Skip to Main Content

World War I: America in the War

Guide covering World War I, including USA's involvement, allied powers, causes of the war, and trench warefare.

America in the Great War

World War I: The American Legacy

Perspectives

First over There

The riveting true story of America's first modern military battle, its first military victory during World War One, and its first steps onto the world stage At first light on Tuesday, May 28th, 1918, waves of American riflemen from the U.S. Army's 1st Division climbed from their trenches, charged across the shell-scarred French dirt of no-man's-land, and captured the hilltop village of Cantigny from the grip of the German Army. Those who survived the enemy machine-gun fire and hand-to-hand fighting held on for the next two days and nights in shallow foxholes under the sting of mustard gas and crushing steel of artillery fire. Thirteen months after the United States entered World War I, these 3,500 soldiers became the first "doughboys" to enter the fight. The operation, the first American attack ever supported by tanks, airplanes, and modern artillery, was ordered by the leader of America's forces in Europe, General John "Black Jack" Pershing, and planned by a young staff officer, Lieutenant Colonel George C. Marshall, who would fill the lead role in World War II twenty-six years later. Drawing on the letters, diaries, and reports by the men themselves, Matthew J. Davenport'sFirst Over There tells the inspiring, untold story of these soldiers and their journey to victory on the Western Front in the Battle of Cantigny. The first American battle of the "war to end all wars" would mark not only its first victory abroad, but the birth of its modern Army.

Lost Voices: The Untold Stories of America's World War I Veterans and Their Families

2017 is the 100th anniversary of America's declaration of war against Germany. Many historians take a diminutive stance regarding America's involvement but it cannot be underestimated by any means. It was the reason that brought Germany to it is knees and forced them to accept an armistice that was a victory of sorts achieved over the German forces and their allies. There is global renewed interest in World War One. All the protagonists are long dead but many of their relatives are still with us. This volume will draw you into the whole experience from the home front to the hell of the trenches. These are the voices of those who were never heard but their suffering and their involvement was total and uncompromising, and now finally they can breathe again. They are not forgotten.

The Second Line of Defense

In tracing the rise of the modern idea of the American "new woman," Lynn Dumenil examines World War I's surprising impact on women and, in turn, women's impact on the war. Telling the stories of a diverse group of women, including African Americans, dissidents, pacifists, reformers, and industrial workers, Dumenil analyzes both the roadblocks and opportunities they faced. She richly explores the ways in which women helped the United States mobilize for the largest military endeavor in the nation's history. Dumenil shows how women activists staked their claim to loyal citizenship by framing their war work as homefront volunteers, overseas nurses, factory laborers, and support personnel as "the second line of defense." But in assessing the impact of these contributions on traditional gender roles, Dumenil finds that portrayals of these new modern women did not always match with real and enduring change. Extensively researched and drawing upon popular culture sources as well as archival material, The Second Line of Defense offers a comprehensive study of American women and war and frames them in the broader context of the social, cultural, and political history of the era.

Crisis at Sea

Crisis at Sea is the first comprehensive history of the United States Navy in European waters during World War I. Drawing on vast American, British, German, French, and Italian sources, the author presents the U.S. Naval experience as America moved into the modern age of naval warfare. Not limited to an operations account of naval battles and strategies, this volume--the second in a series--examines diplomatic policies, cabinet decisions, logistics, the home front, support systems, and shipbuilding to illustrate the complexity and enormity of America's naval participation in World War I.             This is a thorough treatment of not only the events but also the personalities of the war, with particular attention to the difficulties they faced. The book reveals penetrating insights into the United States' relations in the world, the nation's unpreparedness for such a war, the limits imposed on the Navy by the cabinet, and the unexpected conclusion to the war. Much of the author's exhaustive research is new, such as the use of French official documents and British recollections of the American ships and sailors. This book will be the standard reference volume for libraries and serious scholars with a special interest in World War I and in the history of warfare.  

Loyalty in Time of Trial

In one of the few book-length treatments of the subject, Nina Mjagkij conveys the full range of the African American experience during the "Great War." Prior to World War I, most African Americans did not challenge the racial status quo. But nearly 370,000 black soldiers served in the military during the war, and some 400,000 black civilians migrated from the rural South to the urban North for defense jobs. Following the war, emboldened by their military service and their support of the war on the home front, African Americans were determined to fight for equality. These two factors forced America to confront the impact of segregation and racism.

Five Lieutenants: The Heartbreaking Story of Five Harvard Men Who Led America to Victory in World War I

James Carl Nelson tells the dramatic true story of five brilliant young soldiers from Harvard, a thrilling tale of combat and heroism Five Lieutenants tells the story of five young Harvard men who took up the call to arms in the spring of 1917 and met differing fates in the maelstrom of battle on the Western Front in 1918. Delving deep into the motivations, horrific experiences, and ultimate fates of this Harvard-educated quintet--and by extension of the brilliant young officer class that left its collegiate and post-collegiate pursuits to enlist in the Army and lead America's rough-and-ready doughboys--Five Lieutenantspresents a unique, timeless, and fascinating account of citizen soldiers at war, and of the price these extraordinary men paid while earnestly giving all they had in an effort to end "the war to end all wars." Drawing upon the subjects' intimate, eloquent, and uncensored letters and memoirs, this is a fascinating microcosm of the American experience in the First World War, and of the horrific experiences and hardships of the educated class of young men who were relied upon to lead doughboys in the trenches and, ultimately, in open battle.

Yanks: The Epic Story of the American Army in World War I

Pulling readers down into the trenches with his intimate battlefield knowledge, John S.D Eisenhower, a retired brigadier general, delivers the complete story of the United States' role in World War I, from the fortunate selection of John 'Black Jack' Pershing as commanding general, to the astonishingly rapid buildup of troops, to America's decisive intervention. While the bulk of recent Great War accounts approach the conflict from British and French perspectives, YANKS focuses entirely on the often misrepresented story of the American Expeditionary Force which, in an incredible span of just 18 months, grew from an under-equipped band of 120,000 troops into a dominant force of four million. Eisenhower has mined little-known diaries and memoirs to illuminate an extrordinary cast of war heroes, both famous and unsung. With chapters focusing on legends like Pershing, George Patton, Douglas MacArthur, and Sergeant Alvin York, as well as the brave Privates (nicknamed doughboys) who fought on the front lines, this riveting work captures the birth of the modern Army, reasserting the true contributions of America in World War I.

The Last Battle: Victory, Defeat, and the End of World War I

An account of the final months of the Great War, and how the Allies, including freshly arrived American soldiers, defeated Germany on the Western Front.While much has been made of - and written about - the guns of August 1914, the story of the guns of August 1918 is a different matter. Yet the campaigns of the summer and fall were the climactic battles of the Great War and determined its outcome. The triumph was not by any means "sudden," butrather the result of four months of bitter fighting. In The Last Battle, preeminent World War I historian Peter Hart offers an account of those final months and their main features: the Allied victories at the Fifth Battle of Ypres and the Battle of the Meuse-Argonne, where American forces madetheir decisive contribution; and the offensives coordinated by the Allied Supreme Command that cracked the Hindenburg Line and wore down the German resistance. Millions of men contributed to the eventual Allied victory, ending a conflict that had bled Europe dry. As The Last Battle illuminates,victory was partly a matter of German political unrest and internal collapse, but the Allied success on the battlefield precipitated it.As with The Great War and Fire and Movement, The Last Battle features Hart's gift for illuminating the interplay of figures and events, bringing both intimacy and sweep to the history. He allows those who were there to tell the story, immersing the reader in the days leading up to November 11,1918.

America in World War I