joe wilson is doing or what hes saying. Not that will joe wilson is an important in my next mid here. Myth number two. America answered world war i because in the sinking of elusive tea. This is my favorite one. Because it be so nice if it was not true. So this is a big one that people almost always get wrong. It really makes no sense because you think of the dates right because lusitania sinks in 1915, and the United States doesnt enter the war until 1917. Its almost two years before the United States actually enters the war, so its interesting to wonder why so consistently get this wrong. I always tell my survey students, if you write on a test, that lusitania is the reason the americans got to world war i you fail automatically. I dont write anything else. I refuse to talk to you the rest of the class. Why . Why is this a perpetual move that we have . I think that this headline here almost gives us indication of that right . 1200 people, 1200 people die in india lusitania this is first reporting right. Watching washington stirred as and if you think about the overall narrative of American History, think about how many times a ship going down, and america going to war works for you . Maine goes down, pearl harbor world war ii, gulf of tonkin. Its a great, if the mood if the lusitania which is fit into that it would be the easiest thing to remember. It would be so straightforward for you. I endlessly think thats why so many people tend to cite that. Because thats the kind of narrative they have in their head, the idea that we would be a tax we go to war. Thats who we believe we are right . Our Immediate Response is gonna forceful one. What happens in the lusitania is not that right . Wilson drummers, is gonna take another two years before we go to war. Weve already sort of made that point. I think that narrative should also make us feel pretty good, if you look at our past we actually have a moment where americans have died and we use some we dont immediately jump into war. Nevertheless this is something we commonly see people making a mistake about right here. I would like to point out to you where the lusitania is. I think thats another misperception about why the lusitania becomes the kind of highly publicized cause celebre that it is. And part of it is to actually realize where the lusitania was sunk. So here you can see the sinking of lusitania that. Right off the coast of ireland lusitania was really, one of those moments where if you ask people 20 or 30 years ago, they could tell you where they wear when they heard about it. It was their 9 11 moment. They can remember where they were when they heard the lusitania went down. Why . Why was it such a shock to people . The placement of lusitania the goes a little bit of the way answering a question. Because its sunk so fast, its sunken 18 minutes, there was almost no time for people to get to the lifeboats. For anybody to make it off the boat. If you made it you were just basically lucky. You are going into frigid cold water, and in the days after the sinking, these bodies are washing up on the shore. So the sinking on the middle of the ocean that nobody witnesses and nobody sees the aftermath, bridges here about their hand. Here you have almost daily reports of these rea