United States in World war I - wikipedia United States in World war I Two American soldiers run towards a bunker. The United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, during World War I. The U.S. was an independent power and did not officially join the Allies. It closely cooperated with the Allies militarily but acted alone in diplomacy. The U.S. made its major contributions in terms of supplies, raw material and money, starting in 1917. American soldiers under General John Pershing, Commander - in - Chief ( C - in - C ) of the American Expeditionary Force ( AEF ), arrived in large numbers on the Western Front in the summer of 1918. Before entering the war, the U.S. had remained neutral, though it had been an important supplier to Great Britain and the other Allied powers. During the war the U.S. mobilized over 4 million military personnel and suffered 110,000 deaths, including 43,000 due to the influenza pandemic. The war saw a dramatic expansion of the United States government in an effort to harness the war effort and a significant increase in the size of the U.S. Armed Forces. After a relatively slow start in mobilizing the economy and labor force, by spring 1918, the nation was poised to play a role in the conflict. Under the leadership of President Woodrow Wilson, the war represented the climax of the Progressive Era as it sought to bring reform and democracy to the world, although there was substantial public opposition to U.S. entry into the war. Contents 1 Entry 2 Neutrality 3 Public opinion 4 Preparedness movement 4.1 Democrats respond 4.2 National debate 5 War declared 6 Home front 6.1 Food 6.2 Propaganda 6.3 Children 7 Army and Navy 7.1 Impact of US forces on the war 8 After the war 9 See also 10 References 11 Further reading 11.1 Historiography 12 External links Entry Main article : American entry into World War I The American entry into World War I came in April 1917, after more than two and a half years of efforts by President Woodrow Wilson to keep the United States out of the war. Apart from an Anglophile element urging early support for the British, American public opinion reflected that of the president : the sentiment for neutrality was particularly strong among Irish Americans, German Americans and Scandinavian Americans, as well as among church leaders and among women in general. On the other hand, even before World War I had broken out, American opinion had been more negative toward Germany than towards any other country in Europe. Over time, especially after reports of atrocities in Belgium in 1914 and following the sinking of the passenger liner RMS Lusitania in 1915, the American people increasingly came to see Germany as the aggressor in Europe. As U.S. President, it was Wilson who made the key policy decisions over foreign affairs : while the country was at peace, the domestic economy ran on a laissez - faire basis, with American banks making huge loans to Britain and France -- funds that were in large part used to buy munitions, raw materials and food from across the Atlantic. Until 1917, Wilson made minimal preparations for a land war and kept the United States Army on a small peacetime footing, despite increasing demands for enhanced preparedness. He did however expand the United States Navy. In 1917, with Russia experiencing political upheaval following widespread disillusionment there over the war, and with Britain and France low on credit, Germany appeared to have the upper hand in Europe, while the Ottoman Empire clung to its possessions in the Middle East. In the same year, Germany decided to resume unrestricted submarine warfare against any vessel approaching British waters ; this attempt to starve Britain into surrender was balanced against the knowledge that it would almost certainly bring the United States into the war. Germany also made a secret offer to help Mexico regain territories lost in the Mexican -- American War in an encoded telegram known as the Zimmermann Telegram, which was intercepted by British Intelligence. Publication of that communique outraged Americans just as German U-boats started sinking American merchant ships in the North Atlantic. Wilson then asked Congress for `` a war to end all wars '' that would `` make the world safe for democracy '', and Congress voted to declare war on Germany on April 6, 1917. On December 7, 1917, the U.S. declared war on Austria - Hungary. U.S. troops began arriving on the Western Front in large numbers in 1918. Neutrality After the war began in 1914, the United States proclaimed a policy of neutrality despite president Woodrow Wilson 's antipathies against Germany. Early in the war, the United States started to favor the British and their allies. President Wilson aimed to broker a peace and sent his top aide, Colonel House, on repeated missions to the two sides, but each remained so confident of victory that they ignored peace proposals. When the German U-boat U-20 sank the British liner Lusitania on 7 May 1915 with 128 US citizens aboard, Wilson said `` America is too proud to fight '' and demanded an end to attacks on passenger ships. Germany complied. Wilson repeatedly warned that the US would not tolerate unrestricted submarine warfare in violation of international law and of human rights. Wilson came under pressure from war hawks led by former president Theodore Roosevelt, who denounced German acts as `` piracy '', and from British delegations under Cecil Spring Rice and Sir Edward Grey. Wilson realized he needed to enter the war in order to shape the peace ; indeed in 1919 he was one of those who achieved the establishment of the League of Nations at the Paris Peace