- •1. The land of the us: geography, the face of the land, mountain and rivers, weather and climate.
- •2. The people of the usa: population, the society. Ellis Island - Gateway to America. Contribution of the immigrants to the national identity.
- •"Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,....
- •A new era, a new mission
- •3. The regions of the us: the Northeast, the Central Basin, the Southeast, the Great Plains.
- •The Regions of the United States The Northeast
- •4. Discovery of America. American Indians - the accomplishments of the Iroquois, the Sioux, the Pueblo; great civilizations of the Mayas, Aztecs and Incas.
- •5. The History of the usa: Columbus or Vikings? Exploring and settling the New World: Spanish, Dutch and French territories in North America. Russian discovery of America.
- •French colonization of the Americas
- •6. The voyage of the Mayflower, Pylgrims and Puritans. Virginia Company with the right to colonise the South and the Plymouth Company with the right to colonise the North.
- •Pilgrims' voyage
- •Second Mayflower
- •Virginia Company
- •The Plymouth Company
- •7. Britain and the colonies. Jamestown colony, the dramatic history of Virginia.
- •8. The move to independence: the colonies in their fight to protect their liberties, the Tea Act and Boston Tea Party.
- •First Continental Congress
- •Second Continental Congress
- •10. The Founding Fathers of the nation (g. Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Samuel Adams, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin).
- •Collective biography of the Framers of the Constitution
- •11. Constitution of the us, structure and main principles. Bill of rights.
- •The First Constitution
- •Louisiana Purchase
- •Florida Purchase
- •Republic of Texas
- •Alaska Purchase
- •13. The Civil War - the reasons, the process, the generals, the battles the consequences. The Emancipation Proclamation. The role of a. Lincoln. The Gettysburg address.
- •The reasons of the Civil War.
- •How many Generals were there?
- •List of u.S. Army generals and chief staff officers in early 1861 Line officers
- •Staff Officers
- •Lincoln's role
- •14. Afterwar peiod (Reconstruction), the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the constitution. Carpetbaggers, Ku-Klux-Klan. What did Reconstruction fail?
- •15. America at the turn of the century: Foreign policy - the fight for new colonies: Venezuelan conflict, Cuban crisis, Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, the Panama Isthmus.
- •16. The Manifest Destiny, Monroe's Doctrine, Olney (or Roosevelt) Collorary.
- •17. Economic development: "captains of industry", industrialization. "The Square Deal" of Theodore Roosevelt and "The New Freedom" of w. Wilson. The us - a world leader.
- •List of businessmen who were called robber barons
- •U.S. Industrialization
- •History
- •18. America in the World War I. The League of Nations.
- •19. The roaring twenties. The rush for wealth. The movies. The bootleggers. Prohibition.
- •20. The Great Depression and the New Deal. The difference of the Roosevelt Administration from all previous administrations.
- •21. America before and at the time of the World War II. Hirishima 1945: right or wrong?
- •22. After the wwii: prodperity and problems - presidencies of Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy. "McCarthyism". Cold War with the Soviet Union.
- •23. Korean War, the birth of Nato, the War in Vietnam, crisis over Cuba.
- •24. The American century - the Americanization of the world. Mail Concepts of American Business.
- •27. The symbols of the us: the Statue of Liberty, the White house, the Library of Congress, the American Flag, the national Anthem.
- •28. Churches in the usa. America as a shelter for many people oppressed in their native countries for their religious beliefs. The role of religion in the us.
- •28. The main concepts of American Education.
- •30. The American Character: its origin and development. Values in the american character.
- •30. Cities of the us: Washington - planned city, New York (Big Apple) and its boroughs.
- •Economy
- •State finances
18. America in the World War I. The League of Nations.
Иванян с. 342
In August 1914 , a war sta rted o n the continent of
Europe. It was th e begi nni ng of a struggle that lasted
for more th an four year s, b rou ght death to millions
ofpeople and changed the hi story of the world . At
the time people called th e conflict the Great War.
