Woodrow Wilson – the American Leader in World War I – Pays Homage to the Unknown Soldier the Day of That Soldier’s Burial at Arlington National Cemetery

Rare - if not unique - photograph of Wilson and his wife in the Unknown Soldier Procession, signed by both

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World War I unleashed unforeseen savagery in the world’s first industrialized war, and it left the world reeling. On the battlefield, 19th-century tactics proved useless against 20th-century weapons. Terrorizing the ground, each machine gun had a firepower that equaled 80 rifles. Advances in artillery rained down explosives on soldiers in the trenches....

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Woodrow Wilson – the American Leader in World War I – Pays Homage to the Unknown Soldier the Day of That Soldier’s Burial at Arlington National Cemetery

Rare - if not unique - photograph of Wilson and his wife in the Unknown Soldier Procession, signed by both

World War I unleashed unforeseen savagery in the world’s first industrialized war, and it left the world reeling. On the battlefield, 19th-century tactics proved useless against 20th-century weapons. Terrorizing the ground, each machine gun had a firepower that equaled 80 rifles. Advances in artillery rained down explosives on soldiers in the trenches. Armored cars and newly-invented tanks became key factors in battle landscapes. Chemical warfare, in the form of chlorine, mustard gas, and phosgene, poisoned hundreds of thousands of soldiers and terrified the rest. Devastation threatened from above and below, with dirigibles prowling the skies and submarines prowling the seas. Zeppelins were used in bombing raids.

Initially Germany, the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), and Austria-Hungary – the Central Powers – faced off against France, Britain and Russia. Thus the war was being fought on two fronts – eastern and western. By the war’s second year, the conflict had engulfed virtually all the world, from major powers to minor principalities. America watched the events with a wary eye, determined to remain neutral. But in 1915 things began to sway the U.S. populace toward war. On May 7, the British Cunard liner Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U-boat, and almost 1,200 passengers were lost, including 128 Americans. The public was outraged and cries for war resounded. Wilson officially clung to his position of neutrality, and America was far from prepared for a large-scale war, much less one overseas. In 1914, when the conflict began, the United States had less than 100,000 soldiers scattered across the world.

In March 1917 Wilson’s steadfast neutrality was pushed beyond even his limits, when the British intercepted and deciphered a telegram sent by German foreign minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German ambassador to Mexico. In it, Zimmermann said that Germany intended “to begin… unrestricted submarine warfare” and that the ambassador should “make Mexico a proposal of alliance on the following basis: make war together, make peace together, generous financial support and an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.” Later that month, German U-boats attacked and sank three American merchant ships; that was the last straw. On April 2, 1917, Wilson called Congress in to an “extraordinary session,” to request a declaration of war against Germany. He assured members of Congress that “the world must be safe for democracy” and that “[the United States has] no quarrel with the German people…” but only with its “little groups of ambitious men who… use their fellowmen as pawns and tools.”

The task President Wilson faced in 1917 was enormous. He had to build an army and navy, institute a draft, convince Americans to support the war, choose the right military leadership, make sure the home front was prosperous and could supply the armed forces, and lead the nation to victory. All this he did. And he also provided the framework for peace in his famed 14 Points, which called for a league of nations to prevent future such conflicts, freedom of the seas, and self-government for national groups.

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