what motivated us soldiers to fight in ww1

Written by: Jennifer D. Keene, Chapman University

By the end of this section, you lot will:

• Explicate the causes and consequences of U.South. interest in Earth War I

The U.s.a. entered World War I in April 1917 with a small-scale military machine force of approximately 300,000 men, the combined force of the regular Ground forces (peacetime volunteers) and the National Baby-sit (volunteer military units controlled past state governors but placed nether federal control during the war). It took months for the United states to recruit and train an regular army capable of fighting overseas. During this interval, Deutschland hoped to win the war with renewed assaults on the Western Forepart and an aggressive U-boat (submarine) campaign that cutting off the supply line betwixt the U.s.a. and Europe. Defying the odds, the United States managed to rapidly raise a wartime force that eventually totaled 4.7 one thousand thousand soldiers and transported 2 one thousand thousand troops to French republic in time to participate in the final Allied assaults that ultimately won the state of war.

In Globe War I, for the first time in American history, the government relied on conscription to raise the bulk of its wartime force. The men coming into the army represented the regional, indigenous, class, and racial diversity of the American population. Reflecting the recent waves of immigration from Europe, xviii pct of the army or almost half a 1000000 men were foreign-born; among them they spoke 46 languages. Some 12,000 American Indians too served, motivated past the desire to demonstrate patriotism and award their families' warrior traditions. Government officials believed war machine service would help assimilate and "Americanize" immigrants and American Indians; consequently, these troops served alongside native-built-in white soldiers in the same units.

The armed forces incorporated into its training many progressive ideals that reflected the broader reform goals of the period. Guided by the idea of using the military experience to bring about social gild and efficiency, the war machine sought to homogenize and "Americanize" the diverse soldiers who were conscripted. The physical training, recreational activities, and instructional movies alarm the soldiers against vices like the use of alcohol and prostitution in camps and overseas were role of this progressive cause. It showed a darker side to progressivism for African Americans, however, considering many whites believed club and efficiency in the armed forces required the segregation of the races.

The military thus remained racially segregated. Xiii percent of the wartime force (approximately 370,000 men) was African American, and racial bigotry limited opportunities for them to fight or get officers. The vast bulk of black soldiers (89 pct) were classified as noncombatants and worked long days loading and unloading ships, building training camps and roads, or burial the expressionless. The 369th Infantry Regiment, the Harlem Hellfighters, was one of four black combatant regiments that gained acclamation by fighting under French rather than American control. The willingness of the French to recognize black soldiers' valor by awarding them the Croix de Guerre(a medal for bravery) contrasted sharply with the experiences of African American soldiers in the U.S. army.

Soldiers of the 369th Infantry, pictured here in 1919, were nicknamed "Men of Bronze" by the French alongside whom they fought. Men in the regiment earned several honors from both the United States and France, including the Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross.

The Harlem Hellfighters served in the forepart lines for 191 days, the longest combat tour of any U.Southward. regiment, and discovered firsthand the horrors of trench warfare. On the western front end, the Centrolineal and Central powers had developed intricate defenses that included multiple lines of reinforced trenches, machine-gun pillboxes, long-range arms, and plane reconnaissance. No Man's Land, a desolate area filled with barbed wire, craters, and corpses, separated the ii sides. The often-dingy trenches were infested with rats and lice, and soldiers lived under the constant strain and dissonance of arms barrages that included shells filled with poisonous substance gas. Thousands suffered from "shellshock," a term widely used to draw any combat-related mental breakup (and now termed post-traumatic stress disorder). Attempts to break out of the trenches in 1916 during the battles of Verdun and the Somme had resulted in catastrophic causalities, all the same they brought no discernable territorial gain for either side.