Conference. Wilson 's Secretary of State, William Jennings Bryan, whose pacifist goals Wilson ignored, resigned in frustration in June 1915. Public opinion reacted with outrage to suspected German sabotage of Black Tom in Jersey City, New Jersey on 30 July 1916, and to the Kingsland explosion on 11 January 1917 in present - day Lyndhurst, New Jersey. Public opinion See also : Opposition to World War I American public opinion was divided, with most Americans until early 1917 largely of the opinion that the United States should stay out of the war. Opinion changed gradually, partly in response to German actions in Belgium and the Lusitania, partly as German Americans lost influence, and partly in response to Wilson 's position that America had to play a role to make the world safe for democracy. In the general public, there was little if any support for entering the war on the side of Germany. The great majority of German Americans, as well as Scandinavian Americans, wanted the United States to remain neutral ; however, at the outbreak of war, thousands of US citizens had tried to enlist in the German army. The Irish Catholic community, based in the large cities and often in control of the Democratic Party apparatus, was strongly hostile to helping Britain in any way, especially after the Easter uprising of 1916 in Ireland. Most of the Protestant church leaders in the United States, regardless of their theology, favoured pacifistic solutions whereby the United States would broker a peace. Most of the leaders of the women 's movement, typified by Jane Addams, likewise sought pacifistic solutions. The most prominent opponent of war was industrialist Henry Ford, who personally financed and led a peace ship to Europe to try to negotiate among the belligerents ; no negotiations resulted. Britain had significant support among intellectuals, Yankees, and families with close ties to Britain. The most prominent leader was Samuel Insull of Chicago, a leading industrialist who had emigrated from England. Insull funded many propaganda efforts, and financed young Americans who wished to fight by joining the Canadian military, Canada at that time being a Dominion of the British Empire. Preparedness movement Main article : Preparedness Movement By 1915, Americans were paying much more attention to the war. The sinking of the Lusitania aroused furious denunciations of German brutality. By 1915, in Eastern cities a new `` Preparedness '' movement emerged. It argued that the United States needed to build up immediately strong naval and land forces for defensive purposes ; an unspoken assumption was that America would fight sooner or later. The driving forces behind Preparedness were all Republicans, notably General Leonard Wood, ex-president Theodore Roosevelt, and former secretaries of war Elihu Root and Henry Stimson ; they enlisted many of the nation 's most prominent bankers, industrialists, lawyers and scions of prominent families. Indeed, there emerged an `` Atlanticist '' foreign policy establishment, a group of influential Americans drawn primarily from upper - class lawyers, bankers, academics, and politicians of the Northeast, committed to a strand of Anglophile internationalism. The Preparedness movement had what political scientists call a `` realism '' philosophy of world affairs -- they believed that economic strength and military muscle were more decisive than idealistic crusades focused on causes like democracy and national self - determination. Emphasizing over and over the weak state of national defences, they showed that the United States ' 100,000 - man Army, even augmented by the 112,000 - strong National Guard, was outnumbered 20 to one by the German army ; similarly in 1915, the armed forces of Great Britain and the British Empire, France, Russia, the Austro - Hungarian Empire, Ottoman Empire, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Belgium, Japan and Greece were all larger and more experienced than the United States military. They called for UMT or `` universal military service '' under which the 600,000 men who turned 18 every year would be required to spend six months in military training, and then be assigned to reserve units. The small regular army would primarily be a training agency. Public opinion, however, was not willing to go that far. Both the regular army and the Preparedness leaders had a low opinion of the National Guard, which it saw as politicized, provincial, poorly armed, ill trained, too inclined to idealistic crusading ( as against Spain in 1898 ), and too lacking in understanding of world affairs. The National Guard on the other hand was securely rooted in state and local politics, with representation from a very broad cross section of the US political economy. The Guard was one of the nation 's few institutions that ( in some northern states ) accepted black men on an equal footing with white men. Democrats respond This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( September 2016 ) The Democratic party saw the Preparedness movement as a threat. Roosevelt, Root and Wood were prospective Republican presidential candidates. More subtly, the Democrats were rooted in localism that appreciated the National Guard, and the voters were hostile to the rich and powerful in the first place. Working with the Democrats who controlled Congress, Wilson was able to sidetrack the Preparedness forces. Army and Navy leaders were forced to testify before Congress to the effect that the nation 's military was in excellent shape. In reality, neither the US Army nor US Navy was in shape for war in terms of manpower, size, military hardware or experience. The Navy