Later it was called the First World War.
The main countries fighting the war were. on one
side. France. Great Britain and Russia. They were
kn own as rhc Allies. On the o ther side th e mam
88
countries we re Germa ny and Austria. who were
called the Centra l Powers.
Most Amer icans wanted to keep out oft he war.
T he)' saw it as J purdy Eu ropean affair that was not
th e-ir concern. When President Wilso n said that th ey
sho uld be "impartial in thought as well as in actio n."
most people were read y to agtl"C wi th him.
Hut Americans found it difficult to stay impartial to r
lon g. In the fi rsr days ofthe war the German
govt:"rnmt"nt sent its armies marching int o neutral
Belg ium . This shocked many Americans. They were
even more shocked wh ennewspapers printed
repon s - ofi:en false or exaggerated - ofGerman
cruelt y towa rds Belgian civ ilians.
From th e very begin ning ofth e war the strong
Brit ish na vy prevented German ships from trading
wi th the Un ited Stat es. But t rade betw een the United
Sta tes and the Allies grew quickly. By 1915
Amer ican facto ries were making vast quantities of
\...·capon s and munit ions and selling th em to Bri tain
and France.
German leaders were dete rmin ed to sto p this flow of
armament s to their enemi es. They annou nced in
Febru ary 1t.J15, th at they wo uld sink all Allied
mer chant ships in th e seas aro und the British Isles.
O n a hazy afternoon in May, a big Brit ish passenger
ship called th e Lnsitaniawas nearing th e end ofits
voyage from th e United Stares to Britain. Suddenly.
without any warning. it was hi t by a torpedo from a
German subma rine. Within minutes the Lusitania
was sinking. Mor e than 1.000 passenger s we nt with
it to the bottom o f the ocea n. One hundred and
rw cnr y-ci ght of those passcngers were Americans.
The sinking ofthe LIHital/ia made Americans vcry
angry. Some began to think that Germany would do anything to wi n the war. Bur most still wanted
peace. President Wilson made strong prorcsrs TO th e
German government . For a rime the Germans
stepped the submarine attacks.
In th e autumn of 1916 American voters re-elected
Wilson 3S President. mainly because he had kept
th em our o f rhc wa r. lnjanuarv 1917 . Wilson made a
spee ch to Congress. In it he appealed to the warring
narious ofEurope to settle their differences and make
"a peace without victory. '·111is. he said, was the
only kind of peact'" that could las t.
Bur by now American ban kers had kill a lor of
mOlley to the All ies. And American militar y supplies
were still po ur ing across th e Arlamic. Germany's war
leaders feared that, unless th e flow o f supplies was
stopped, thei r co unt ry would be defeated . Only nine
days after Wilso n's speech they again orde red the ir
submarines to begi n sinking ships sailing towar ds
Allied ports. T his rime th e order included neutral
vessels. In the next few weeks German su bma rines sank five
Ame rican ships. With German tor ped oes sending
American sailor s to their deat hs in the grey waters of
th e Aelamic. Wilsoll felt tha t he had no choice. On
Ap ril 2, 1917, he asked Congr ess to decl are war on Germany. Wilson's dim WdS not simply to defeat
Germany. He SdW the wa r as a grcd[ crusade to
ensure the future pedce ofthe world. For him the war
would become a war " to make the world safe fo r
democracy, the wa r to end all wars."
When the United States decla red war on Germ any
the American army was a sm all fo rce ofonly 200,000
soldiers. Milli ons more men had to be recruited ,
trained, equipped and shipped across the Atlantic to
Euro pe. All thi s took time. A full year passed befo re
man y Amer ican soldiers were available to help the
European Allies.
In the spring of 1918 the German armies began a last
desper ate o ffensive aga rnsr the French and th e
British. Thcir aim \v·JSto win the wa r befo re the new
American army WdS ready to figh t. By July they
were with in a few miles ofParis.