Full general John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), hoped to fight differently. He embraced the concept of "open up warfare", which relied on infantry firepower and maneuver to accelerate, rather than frontal assaults supported by arms. Pershing's nickname referred to his before command of the Tenth Cavalry, an African American regiment. Having led troops in the Spanish-American War, in the Philippine Insurrection, and in Mexico, pursuing the Mexican rebel Francisco "Pancho" Villa, Pershing was already an experienced field commander when President Woodrow Wilson picked him to lead the AEF. "I hope that you lot accept not arrived too late," the U.S. administrator to French republic told Pershing when he arrived overseas.

In March 1918, the Germans launched a series of breakthrough attacks intended to win the war while they nevertheless had a numerical reward on the battleground. Russia had simply left the state of war after signing a separate peace treaty with Germany, merely the American soldiers were beginning to arrive in strength. On the high seas, the introduction of American and British convoys that protected merchant and troop ships equally they crossed the Atlantic derailed Germany's U-boat campaign. Germany fared better on land, breaking the trench deadlock for the first time since 1914. By May, the German language regular army was within xl miles of Paris. Pershing ultimately wanted to command an independent sector along the Western Forepart, only with the Germans advancing, he agreed to fight aslope the French. At the battles of Château-Thierry and Belleau Wood, the American forces played a primal role in halting the High german drive. In the subsequent 2d Battle of the Marne, the American ground forces fought as function of an Allied coalition that deflected a German attack on the French city of Reims. For the remainder of the summer, this coalition force counterattacked to push button the German language army back to its original jumping-off indicate.

Past August, Pershing controlled an American sector of the western front. On September 12-16, the U.Southward. army fought the Saint-Mihiel offensive to reduce a German salient (a bulge into Allied lines) between Verdun and Toul. About half a 1000000 U.S. troops attacked German language trench defenses and caught the Germans past surprise equally they were retreating to a more than fortified position. Overwhelming German machine guns and arms, the Americans gained 200 foursquare miles at the cost of 7,000 casualties. General Billy Mitchell assembled the greatest concentration of airpower of the war to win control of the skies, bombing and strafing German troops. In Earth War I, planes were used by and large for reconnaissance, that is, to discover or take pictures of enemy trenches. Mitchell demonstrated their offensive capabilities during the Saint-Mihiel offensive, foreshadowing the future of air combat.

This impress, created by Lucien Jonas in 1927, shows U.S. soldiers firing car guns during the Battle of Saint-Mihiel.

The American victory positioned Pershing's forces perfectly for a much larger assail on the city of Metz, nearly the High german border, and its valuable railroad lines, but 2 weeks before launching the attack on Saint-Mihiel, Pershing received word that the Allies' strategic goals had inverse. The Supreme Allied Commander, Marshal Ferdinand Foch, had decided to launch four coordinated attacks along the western front. Foch at present wanted the Americans to fight their adjacent offensive in the Meuse-Argonne region 60 miles away, while the French and British struck further northward and west.

On September 26, 1918, therefore, American forces began fighting against formidable High german defenses in a narrow strip of state between the heights of the unfordable Meuse River and the dumbo, hilly Argonne forest. Well-nigh 1.2 million American soldiers participated in the 47-solar day battle, which lasted until the armistice on Nov xi, 1918. The Meuse-Argonne was one of the most lethal battles in American history, resulting in 117,000 casualties 40 percentage of the American men killed or wounded during the state of war. Inexperience, the difficult terrain, and strong German defenses all contributed to the high casualty rate. Early on, American supply lines broke down, and massive traffic jams slowed the arrival of nutrient and ammunition to front-line units. Nonetheless, the Americans learned chop-chop from experience. In the final weeks of the campaign, infantry-artillery coordination improved, aerial bombing supported infantry troop movements, and particularly trained teams targeted German language machine-gun crews. Over the course of the campaign, the AEF avant-garde nearly 40 miles and captured 26,000 High german soldiers.

On November xi, 1918, American troops occupied 21 percent of the western front, and their combat victories had earned President Woodrow Wilson a prominent seat at the peace table. Overall, 53,402 Americans died in battle, and 204,002 were wounded. Another 63,114 perished from other causes, primarily the Spanish influenza epidemic that followed the war.