had fine ships but Wilson had been using them to threaten Mexico, and the fleet 's readiness had suffered. The crews of the Texas and the New York, the two newest and largest battleships, had never fired a gun, and the morale of the sailors was low. The Army and Navy air forces were tiny in size. Despite the flood of new weapons systems unveiled in the war in Europe, the Army was paying scant attention. For example, it was making no studies of trench warfare, poison gas or tanks, and was unfamiliar with the rapid evolution of Aerial warfare. The Democrats in Congress tried to cut the military budget in 1915. The Preparedness movement effectively exploited the surge of outrage over the `` Lusitania '' in May 1915, forcing the Democrats to promise some improvements to the military and naval forces. Wilson, less fearful of the Navy, embraced a long - term building program designed to make the fleet the equal of the British Royal Navy by the mid-1920s, although this would not come to pass until after World War II. `` Realism '' was at work here ; the admirals were Mahanians and they therefore wanted a surface fleet of heavy battleships second to none -- that is, equal to Great Britain. The facts of submarine warfare ( which necessitated destroyers, not battleships ) and the possibilities of imminent war with Germany ( or with Britain, for that matter ), were simply ignored. Wilson 's decision touched off a firestorm. Secretary of War Lindley Garrison adopted many of the proposals of the Preparedness leaders, especially their emphasis on a large federal reserves and abandonment of the National Guard. Garrison 's proposals not only outraged the provincial politicians of both parties, they also offended a strongly held belief shared by the liberal wing of the Progressive movement, that was, that warfare always had a hidden economic motivation. Specifically, they warned the chief warmongers were New York bankers ( such as J.P. Morgan ) with millions at risk, profiteering munition makers ( such as Bethlehem Steel, which made armour, and DuPont, which made powder ) and unspecified industrialists searching for global markets to control. Antiwar critics blasted them. These selfish special interests were too powerful, especially, Senator La Follette noted, in the conservative wing of the Republican Party. The only road to peace was disarmament in the eyes of many. National debate Garrison 's plan unleashed the fiercest battle in peacetime history over the relationship of military planning to national goals. In peacetime, War Department arsenals and Navy yards manufactured nearly all munitions that lacked civilian uses, including warships, artillery, naval guns, and shells. Items available on the civilian market, such as food, horses, saddles, wagons, and uniforms were always purchased from civilian contractors. Peace leaders like Jane Addams of Hull House and David Starr Jordan of Stanford University redoubled their efforts, and now turned their voices against the President because he was `` sowing the seeds of militarism, raising up a military and naval caste. '' Many ministers, professors, farm spokesmen and labor union leaders joined in, with powerful support from a band of four dozen southern Democrats in Congress who took control of the House Military Affairs Committee. Wilson, in deep trouble, took his cause to the people in a major speaking tour in early 1916, a warm - up for his reelection campaign that fall. Wilson seemed to have won over the middle classes, but had little impact on the largely ethnic working classes and the deeply isolationist farmers. Congress still refused to budge, so Wilson replaced Garrison as Secretary of War with Newton Baker, the Democratic mayor of Cleveland and an outspoken opponent of preparedness. The upshot was a compromise passed in May 1916, as the war raged on and Berlin was debating whether America was so weak it could be ignored. The Army was to double in size to 11,300 officers and 208,000 men, with no reserves, and a National Guard that would be enlarged in five years to 440,000 men. Summer camps on the Plattsburg model were authorized for new officers, and the government was given $20 million to build a nitrate plant of its own. Preparedness supporters were downcast, the antiwar people were jubilant. The United States would now be too weak to go to war. Colonel Robert L. Bullard privately complained that `` Both sides ( Britain and Germany ) treat us with scorn and contempt ; our fool, smug conceit of superiority has been exploded in our faces and deservedly. ''. The House gutted the naval plans as well, defeating a `` big navy '' plan by 189 to 183, and scuttling the battleships. The battle of Jutland ( May 31 / June 1, 1916 ) saw the main German High Seas Fleet engage in a monumental yet inconclusive clash with the far stronger Grand Fleet of the Royal Navy. Arguing this battle proved the validity of Mahanian doctrine, the navalists took control in the Senate, broke the House coalition, and authorized a rapid three - year buildup of all classes of warships. A new weapons system, naval aviation, received $3.5 million, and the government was authorized to build its own armour - plate factory. The very weakness of American military power encouraged Berlin to start its unrestricted submarine attacks in 1917. It knew this meant war with America, but it could discount the immediate risk because the US Army was negligible and the new warships would not be at sea until 1919 by which time the war would be over, Germany thought, with Germany victorious. The notion that armaments led to war was turned on its head : refusal to arm in 1916 led to war in 1917. War declared New York Times April 3, 1917 In January 1917, Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare. The German Foreign minister, Arthur Zimmermann invited revolution - torn Mexico to join the war as Germany 's ally against the United States in the Zimmermann Telegram. In return, the Germans would send Mexico money and help it recover the territories of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona that Mexico lost during the Mexican -- American War 70 years earlier. British intelligence intercepted the telegram and passed the information on to Washington. Wilson released the Zimmerman note to the public and Americans saw it as a casus belli -- a cause for war. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with the German Empire on February 3, 1917. At first, Wilson tried to maintain neutrality while fighting off the submarines by arming American merchant ships with guns powerful enough to sink German submarines on the surface ( but useless when the U-boats were under water ). After submarines sank seven US merchant ships, Wilson finally went to Congress calling for a declaration of war on Germany, which Congress voted on April 6, 1917. As a result of the Russian February Revolution in 1917, the Tsar abdicated and was replaced by a Russian Provisional Government. This helped overcome Wilson 's reluctance to having the US fight alongside a country ruled by an absolutist monarch. Pleased by the Provisional Government 's pro-war stance, the US accorded the new government diplomatic recognition on March 9, 1917. Although the United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, it did not initially declare war on the other Central Powers, a state of affairs that Woodrow Wilson described as an `` embarrassing obstacle '' in his State of the Union speech. Congress declared war on the Austro - Hungarian Empire on December 7, 1917, but never made declarations of war against the other Central Powers, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire or the various co-belligerents allied with the Central Powers. Thus, the United States remained uninvolved in the military campaigns in central and eastern Europe, the Middle East, the Caucasus, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Home front Main article : United States home front during World War I The home front saw a systematic mobilization of the entire population and the entire economy to produce the soldiers, food supplies, munitions, and money needed to win the war. Although the United States entered the war in 1917, there had been very little planning, or even recognition of the problems that the British and other Allies had to solve on their home fronts. As a result, the level of confusion was high in the first 12 months, then efficiency took control. World War I propaganda poster for enlistment in the US Army. The war came in the midst of the Progressive Era, when efficiency and expertise were highly valued. Therefore, the federal government set up a multitude of temporary agencies with 500,000 to 1,000,000 new employees to bring together the expertise necessary to redirect the economy into the production of munitions and food necessary for the war, as well as for propaganda purposes. Food The United States Food Administration under Herbert Hoover launched a massive campaign to teach Americans to economize on their food budgets and grow victory gardens in their backyards, where crops were grown for US soldiers. It managed the nation 's food distribution and prices. Propaganda Crucial to US participation was the sweeping domestic propaganda campaign executed by the Committee on Public Information, overseen by George Creel. The campaign consisted of tens of thousands of government - selected community leaders giving brief carefully scripted pro-war speeches at thousands of public gatherings. Along with other branches of government and private vigilante groups like the American Protective League, it also included the general repression and harassment of people either opposed to American entry into the war or of German heritage. Rumors about a German - induced attempt to start uprising among Black Americans caused a wave of lynchings to occur in the Southern United States. Other forms of propaganda included newsreels, photos, large - print posters ( designed by several well - known illustrators of the day, including Louis D. Fancher and Henry Reuterdahl ), magazine and newspaper articles, and billboards. Children Main article : Effect of World War I on children in the United States `` Weapons for Liberty -- U.S.A. Bonds '' calls on Boy Scouts to serve just like soldiers do ; poster by J.C. Leyendecker, 1918 The nation placed a great importance on the role of children, teaching them patriotism and national service and asking them to encourage war support and educate the public about the importance of the war. The Boy Scouts of America helped distribute war pamphlets, helped sell war bonds, and helped to drive nationalism and support for the war. Army and Navy Main article : American Expeditionary Forces The United States as late as 1917 maintained only a small army, and smaller than thirteen of the nations and empires already active in the war. After the passage of the Selective Service Act in 1917, it drafted 4 million men into military service. By the summer of 1918, about 2 million US soldiers had arrived in France, about half of whom eventually saw front - line service ; by the Armistice of November 11 approximately 10,000 fresh soldiers were arriving in France daily. In 1917, Congress gave US citizenship to Puerto Ricans when they were drafted to participate in World War