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Chapter 27

MAJOR WARS, TWENTIETH CENTURY

WORLD WAR I

THE WAR BEFORE AMERICA'S ENTRY. Causes. The period 1871-1914 was marked by the growth of a system of alliances and entanglements which eventually divided Europe into two opposing groups of powers-the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austro-Hungary, and Italy) and the Triple Entente (France, Russia, and Great Britain). By the early twentieth century, imperialism, nationalism, an armaments race, and other underlying factors which gave rise to international tensions had so aggravated the hostility of these rival powers that each new diplomatic crisis threatened to plunge Europe into a general conflict. Between 1900 and 1914 several such crises occurred, but they were resolved without a resort to war among the great European powers.

On 28 June 1914 the heir to the throne of Austro-Hungary, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife were assassinated by a fanatical Serbian nationalist at Serajevo in Bosnia. On 23 July Austria delivered a 48-hour ultimatum to Serbia. The latter replied evasively and started mobilization. Austria began mobilizing against Serbia. Russia, opposed to further Austrian expansion in the Balkans, started military measures against Austria. On 28 August Austria declared war on Serbia. Germany sought to localize the impending war, but the Russian decision (29 July) to begin general mobilization resulted in a German 12-hour ultimatum to Russia demanding cessation of military preparations on the German border. On 1 August Germany and France both ordered general mobilization.

Various efforts were made by the governments involved, in these final days, to avert a general conflict; but by then it was too late. In the decades of peace the Great Powers had developed in elaborate detail their initial war plans against potential enemies. From the moment of mobilization every move had been planned and timed by the day and the hour, in an endeavor to secure a decisive initial advantage over the adversary and achieve an early decision. Once the machinery was set in motion, even a short delay on the part of any one nation might mean the difference between victory and defeat. If any final chance of peace had remained, in the continent-wide clash of conflicting interests and mutual fears and antagonisms, this factor would probably have nullified it.

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On 1 August Germany declared war on Russia. On 2 August Germany's armies invaded Luxembourg, and her demand for permission to cross Belgian territory was rejected. On 3 August Germany declared war on France and began the invasion of Belgium. England then declared war on Germany August) and Austria on Russia (6 August). Eventually Japan, Italy, China, Romania, the United States, and other countries entered the war on the Allied side. Turkey and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers. Thus began a conflict destined to last more than four years, to involve most of the nations of the world, to cost the lives of about 8,500,000 of the 65,000,000 men mobilized, and to dwarf by its magnitude all previous

wars.

Space permits only the briefest summary of events preceding our involvement in the war.

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Land Campaigns, 1914. On the western front Germany attacked through Belgium and northeastern France, and France attacked farther south. The French offensive broke down pletely. The German offensive stopped in the First Battle of the Marne; the German armies then retired to strong positions behind the Aisne, which an Allied counteroffensive failed to penetrate. Both sides then engaged in a series of flank movements in the direction of the English Channel. Neither was able to outflank the other in this "race to the sea" (September-October 1914). The Germans captured Antwerp, but the Allies retained control of all Channel ports west of Ostend.

In the east, Russian armies invaded East Prussia and were disastrously defeated at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes. Farther south other Russian forces severely mauled the Austrian armies in Galicia. Serbia thrice threw back Austrian offensives.

Stabilization of the Western Front. The first months of fighting revealed that new weapons and tactics had considerably altered the nature of warfare. The machinegun, rapid-fire artillery and other weapons, combined with field fortifications and the liberal use of barbed wire, had so strengthened the defense that a virtual stalemate developed on the western (Franco-Belgian) front and persisted until 1918. New weapons introduced during the war, notably poison gas and tanks, gave promise of breaking this stalemate, but failed to do so. From 1915 through 1917 the fighting consisted of prodigious efforts by both sides to mass great concentrations of men and munitions on a limited front, in order to achieve a wide breakthrough and create exposed flanks in the opposing defense system.

During 1915 the Allies made costly attacks of this type at Neuve Chapelle (March), in Flanders (April-May), and in Champagne (September), while the Germans, concentrating on eliminating the Russian menace in the east, stayed mostly on the defensive in the west. In 1916 both sides undertook prolonged battles of attrition on the Western

Front, in which they made no appreciable territorial gains and suffered appalling losses in manpower. The German offensive at Verdun from February to August was followed by a French counteroffensive in the same sector, lasting from October to mid-December. The British and French attacked along the Somme from 1 July to 25 November.

The Eastern Front, 1915-1916. German attacks, beginning in May 1915, inflicted immense losses on the Russian armies and permitted Germany to occupy Poland. In the following summer Russia staged an offensive on the Austrian front, which continued for three months and largely disorganized the 1916 strategic plans of the Central Powers. However, the Russians lacked the resources needed for a decisive success, and the huge casualties of the campaign virtually wrecked their military power.

