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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1917 WORLD WAR I 1918 1917􀃕WORLD WAR I􀃕1918 “Infantry, Artillery, Aviation--all that we have--are yours to dispose of as you will . . . . I have come to say to you that the American people would be proud to be engaged in the greatest bale in history.” General John J. Pershing CAMPAIGNS There were 13 campaigns in World War I during the period 1917-1918. e streamer is the World War I Victory Medal ribbon which had a red center with a rainbow on each side of the center stripe and a purple edge. e double rainbow symbolizes the dawn of a new era and the calm which follows the storm. 􀃕 CAMBI 1917 􀃕 SOMME DEFENSIVE 1918 􀃕 LYS 1918 􀃕􀀃AISNE 1918 􀃕􀀃MONTRIDIER-NOYON 1918 􀃕􀀃CHAMPAGNE-MARNE 1918 􀃕􀀃SOMME OFFENSIVE 1918 􀃕􀀃OISE-AISNE 1918 􀃕􀀃TPRES-LYS 1918 􀃕􀀃ST. MIHIEL 1918 􀃕􀀃MEUSE-ARGONNE 1918 􀃕􀀃VIORIA VENETO 1918 BELLIGERENTS 􀃕􀀃Allied (Entente) Powers Kingdom of Belgium, Kingdom of Serbia, French ird Republic, Russian Empire, British Empire, Kingdom of Italy, Kingdom of Romania and United States VERSUS 􀃕􀀃Central Powers Austro-Hungarian Empire, German Empire, Ooman Empire, Kingdom of Bulgaria STATISTICS 􀃕􀀃Total U.S. Service Members 4,734,991 (Worldwide) 􀃕􀀃Bale Deaths 53,402 􀃕􀀃Other Deaths in Service 63,114 (Non-eater) 􀃕􀀃Non-mortal Woundings 204,002 When America went to war against Germany in April 1917, the so-called Great War had been raging in Europe and elsewhere for three years. Decades before the rst shots were red, Europe had divided itself into two massive alliances; the Allies: British, French, and Russians, against the Central Powers: Germans, Austrians, and Italians. Diplomatic pressures between them increased until an assassination of an Austrian archduke and his wife on an ocial visit in the Balkans on 28 June 1914, set the war in motion. Italy delayed entering the war, reconsidered its role in the Central Powers, and switched sides to the Allies in 1915. Armies mobilized. Hundreds of thousands of British, Germans, Frenchmen, Russians, Austrians, and Italians rushed at one another to a stalemate. e failure of either side to win in the autumn of 1914 led to long lines of opposing trenches, separated by the scarred landscape of No Man’s Land. Each side scrambled to develop new weapons including tanks, submarines, aeroplanes, and poison gas. ousands of soldiers perished in bales great and small on the Western Front between the equally poorly-led Allies and the Central Powers. Combat on the Eastern Front was so costly to Russia that two distinct revolutions erupted. e Bolshevik (Communist) Revolution pulled Russia out of the war in 1917. Russia surrendered huge areas of territory to Germany. Germans transferred thousands of soldiers to the Western Front. Each country wore down at its own pace. e Germans, embaled on three sides, with a British naval blockade across its northern ports, began rationing food as early as 1914. France, with one quarter of the nation under German occupation, also initiated rationing. Britain was dierent since it was supplied by convoys from America and remained adequately provisioned throughout the war years. Most countries were exhausted by 1916. Casualties were approaching millions with gains measured in a few miles, if not in yards. America was neutral from the beginning. Despite some shipping losses to German U-boats, America remained out of the ghting until Russia withdrew from the war, Germany interfered in Mexico, and President Woodrow Wilson was re-elected in 1916. America’s crusade began in April 1917. Patriotism engulfed the nation. e government’s Creel Commission censored news and mail. German-Americans were suspect and oen taunted. German foods, such as hamburgers, were patriotically renamed “Liberty Steak.” Voters eliminated alcoholic beverages for the duration. e teaching of the German language was largely abandoned. A moral crusade swept the country. Patriotic propaganda was omnipresent and government-certied “Minute Men” rallied concert and theater audiences by giving brief approved speeches. Militarily, the impact of America’s entrance into the war was profound, especially considering Russia’s exit from the conict. America’s agricultural and industrial potential was awesome: by July 1918 warships were being constructed in 3 to 5 months, and four ships loaded with supplies made it to English ports every day! By May 1918, the United States produced 45,000 Eneld ries for its British French Renault tanks. 