The Allies were in great danger. T hey placed all their
armies unde r one commander, the French general
Foch. Luckily for Foch. American sold iers bega n to
arr ive at the battlefront to stre ngthen his fo rces. Soon
ove r a million ofthem had joined in the battles
agai nst the Germans.
90
In August )<J18, the Allied armies coumer-anac ked.
The German armies we re driven back towards their
own fronti ers. In Octo ber th e German go \'e rnment
asked fo r peace. On November I t. 1918. German
and Allied leaders signed an armistice, an ag reement
to stop fighting. The bloodiest and mos t destructive
war the world had ever kno wn 'WdS over.
ll yJanuary 1919, President Wilson was in Europe.
He was there ro help to work out a lX'ace treaty. He
was greeted by cheering crowds in the Allied capitals
and spoken ofas " Wilson th eJu st ."
Bur when Wilson met other Allied leader s to work.
ou t the det ails of the tr eaty , the welcome became less
friendly. The French leader, Georges Ck-mcnccau,
thought that Wilson lacked expe rience III
international affairs. Worse still, the Americ an
President did not seem to realize this. " How can I
talk to a fellow who thinks himself the firs t man in
two thousand yedrs to know any thing about pt·ace on
earth?" asked C lcmcnccau.
Both Wilso n and Clcmcnccau wanted to make sure
that a war like the First World War never happen ed
agat u. Wilson wanted to do this by writing a treaty
th at did not leave the Germ ans with lots of
grievances. He believed that if the Germans thought
the y had not been treated fairly. they might one day
sta rt a wa r ofrevenge. C lemenceac thought
diffe ren tly. He believed there WdS only one way to
make a peace rhar would last . The Germans had to be
made so weak that they would never have th e
str ength to fight again .
After mu ch arg uing, and without consu lting the
Germ ans. the Allied leaders agreed 0 11 a peace treaty.
They called it the Versailles T reaty, after the palace
near Paris where it was signed in May 1919.
The Versailles T reaty was harder in its treatment of
the Germans rhan Wilson had wanted . Among other
things it made them take all the blame for the war. It
also made them agree to PdYfo r all the damage that
the wa r had caused . These "reparation " payments
were fixed at many millions ofdollars.
Wilson was disappointed with much ofthe Versailles
Treaty. But he returned to the United Sta res with
high hopes for part ofit. This was a scheme that he
bel ieved could still make his dream ofa world
wit hout war come true. It WdS a plan to set up a
League o f Nations. The League of Nanons was to be an o rganization
where representatives o f the world's nations would
meet and settle their diffe rences by discussion instead
of war. It had taken Wilson months ofha rd
bargaining to persuade the other Allied leaders ro
accept this plan. Now he faced a battle to persuade
Co ng ress and the American peopl e to accep t it, too.
Wilson knew th at this would not be easy. Many
Americans were against their coun try becoming
perm anentl y involved in the prob lems ofEurope.
And they were sus picious ofthe League of Nations.
Wouldn't j oining such an organ ization mean th at the
United States might be dragged into quarrels,
perhaps even wars, that were none ofits business?
Wilson tried to remove such fears . But as the months
passed it began to seem that he was failing to do so.
After another trip to Europe he returned to America.
tired and ill. But he boarded a special train and set off
011 a speaking tour ofthe western United States to
plead for the League.
The to ur was never completed. 011 September 25.
1\)19, the exhausted Wilson suffered a severe st roke. lie was taken back to Washington , his health broken
fo r ever. In March 1920. the Senate voted against the
United States joining the League ofNarions. and the
idea was dropped.
From his invalid's armchair in the White House a sick
and disapp ointed Wilson spoke the last words 011 the
subject. " We had a chance to gain the leadership of
the world. We have los t it and soon we shall be
witnessing the tragedy ofir all."