World War One Answers

1.       WWI began July 28^th, 1914. Imperialism, Nationalism, militarism, and alliances played major roles in starting the war and during the war.The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife by a Serbian Nationalist organization set the war off. The combatants were The Allies: United Kingdom, France, Russian Empire, United States, Japan (eventually) and the Central powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire

2.       The US got involved in WWI on April 6^th, 1917. They joined the Allies in the war because the Germans had attacked a British ship called the Lusitania with 128 Americans aboard.

3.        

Allies of World War I	Population (millions)	Military deaths	Direct civilian deaths (military action)	Excess civilian deaths (famine, disease & accidents)	Total deaths	Deaths as % of population	Military wounded
United Kingdom s	45.4	886,939	2,000	107,000	995,939	2.19%	1,663,435
Sub-total for British Empire	-	1,115,597	2,000	109,000	1,226,597	-	2,090,212
Belgium c	7.4	58,637	7,000	55,000	120,637	1.63%	44,686
France e	39.6	1,397,800	40,000	260,000	1,697,800	4.29%	4,266,000
Greece f	4.8	26,000		150,000	176,000	3.67%	21,000
Italy h	35.6	651,000	4,000	585,000	1,240,000	3.48%	953,886
Empire of Japan i	53.6	415			415	0%	907
Luxembourg j	0.3				See footnote
Montenegro k	0.5	3,000			3,000	0.6%	10,000
Portugal n	6.0	7,222		82,000	89,222	1.49%	13,751
Romania o	7.5	250,000	120,000	330,000	700,000	9.33%	120,000
Russian Empire p	175.1	1,811,000 to 2,254,369	500,000 (1914 borders)	1,000,000 (1914 borders)	3,311,000 to 3,754,369	1.89% to 2.14%	3,749,000 to 4,950,000
Serbia q	4.5	275,000	150,000	300,000	725,000	16.11%	133,148
United States t	92.0	116,708	757		117,465	0.13%	205,690
Total (Entente Powers)	800.4	5,712,379	823,757	2,871,000	9,407,136	1.19%	12,809,280
Central Powers	Population (millions)	Military deaths	Direct civilian deaths (military action)	Excess civilian deaths (famine, disease & accidents)	Total deaths	Deaths as % of population	Military wounded
Austria-Hungary u	51.4	1,100,000	120,000	347,000	1,567,000	3.05%	3,620,000
Bulgaria v	5.5	87,500		100,000	187,500	3.41%	152,390
German Empire w	64.9	2,050,897	1,000	425,000	2,476,897	3.82%	4,247,143
Ottoman Empire x	21.3	771,844		2,150,000	2,921,000	13.72%	400,000
Total (Central Powers)	143.1	4,010,241	121,000	3,022,000	7,153,241	5%	8,419,533
Grand total	954.2	9,722,620	948,248	5,893,000	16,563,868	1.75%	21,228,813

4.       WWI ended on June 28, 1919 with the treaty of Versailles.

I used Wikipedia and pbs.org 

Bibliography: Great White Fleet Postcards

Great White Fleet – History and Memorabilia*all of my pictures came from this site. 

Naval History – Great White Fleet

Great White Fleet Information – Library of Congress

Smithsonian – History of Postcards

My source: The Naval Department Library- The Cruise of the Great White Fleet

I found the bulk of my information on this website. It had very specific details about the most important places on the cruise and did not just talk about the sailors as a whole, but told personal stories about specific sailors. It gave good details about the celebrations that took place at every stop, especially Japan. It gave insight as to why the cruise was to happen in the first place.

Political Cartoons of the Spanish- American War

America's Menu

In this political cartoon, "America" or the Americans are depicted as Uncle Sam sitting at a table with a waiter standing to serve him. The waiter's cloth say "McKinley" on it, implying that  McKinley is at the service of the american people and he has to give them whatever they want off of the "menu." Uncle Sam is looking relaxed and care-free which he shows by twirling his beard while he looks at the "menu" of  islands entitled "Bill of Fare." He shows that the American people know that they can have whatever they want and it will be easy to get it. I think that the intended audience for this cartoon were the american people and it may have also been meant to insult McKinley and say that he has not control over imperialism in America and he is a
mere servant.

Uncle Sam Balancing His New Possessions.

Silent Films During The Age of the City

During the late 19th century, cities in America were starting to grow as cultural and financial centers of the country. America as a whole was becoming more urbanized. Even families in rural areas were able to buy food or even houses from catalogs which reduced the need for agriculture. Because of the rapid growth of industry and technology and the spike in economic wealth in the middle class, people had more leisure time and more money
to spend on entertainment. Places meant purely for recreational purposes such as Coney Island or Central Park started popping up all over cities. One thing that men and women enjoyed for recreation was silent films. Silent films were popular from the late 19th century to the 1930s. While silent films were just meant for entertainment, they actually influenced society and culture.

