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The Course and Conduct of
World War I How was World War I different from
previous wars?
Introduction
To many Americans in 1917, the nation’s
entry into World War I was the
commencement of a great adventure. Others
viewed it as a heroic cause that presented the
country an opportunity to demonstrate its
courage. President Woodrow Wilson’s call to
safeguard the world for democracy appealed
to Americans’ sense of idealism. Many shared
the president’s belief that this would be “the
war to end all wars.”
A young recruit named William Langer
enlisted to fight in the war, eagerly
emphasizing, “Here was our one great chance
for excitement and risk. We could not afford to pass it up.” Henry Villard, who
avidly followed incidents on the European battlefields, reading newspapers and
discussing events with friends, felt similarly and recalled, “There were posters
everywhere . . .’I want you,’ . . . ‘Join the Marines,’ ‘Join the Army.’ And there was
an irresistible feeling that one should do something . . . I said to myself, if there’s
never going to be another war, this is the only opportunity to see it.”
Villard’s chance came when a Red Cross official visited his college in 1917,
looking for volunteers to drive ambulances in Italy. Many of Villard’s friends
signed up, and although he knew his family would protest, Villard said, “I couldn’t
just stand by and let my friends depart.” Villard enlisted after securing his family’s
reluctant consent and soon departed for combat duty.
Shortly after arriving in Italy, Villard discovered how little he knew about
war. “The first person that I put into my ambulance was a man who had just had
a grenade explode in his hands.” Bomb fragments had severed both of the
soldier’s legs. As Villard sped from the front lines to the hospital, the wounded
soldier repeatedly implored him to drive more slowly. By the time the ambulance
reached the hospital, the young man was dead. “This was a kind of cold water
Here, an American soldier shares an
emotional goodbye as he heads off to fight in
World War I.
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treatment for me, to realize all of a sudden what war was like,” explained
Villard. “And it changed me—I grew up very quickly . . . It was the real world.”
Over 2 million Americans served in Europe during World War I. Eager to promote
democracy around the world, many entered the war enthusiastically. However,
their first taste of battle enlightened American troops to the horrors of war.
Section 1. A War of Firsts for the United States
World War I was a war of firsts for the United States. To begin, the war
marked the first time the U.S. government committed large numbers of American
soldiers to a distant war. In fact, when Congress declared war, many Americans
thought the nation would provide money, food, and equipment to the war effort—
not troops. Upon learning that military officials planned to expand the American
army, Virginia Senator Thomas Martin cried out in surprise, “Good Lord! You’re
not going to send soldiers over there, are you?”
That was indeed Wilson’s plan. Still, with Germany preparing for a
reinvigorated assault, many Americans wondered whether the United States
could set up military camps, train numerous troops, and transport soldiers to
Europe quickly enough to make a significant difference.
The Nation’s First Selective Service System Prior to the United States
entering World War I, the country possessed a volunteer army approximately
200,000 soldiers strong. These forces received low pay, lacked equipment, and
had little combat experience. To meet the challenges of war, the U.S. military
would need to amass tens of thousands more soldiers—and quickly. Congress
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passed the Selective Service Act in May 1917, imposing a national draft that
required every man between the ages of 21 and 30 to register for military service
at local polling stations. This was the first time the U.S. government had
established a draft before entering a war.
The government concurrently launched a major propaganda campaign to
encourage Americans to comply with the draft. Secretary of War Newton Baker
hoped tens of thousands would register on the designated day, urging mayors,
governors, and other local leaders to make the day a “festival and [a] patriotic
occasion.” These efforts paid off. Nearly 10 million young men registered. Across
the nation, towns held parades and celebrations honoring their draftees.
Within months, officers at camps around the country were training more than
500,000 draftees. While the new soldiers marched and drilled, the Allies grew
more anxious. In a message to U.S. officials, British Prime Minister David Lloyd
George stressed the Allies’ urgent need
for troops, pleading that the American
troops “be poured into France as soon as
World War I was largely concentrated in two main
battlefronts. The western front stretched across
Belgium and northern France, while the eastern front
spread through much of present day
Poland. Russia’s withdrawal from the war in early
1918 dissolved the eastern front.
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possible.” In his view, “the difference of even a week in the date of arrival may be
absolutely vital.”
