The Sinking of the Maine

On February 15, 1898 the American battleship the USS Maine exploded, killing 266 people on the ship. No one knows what caused the explosion but many suspect it was the Spanish while others think that the explosion was an accident that happened inside the ship. It is unlikely that the Spanish would've  wanted to make enemies with the U.S. but with America supporting the revolution in Cuba it is possible  could have placed a mine where it would explode and hit the maine. However investigations later on revealed that a mine or torpedo wouldn't be enough to explode the magazines in the ship. The explosion would have to have been an internal explosion. The question is weather or not it was an accident or it was sabotaged. Even today with such little evidence on what happened there is know way to know for sure what caused the explosion.

Sources:
http://www.spanamwar.com/Mainemo1.htm
The American Vision (pg. 308-309)

WWI Causes

1.
a) Militarism- In the early 1900s  there was a big race between nations for the greatest military power. The main competitors were Germany, Britain, and France. This Created tension and conflict between nations and led to alliances.
b) Alliances- Alliances were created in order to keep peace and insure each country had support from other countries. The alliances were between Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary which were the central powers, then there was Britain, France, and Russia which were the allies. When the Archduke was killed, all the countries in the alliances got tangled in the conflict and led to war between the alliances.
c) Imperialism- Germany and Austria- Hungary wanted more land and started to imperialize smaller nations. This angered other countries and created tension for the war.
d) Nationalism- a strong feeling of pride for ones nation. Serbia had lots of nationalism and when Austria- Hungary started to imperialize them it led to them assassination the archduke of austia-Hungary.

2. The spark of the war was the assassination of the archduke of Austria-Hungary. When the archduke was killed the war started with Austria- Hungary and Serbia and all of the alliances got tangled in the war leading to the Great War.

3.
a) Lusitania- was a British passenger ship that was used to transport people across the atlantic. The ship left New York on May 1st, 1915, and was on its way back to britain when it was sunk by a German U-boat. This angered americans and created tension between America and Germany.
b) Sussex Pledge- on May 4th, 1916, a promise made by germany to the U.S.A. stating that they would stop their unrestricted submarine warfare and only sink non- military ships after they were searched and found with military supplies and a safe passage was secured for passengers.
c) Unrestricted submarine warfare- a type of warfare were submarines would sink ships without warning. On January 9th, 1917 Germany broke the sussex pledge and returned to using unrestricted submarine warfare. This angered americans and was a big cause for them joining the war
d) Zimmermann note- In January, 1917 British intelligence intercepted a telegram from Germany to Mexico telling about its plan to start using unrestricted submarine warfare again and also offering Mexico U.S. land if it joined their alliance and declare war on America. Britain shared this with America and it lead them to join in the war.

Armistice 1918

An armistice is an agreement to stop fighting. Most of the time it is referred to as the agreement between Germany and the allies to stop the fighting and put an end to WW1. As the war continued on, the Allies started to get the advantage in the war and started to make there final push to the border. In October as the Allied forces advanced toward the German Border the Central forces started to fall apart. In Germany there sailors were getting tired of the fighting and when they were told they were being sent out to sea again they started a mutiny and started a revolution within Germany. At the end of October Turkey was the first to signed a treaty with the allies, followed by Austria-Hungry on November 3rd. On November 11th the allied forces and the rest of the central forces signed an armistice to end the fighting on the front. They met at 5 am in a railroad car in the french forest close to the frontline to sign the armistice. They agreed that all fighting would stop at 11 am. Also in the agreement Germany took full responsibility for the war and had to pay a debt of $95 million. On top of that they had to give up most of there military weapons and give back the land that they had conquered in the war. This was a important event as it officially ended to the fighting in the war. Six months later the Treaty of Versailles was signed as a peace treaty between nations which was the end to the Great War.

This is a picture of the Soldiers celebrating the armistice.

Source:

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/armistice.htm

Cool History Websites

have fun with history
http://www.havefunwithhistory.com/activities/index.html

history games and animations
http://www.besthistorysites.net/index.php/games-animations

The Jungle

1) What qualities did Sinclair believe a person must have to succeed in Packingtown?
He believed that people that lied and didn't care for the other workers would succeed.
2)According to the passage, what is the plant owner's main goal.
The owners want to get as much work out of the workers as possible.
3) What does Sinclair mean when he says, "...there was no place in it where a man counted for anything against a dollar....?"
   He means that the people in the plant cared for money more than the men they worked with.

Today in the meat packing industry the Federal Meat Inspection Act was passed to insure that no bad or misbranded meat was sold. Inspection of the livestock before and after they are slaughtered are required and must be authorized to be sold.

Ragtime

 Ragtime is a type musical composition played on the piano. In the early 1900s ragtime became a very popular genre of music in America. It was based off of african american music and symbolized the fast paced city life. What was so unique about ragtime music was its syncopation, which was the misplaced beat in the music, and was what it was known for.  Ragtime mostly came from the southern and midwestern states, such as Missouri which was known for being the biggest ragtime state. Ragtimes popularity continued until 1917 when it started to evolve into jazz. By 1920 ragtime had lost its buzz and didn't come back until the 1950s.

(Video on Ragtime)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze3fSk3LnsE

Sources- 

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200035811/default.html

Transcontinental Railroads

Who Built the Transcontinental Railroads.

In the 1860s, the U.S. started to build its first Transcontinental Railroad. The reason for building the railroads was to connect the east coast to California which was quickly growing. They wanted to encourage settling in the west coast and improve there trade routes in the country. The Government paid Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroad companies to build the railroads. In total the two companies built 1777 miles of railroad across the country. Overall the U.S. spent millions on building the railroads. The Transcontinental Railroads were completed in 1869.

Source-

•  http://www.tcrr.com/
• http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-transcontinental-railroad-is-completed