World War 1

IT WAS CALLED THE “GREAT WAR” – “THE WAR TO END ALL WARS”

ON JUNE 28, 1914, A SERBIAN NATIONALIST ASSASSINATED ARCHDUKE FRANZ FERDINAND, HEIR PRESUMPTIVE TO THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE, AND HIS WIFE. ON JULY 28, 1914, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, USING THIS AS AN EXCUSE, DECLARED WAR ON SERBIA. RUSSIA MOBILIZED IN SUPPORT OF SERBIA; GERMANY, AN ALLY OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, DECLARED WAR ON RUSSIA. THE SELECTING OF SIDES BEGAN.

THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN, GERMAN AND OTTOMAN EMPIRES AND BULGARIA WERE KNOWN AS THE CENTRAL POWERS. THE ALLIED POWERS WERE SERBIA, THE RUSSIAN AND BRITISH EMPIRES, FRANCE, BELGIUM, ITALY AND THE UNITED STATES.

THE UNITED STATES WAS TORN BETWEEN A POLICY OF ISOLATIONISM OR TO PARTICIPATE IN “EUROPE’S WAR”. IN 1917, AFTER GERMAN U-BOATS SANK SEVERAL U.S. CARGO SHIPS AND THE DISCOVERY OF THE ZIMMERMAN TELEGRAM SENT BY GERMANY TO MEXICO PROPOSING THAT MEXICO ATTACK AMERICA (MEXICO DECLINED), THE UNITED STATES DECLARED WAR AGAINST GERMANY ON APRIL 6, 1917. THE U.S. ARMY HAD ONLY 88,619 OFFICERS AND MEN. AMERICA HAD TO RAPIDLY RECRUIT OVER 4.7 MILLION MEN.

THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE (AEF) BEGAN ARRIVING IN FRANCE IN THE SUMMER OF 1917. THE BRITISH AND FRENCH PROVIDED ARTILLERY, TANKS, MACHINE GUNS AND AIRPLANES. THE TROOPS WERE ARRIVING UNTRAINED FOR COMBAT. BY STUDYING WHAT WORKED (AND DIDN’T) FOR THE ALLIES, AEF OFFICERS TRANSFORMED THEM INTO A MODERN COMBAT ARMY. AMERICAN SOLDIERS FACED THE CONSTANT THREAT OF SNIPERS; ATTACKS BY ARTILLERY, MORTAR OR POISON GAS; AND LIVED IN KNEE DEEP MUD WITH RATS, ROTTING CORPSES AND THE DISEASES THEY BROUGHT. THEY WERE IN 13 MAJOR BATTLES. THE FIRST BEING THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI ON NOVEMBER 20, 1917. AFTER ONE SUCH BATTLE, AN AEF SOLDIER WROTE HOME: “WE WERE ALL SHOT UP. MY COMPANY WENT INTO BATTLE WITH 253 MEN AND CAME OUT WITH 66 MEN. MOST OF THEM WERE KILLED; SOME WERE WOUNDED.”

AT THE 11TH HOUR OF THE 11TH DAY IN THE 11TH MONTH — ON NOVEMBER 11, 1918 THE FIGHTING STOPPED.

ON FEBRUARY 28, 1919, JOHN J. PERSHING, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES, ISSUED THE FOLLOWING LETTER TO HIS TROOPS WHICH ELOQUENTLY SUMMARIZES WHAT THEY ENDURED AND WHAT THEY DID WHEN THEIR COUNTRY CALLED:

“MY FELLOW SOLDIERS: . . . I CAN NOT LET YOU GO WITHOUT A PERSONAL WORD . . . YOUR PART IN THE WORLD WAR HAS BEEN AN IMPORTANT ONE . . . WHETHER ENDURING MONOTONOUS DRUDGERY AT THE REAR OR SUSTAINING THE FIGHTING LINE . . . BY WILLING SACRIFICE . . . BY CHEERFUL ENDURANCE OF HARDSHIP AND PRIVATION . . . YOU INSPIRED THE WAR-WORN ALLIES WITH NEW LIFE . . . YOU HAVE LOYALLY SERVED OUR COUNTRY. BY YOUR EXEMPLARY CONDUCT A STANDARD HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED . . . NEVER BEFORE ATTAINED BY ANY ARMY. . . I EXTEND TO YOU MY SINCERE THANKS FOR YOUR SPLENDID SERVICE TO THE ARMY AND TO THE NATION.”

NOURISHED BY NITRATES FROM EXPLOSIVES, POPPIES FLOURISHED ON THE BATTLEFIELDS OF FLANDERS. IN ALLIED POWER COUNTRIES, THE POPPY IS WORN BY A GRATEFUL PEOPLE TO REMEMBER AND HONOR THOSE THAT SERVED THEIR COUNTRY.

UNITED STATES MILITARY:
SERVICE MEMBERS: 4,734,991
BATTLE DEATHS: 53,402
DEATHS DUE TO DISEASE: 63,114
WOUNDED: 204,004