The First Americans Reach French Soil The American Expeditionary
Force (AEF), commonly referred to as “the doughboys,” were the first American
troops to land in France, arriving in June 1917. The majority of the AEF
were infantry—soldiers who fight on foot—and served under the command of
General John J. Pershing. Although few in number, the AEF infantry bolstered
the Allies’ morale.
The Allies were not faring well when more American reinforcements reached
France. Their armies had suffered several major defeats, losing many men. Even
victories were deadly. In the battle at Passchendaele alone, which occurred in
November 1917, the Allies lost 300,000 soldiers. In return for the bloodshed, the
Allied forces had regained control of barely 5 miles of German-held territory.
Meanwhile, the second wave of the Russian Revolution augmented the Allies’
woes. Until this point, Russian troops had kept the Central powers occupied with
fighting on the eastern front. However, when Russia’s new revolutionary leaders
wrested control of the government, they immediately began planning Russia’s
withdrawal.
Russian peacemakers met with German and Austrian officials early in 1918 to
solidify the treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the terms of which were severe for
Russia. The treaty forced Russia to cede large amounts of territory to the Central
powers, including Finland, Poland, Ukraine, and the Baltic States—Estonia,
Latvia, and Lithuania. As a result of this treaty, the Central powers gained
territory and an end to war on the eastern front, meaning Germany was free to
dedicate its troops solely to the fighting on the western front.
To counter the increase of German troops on the western front, the Allies
asked General Pershing to assign American soldiers to Allied units that needed
to replace men killed or wounded in action. With President Wilson’s support,
Pershing resisted this request, insisting that the majority of his soldiers remain in
the AEF. Two factors largely motivated Pershing’s response. First, he disagreed
with Allied military strategy and did not believe the Allies could end the stalemate
by fighting a defensive war from the trenches. Instead, he advocated more
offensive, aggressive tactics. Second, both Wilson and Pershing presumed that if
the AEF succeeded as a separate army, the United States could demand a
greater role in the peacemaking process after the war. Pershing ultimately
prevailed, and by war’s end, some 2 million Americans had served overseas as
members of the AEF.
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The First African American Officer Training Camp
Over the course of the war, nearly 400,000 African Americans enlisted in the
armed forces. The military strictly segregated black and white troops in training
camps and forces overseas and did not initially allow black soldiers to become
officers. However, people across the country held mass meetings to advocate for
African American officer training, and in 1917, the military set up a separate
camp to train black soldiers as officers. The camp’s first class of officers
graduated later that year,
including 106 captains, 329
first lieutenants, and 204
second lieutenants.
Most black soldiers served
under white officers in labor
or supply units, either in
France or the United
States. However, the all-
black 369th Regiment’s
assignment differed. An
exception to Pershing’s
rule regarding American
soldiers not fighting in
Allied units, the 369th
operated under French
command and
participated in active combat, earning high praise. In fact, the soldiers of the
369th fought so fiercely, Germans dubbed them the “Hell Fighters.” After the war,
France awarded the 369th the country’s highest military
Section 2. New Technologies Change the Way War Is Fought
World War I differed from previous wars in several ways. One significant
change lay in the methods of battle, as opposing forces had conducted combat
face-to-face and hand-to-hand for centuries. During the American Civil
War, combatants—those physically fighting—faced their enemies with
handguns, rifles, and cannons, firing only at targets they could see clearly. The
development of new technology made World War I a more impersonal war, as
well as a far deadlier one.
African American soldiers of the 369th Infantry Regiment originated from
Harlem and other New York City neighborhoods and served under
French command during the war. They became famous for their
tenacious, aggressive fighting style. After facing them in Sechault,
France, Germans named these persistent soldiers the “Hell Fighters.”
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Combatants Introduce More Effective Killing Machines Improved weapons,
including machine guns, flamethrowers, and giant cannons known as howitzers,
transformed how and where war was fought. Unlike rifles and pistols, the
machine gun was a rapid-firing weapon—the first truly automatic gun. A soldier
using a machine gun, which released 600 bullets per minute, did not have to
reload near as often. In time, military commanders discovered that machine guns
were more effective when grouped together, and the Germans even created
separate machine gun companies to support the infantry.
