For Bob, who relived World War I with me day after day and never lost interest

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Osborne, Linda Barrett, 1949– author.
Title: Come on in, America : the United States and World War I / Linda Barrett Osborne.
Description: New York : Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016036830 | ISBN 9781419723780
eISBN: 9781683350583
Subjects: LCSH: World War, 1914–1918—United States—Juvenile literature. | World War, 1914–1918—Juvenile literature.
Classification: LCC D522.7 .O73 2017 | DDC 940.3/73—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016036830

Text copyright © 2017 Linda Barrett Osborne
Book design by Pamela Notarantonio
For image credits, see this page.

Published in 2017 by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS.
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Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 War Begins in Europe

Chapter 2 The United States Stays Neutral—or Does It?

Chapter 3 The United States Joins the Fight

Chapter 4 New and Improved Weapons

Chapter 5 The War on Our Home Front

Chapter 6 African Americans at War and at Home

Chapter 7 Women, Suffrage, and Service

Chapter 8 Peace with Victory and a Price

Chapter 9 War’s Legacy

Time Line of Key Events

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Image Credits

Acknowledgments

Index of Searchable Terms

This poster plays on a phrase made famous by President Woodrow Wilson—“The world must be made safe for democracy”—in calling men to join the navy after the United States entered World War I.

Introduction

On April 6, 1917, the United States Congress, following President Woodrow Wilson’s request, declared war on Germany. Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the other “Central Powers” had been at war with Britain, France, Russia, and the other “Allied Countries” since 1914. The U.S. government, led by Wilson, had tried to remain neutral, not taking sides. At first, most Americans agreed the country should stay out of the messy, deadly European conflict. But as the war continued, staying neutral became more complicated. Large immigrant populations in the United States, including those from the warring countries, supported different sides in Europe. Lending money and selling weapons and other products to nations at war was good for American businesses. Some Americans, if not eager for battle, wanted to train an army to be prepared in case of war. Others were pacifists who believed war was morally wrong. Both those who believed in “preparedness” and those who believed in pacifism expressed strong views in Congress, in newspapers and magazines, and in public speeches.

In early 1917, Germany’s renewed policy of torpedoing merchant and passenger ships—even American ships—on their way to Allied Countries was the apparent cause that led to the American declaration of war. But the underlying reasons were more complex. They included the desire of American businesses to continue trading for profit and Wilson’s own mission: to be one of the Allies and thus better able to influence the terms of peace. When he asked Congress to declare war, Wilson spoke about the attacks at sea—“we will not choose the path of submission and suffer the most sacred rights of our nation and our people to be ignored or violated.” He spoke against the German government, which he called “autocratic”—ruled only and absolutely by Kaiser [Emperor] Wilhelm II and not by elected officials: “. . . the menace to . . . peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic governments backed by organized force which is controlled wholly by their will, not by the will of their people.”

“The world must be made safe for democracy,” Wilson famously stated. “Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. . . . We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them.” He concluded, “the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts—for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, . . . for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free.”

With such idealistic aspirations on record, the United States entered World War I. It was in the war for nineteen months. Although many believed the fighting would last longer, the warring countries declared a truce on November 11, 1918. In all, an estimated 9 to 10 million soldiers died. The United States sent about 2 million men and women to Europe; approximately 53,500 Americans were killed in battle, and 63,000 more died from disease and accidents. Because we fought for a relatively short time and lost fewer people killed or wounded—compared with other countries—World War I has not been at the forefront of America’s memory. We pay much more attention to World War II, the Vietnam War, and conflicts of the twenty-first century, and also, looking back, to the American Revolutionary War and the Civil War.

Yet in addition to the military experience in Europe, and the grief for those who died overseas, the United States experienced momentous changes at home brought on by what was at first called “the Great War,” then “the World War,” and then (following World War II) “World War I.” The conflict marked the beginning of total modern warfare on a scale never before seen. The federal government became involved in business and personal affairs at a new level. The United States became the world’s economic leader. The war changed the boundaries of disloyalty and censorship. Americans were told they were fighting a war for democracy, but with racial segregation rampant in the United States, new laws passed against dissent and espionage, and bankers and industrial leaders gaining increased influence and power, what did democracy mean?