Knowing that the American regular army would only get bigger and stronger, Deutschland sought an armistice rather than continuing the fight. Pershing believed it was a mistake to end the state of war on French rather than German soil. "What I dread is that Germany doesn't know that she was licked, had they given the states some other calendar week, nosotros'd have taught them," he remarked. Correcting this mistake took some other globe state of war, fought by commanders including Douglas MacArthur, George Patton, and George Marshall who had learned their craft past serving nether Pershing in Earth War I.

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Review Questions

1. During Globe War I, the Usa raised the majority of its fighting force by

1. seeking volunteer enlistment
2. instituting conscription
3. recruiting men and women for combat positions
4. creating a racial integrated military

two. Weather encountered by Americans fighting on the front end lines in World War I included all the following except

1. trench warfare
2. weaponization of toxicant gases
3. racially integrated military units
4. emphasis on infantry and artillery

3. How did the entry of the Us into Earth War I immediately bear upon the German language war strategy?

1. Deutschland renewed its assaults on the western front end and launched an ambitious U-gunkhole campaign.
2. Federal republic of germany convinced Russian federation to switch sides and assault French republic.
3. Frg bombed London and attacked the Panama Canal.
4. Germany sued for peace in the face of overwhelming American military force.

iv. During World State of war I, the High german U-gunkhole campaign was countered by British and American employ of

1. aircraft reconnaissance
2. espionage
3. reinforced trenches
4. convoys

5. The offensive capabilities of which weapon led American General Billy Mitchell to champion its expanded use during World War I?

1. The motorcar gun
2. Barbed wire
3. Chlorine and mustard gases
4. The airplane

6. American entry into World War I most immediately led to

1. Deutschland's surrender and implementation of the Fourteen Points
2. Allied and American victories leading to the German armistice
3. numerous draft riots in American cities
4. the opening of an eastern front forth the Soviet border

Gratuitous Response Questions

1. Evaluate the experiences of African American soldiers in the Us military during World War I.
2. Evaluate the impact of the U.S. entry into World War I on the Allied victory in 1918.

AP Practise Questions

A 1919 affiche of an allegorical America, standing in front end of the flag and holding a wreath over an "honor whorl" listing soldiers who died in action.

Refer to the epitome provided.

one. This poster near straight reflects

1. the demand for mobilization of wartime industries
2. an effort to increase the number of enlisted servicemen
3. encouragement to purchase defense bonds to finance the war endeavor
4. promotion of women in the wartime workforce

two. The publication of this poster was nearly directly shaped by

1. the anti-imperialist motion
2. isolationist sentiment
3. the impact of the Smashing Migration from the American South
4. increased immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe

3. Which of the following developments challenged the sentiments portrayed in the poster?

1. Establishment of a number of federal committees to mobilize the American economy
2. Prosecution of dissenters nether the Sedition Deed
3. Congressional approving for a wartime conscription human action
4. Establishment of a League of Nations

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Primary Sources

Notable Registrants of the World War I Typhoon at the National Archives at Atlanta. https://world wide web.athenaeum.gov/atlanta/wwi-draft

Pershing, John J. "Last Report of General John J. Pershing." https://archive.org/details/finalreportofgen00unit_0

Thompson, Hugh S. "Your Trench Orientation Tour." http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/trenchkn.htm

Suggested Resources

"1914-1918-online." International Encyclopedia of the Showtime World State of war. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/dwelling/

Bristow, Nancy M. Making Men Moral: Social Applied science during the Swell State of war. New York: New York University Press, 1996.

Keene, Jennifer D. World War I: The American Soldier Experience. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2011.

Lentz-Smith, Adriane. Freedom Struggles: African Americans and World War I. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.

Smythe, Donald. Pershing, General of the Armies. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1986.

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Source: https://billofrightsinstitute.org/essays/over-there-the-us-soldier-in-world-war-i

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