World War 1

World War 1, is often known as the first world war; the reason for this was because many countries were involved in this war. In this research paper I will be writing about World War 1 in the perspective of the US. What I will be including is: the start of the war, the US entering of the war, the US military campaigns, the US women, and children during the war.

The Start of the War

World War 1 began when the heir of the Austro-Hungarian empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sophie; were assassinated by a man named Garlio Princip(he was part of a group of assinians, who were plotting to kill Ferdinand), in Sarajevo in Bosnia, on June 28th, 1914. After the assassination Austro-Hungarian goverment or authorirites encouraged the anti-serb riots in Sarajevo. Many Serbian owned businesses were destroyed and vandalized, and two Serbian’s were killed. Around this time the Austro-Hungarian authorities arrested around five thousand and five hundred, Serbians. Most of which died during imprisonment.

In July, the July Crisis begins. The Austro-Hungarian government believed that Serbian officials had taken part in the assasination of Ferdinand; they were actually correct. Austro-Hungary, began provoking war with Serbia, and on July 28th, they declared war on Serbia. Russia supported Serbia at the time, declared general mobilization against Austro-Hungary, on July 30th. The leader of Germany, Kaiser Wihhelm the 2nd, asked Tsar Nicolas the 2nd, of Russia to end Russia’s general mobilization, against Austro-Hungary. Russia refused, so on August 1st, Germany declared war on Russia.

The country of France was demanded to remain neutral during this war, by Germany, but on August 3rd Germany declared war on France. Belgium was requested to give Germany the right to go through any region of the country; Belgium refused, and Germany once again declared war, on August 4th. Great Britain in support of Belgium, asked Germany to respect Belgium’s wish to be neutral. But because Germany’s reply on this was not satisfactory, Great Britain declared war on Germany, on August 4th. 

The United States Entering the War

The United States entered the war pretty late compared to all the other countries involved. On April 6th, 1917, the US entered the war. Before they entered the war, the US was actually a neutral nation that favored Great Britain and their allies; but there was pressure. Especially from the US President at the time, Woodron Wilson, who even committed to a year long effort to get the US into the war. A lot of people favored the US’s neutrality, but because of the pressure from both the US President Wilson, and Germany, the neutrality did not last forever. The pressure from Germany was increased especially when Germany sent a secret message to the Mexican president at the time. This message stated that Germany was willing to help Mexico in regaining lost territory that the Mexicans had lost during The Mexican American War(a previous US war in the 19th century). 

This message was discovered, decoded, and even published in the US newspapers. This of course angered the US citizens; around this time the Germans began sinking US ships, which angered the US further. Wilson, who had always wanted the US to take part in this war, took this as an opportunity, and went to Congress. Wilson requested Congress to declare war, and on April 6th, of 1917, the US declared war on Germany, then on December 7th, of 1917 the US declared war on Austro-Hungary.

The US Military Campaigns 

The United States were involved in quite a few military campaigns during the war. Because this report would be too long if I wrote about all of them, instead I will be writing about five of these campaigns.

1: Cambrai, 20th of November to the 7th of December 1917.

Cambrai was the first military campaign that the US was involved in, after entering the war; also it was the first time that the AEF(American Expeditionary Forces), faced the enemy. The year of 1917 for the Allies(the side of the war that Great Britain, France, Canada, etc, were part of), was a terrible one. The British had failed to capture German submarine bases, which happened to be their main goal. During this campaign three US engineer regiments, the 11th, 12th, and 14th, who were working on some construction on the British lines at Cambrai, were called to the front lines during an emergency; this inturn was the first time that the US faced the enemy.

2: Lys, 9th to 27th of April 1918.

The British Expeditionary Forces(BEF), were hit hard during the Somme drive(an earlier military campaign). The Germans saw this as an advantage, and decided to destroy the BEF, before it had a chance to recover from their earlier hard hit, in the Somme drive. On April 9th, the Germans attacked along the Lys River, in Flander; a very thin front. There were a total of forty six German divisions taking part in this campaign. The German’s had a pretty big breakthrough, and British were left desperate. A man known as Marshal Ferdinand Foch(he was a Supreme Allied Commander), believed that the British could hold their line. He was correct; and the German general Ludendorff, called off the attack, on April 27th. Around five hundred US soldiers took part in this campaign.