Today, with war and terrorist threats worldwide, we again face the same questions that Americans faced during World War I. How do we protect ourselves as a country? How do we portray the “enemy”? (Woodrow Wilson made a distinction between the German government and the German people, although many Americans did not.) How do we fight stereotypes and prejudice? How do we preserve civil and political rights while also maintaining security? Should rights be sacrificed for safety? How do we live with and confront fear?

World War I provides a context for understanding the politics, policies, and attitudes of the United States today. A hundred years after the “war to end all wars,” we are still looking for answers.

Germany invaded Belgium early in the war, violating its right to be neutral. Britain joined in Belgium’s defense, becoming one of the Allies. This 1915 British poster encourages men to sign up for the army in order to protect innocent Belgians, especially mothers and children.

1
WAR BEGINS IN EUROPE

“Heir to Austrian Throne Assassinated; Wife by His Side Also Shot to Death,” blazed the headline in the New York Tribune on June 29, 1914. “Bullets from a . . . revolver in the hands of [a] . . . youth riddled the heir apparent and his wife. . . . Another terrible chapter has thus been written into the tragic and romantic history of the House of Hapsburg [rulers of Austria-Hungary]. . . . The flying bullets struck [Franz] Ferdinand full in the face. . . . An instant later he . . . sank to the floor of the car in a heap.”

The nineteen-year-old assassin was Gavrilo Princip, one of a group of seven young men who planned to kill Franz Ferdinand. The shooting happened in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, but not the Bosnia on the map today. Bosnia in 1914 was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was a territory much larger than today’s Austria. The empire also included what is now Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, and parts of Poland, Romania, Italy, and Ukraine. It ruled people speaking more than fifteen languages, including German, Hungarian, Czech, Polish, and Italian, as well as the southern Slavic languages. Each had some desire to be independent. There was a movement to unite all Slavic-speaking peoples within their own nation. This was a nationalist movement—supported by people who thought that those with the same language, culture, and history should be able to live in countries governed by themselves.

Princip and his partners were from Serbia, which at the time was a small, independent country whose people spoke a Slavic language. They wanted Bosnia to become part of Serbia. Serbia was a leader in the movement to free Slavic-speaking peoples from Austria-Hungary. Austria-Hungary, however, wanted to control Serbia, stop all nationalist dissent, and rule southeastern Europe. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand set the Austro-Hungarian Empire against Serbia. Many people believe this tense political situation was the start of World War I.

Did a war that came to involve the entire world—a war that involved armies from six continents—really start because one man was shot and killed? In fact, the countries of Europe had been rivals for hundreds of years. So when Princip attacked the Austro-Hungarian heir in Bosnia, there was already a long history of feuding and competition. Austria-Hungary wasn’t alone in wanting to hold more territory and have more power. Britain, France, Russia, and Prussia (which became part of Germany), as well as Austria-Hungary, fought wars against one another during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Russia fought Japan in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–5, over control of land in China and Korea, and lost. Serbia was successful in two Balkan wars in southeastern Europe in 1912 and in 1913. (The “Balkans” is one name for the area in southeastern Europe that includes Serbia.) The first pushed the Turkish (Ottoman) Empire out of some of its European territory. In the second, Serbia defeated Bulgaria, a relatively large country that was a rival for Slavic control.

The boundaries and names of countries were continually changing during this period. Germany, for example, did not become the country known today as Germany until 1871, when the German-speaking region of Prussia united with other German-speaking states to its south. Prussia was already an organized, powerful state. After Germany formed, the country not only built up its military forces but also began claiming colonies in Africa and the Pacific Ocean region. These included Togoland (now Ghana and Togo), the Cameroons (now Nigeria and Cameroon), German East Africa (now Tanzania), and Papua New Guinea. Germany was becoming an imperialistic nation—one that sought control over other countries, through either political arrangements or force.