The machine gun’s invention majorly impacted military strategy. The British
and French were slower to realize this, however. Allied armies charged across
open fields toward enemy lines, only to be mowed down by machine gun fire,
resulting in thousands of casualties. In September 1915, British infantry units
comprising about 10,000 each charged a well-protected German position, and
within four hours, over 8,000 men were killed almost entirely by machine gun fire.
At first, machine guns were used mainly for defense because soldiers found
them too heavy and bulky to carry in an offensive attack. Over time, both sides
engineered ways of mounting these weapons on aircrafts and used them on
warships as well.
Unlike the new machine gun, the flamethrower was an old weapon. In the
days of the Roman Empire, soldiers threw tubes filled with burning fuel at one
another. During World War I, Germany developed a small, lightweight
flamethrower, which sprayed burning fuel on victims,that a single person could
carry. This weapon was effective in attacks on nearby trenches but could not be
fired long distances.
Both sides employed large, heavy artillery, or “big guns,” which gunners
loaded with shells that often contained dozens of small lead balls. Big guns were
also used to deliver poison gas. New loading and firing methods, as well as a
novel recoil mechanism, made these guns very useful. Gunners blasted through
barbed wire, knocked out enemy machine gun nests, and lobbed poison gas
shells at enemy trenches.
Germany’s Big Berthas, the largest mobile guns ever used on a battlefield,
were the most infamous of these powerful guns. Each weighed about 75 tons
and was capable of firing a 2,100-pound shell a distance of more than 9 miles. At
the beginning of the war, the German army easily swept through Belgium as they
advanced west toward France because Belgian forts were unable to withstand
the Big Berthas’ assault, and consequently crumbled. Ultimately, heavy artillery
inflicted over half of the war’s battle casualties.
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Despite these technological advances, the rifle remained the most common
battlefield weapon because it was lighter than bigger guns and thus easier to
carry when advancing toward the enemy. As the war progressed, a new form of
combat developed, known as trench warfare. Soldiers with accurate aim played
a key role in trench warfare, either training to be sharpshooters, specialists at
hitting precise targets, or snipers, who fire from a concealed position.
Both Armies Seek Safety in Trenches The invention of rapid-firing machine
guns and long-range big guns made traditional ground attacks far too
dangerous. Soldiers could no longer charge each other across an open field
since they risked being killed instantly. Instead, both sides dug trenches for
protection, creating a new defensive form of combat appropriately called trench
warfare.
Opponents dug multiple lines of trenches commonly in zigzag patterns since
that pattern made it difficult for enemy sharpshooters to hit soldiers. Closest to
the enemy’s trenches lay the frontline trenches, where enemy soldiers hurled
grenades and fired machine guns at one another. Behind the frontline trenches,
soldiers dug a line of supply trenches, which held ammunition, supplies, and
communication equipment. In a third line of reserve trenches, weary soldiers
Generally, frontline trenches in World War I were six to eight feet deep and were also wide enough
for two people to stand side by side. Short trenches connected the frontline trenches to those behind
them. Although trench systems had kitchens, bathrooms, and supply rooms, life in the trenches was
not pleasant. Soldiers had to relax in cramped quarters when they were not fighting and often
developed gangrene, referred to as “trench foot,” from extended periods wading in wet, cold mud.
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rested before returning to the frontlines. Soldiers rotated through the frontline,
supply, and reserve trenches during the course of their trench duty.
Barbed wire encircled each side’s front line, extending into the open area
between the opposing trenches known as no-man’s land. Although no-man’s
land was only about 250 yards wide, crossing its short distance was usually
lethal. Any moving object in the barren zone was easily targeted by
sharpshooters and machine gunners, so soldiers venturing into no-man’s land
risked being shot or blown up. Dreadful conditions in the trenches spread
disease and discontent. The muddy trenches smelled of rotting bodies, sweat,
and overflowing latrines, and soldiers often contracted fevers or suffered from
painful foot infections. These infections, resulting from standing in the mud and
cold water that pooled in the bottom of
the trenches, often developed into
gangrene, or “trench foot.” In addition,
lice, frogs, and rats surrounded the
men. As an Allied soldier recalled:
One got used to many things, but I
never overcame my horror of the
rats. They abounded in some parts,
great loathsome beasts gorged with
flesh . . . About the same time every
night the dug-out was invaded by
swarms of rats. They gnawed holes in
our haversacks [backpacks] and
devoured our . . .rations.
