I should note here that the rubric for all assignments in this class called for us to specifically cite, throughout the narrative, very specific assigned sources. There were also assigned questions to be answered. All in all, it didn't make for the best writing, I don't think, as far as flow and concision go, but I complied with the rubric to get the grade (which worked!). This is from Recent American Military History, which I took during the Fall of 2024.
The Great War
World War I, at the time called The Great War, began in 1914 between the Allied Powers of Britain, France and Russia against the Central Powers made up of Germany and Austria-Hungary. The US watched the war in Europe closely, but the American public didn’t want to get involved. Americans citizens had long thought of themselves as isolationists, and were skeptical of entering such a destructive, modern war. By 1915, war on the Western Front had settled into impasse, Stewart writes, and “the principles of war such as maneuver, economy of force, and surprise were seemingly subordinated to the critical principle of mass” Massive numbers of men were dying. The British and French suffered casualties of 1.5 million men killed, wounded, and missing in 1915 alone, according to Stewart. In 1916 US citizens reelected Woodrow Wilson in part because he kept the US out of war. In 1917, however, Germany resumed “unrestricted submarine warfare” in the Atlantic, and their targets included merchant ships, resulting in the deaths of American citizens. This, along with the Zimmerman telegram, in which Germany attempted to ally with Mexico against the United States, were the official reasons for the US entry into the war.
The bigger picture was economic and political. The US had been helping the Allies in Europe with loans, that, according to the film How The Americans Entered World War One, would eventually end up being over 7 billion dollars, so had an economic interest in seeing that the Allies won the war. Politically, Woodrow Wilson hope to raise America’s status and importance on the world stage. Stewart point out that “the Wilson administration conceivably could have taken only a naval role against the German submarines,” but that “participation in the decisive theater would give Wilson a larger role and greater leverage in deciding the peace that followed.” To sell the war, the US made use of propaganda to paint the Germans as bad people, and Wilson said that the fight was necessary to “make the world safe for democracy.”
Congress declared war on Wilson’s urging in early April 1917, and the question then became how would the US recruit, train and mobilize a large enough army to assist. Both France and Britain suggested ways to train American troops in Europe. The French wanted Americans to join existing French troops. Even though that would be faster, American troops serving under a foreign flag would not sit well with the American public, and would also take away from Wilson’s hope to have a larger role in Europe after the war. American troops needed to fight under their own flag, so that the nation as a whole and the politicians in Washington could share in the glory. Even so, it was decided that some troops would be sent to France to train with French troops, but more soldiers would be recruited and trained in the States. General Pershing was appointed to lead the American Expeditionary Forces and given supreme authority, and he and his staff departed for Europe on May 28th. Logistics and tactics had to be worked out, and they would plan as they sailed. On June 12th, Brigadier General Sibert and the 1st Expeditionary Division followed. About ⅔ of the initial group of soldiers were “raw recruits,” but they would “provide the nucleus of a larger American force in France.” The troops trained in Lorraine, France, a location that was relatively close to important military targets, such as mines and rail lines, and was a suitable place from which to deploy.
Pershing and his staff were working out the logistics and tactics needed to fight on the Western Front with such a large force. The resulting innovation was the General Organization Project. The GOP redistributed the divisions into square structures, each with four regiments in two brigades. The corps had a similar distribution in an organization plan that, according to Stewart, “emphasized staying power for prolonged combat.” The shape allowed secondary forces to spell the lead units efficiently. They created a system of layered corps, each of which had responsibilities over the ones below. A troop replacement system was created to feed new soldiers into the existing units either from the units behind, or from new units deploying from the states. By connecting the regiments and brigades in this manner, they could share logistical support, as opposed to individual units with dedicated support.
Americans gained experience in the battle of Belleau Wood in June 1918. The Germans were pushing towards Paris, and eventually got within 50 miles. Most allied forces were north of the area, so the Americans 2nd and 3rd Divisions were sent to help the French. With the French 10th Colonial Division, Americans 3rd Division machine gunners and infantry took, and held, Hill 204 above the Marne. In the meantime, the 2nd Division and a Marine Brigade defended Belleau Wood and eventually captured that area. The battle to take Belleau Wood took a month, in what Stewart describes as “a test of wills” between US and German troops and commanders. American and German casualties were each over 10,000, but even the Germans thought the Americans fought well. Even with the losses, the film point out that the inexperienced Americans “learned how to coordinate artillery infantry and machine guns to create a successful attack,” and Stewart says that the “AEF had proved itself in battle.”
According to Stewart, when the war ended, the opinion was that the AEF, the first modern American army, “had played a decisive role in the defeat of Germany.” Besides new organization, many other innovations were put to use in the war. The film describes the ways Allied forces used airplanes for reconnaissance, flying over enemy trenches and taking photographs that could then be used to make maps. Barbed wire, machine guns, artillery and poison gas, and Choctaw Code Talkers joined airplanes in as new weapons of war. A major change on the home front was the creation of the Selective Service program, by which, Stewart says, about two-thirds of the 3.7 million recruits were recruited. 32 camps were established in the US to train new troops during the war. The National Defense Act of 1916 created the Council of National Defense to coordinate with private business to provide supplies needed for the way. Industry standard were created for production, and coordination was established with transportation networks. The film explains that at war’s end, the US had the bargaining power: “the dominant power at Versailles is America. The allies owe America money. They owe America victory in the war. America’s president Woodrow Wilson is calling the shots.” One demand from Wilson, the film continues, was the demand for free trade and an end to European Imperialism, and in that way, the Great War, and the events afterward changed the map of both Europe and the Middle East, and was the beginning of the end for Europe’s colonial empires. Changes within the US Military and industry, changes in the very way war is fought, and a shift of power to the US due to European debt, made the Great War a real turning point in history.
References
How The Americans Entered World War One | Great War In Numbers | Timeline, 2021.
Schurtz, Christopher. “Class Lecture.” 9.30.24.
Stewart, Richard W., ed. American Military History Volume 2. Army Historical Series. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 2009.