􀃕􀃕􀃕 allies every week. In fact, nearly half of America’s national income went to fund the war. Troops were another maer, however. e rst four American divisions, under-strength and poorly-trained, did not arrive in France for more than six months aer Congress declared war. America was beginning with a pre-war army of a mere 133,000 men; almost a standing start. anks to a ood of patriotic volunteers (stiffened by President Wilson’s new “Selective Service Conscription Act,”) the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) took shape. e U.S. Navy convoyed American soldiers to France without losing a single troop ship to German submarines. Once the AEF reached French soil, politics became as important as military maers as General John “Black Jack” Pershing negotiated to keep his arriving units of the AEF under American control, and to keep African-American soldiers segregated in France as they were in Jim Crow America. Some African-American units served with French units rather than the AEF. On occasion, as on 8 November 1918, when the U.S. 45th Division captured the Meuse River heights above the city of Sedan, as well as all the rail lines into the city, General Pershing graciously allowed the French Fourth Army to enter Sedan rst. rough the summer and autumn of 1918 American troops acquied themselves bravely in bales for the St. Mihiel salient and along a thirty-ve kilometer front between the Argonne hills and the Meuse River. Aer the war some German o-cers stated that America’s reinforcements to the Allies tipped the balance in the war. e war drew a close with an Armistice on 11 November 1918. Armistice Day (11 November) later was designated as “Veterans Day” in the United States. Although its origins were unknown at the time, America’s army brought with it a highly contagious and oen lethal strain of Inuenza. e so-called “Spanish Flu” (now traceable to an outbreak in rural Camp Funston, Kansas, in February 1918), killed 450,000 people in America, 400,000 in Germany, and a shocking 6 million in India, and would continue to claim victims well into 1919. Worldwide, estimates range from 20 million to 100 million – several times the 15 million soldiers and civilians estimated to have died in the ghting. Unknown thousands of American soldiers died in their trenches of inuenza, and their deaths were folded into the total number of U.S. soldiers who gave their lives in the Great War: 116,000 dead (plus 205,700 wounded, and 4,500 taken prisoner.) We can only voice our heartfelt gratitude for their heroism and hope that History rewards their ultimate sacrice. e Great War produced signicant results. e German, Austrian, Russian, and Ooman Turkish empires collapsed. e League of Nations was created, based in Geneva, Switzerland, intended to foster improve international relations and hopefully deter war in the future. At Versailles, France, Allied leaders, including President Wilson, dictated treaty terms to the defeated Central Powers. e Allies demanded that Germany pay onerous reparations, forfeit all of its colonies, accept severe limits on the size of its army and navy, and carry the stigma as the nation having the greatest responsibility for causing the war. Furthermore, the Allies, including the United States, stationed soldiers in Germany for several years. By participating in the war, the United States established itself as one of the major nations in the world. Arnold Krammer, PhD, Texas A&M University United States 48-star ag President Woodrow Wilson 1913 -1921 Anton Boriski, Bryan, Texas. Opersteny family collection. USS Baleship Texas (BB-35). U.S. Army troops ring Springeld ries Model 1903. U. S. Army troops ring machine guns. General John J. Pershing by Richard L. Seyert. Poster by James M. M. Flagg 􀃕 􀃕 􀃕 © 2010 e Memorial for all Veterans of the Brazos Valley, Inc. Le-Write Ink Tank in downtown Bryan WWI parade. Carnegie Eddie Rickenbacker Library.