—Harold Saunders, quoted
in Everyman at War, 1930
The Allied and Central powers developed new
weapons in hopes of ending the stalemate in
the trenches. In April 1915, Germany first released poison gas over Allied lines, where deadly
fumes caused vomiting and suffocation. Both sides invented gas masks shortly thereafter to
protect troops from such attacks.
The most frightening threats soldiers faced were chemical weapons, which
utilize toxic agents such as poison gas to harm and kill numerous
people. Although Germany was the first to use poison gas in World War I, the
British and French were not far behind. The deadliest chemical weapon was
odorless mustard gas, which caused huge, painful blisters, blindness, and critical
lung damage. Even those who survived a mustard gas attack often suffered
lifelong injuries.
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At first, soldiers released mustard gas from cylinders and relied on the wind to
carry it across no-man’s land to the enemy. However, shifting winds often
returned the gas to the sender’s trenches, so both sides engineered methods to
fill fireable shells with poison gas and developed gas masks to protect their
troops from these attacks.
Another newly developed weapon, the tank, would help end the trench
stalemate. Tanks were capable of driving over barbed wire, crushing the
otherwise treacherous material, and could also navigate steep embankments and
deep ditches to attack enemy trenches. While Germany was slow to develop its
own tanks, unsure of their potential effectiveness, the Allies were more proactive
with these new weapons. During the final Allied advance in the summer of 1918,
tanks rolled across no-man’s land ahead of Allied troops, protecting them from
enemy gunfire and weakening Germany’s defenses.
The Sky Is the New Battlefield Aircraft innovations in this period introduced war
into the sky. Previously, maximum airplane speed did not exceed 40 miles per
hour. But by 1917, powerful motors enabled airplanes to travel at speeds over
three times faster. Novel
aircraft technology not
only made planes faster,
but also equipped them to
travel farther distances
and be generally easier to
fly.
Airplanes were used as
weapons for the first time in
World War I. When enemy
planes met early in the war, pilots exchanged smiles and waves. However, they were soon
targeting each other with bricks, grenades, and pistols. Once guns were mounted on planes, the
era of air combat commenced.
Both sides used airplanes to scout enemy territory from the beginning of
World War I, but the course of the war challenged inventors to develop airplanes
for more specialized combat purposes, including shooting and bombing. Early in
the war, pilots leaned out of the cockpit to shoot at enemy pilots with a pistol or
dropped bombs by hand over the side of the plane. Then, Dutch inventor
Anthony Fokker built a device for Germany that timed the firing of a machine gun
with the rotation of a plane’s propeller, allowing a pilot to safely fire a machine
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gun mounted on the front of his aircraft. Fokker’s invention consequently
increased the threat of in-air combat.
The Germans also developed high-flying, gas-filled airships called
zeppelins. Although these cigar-shaped aircraft were originally intended to scout
enemy positions, German pilots flew zeppelins in bombing raids over London in
1915. While the German airships successfully terrified British civilians and
alarmed the Allies, they often missed their targets.
The British countered Germany’s airship threat by 1916, building fighter
planes that could fly as high as zeppelins and developing bullets sharp enough to
pierce zeppelins’ outer skin and detonate them. Through their various uses,
airplanes played a critical, versatile role in World War I and would prove to be
even more vital in later conflicts.
Waging a Savage War at Sea When World War I started, most naval experts
predicted that the greatest sea battles would occur between heavily armed and
armored battleships. In 1906, Britain introduced the world’s first modern
battleship, the HMS Dreadnought, which was greater in size, arms, and armor
than earlier warships. Facing this threat, major naval powers scrapped their old
fleets and began to replace them with comparable battleships. Following this
buildup, German and British navies fought a major naval battle with their
improved battleships in 1916, where each side sank many ships, but neither won
a clear victory.
The invention of the U-boat
permanently transformed
naval warfare. U-boats in
World War I were capable of
travelling undetected below
the surface, taking Allied
ships by deadly surprise. To
counter U-boats, the Allies
developed hydrophones, or
“underwater ears,” which
helped ships detect
approaching U-boats and take
appropriate defensive action.