I, as part of the Jones Act. In the end, Germany miscalculated the United States ' influence on the outcome of the conflict, believing it would be many more months before US troops would arrive and overestimating the effectiveness of U-boats in slowing the American buildup. American soldiers on the Piave front hurling hand grenades into the Austrian trenches The United States Navy sent a battleship group to Scapa Flow to join with the British Grand Fleet, destroyers to Queenstown, Ireland and submarines to help guard convoys. Several regiments of Marines were also dispatched to France. The British and French wanted US units used to reinforce their troops already on the battle lines and not to waste scarce shipping on bringing over supplies. The US rejected the first proposition and accepted the second. General John J. Pershing, American Expeditionary Forces ( AEF ) commander, refused to break up US units to serve as mere reinforcements for British Empire and French units. As an exception, he did allow African - American combat regiments to fight in French divisions. The Harlem Hellfighters fought as part of the French 16th Division, earning a unit Croix de Guerre for their actions at Château - Thierry, Belleau Wood, and Séchault. Impact of US forces on the war Americans in the Champagne - Marne offensive, 1918. On the battlefields of France in spring 1918, the war - weary Allied armies enthusiastically welcomed the fresh American troops. They arrived at the rate of 10,000 a day, at a time when the Germans were unable to replace their losses. The Americans won a victory at Cantigny, then again in defensive stands at Chateau - Thierry and Belleau Wood. The Americans helped the British Empire, French and Portuguese forces defeat and turned back the powerful final German offensive ( Spring Offensive of March to July, 1918 ), and most importantly, the Americans played a role in the Allied final offensive ( Hundred Days Offensive of August to November ). However, many American commanders used the same flawed tactics which the British, French, Germans and others had abandoned early in the war, and so many American offensives were not particularly effective. Pershing continued to commit troops to these full - frontal attacks, resulting in high casualties against experienced veteran German and Austrian - Hungarian units. Nevertheless, the infusion of new and fresh US troops greatly strengthened the Allies ' strategic position and boosted morale. The Allies achieved victory over Germany on November 11, 1918 after German morale had collapsed both at home and on the battlefield. After the war Britain, France, Italy and America imposed severe economic penalties on Germany in the Treaty of Versailles, and both the British and French empires annexed former German and Ottoman Empire colonies in Africa, the Middle East and the Pacific. Russia was not involved in this because of their withdrawal from the war soon after the Russian revolution in 1917. The United States swiftly pulled its troops out of Europe after Germany had surrendered. Two thirds of the American soldiers participating in the war had returned home already when the Treaty of Versailles was signed. Only a lone U.S. Army unit was left in the European soil at end of the decade. The United States Senate did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles ; instead, the United States signed separate peace treaties with Germany, Austria and Hungary in August 1921. The Senate also refused to enter the newly created League of Nations on Wilson 's terms, and Wilson rejected the Senate 's compromise proposal. See also World War I portal United States campaigns in World War I History of the United States ( 1865 -- 1918 ) German prisoners of war in the United States References Jump up ^ `` The 1918 Influenza Pandemic ''. Virus.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2016 - 11 - 06. Jump up ^ Jeanette Keith ( 2004 ). Rich Man 's War, Poor Man 's Fight : Race, Class, and Power in the Rural South during the First World War. U. of North Carolina Press. pp. 1 -- 5. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8078 - 7589 - 6. Jump up ^ Barnes, Harry Elmer. The Genesis of the World War ( 1925 ) pp. 590 -- 591 Jump up ^ `` World War One ''. BBC History. Jump up ^ Link, Arthur S. ( 1972 ). Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910 -- 1917. New York : Harper & Row. pp. 252 -- 282. Jump up ^ H.J. Res. 169 : Declaration of War with Austria - Hungary, WWI, United States Senate Jump up ^ Jennifer K. Elsea ; Matthew C. Weed ( April 18, 2014 ). `` Declarations of War and Authorizations for the Use of Military Force : Historical Background and Legal Implications '' ( PDF ). p. 9. Retrieved July 21, 2014. Jump up ^ Kero, Reino ; Kostiainen, Auvo ; Virtanen, Keijo ( 1991 ). Uuden Maailman Jättiläinen : Yhdysvaltain historia ( in Finnish ). Keuruu : Otava. p. 332. ISBN 951 - 1 - 11435 - 2. Jump up ^ H.W. Brands, T.R. : The Last Romantic ( 1997 ) p = 756 Jump up ^ Karp 1979 Jump up ^ Jules Witcover, Black Tom : Imperial Germany 's Secret War in America ( 1989 ). Jump up ^ Ernest R. May, The World War and American Isolation, 1914 - 1917 ( 1959 ) Jump up ^ Hew Strachan, The First World War ( 2003 ) Jump up ^ TV Series, The First World War Part 7 : Blockade ( 2003 ) Jump up ^ William M. Leary, Jr., `` Woodrow Wilson, Irish Americans, and the Election of 1916, '' Journal of American History Vol. 54, No. 1 ( Jun. 1967 ), pp. 57 - 72 JSTOR 1900319 Jump up ^ Patricia Appelbaum, Kingdom to Commune : Protestant Pacifist Culture between World War I and the Vietnam Era ( 2009 ) Jump up ^ Frances H. Early, A World without War : How U.S. Feminists and Pacifists Resisted World War I ( 1997 ) Jump up ^ Barbara S. Kraft, The peace ship : Henry Ford 's pacifist adventure in the First World War ( 1978 ) Jump up ^ H.C. Peterson, Propaganda for War : The Campaign Against American Neutrality, 1914 - 1917 ( 1968 ) Jump up ^ Forrest McDonald, Insull : The Rise and Fall of a Billionaire Utility Tycoon ( 2004 ) Jump up ^ `` Constitution Act, 1867 ''. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada. March 29, 1867. p.s. 9. Retrieved September 3, 2012. Jump up ^ Priscilla Roberts, `` Paul D. Cravath, the First World War, and the Anglophile Internationalist Tradition. '' Australian Journal of Politics and History 2005 51 ( 2 ) : 194 - 215. ISSN 0004 - 9522 doi : 10.1111 / j. 1467 - 8497.2005. 00370. x Jump up ^ Scott Manning ( 2007 - 01 - 04 ). `` World War I : Troop Statistics ''. Scottmanning.com. Retrieved 2016 - 11 - 06. Jump up ^ Chambers 93 ; Weigley Army 345 Jump up ^ `` The Royal Navy ''. Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 3 June 2009. Jump up ^ Link, Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era pp 179ff Jump up ^ Daniel R. Beaver, Newton D. Baker and the American War Effort, 1917 - 1919 ( 1966 ) Jump up ^ Allan Millett, The general : Robert L. Bullard and officership in the United States Army, 1881 - 1925 ( 1975 ) p. 293 Jump up ^ Barbara Tuchman, The Zimmerman Telegram ( 1966 ) Jump up ^ see : Woodrow Wilson declares war on Germany. 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Jump up ^ Kennedy, Over Here pp 59 -- 72 Jump up ^ Kero, Reino ; Kostiainen, Auvo ; Virtanen, Keijo ( 1991 ). Uuden Maailman Jättiläinen : Yhdysvaltain historia ( in Finnish ). Keuruu : Otava. p. 335. ISBN 951 - 1 - 11435 - 2. Jump up ^ Stephen Vaughn, Holding Fast the Inner Lines : Democracy, Nationalism, and the Committee on Public Information ( 1980 ) Jump up ^ Jay Mechling, On My Honor : Boy Scouts and the Making of American Youth ( 2004 ) p 128 Jump up ^ `` Selective Service System : History and Records ''. Sss.gov. Archived from the original on May 7, 2009. Retrieved July 27, 2010. ^ Jump up to : `` World War I Timeline - 1918 - A Fateful Ending ''. The History Place. Retrieved 2016 - 11 - 06. Jump up ^ Wilgus, p. 52 Jump up ^ Teaching With Documents : Photographs of the 369th Infantry and African Americans during World War I, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, retrieved October 29, 2009 Jump up ^ Ferguson, Niall ( 1998 ). The Pity of War. Penguin. Jump up ^ Edward M. Coffman, The War to End All Wars : The American Military Experience in World War I ( 1998 ) Jump up ^ Kero, Reino ; Kostiainen, Auvo ; Virtanen, Keijo ( 1991 ). Uuden Maailman Jättiläinen : Yhdysvaltain historia ( in Finnish ). Keuruu : Otava. p. 344. ISBN 951 - 1 - 11435 - 2. Jump up ^ Kero, Reino ; Kostiainen, Auvo ; Virtanen, Keijo ( 1991 ). Uuden Maailman Jättiläinen : Yhdysvaltain historia ( in Finnish ). Keuruu : Otava. pp. 342 -- 343. ISBN 951 - 1 - 11435 - 2. Further reading Bassett, John Spencer. Our War with Germany : A History ( 1919 ) online edition Breen, William J. Uncle Sam at Home : Civilian Mobilization, Wartime Federalism, and the Council of National Defense, 1917 - 1919 ( 1984 ) ) Capozzola, Christopher. Uncle Sam Wants You : World War I and the Making of the Modern American Citizen ( 2008 ) Carlisle, Rodney. Sovereignty at Sea : U.S. Merchant Ships and American Entry into World War I ( 2010 ) Chambers, John W., II. To Raise an Army : The Draft Comes to Modern America ( 1987 ) Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson ( 1992 ) Coffman, Edward M. The War to End All Wars : The American Military Experience in World War I ( 1998 ), a standard military history Cooper, John Milton. Woodrow Wilson : A Biography ( 2009 ) Cooper, John Milton. `` The World War and American Memory. '' Diplomatic History ( 2014 ) 38 # 4 pp : 727 - 736. DuBois, W.E. Burghardt, `` An Essay Toward a History of the Black Man in the Great War, '' The Crisis, vol. 18, no. 2 ( June 1919 ), pp. 63 -- 87. Ferrell, Robert H. Woodrow Wilson and World War I, 1917 - 1921 ( 1986 ) Kennedy, David M. Over Here : The First World War and American Society ( 2004 ), comprehensive coverage Malin, James C. The United States After the World War ( 1930 ) online Marrin, Albert. The Yanks Are Coming : The United States in the First World War ( 1986 ) May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914 - 1917 ( 1959 ) online at ACLS e-books, highly influential study Nash, George H. The Life of Herbert Hoover : Master of Emergencies, 1917 - 1918 ( 1996 ) excerpt and text search Schaffer, Ronald. America in the Great War : The Rise of the War - Welfare State ( 1991 ) Snow, William J. Signposts of Experience : World War Memoits of Major General William J. Snow, USA - Retired, Chief of Field Artillery 1918 - 1927. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, May 15, 2014. ISBN 978 - 1499673777. Tucker, Spencer C., and Priscilla Mary Roberts, eds. The Encyclopedia of World War I : A Political, Social, and Military History ( 5 vol. 2005 ) Van Ells, Mark D. `` America and World War I : A Traveler 's Guide '' ( 2014 ) Vaughn, Stephen. Holding Fast the Inner Lines : Democracy, Nationalism, and the Committee on Public Information ( University of North Carolina Press, 1980 ) Venzon, Anne ed. The United States in the First World War : An Encyclopedia ( 1995 ) Young, Ernest William. The Wilson Administration and the Great War ( 1922 ) online edition Zieger, Robert H. America 's Great War : World War I and the American Experience ( 2000 ) Historiography Keene, Jennifer D. `` Remembering the `` Forgotten War '' : American Historiography on World War I. '' Historian 78 # 3 ( 2016 ) : 439 - 468. External links First - hand accounts of World War I veterans, The Library of Congress Veterans History Project. Wikimedia Commons has media related to World War I homefront in the United States. World War I Home fronts Theatres European Balkans Western Front Eastern Front Italian Front Middle Eastern Gallipoli Sinai and Palestine Caucasus Persia Mesopotamia South Arabia African South West East Kamerun Togoland North Asian and Pacific Tsingtao German New Guinea and Samoa At sea North Atlantic U-boat campaign Mediterranean North Sea Baltic Indian, Pacific and South Atlantic Oceans Papeete Madras Penang Cocos Coronel Falkland Islands Más a Tierra Principal participants ( people ) Entente powers Belgium Brazil China France French Empire Greece Italy Japan Montenegro Portuguese Empire Romania Russia Russian Empire Russian Republic Serbia United Kingdom British Empire United States Central Powers Germany Austria - Hungary Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Timeline Pre-War conflicts Scramble for Africa ( 1880 -- 1914 ) Russo - Japanese War ( 1905 ) First Moroccan ( Tangier ) Crisis ( 1905 -- 06 ) Agadir Crisis ( 1911 ) Italo - Turkish War ( 1911 -- 12 ) French conquest of Morocco ( 1911 -- 12 ) First Balkan War ( 1912 -- 13 ) Second Balkan War ( 1913 ) Prelude Origins Sarajevo assassination Anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo July Crisis Autumn 1914 Battle of the Frontiers Battle of Cer First Battle of the Marne Siege of Tsingtao Battle of Tannenberg Battle of Galicia Battle of the Masurian Lakes Battle of Kolubara Battle of Sarikamish Race to the Sea First Battle of Ypres 1915 Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes Second Battle of Ypres Battle of Gallipoli Second Battle of Artois Battles of the Isonzo Gorlice -- Tarnów Offensive Great Retreat Second Battle of Champagne Kosovo Offensive Siege of Kut Battle of Loos 1916 Erzurum Offensive Battle of Verdun Lake Naroch Offensive Battle of Asiago Battle of Jutland Battle of the Somme first day Brusilov Offensive Baranovichi Offensive Battle of Romani Monastir Offensive Battle of Transylvania 1917 Capture of Baghdad First Battle of Gaza Zimmermann Telegram Second Battle of Arras Second Battle of the Aisne Kerensky Offensive Third Battle of Ypres ( Passchendaele ) Battle of Mărășești Battle of Caporetto Southern Palestine Offensive Battle of Cambrai Armistice of Erzincan 1918 Operation Faustschlag Treaty of Brest - Litovsk Spring Offensive Second Battle of the Marne Battle of Baku Hundred Days Offensive Vardar Offensive Battle of Megiddo Third Transjordan attack Meuse - Argonne Offensive Battle of Vittorio Veneto Battle of Aleppo Armistice of Salonica Armistice of Mudros Armistice of Villa Giusti Armistice with Germany Other conflicts Mexican Revolution ( 1910 -- 20 ) Somaliland Campaign ( 1910 -- 20 ) Libyan resistance movement ( 1911 -- 43 ) Maritz Rebellion ( 1914 -- 15 ) Zaian War ( 1914 -- 21 ) Indo - German Conspiracy ( 1914 -- 19 ) Senussi Campaign ( 1915 -- 16 ) Volta - Bani War ( 1915 -- 17 ) Easter Rising ( 1916 ) Anglo - Egyptian Darfur Expedition ( 1916 ) Kaocen Revolt ( 1916 -- 17 ) Central Asian Revolt ( 1916 - 17 ) Russian Revolution ( 1917 ) Finnish Civil War ( 1918 ) Post-War conflicts Russian Civil War ( 1917 -- 21 ) Ukrainian -- Soviet War ( 1917 -- 21 ) Armenian -- Azerbaijani War ( 1918 -- 20 ) Georgian -- Armenian War ( 1918 ) German Revolution ( 1918 -- 19 ) Revolutions and interventions in Hungary ( 1918 -- 20 ) Hungarian -- Romanian War ( 1918 -- 19 ) Greater Poland Uprising ( 1918 -- 19 ) Estonian War of Independence ( 1918 -- 20 ) Latvian War of Independence ( 1918 -- 20 ) Lithuanian Wars of Independence ( 1918 -- 20 ) Third Anglo - Afghan War ( 1919 ) Egyptian Revolution ( 1919 ) Polish -- Ukrainian War ( 1918 -- 19 ) Polish -- Soviet War ( 1919 -- 21 ) Irish War of Independence ( 1919 -- 21 ) Turkish War of Independence Greco - Turkish War ( 1919 -- 22 ) Turkish -- Armenian War ( 1920 ) Iraqi revolt ( 1920 ) Polish -- Lithuanian War ( 1920 ) Vlora War ( 1920 ) Franco - Syrian War ( 1920 ) Soviet -- Georgian War ( 1921 ) Irish Civil War ( 1922 -- 23 ) Aspects Opposition Pacifism Anti-war movement Deployment Schlieffen Plan ( German ) Plan XVII ( French ) Warfare Military engagements Naval warfare Convoy system Air warfare Cryptography Room 40 Horse use Poison gas Railways Strategic bombing Technology Trench warfare Total war Christmas truce Last surviving veterans Civilian impact Atrocities Prisoners Casualties Economic history 1918 flu pandemic Destruction of Kalisz Rape of Belgium German occupation of Belgium German occupation of Luxembourg German occupation of northeastern France Ober Ost Ottoman people Armenian Genocide Assyrian genocide Pontic Greek genocide Urkun ( Kyrgyzstan ) Blockade of Germany Women Australia Popular culture German prisoners of war in the United States Agreements Partition of the Ottoman Empire Sykes -- Picot Agreement Agreement of Saint - Jean - de-Maurienne French - Armenian Agreement Damascus Protocol Paris Peace Conference Venizelos -- Tittoni agreement Treaties Treaty of Brest - Litovsk Treaty of Lausanne Treaty of London Treaty of Neuilly Treaty of St. Germain Treaty of Sèvres Treaty of Trianon Treaty of Versailles Consequences Aftermath `` Fourteen Points '' League of Nations World War I memorials Centenary outbreak Category Portal Armed conflicts involving the United States Armed Forces listed chronologically Domestic Shays ' Rebellion Whiskey Rebellion Fries 's Rebellion Mormon War Dorr Rebellion Bleeding Kansas Utah War Civil War Indian Wars Brooks -- Baxter War