3: Aisne, 27th of May to the 5th of June 1918.

The next large attack on the British from the Germans was on May 27th. This attack occurred along the Aisne river. The Germans wanted to destroy the British army in Flanders. The French and British defending troops were completely overrun and caught by surprise, on a forty mile front. The German’s were progressing, and rapidly during the first day of this attack. Most of the Aisne bridge was captured by the Germans; but the Germans did fail in capturing Reims, but they were successful in capturing Soissons. By May 31st, the Germans had almost reached Chateau-Thierry; less than forty miles from Paris. By June, the Germans had stopped everywhere in France. Twenty five thousand AEF troops took part in this campaign. By June 6th the AEF were successful in counter attacking the Germans.

4: Ypres-Lys, 19th of August to the 11th of November 1918.

In Late August and Early September, Britain’s 2nd and 5th armies, along with the American 2nd Corpse, wiped out the Lys Salient. Around this time the Germans began easing in the area south of Lys, to shorten their lines. By October 20th the Allied were only left with the Dutch Frontier, because two Belgium cities were captured. A US general dispatched two American army divisions to aid the French army of Belgium. An attack began on October 31st, that lasted until November 11th. One of the US military divisions forced a river crossing across a river southeast of  Heurne, on November 2nd.  The total casualties of both US divisions were a total of two thousand six hundred men. Around one hundred thousand and eight men took part in the campaign, in total.

5: Vittorio Veneto, 24th of October to the 4th of November 1918

Late in the war, the US took part in minimal military campaigns in Italy. The 332d US regiment and hospital troops were sent to the Italian front. This US force was around a thousand and two hundred men; and they took part in the last great Italian offense against the Austrians, in the battle of Vittorio Veneto. This was also the last military campaign that the US took part in.

US Women During the War

When the United States was neutral, from 1914-1917, US women still served as nurses in locations such as England and France. Some US women drove ambulances to aid the Allied, though the US was not part of the war. This was one side of the women in the US, the other side, completely opposed to the war. The women who opposed the war worked hard to try to end it(this did not work). But when the US did enter the war, almost all US women supported it; this was because the women’s suffrage movement was going on. A lot of the main activist women used the war as part of their reform work.

The workforce changed greatly in the US. A lot of the men were away fighting in Europe, which left a lot of jobs. Because of all of these empty jobs the women began working, inplace of the men. The US women in the war front served jobs such as, nursing, etc.

US Children During the War

During World War 1 in the United States, women were now the main workforce(a lot of the men were gone fighting), this meant that children spent less time with their families. A lot of US children lost their father’s or brother’s during the war(this was the same across Europe), which affected them greatly. Patriotism was very important for a child’s “education” during the war. US children during the war were taught to be patriotic, and to help with the war effort. This was usually taught at school. Certain groups for children, such as Boy Scouts and the Camp Fire Girls played a part when it came to raising money for the war effort. When the war ended children across the world were changed; many had lost family members to the war or their returned fathers or brothers suffered from the tramas of the war.

Conclusion

World War 1 began in the year 1914, after the assination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. Most of Europe entered the war in the same year, but the US entered the war three years later, in 1917. Before the US entered the war it was neutral but there was pressure from a few factors including their own president. The US once they entered the war were involved in quite a few military campaigns, I wrote about five of them. US women and children were largely involved in the war effort also.

This is my research paper on the US perspective of World War 1. The things that I got into in this report are: the start of the war, the US entering the war, the US military campaigns, US women during the war, and US children during the war. 

Works Cited

1: “World War 1.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 27 April 2020. Web, 1 April, 2020

2: “United States Campaigns in World War 1.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 1 April 2020. Web, 4 May 2020.

3: “United States in World War 1.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 29 April 2020. Web, 4 May, 2020.

4: Schneider, Carl and Dortothy. “American Women in World War 1.” Social Studies. National Council for the Social Studies, 1994. Web, 4 May, 2020. http://www.socialstudies.org/sites/default/files/publications/se/5802/580206.html

5: “ Effect of World War 1 on the Children in the US.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 29 April 2020. Web, 4 May 2020.