Other Land Fighting. On other fronts the Allies fared rather poorly in 1915 and 1916. A British seaborne expedition against the Turks at Gallipoli in April 1915 landed successfully, but failed to break through the enemy defenses, and the campaign collapsed. When Bulgaria entered the war against Serbia, an Austro-German force combined with the Bulgarians to overwhelm the Serbs in November 1915. The Italians entered the conflict on the Allied side in May 1915, opening up a new front. But in that year the Italians made little headway against strong Austrian defenses in the Trentino and along the Isonzo River. An Austrian offensive in May 1916 threatened to cut off Italian armies on the Isonzo and overrun the Venetian plains. In August an Italian drive across the Isonzo achieved only limited success.

Naval Warfare. From the beginning the British navy dominated the war on the seas. It bottled up the German navy in its home harbors, except for occasional sorties, and swept German commerce from the oceans of the world. Most of the few German naval vessels preying on Allied commerce were promptly hunted down and destroyed, and the way was opened for conquest of the German colonial empire.

Beginning in 1915, both sides turned their efforts to establishing effective blockades. In early 1915 the Germans declared the waters around the British

Isles a war zone in which all ships would be sunk on sight. Countering this move, Great Britain asserted the right to intercept all ships believed to be carrying goods destined for Germany, and to bring them into her ports for search. The British blockaded the ports of neutral European states, arbitrarily added commodities to the list of goods normally considered contraband of war, blacklisted firms suspected of trading with the Central Powers, and forced neutral shipping into British ports for search.

When Britain began arming her merchant vessels and ordering them to fire at submarines on sight, Germany retaliated with instructions to her U-boat commanders to sink enemy cargo ships without warning. Mistakes in identity inevitably occurred; neutral vessels were sunk by German submarines, and citizens of neutral states traveling aboard enemy vessels lost their lives.

The sinking of the British liner Lusitania in May 1915, and other episodes, produced such a strong American reaction that in May 1916 Germany agreed to end unrestricted submarine warfare. Shortly afterward the Battle of Jutland, between the main battle fleets (Grand Fleet and High Seas Fleet) of Great Britain and Germany, was tactically indecisive but confirmed the former's command of the seas. On 31 January 1917 the German government decided that unrestricted submarine warfare would be resumed, in spite of the risk of bringing the United States into the war.

AMERICAN ENTRY. During the more than two years preceding Germany's decision to resume a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare in 1917, the United States had managed to maintain its role as the leading neutral nation in the face of considerable provocation. During this time the attitude of Americans concerning the war, its ultimate outcome, and the part the United States should play in it was influenced and molded by many underlying factors. Our population was made up largely of peoples whose antecedents furnished a basis for strong emotional, cultural, and linguistic ties to one or another of the belligerents. Both sides used propa

ganda extensively, but the Allied propaganda had the advantages that it was more intelligently conceived, that the Allies controlled most of the means of communication, and also, perhaps, that they had the better case to present in the controversy over neutral rights. Undoubtedly this propaganda influenced the views of many Americans. Traditional ties of friendship with France and Great Britain, and greater economic and financial involvement in their war effort, also tended to cause many in the United States to favor an Allied victory. But the equally potent American tradition of noninvolvement in Europe's struggles, taken together with President Wilson's efforts to maintain the nation's neutral role, convinced many others that America should stay out of the conflict.

The decisive factor which tipped the balance was the submarine issue. The United States had a record of championing the rights of neutrals on the high seas. The German announcement of 31 January 1917 consolidated American public opinion in favor of strong measures against the Central Powers. On 3 February 1917 the President severed diplomatic relations with the German Empire. In late February he asked Congress to authorize the arming of American merchantmen. When a Senate filibuster blocked enactment of such legislation, the Attorney General decided that the President had the power to arm ships under existing law.

The trend of events in February and March added to the desire for war which was spreading through the country. Submarines sank more American ships. The contents of the Zimmerman Note were made public, revealing that Germany had proposed an alliance with Mexico in the event the United States should enter the war. In mid-March a revolution in Russia replaced the czarist autocracy (temporarily, as it proved) with a constitutional regime more in harmony with the democratic principles to which the Allies were formally committed. No one was greatly surprised when Wilson, after consulting with his cabinet, called a special session of Congress and on 2 April requested a declaration of war against Germany. Congress passed the war resolution on 6

April 1917 and the President signed it the same day.

INITIAL AMERICAN MILITARY ACTIVITIES. The United States entered World War I without having a clear conception as to what form its contribution to the Allied cause would take, and almost totally unprepared to send an effective military force to Europe. Nevertheless we promptly began to organize an expeditionary force for service in France. Maj. Gen. John J. Pershing, who had headed the punitive expedition into Mexico in 1916, was designated Commander-in-Chief, American Expeditionary Forces (A. E. F.) on 18 May 1917. He assembled a small staff and sailed for Europe. On 13 June he arrived in Paris, where he established his headquarters.

The first contingent of American troops, a token force made up of units which would soon form part of the 1st Division, reached St. Nazaire on 26 June. They were the vanguard of the more than two million men whom we sent to France before the war was over. After consultation with the French and British, Pershing recommended that the United States plan to have a force of more than a million men in France by December 1918, and three million (later increased to four million) within two years. (The figure of a million was based on the manpower requirements of a full field army.) The estimate of men needed by December 1918 was later revised upward; in October 1917 the figure was placed at 1,370,000, to consist of 30 divisions organized into 5 corps plus the necessary supporting elements. During the critical period March-June 1918 this so-called "30-division program" was replaced by a new plan calling for 80 divisions in France by 1 July 1919 and 100 by 30 June 1920.