Range War Lincoln County War Johnson County War Coal Creek War Homestead Strike Battle of Blair Mountain Bonus Army Battle of Athens Foreign Revolutionary War Quasi-War First Barbary War War of 1812 Second Barbary War First Sumatran expedition Second Sumatran expedition Ivory Coast Expedition Mexican -- American War First Fiji Expedition Second Opium War Second Fiji Expedition Formosa Expedition Korean Expedition Spanish -- American War Philippine -- American War Boxer Rebellion Banana Wars Border War World War I Russian Civil War World War II Korean War Vietnam War Invasion of the Dominican Republic Invasion of Grenada Lebanese Civil War Invasion of Panama Gulf War Somali Civil War Bosnian War Kosovo War Afghanistan War Iraq War War in North - West Pakistan Libyan Civil War Intervention against ISIL Iraq Syria Cameroon Libya Related articles List of conflicts in the U.S. List of wars involving the U.S. Timeline of U.S. military operations Length of U.S. participation in major wars Overseas expansion Military history Covert regime - change actions Casualties of war Peace movement List of anti-war organizations Conscientious objector War on Terror History of World War I by region and country Africa Angola East Africa Egypt Liberia Morocco South Africa South West Africa Southern Rhodesia North America Canada United States South America Brazil Asia Caucasus India Iran Iraq Japan Levant Siam Vietnam Yemen Europe Austria - Hungary Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Estonia France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Luxembourg Poland Ottoman Empire Portugal Romania Russia Serbia Spain Sweden Switzerland Ukraine United Kingdom Oceania Australia New Zealand History of the United States Timeline Prehistory Pre-Columbian Colonial 1776 -- 89 1789 -- 1849 1849 -- 65 1865 -- 1918 1918 -- 45 1945 -- 64 1964 -- 80 1980 -- 91 1991 -- 2008 2008 -- present Topics American Century Cities Constitution Demographic Diplomatic Economic Education Immigration Medical Merchant Marine Military Musical Religious Slavery Southern Technological and industrial Territorial acquisitions Territorial evolution Voting rights Women Category Portal Woodrow Wilson 28th President of the United States ( 1913 -- 1921 ) 34th Governor of New Jersey ( 1911 -- 1913 ) 13th President of Princeton University ( 1902 -- 1910 ) Presidency 1913 inauguration Suffrage Parade 1917 inauguration The New Freedom Clayton Antitrust Act Farm Loan Act Federal Employees ' Compensation Act Federal Reserve System Federal Reserve Act Federal Income Tax amendment Federal Trade Commission Act Federal Trade Commission Revenue Act of 1913 Flag Day National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Occupation of Haiti Bryan -- Chamorro Treaty Philippine Autonomy Act World War I entry campaigns home front Committee on Public Information Espionage Act of 1917 Selective Service Act of 1917 Four Minute Men Sedition Act of 1918 National War Labor Board The Inquiry American Commission to Negotiate Peace Paris Peace Conference, 1919 Treaty of Versailles The Big Four Fourteen Points League of Nations charter 1919 Nobel Peace Prize Wilsonian Armenia Silent Sentinels Women 's Suffrage amendment Roosevelt desk Judicial appointments Supreme Court Cabinet State of the Union Address 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1920 Life Birthplace and Presidential Library papers and manuscripts Boyhood home in Georgia Boyhood home in South Carolina Princeton University president Summer White House ( Harlakenden Shadow Lawn ) Woodrow Wilson House Gravesite Books Congressional Government When a Man Comes to Himself The New Freedom ( 1913 ) Elections New Jersey gubernatorial election, 1910 1912 Democratic National Convention 1912 U.S. presidential election 1916 Democratic National Convention 1916 U.S. presidential election Legacy Wilsonianism Woodrow Wilson Foundation Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs Celestial Sphere Woodrow Wilson Memorial Woodrow Wilson Bridge Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation U.S. Postage stamps U.S. Currency Popular culture Wilson ( 1944 film ) Profiles in Courage ( 1965 series ) Wilson ( 2013 book ) Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of the American Century ( 2002 documentary ) Family Joseph Ruggles Wilson ( father ) Jessie Janet Woodrow ( mother ) Ellen Axson Wilson ( wife, 1885 -- 1914 ; death ) Edith Bolling Wilson ( wife, 1915 -- 1924 ) Margaret Wilson ( daughter ) Jessie Wilson Sayre ( daughter ) Eleanor Wilson McAdoo ( daughter ) William McAdoo ( son - in - law ) Francis Sayre, Jr. ( grandson ) James Woodrow ( maternal uncle ) Related Progressive Era Jefferson Literary and Debating Society ← William Howard Taft Warren G. Harding → Category Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_in_World_War_I&oldid=815904697 '' Categories : World War I United States in World War I Hidden categories : CS1 Finnish - language sources ( fi ) All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from December 2015 Articles with unsourced statements from February 2011 Articles needing additional references from September 2016 All articles needing additional references Articles with unsourced statements from September 2011 Articles with unsourced statements from May 2017 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Беларуская Български فارسی Français עברית Norsk Русский Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 17 December 2017, at 23 : 38. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. 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Question: when did the us get involved in world war 1
Answer: April 1917