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23 Chapter 2 War Comes to America, 1917 The First World War was a tragic and unnecessary conflict. —John Keegan, Historian H ow does one summarize a conflict that ended with some ten million dead soldiers and civilians? How does one easily explain a struggle that destroyed four empires, brought down several monarchies, and changed the world? Who could predict that this war would incubate two infamous “isms” that would for a time dominate world history: communism and fascism? The first was already taking root in 1914, but the second was just entering the minds of demonic humans. How can a rational person comprehend the nightmare of the Somme, Verdun, the dreadful winters on the eastern front, and so many “grand” offensives that resulted only in grander slaughter? The historian writing today must recall and convey hollow eyes, sunken countenances, distant stares, and the awful nights these unfortunate soldiers endured. Common men on both sides faced a future of nightmares fed by memories of misery, pain, and dread that stayed with them the remainder of their lives. One American soldier, caught in this hell of death, poisonous gas, mud, and blood, somehow not only kept his humanity and survived but also performed alone an incredible act of heroism. The “Great War,” the “war to end all wars,” and the “war to make the world safe for democracy” are just a few of the 24 Place the Headstones Where They Belong pedestrian slogans attached to what we call the First World War, now that we have learned how to number them. This war became the end state of hundreds of years of turmoil in Europe, which during the industrial revolution and the imperial age reached the point that a relatively minor incident could provoke a thundering volcano to erupt. And it did on June 28, 1914, when the archduke and heir apparent of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and his wife were shot by a teenager in the troubled and destitute subject principality of Bosnia-Herzegovina, torn by centuries of religious and ethnic strife.1 The assassination was the catalyst for world war. The conditions could not have been more ideal. The chain reaction had been growing for decades, starting with France’s ignominious defeat in 1871 by Prussia, engineered by Otto von Bismarck. It was executed by Helmuth von Moltke (the elder—forty years later his nephew of the same name was German chief of staff in 1914). This provided the opportunity for German kingdoms and principalities to unite under Frederick Wilhelm I and establish the first German empire (unless one considers the Holy Roman Empire as a completely German and homogeneous empire). A German Empire was a frightful consequence for most of Europe; it was a disaster for France.2 By the turn of the twentieth century, imperialism was gobbling the last and remote portions of the less developed regions of the world, mostly in Africa and Asia. An arms race recruited, trained, and deployed mammoth armies, multiplying the tensions and the fears to the point that any incident could break the fragile balance.3 Another factor, which is foreign to many of us today but was extremely relevant in 1914, was Great Britain’s fear of Germany’s growing naval threat as the “High Seas Fleet” grew in both number and modern capability. Germany in turn feared the Russian giant in the east and its ability to mobilize a seemingly endless horde to roll westward. There was much talk of launching preventive wars to destroy growing threats. These fears and perceptions were real in the minds of military , diplomatic, and political leaders during this summer of discontent.4 War Comes to America, 1917 25 For decades Europe and world peace balanced on the tip of statesmanship. By the early 1900s a new dimension appeared; three of the most powerful monarchs, the rulers of Great Britain, Russia, and Germany, were all related through Queen Victoria, and all three cousins also resembled each other. With luck and cool tempers, Europe survived several smaller conflicts in the Balkans and repeated infractions in the distant colonies abroad. The situation and time in Europe were dominated by treaties, alliances, and posturing by diplomats with little vision and immense views of nationalistic power. Yet, everything was in place, as historian Barbara Tuchman so well summarized in her 1962 Pulitzer winning classic The Guns of August: War pressed against every frontier. Suddenly dismayed, governments struggled and twisted to fend it off. It was no use. Agents...

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