After this battle,
Germany redirected its naval warfare strategy to focus on developing and
utilizing armed submarines, or U-boats. U-boats moved silently through the sea,
remaining undetectable until their close range made their torpedoes
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unavoidable. German U-boats sank over 1,000 ships carrying supplies and
weapons to Allied ports in the first four months of 1917 alone, prompting British
Admiral John Jellicoe’s warning, “It is impossible to go on with the war if losses
like this continue.”
The development of the convoy system, in which Allied warships escorted
protected groups of merchant ships across the Atlantic Ocean, greatly reduced
the effectiveness of U-boat attacks. Allied shipping losses quickly decreased as a
result. Between April and November 1917, the amount of goods lost in U-boat
attacks plummeted from more than 850,000 tons to just over 200,000 tons. In
1918, the Allies erected an underwater barrier of mines across the North Sea and
the English Channel, further mitigating the German submarine menace.
Section 3. The War Comes to a Close
As 1918 began, the Allies knew that Germany would launch a desperate
offensive in a final bid to end the war on the western front. Germany raced to
defeat the war-weary Allies before the Americans arrived, as more troops
amassed on the front lines every day. “We should strike,” argued General Erich
Ludendorff to Kaiser Wilhelm II, the German emperor, “before the Americans can
throw strong forces into the scale.”
The Meuse-Argonne Offensive Leads to an Armistice The Germans launched
their final push in the Spring, when their troops rapidly advanced within 50 miles
of Paris. By this time, however, American forces were arriving in Europe at the
rate of 300,000 soldiers per month, enough to drastically affect the war’s
outcome.
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Between July 15 and August 5, 1918, American forces joined French and
British forces at the Second Battle of the Marne. Soon after the Allied forces
counterattacked, the German troops retreated. “August 8 was the black day of
the German army,” General Ludendorff reported to the Kaiser, “It put the decline
of our fighting power beyond all doubt . . . The war must be ended.”
The Allies launched the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in late September, so the
AEF could infiltrate the German line and secure the Sedan railroad, the German
army’s main supply and communication line, in northern France. Over 1 million
U.S. troops participated in this final assault. After six weeks of persistent fighting
throughout the Argonne Forest, the Americans achieved their objective, and on
November 11, 1918, Germany agreed to an armistice—a truce. By then, the
other Central powers had surrendered as well. The long war was finally over.
Counting the Costs and Casualties For all parties involved, the costs of war
were immense. More than 8 million soldiers died and another 21 million were
injured, many of whom would never fully recover or be able to work. An English
veteran and poet named Siegfried Sassoon wrote bitterly of their sacrifice:
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Does it matter?—losing your legs? . . .
For people will always be kind,
And you need not show that you mind
When the others come in after hunting
To gobble their muffins and eggs.
Does it matter?—losing your sight? . . .
There’s such splendid work for the
blind;
And people will always be kind,
As you sit on the terrace remembering
And turning your face to the light.
—Siegfried Sassoon, “Does It Matter?”,
1918
Additionally, millions of civilians
throughout Europe died from
starvation, disease, and other war-
related causes. The United States
suffered far fewer casualties than the
other powers, with about 116,000
soldiers killed and twice as many
wounded or declared missing.
The war severely damaged farms, forests, factories, towns, and homes
throughout Europe. An Allied soldier described the villages he saw:
They are utterly destroyed, so that there are not even skeletons of buildings
left—nothing but a churned mass of debris, with bricks, stones and . . . bodies
pounded to nothing. And forests! There are not even tree trunks left—not a leaf
or a twig. All is buried and churned up again and buried again.
—John Raws, letter to a friend, August 4, 1916
The war also destroyed roads, bridges, railroad lines, and other transportation
facilities. Countries already critically burdened by the financial cost of war
withered under the weight of these additional losses. Economic recovery in
Europe would advance glacially in the years to come.
Damage to the human spirit, although difficult to measure, was another great
cost of the war. Many men and women who had eagerly supported the war effort
were left deeply disillusioned by their experiences, questioning long-held beliefs
about the glories of Western civilization and the nobility of war. American poet
Ezra Pound spoke for war-weary populations in both the United States and
Europe when he wrote of the “myriad,” or vast number, who had died “for a
botched civilization.”
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