Germany’s increasing power threatened Britain and France, already major imperialist countries. They had built up colonial empires of their own. Britain had control of countries around the world, including India, South Africa, and parts of China. Countries such as Canada and Australia governed themselves but continued to have close ties to Britain. They would provide military support if Britain ever went to war. France ruled colonies in Africa—including Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, the Ivory Coast, and Senegal—and also in Southeast Asia—Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Having colonies made a country more powerful. The colonies provided raw materials, trading partners, and land for immigrants from the home countries to settle and develop for farming and business. Colonies usually made the home countries richer.

In the early twentieth century, Britain had the largest empire and the largest navy in the world. The new Germany, itself an empire, challenged that supremacy. France had a long history of quarrels with Prussia and the other German territories. (In 1871, France lost a war to Prussia, which then took over parts of what had been French territory, Alsace and Lorraine. The French were still bitter about this loss in 1914.) Russia, which included what is now most of Poland, sat on Germany’s eastern border; it was also Germany’s rival in trying to influence the countries of eastern Europe. By the early twentieth century, Germany felt surrounded by potential enemies. (Britain did not border Germany on land but was superior on the seas off Germany’s coast, although Germany was rapidly building up its own navy.) Germany decided to become the ally of Austria-Hungary—many people in Austria-Hungary spoke German—to balance the power of the other European countries. By the time it joined forces with Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was fairly weak but still trying to control the different nationalities inside its borders. (Austria-Hungary did not have a colonial empire.)

The European countries signed treaties, some of them secret, agreeing to protect one another in case of war. By 1914, Russia had a treaty to defend Serbia. (Russians also spoke a Slavic language.) France had a defensive treaty with Russia and one with Britain. Britain had an agreement to defend Belgium, a small country that had stayed neutral through earlier wars. Austria-Hungary and Germany had a treaty to protect each other. Both countries had a treaty with Italy to protect them if they were attacked first; together the three formed what was known as “the Triple Alliance.” Finally, Japan had an agreement to support Britain in case of war.

Few people expected that all these different treaties would be called upon at the same time or that all these countries would find themselves at war. But even ordinary people could sense that something was changing. “Germany endeavored to act as mediator in the Austro-Russian conflict,” wrote the newspaper Frankfurter Zeitung on July 31, 1914. “In this effort she was supported by England, France, and Italy, because all these Powers, as is clearly shown by the attitude of their Governments and also by the expressions of public opinion, wished to avoid a great European war. But it appears that . . . we are at the beginning of that great European war of which there has been so much talk, but in which no one seriously believed until today.”

The American novelist Edith Wharton noted that “Paris went on steadily about her mid-summer business of feeding, dressing, and amusing the great army of tourists who were the only invaders she had seen for half a century. All the while, every one knew that other work was going on. . . . Paris counted the minutes till the evening papers came. They said little or nothing except what every one was already declaring. . . . ‘We don’t want war.’ . . . If diplomacy could still arrest the war, so much the better; no one in France wanted it. . . . But if war had to come, then the country, and every heart in it, was ready.”

Three weeks after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary demanded justice from Serbia. Serbia actually agreed to most of Austria’s demands, but the empire declared war anyway on July 28, 1914. Like a tower of blocks falling one after another, the other countries followed.

Russia immediately began putting together a large army to aid Serbia and fight Austria-Hungary. On August 1, Germany (Austria-Hungary’s ally) declared war on Russia. Germany then declared war on France (Russia’s ally) on August 3. Later that same day, France declared war on Germany. On August 4, Germany marched into neutral Belgium on its way to Paris, pulling Britain into the war. Japan declared war on Germany on August 23. Austria-Hungary then declared war on Japan. Italy decided to stay neutral; this did not violate the country’s treaty with Germany and Austria-Hungary, because the Italian government believed that Austria-Hungary had started the war. Even though Austria-Hungary was the first to declare war, Germany—with more military power and ambition—became the main enemy for France, Britain, and Russia and, eventually, for the United States.