The Birth of a Nation Movie Poster

                The earliest silent films were made in France by the Lumiere Brothers. (Tonya Howe) Silent films started out as short picture shows called "Nickelodeons" and developed into long epics such as "The Birth of a Nation" directed by D.W. Griffith. The silent film industry was working hard to disassociate itself from these nickelodeons and vaudeville theatre. In an article called "The Silent Era", the author Tonya Howe talks about how film and film technology spread from Europe to the east coast of America in New York City and in New Jersey, and spread even further west to Hollywood from there. There was a decline in competition from the Europeans because of World War I.

The Roxy Theatre in New York City

                Silent films were played in theatres ranging from small store front theatres to huge “picture palaces” that could seat a thousand people. Smaller theatres were much more common than the large picture palaces. There were about 15,000 silent film theatres in the United States and on average, cost about 10-25 cents for admission. One very large theatre in New York City called the Roxy Theatre seated 6,214 people. Tonya Howe talks about how Silent film theatres’ main aim was to make family-friendly, clean, and safe places for middle-class audiences. Howe says a typical 1920s bill at a theatre would have included a musical overture, a news weekly,
a lantern slide show, a live revue, a brief comedy or novelty film, and finally a feature film. Theatre owners decided to start and end programs at a specific time so that they could have better audience turnover. Silent film theatres also created jobs for people. “Descriptive talkers” or “lecturers” were hired to narrate the films and sometimes these narrators would improvise dialogue that was not supposed to be included in the movies. The use of lecturers did die out though because as the feature film industry became more popular and centralized and the use of title cards for dialogue became more prevalent.

Flapper Fashion in Silent Films

                Musicians also had more job opportunities because of silent films. Silent films were far from silent. The films were accompanies by either a single pianist or reed organist or a full orchestra in large picture palaces. Silent films also created more business for sheet music companies. Howe talks about how these companies made music that could be appropriate for different scenes in the films so that musicians could choose the music that best fit what was happening in the movie. Howe also talks about how these silent film musicians (especially the soloists) had to be experts on reading visual cues in the movies and improvising on the spot. As feature films became more popular, musical music choice not as flexible. Feature films came with their own musical scores and cue sheets for certain scenes.

                According to the article by Tonya Howe, the more popular that silent film industry got, the more there was a need for standardization. The Motion Picture Patents Company was established to do just that. They worked towards standardization by giving patents to film makers and licenses to theatres so that they could play patented films.  The Motion Picture Patents Company also came into existence to eliminate competition between theatres and to control the availability of films to the theatres. Howe states that controlling distribution of films gave established East-coast theatres monopoly over the industry. Studios controlled distribution of their films through the General Film Company.   

Silent Film Actress Mary Pickford

              Women also found their way in to the film industry.  An article of the “Women Film Pioneers Project” talks about one of the most famous Canadian- American actresses, Mary Pickford. Mary Pickford was very influential because she was not just a film actress but she was also a company director, film company founding partner, film distributor, screenwriter, producer, and theatre actress.  According to the article, Pickford was the first movie star to be on the cover of “The New York Dramatic Mirror.” Silent films were influential to women in society because it introduced them to new fashions.


           

Sources:

1.The Silent Era

This source had very god information about theatres and music for silent films ranging from small store front theatres with a single pianist to full size theatres with orchestras to accompany the films. This document also had good information about the expansion of film from east to west and about holding rights. This website helped me to get a bigger picture of the range of people that silent films were seen by.

2.The Birth of a Nation

This video is one of the most famous silent films directed by D.W. Griffith called “The Birth of a Nation.” I found many names of actors and actresses through this source so I was able to further my investigation of silent films.

3.Profit Margins: The American Silent Cinema and the Marginalization of Advertising

4.Women Film Pioneers Project: Mary Pickford

This source had very specific information about 1910s-30s actress, Mary Pickford. Even though the article was specific to Pickford, I was able to get good information about the influence of women on silent films and the influence of silent films on women in society.

5. A Survey American History by Alan Brinkley

This source helped me get a better picture of the “age of the city.” I didn’t really find any information about silent films but this source did help me write an introductory paragraph.

I pledge.

Andrew Carnegie

     Carnegie seems to have believed that the best way to improve people's lives was through providing education and the pursuit of knowledge. Carnegie opened colleges and gave people grants to improve their educations and opened many foundations to fund scientists to help them make discoveries. Carnegie didn't just want people to be educated and have knowledge about many things. he wanted them to use this knowledge for goo and to be ethical people. He didn't just care about America, he wanted to help with education on a global level. He also founded a federation for "heros" in society. He was encouraging people to be philanthropists and to do good things.
     I agree with Carnegie's approach of educating people to improve their lives. Education makes it possible for people to advance in our world and it also creates jobs for teachers and professors. Without education and the pursuit of knowledge, our world would be completely different. There would be no medicine, government organizations, or anything that we rely on for normal life today. The counter of this argument to this approach would be that concentrating on something that not everyone can always afford is a waste of time.
     If I had millions of dollars to give away, I would too give my money to organizations who are dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. Bringing education to impoverished countries could take out a large chunk of the number of people living in poverty. I would also give money to charities that help protect endangered species and to the Humane Society because I believe that it is important to protect the creatures on the earth that cannot protect themselves.