Questions about World War 1.

1. July 28, 1914 is the date that World War 1 began. World War one started from a chain reaction of events. On June 28 Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was killed while attending a military review. He was called by a nationalist, Gavrilo Princip. War was declared and there were so many alliances that one on country was attacked another was their to defend it. Before World War 1 began Russia was in  alliance with Serbia, Germany was in alliance with Austria- Hungary, France was in alliance with Russia, while Britain was in alliance with France, Russia, and Belgium. The sides were Germany, Austria- Hungary,  and the Ottoman Empire know as the central powers against Great Britain, Russia, Japan, Italy, and France known as the allied powers.
2. On April 6, 1917 the U.S. joined World War 1. The Senate voted 82 to 6 to join and the House Representatives voted 373 to 50. The reason for this was that America was trading with Great Britain and Germany keeping sinking American ships and killing Americans on other unarmed ships.
3. The Central powers began to collapse. Turkey and Austria- Hungary signed armistices while Great Britain, American, and France pushed further into Germany.  On November 11, 1918 all fighting on the Western Front stopped.
4. There were two major Armistices that ended the war. They ended the war on the Western front and the Italian front. The Armistice of Compiegne- allied forces declared victory over Germany. It was signed November 11, 1918.  Armistice of Villa Guili- Austria- Hungary negotiated peace with Italy. It was signed November 3, 1918.There were also peace treaties that ended World War 1. The Treaty of Versailles was signed between allied powers and Germany and signed on June 28, 1919. Wilson's demands were no secret treaties,  countries must seek to reduce their number of weapons and armed forces, all countries should be apart of the League of Nations, and national self-determination should allow people of the same nationality to govern themselves and one nationality should not have the power to govern another. Treaty of Sainte-Germai-in-Laye was a peace treaty between the allied powers and the Republic of  Australia. Treaty of Neuilly was a peace treaty between Bulgaria and the allied powers.
5. Could World War 1 have been prevented or ended sooner?

Megan Thurber

February 24, 2015

Hunger strikes

Hunger strikes were used by women and men all over the world to protest in a non-violent way. They were usually used as a last resort, when you are in prison and there is nothing left to do. They were used for gaining sympathy and to get more people to join their cause. They were used to fight the government the only way they could in jail. And the people who did them were practically killing themselves for what they believed in, not the mention the force feedings they had to endure that many considered to be torture.  

                Hunger strikes may be the most effective none violent way of protesting. When you are locked in a prison there is not much you can do. The reason hunger strikes are so effective is because they mess with people’s emotions. The first emotion is self control this evolves the person performing the hunger strike. The reason why people could endure the pain of starving themselves was because of two reasons. The first is the shame of surrender. Once you eat then a hunger strike means nothing. The guards in the jail will know that you will eat again and they have one. The other fact is that they wanted something so badly that they were willing to kill themselves to get it. The second emotion is sympathy. Word will get around that a hunger strike is going on which means that so are force feedings. People will see it in the papers and join the cause because they feel sorry.  Women and men all over the world used hunger strikes to achieve their goals one of the most famous is Alice Paul.

                Alice Paul was a Quaker. She was one of the biggest proponents for women’s rights to vote. She led a parade called the Parade for publicity. She also protested outside the white house. This is why she and many others were sent to jail. They were sent to jail for “blocking traffic”. Alice and the other women said that they were political prisoners and wanted to be treated as such. The guards treated them worse than people in the prison who had committed murder. The women were given unwashed clothing and sheets. They were also served bad food. The reason they went on the hunger strike was not only for women’s right to vote, it was also to be treated fairly in a prison. Alice Paul was not the only one who went on hunger strikes but hers was the one who got the most publicity, there for causing the greatest effect.