When Sarah MacNaughtan, a Scotswoman who would later be an aid worker in France, arrived in London toward the end of August, she wrote in her diary: “Hardly anyone believed in the possibility of war until they came back from their August . . . Holiday visits and found soldiers saying goodbye to their families at the [train] stations. And even then there was an air of unreality about everything. . . . We saw women waving handkerchiefs to the men who went away, and holding up their babies to railway carriage windows to be kissed. . . . We were breathless, not with fear, but with astonishment.”

People in the warring countries and observers like the United States expected the war to be a short one. Each side felt sure it would quickly win. In fact, everyone predicted that the soldiers would be home for Christmas. But instead, the war lasted from 1914 through 1918 and drew in countries around the world. Italy eventually joined on the side of the Allies—Britain, France, and Russia—in May 1915. Among the nations supporting the Allies were China, Greece, Portugal, Brazil, Guatemala, and Romania. Those who entered the war later on the side of the Allies were called “Associated powers.” Japan and Portugal, for example, were Associated powers. The United States was as well. It preferred to be an “associate” rather than one of the main Allied powers, so that it would be completely independent from the British, French, and Russian governments in making military and diplomatic decisions.

Britain and France brought in troops from their colonies and former colonies to fight the war. Troops that supported the British included Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, East Asian Indians, and South Africans. France had the help of troops from Senegal, Morocco, and its other African colonies. Not only did colonial troops fight in Europe, but the Allies fought Germany in Germany’s African colonies. Germany provided support for the Ottoman Empire, which had success in battles against the British in Egypt but never completely controlled the country. It lost German East Africa to the Allies, but German forces continued to fight in parts of Africa until the end of the war. Japan protected Allied trade routes in the western Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean from the German navy and took over German colonies in the Pacific and East Asia.

Countries fighting on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary included Bulgaria and Turkey. Turkey was the center of the Ottoman Empire, with territory in parts of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and/or Turkey fought Russian, British, and French forces in several territories and countries, including Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Palestine (parts of which are now Israel or are occupied by Israel), Syria, and southeastern Europe.

In April 1917, the United States joined on the side of the Allies. Almost all of America’s fighting was in France, against the Germans. Americans fought Austria-Hungary only in support of Italy. The United States declared war on Austria-Hungary in December 1917, after that country had defeated the Italians at the Battle of Caporetto and Italy requested help from the Allies. The United States never declared war on the Ottoman Empire. American troops were also sent to Panama to protect the Panama Canal.

U.S. troops fought in Russia only after the Russian government was taken over by the Bolshevik party in the October Revolution of 1917, which led to the establishment of the Soviet Union. The Bolsheviks were communists who maintained that the people of a country should jointly own all property, such as farms and factories, and that they should share equally with one another. In practice, communist governments did not allow much dissent or disagreement. The other Allies did not welcome the idea of communism in their own countries. The United States, for example, did not recognize the Soviet Union until many years after the war had ended.

The Allies were left with a new problem, however, when the Bolsheviks quit their war against Germany, signing a peace treaty in March 1918. Since the Allies were not sure that Germany would honor this peace—especially since there were a lot of weapons supplied by the Allies still in Russian territory—several Allied Countries, including the United States, sent troops to Russia.

Looking back at all these events, we realize now that World War I was neither short nor simple. But even so, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated—even after war broke out between a few European countries in 1914—it would have been hard to imagine that over the next four years battles would rage in nearly every corner of the world.

Before the United States entered the war, some Americans believed the country should be prepared to fight by training young men at private military camps. The first took place in Plattsburgh, New York. Other Americans were pacifists who believed the United States should not go to war.

2
THE UNITED STATES STAYS NEUTRAL–OR DOES IT?