On 6 April 1917 there were some 210,000 men in our Army, including 127,000 Regulars, 5,000 Philippine Scouts, and 80,000 National Guardsmen called into Federal service for duty along the Mexican border. These troops were scattered at posts and camps throughout the United States and its possessions, with the greatest number concentrated in the Southern Department near the

border. The preparedness movement, which had gained more and more support in the country as the war progressed, had culminated in the enactment of the National Defense Act of 1916 which provided for an increase in the Regular Army to a maximum of 220,000 and the National Guard to 450,000, to be made by annual increments over a period of five years. These provisions fell far short of meeting the manpower requirements for the A.E.F. submitted by Pershing. Accordingly, on 18 May 1917, Congress passed the Selective Service Act, based upon a plan which had been devised some months earlier by the General Staff. It provided for the immediate increase of the Regular Army and National Guard to the maximum strength authorized by the National Defense Act, and for a new National Army to be raised by conscription. Responsibility for drafting selectees was placed in the hands of civilian boards in each local community, with the hope that this method of administering the Act would overcome the continued widespread opposition to compulsory service in a country that traditionally had relied upon volunteers to fight its foreign wars.

Some 10,800,000 men between the ages of 21 and 30 registered for military service in registrations held on 5 June 1917 and 5 June and 24 August 1918. After the age requirement was broadened to include men from 18 to 45, another 13,400,000 registered on 12 September 1918. Out of those who registered, about 2,800,000 were inducted. The Selective Service Act also permitted volunteering. Of the approximately 4,000,000 who served in the Army during the war, about 77 percent (3,091,000) came in through the National Army (2,800,000 from selective service plus others who enlisted); 13 percent (527,000) through the Regular Army; and the remaining 10 percent (382,000) through the National Guard1.

The War Department organized 62 divisions before the Armistice was signed. Forty-three of these went to France. Nineteen more were in various stages of organization and training when the war ended. Regular Army

1 For further details on selective service in World War I, see chapter 6.

divisions were numbered 1-20, National Guard 26-42, and National Army 76-93. In addition, hundreds of corps, army, and service units of all kinds were organized to provide the basis for a balanced, self-sustaining fighting force."

When the United States entered the war there were no complete divisions in existence in the Army. In July 1917 the War Department made provision for the immediate formation of 16 National Guard divisions and 16 National Army divisions. Upon the advice of Allied experts and General Pershing, new tables of organization were prepared for the infantry division, designed to make it more suitable for the type of warfare in progress on the Western Front. Under the revised tables the division was authorized two infantry brigades of two regiments each, a field artillery brigade of three regiments (two light and one heavy), three machinegun battalions, an engineer regiment, and other supporting units. At full strength it numbered some 27,000 men (later increased to 28,000), about twice the size of British, French, or German infantry divisions in 1917. Time was to prove that this big American division had the added endurance and sustained driving power needed to penetrate and overwhelm the miles of formidable German defenses-in-depth on the Western Front.

The introduction of the new weapons and missions developed in the fighting before 1917 required further alterations in the traditional organization and functions of the American Army. The antiaircraft mission was added to the responsibilities of the Coast Artillery. The Air Service of the Signal Corps expanded tremendously, increasing its strength from 1,200 in early 1917 to nearly 200,000 at the time of the Armistice. Employment of flame throwers, tanks, gas, and other new weapons necessitated organization and training of numerous new special units.

TRAINING THE NEW ARMIES. The War Department instituted a vigorous and varied training program to transform the millions of civilian draftees

and volunteers into an effective fighting machine. The first need was housing and training facilities. In May 1917 orders were issued to department commanders for the construction of 16 National Army cantonments and 16 National Guard camps (see table). Most of the National Army cantonments were located in the northern States and, for climatic reasons, required wooden structures. The National Guard camps were built in the South, where tent-type shelters sufficed for year-round training. The overall plan called for training one division at a time at each encampment. Construction of the training centers progressed rapidly during the summer of 1917; most of the nearly 700,000 men called up in the first draft were adequately housed by Christmas. In addition to these divisional centers, seventeen special camps were built to provide technical and advanced training and embarkation facilities. Much new construction was also undertaken at most of the permanent Army posts.

WORLD WAR I CAMPS AND
CANTONMENTS

(ZONE OF THE INTERIOR)

Camp and Location

National Guard Camps
Beauregard, Alexandria, La.
Bowie, Fort Worth, Tex. .....
Cody, Deming, N. M.
Doniphan, Fort Sill, Okla.
Fremont, Palo Alto, Calif.
Greene, Charlotte, N. C.
Hancock, Augusta, Ga.

Capacity

29,121

41,879

44.959

46,183

30,000

48,305

45,099

[blocks in formation]

2 For further details on combat units in World War I, see chapter 28.

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