                Publicity is one of the main reasons why hunger strikes worked. The people reading the news felt bad for the women and joined their cause. When a report of how Alice was being treated in the prison was released, it greatly helped her case. Alice explained what it was like to be forcibly fed. She said that they would force a tube threw her mouth or her nostril and down her throat into her stomach. She said that this would happen two or three times a day, while other nurses held her down. Alice said that she would throw up many times during this process and that it made her throat and stomach very sore.  She said that there was only one day because she was too sick. Alice Paul was not the only one who went on hunger strikes, but hers was the one that had the biggest impact. After this report came out it shocked everyone. President Wilson was forced to free Alice and her followers. He also gave a speech supporting women. In this speech Wilson asked if the people needed further proof for why women should have the right to vote.

                Alice was not alone in these hunger strikes. They were also going on in Ireland during the revolution. Seven Irish prisoners went on a hunger strike for fifty seven days. It also went on in England. Marion Wallace Dunlop a member of the women’s social and political union went on a hunger strike. Her reason for this was that it was, “a matter of principle, not only for my own sake, but for the sake of others who may come after me.” Marion was released after three and a half days. Many others began following this. The government saw this as an embarrassing power play and created the Cat and Mouse Act. This stated that the women who were on hunger strikes would be released when they became too week or ill. They would regain there strength and return to jail to finish their sentence. They were not all successful but the government would not let people die in jail because it looked bad. This was the Irish way of thinking. They said that “if a man felt wronged by you and starved himself on your doorstep, you had to bear the burden of his debts.”

                Hunger strikes were used by many people, for many reasons. Many had results that helped their cause. Some had results that only made things worse, like the Cat and Mouse Act. I believe people who perform hunger strikes are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve what they want. If they are willing to starve themselves for what they believe in, than it must be very important. Alice Paul said “In jail or out, women are not free” and she was willing to do whatever she had to in order to be free.

 Megan Thurber

Hyperlinks for hunger strike paper

Archives.gove- 19^th amendment

This document showed me what the 19^th amendment was about the women’s right to vote and had a picture of what the actual amendment looked like.

Education portal.com- Women suffrage

This site gave me a good back ground of women suffrage, what their reasons were, and how they planned to succeed in their plan.

New York Times- Alice Paul hunger strike

This document was a real newspaper article from 1917 about Alice Paul and what the public saw and knew about her hunger strikes. It was very interesting to read and the news paper wanted the public to feel bad for Alice.

Feminist.org- Alice and rose hunger strike

Alice is not the only one refusing to eat and to be force fed.  

The Guardian- hunger strikes in 1909

This article is about Marion Wallace Dunlop, Grace Roe, and Kitty Marion and how they were brutally force fed in 1909.

From the archives- suffragettes on hunger strikes

This article was about the force feedings in the prisons and the unfair treatment of political prisoners.

News paper article about Mrs. Pankhurst

This letter was written in 1912 to the editor of Manchester Guardian about how hunger strikes are a last resort to equal treatment of prisoners in the prison. These people had no part in the suffragettes work but also did hunger strikes and were force fed.

Alice Paul’s description of force feedings

In this document Alice is out of jail and staying at a friend’s house. She tells her friends about what happened to her when being force fed and how they did it.

Woodrow Wilson’s speech

This article told me why Wilson decided to help the suffragettes and some of the thing she said in his speech about women.

The first hunger strike- wikipedia

This article was abroad over view about the first hunger strike. It helped me understand where it came from and why it happened. 

Hunger strikes by suffragettes and Irish republicans

This site helped me with the logic behind hunger strikes. Did they help? How? How did they keep from eating?

Cat and Mouse Act 1913

This site told me what the cat and mouse act was and how it impacted the suffragettes

“You bear the burden of his debts”

This article explains why the hunger strike works, how effective it is and how it does not directly affect the target.

This is a picture of Inez Milholland riding a horse during the parade held for women’s rights. She was an example of a strong independants woman with her own job.

This is the parade for womens rights to vote.

 

This is Alice Paul.

This is a sign stating the reason Alice Paul and her followers went on a hunger strike.

This is a picture of a real news article written about the hunger strikes going on in the prisons.

This is a letter written to the editor of Manchester Guardian about other hunger strikes going on in prisons with no affiliation to the suffragettes.

This document is how Alice Paul descried being force fed in prison.

This picture represents what the force feedings in jail were like. It even says votes for women.