Beginning in 1914, the Allies--France, Russia, and Great Britain--opposed the Central Powers--Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire (present day Turkey). After three years of watching millions being slaughtered on European battlefields, the United States reluctantly entered the cataclysmic Great War, turning a stalemate into an Allied victory. The exhausted armies were mired on opposing sides of a vast network of trenches stretching hundreds of miles across France. Siding with the British and French, America sent over one million soldiers overseas and unleashed its manufacturing prowess and vast resources to tip the war in favor of the Allies.

President Woodrow Wilson, who had been re-elected in 1916, campaigned with the slogan that he “kept us out of war.” He steered the country through a policy of neutrality. America had a high percentage of foreign-born citizens who tended to side with different belligerents along ethnic lines—Irish and German Americans tended to side with Germany while Anglo Americans and the business community tended to be pro-British. Wilson, however, could not continue to ignore aggressive, threatening behavior from the Germans. German submarines (called U-boats) were sinking American ships. Germany was also promoting a treaty with Mexico offering Texas and New Mexico back to Mexico if Germany won the war. Thus, in April 1917 Wilson finally asked Congress to declare war.

The U.S. Army under General Pershing was largely unprepared. He was faced with the daunting task of training over 2 million troops and shipping them to the front lines in France.

It took a year before the American army was ready for battle. Pershing hurled them in action beginning in the spring of 1918, as American doughboys helped to stem Germany’s last great offensive which seriously threatened to overtake Paris. One of the first Americans to die in combat was Merle Hay of Glidden, Iowa, who became a national hero. America also participated in blocking German advances at other key strategic strongholds, especially at Saint-Mihiel. In mid-September American divisions launched an offensive in the Meuse-Argonne Forest and took a major railroad supplying the Germans. Iowans Emory Pike and Milo Lemert earned their Medals of Honor during this fighting.

The U.S. Navy earned a remarkable record of not losing a single American soldier to German U-boats. Medal of Honor recipient Eduoard Izac played a part in this endeavor. The Army also made history during the war. For the first time African-American soldiers were allowed to train to become officers; they trained at Fort Des Moines.

After suffering a series of defeats, Germany signed an armistice November 11, 1918, thus ending the war. Victory came at an enormous cost to America. There were over 53,000 combat deaths while another 63,000 perished of disease.