WW1 Armistice Exhibition - America

From Armistice to Lausanne - America

• During WW1 American armed forces numbers grew from 374,000 to 4.7 million.
• United States emerged as industrial leader, but high levels of inflation were met by reduced wages, and massive wave of strikes in 1919.
• 18th Amendment to Constitution (Prohibition) enacted 16th January 1920. Arguably led to increased levels of organised crime, violence and corruption.
• 19th Amendment (Women’s Suffrage) ratified 18th August 1920
• During the war there had been a movement from rural South to cities in the North (primarily Chicago and Detroit)
• Pressure on jobs, wages and housing contributed to both strikes and race riots.
• 1919 was called the “Red Summer” as 3,600 involved more than 4,000,000 workers.
• Additionally, there were more than 20 race riots in cities, and the KKK re-emerged from 1920, targeting African Americans, Mexicans, “New immigrants”, Catholics and Jews.