World War I

"Our Best Memorial to the Dead Would be Our Service to the Living"

by Allison S. Finkelstein

An overlooked cohort of American women who served in the first world war worked to establish service, instead of statuary, as a mode of memorialization. Their example offers a path out of the heated politics of commemoration. 

The Hidden History of the First Black Women to Serve in the U.S. Navy

The first cohort of Black women to serve in the US Navy were enlisted as reservists to fill shortages in the service's clerical workforce. At the time, the nation's climate of racism forced them to keep a low profile. A researcher compiling a book about the "Golden Fourteen" mined family history to learn about their service. 

The "Noble Dead": Warren Harding and the Resting Places of the WWI Fallen

by James D. Robenalt

Just as Americans visit and revere the graves of those in Arlington and other national cemeteries in the United States, it is important to remember that the nation made a solemn compact with the families of those who were lost in the First World War. 

Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’

Sources close to Donald Trump cite multiple instances where the self-sacrifice of military personnel appeared incomprehensible to the President, who, those sources say, has expressed contempt for the military dead. 

How Past Crises Changed America’s Public Schools — ‘And so too Will COVID-19’

by Ann Marie Ryan and Charles Tocci

While this certainly feels unprecedented, the history of American public schooling shows us it's not.

Donald Trump Wants To Fight Coronavirus As A ‘Wartime President.’ He Can’t.

The war metaphor is not only inapt to apply to a viral pandemic, it is dangerous. 

Our Fear of Government Power Has Left Us Fighting COVID-19 with Volunteerism

by Elisabeth S. Clemens

Americans have always relied on the private sector in times of war and disaster.

‘1917’ Turns a Horrific War Into an Uplifting Hero’s Journey

by Cathy Tempelsman

World War I was a disaster, but Sam Mendes’s Oscar-nominated epic paints a dangerously misleading picture of the conflict.

The Forgotten Story of Christmas 1918

by Mary Elisabeth Cox

We remember the 1914 Christmas Truce as a moment of humanity amid war. Four years later, a darker tale unfolded.

The Forgotten Origins of Paid Family Leave

by Mona L. Siegel

In 1919, activists from around the world pressed governments to adopt policies to help working mothers.

The World War I Battle That Didn't End with Armistice Day: Hunger

by William Lambers

Even after the Armistice of November 11, 1918 ending World War One, American soldiers were carrying out heroic missions. Lieutenant Orville C. Bell and officers in the American Relief Administration saved civilians in Montenegro from starvation. 

The First World War through a camera lens: from the soldier’s snapshot to the memorial photograph

by Caroline Scott

While professional lenses had captured scenes from the Crimean and the American Civil War, this was the first time that large numbers of serving men took cameras into the frontlines and made a visual record of their own experiences. 

The Forgotten History of America’s Worst Racial Massacre

by Nan Elizabeth Woodruff

Hundreds of black citizens were killed in Elaine, Arkansas, a century ago this week.

In the Army’s new museum, the soldiers look alive and the battle scenes are all too real

by Michael E. Ruane

The U.S. Army's $400 million flagship museum at Fort Belvoir is set to open next spring. 

The Army’s Message to Returning World War I Troops? Behave Yourselves

The Army didn’t want the flood of veterans returning home to become a disruptive presence or a financial burden on society.

Why Kaiser Wilhelm Was Never Tried for Starting World War I

Under the Treaty of Versailles, the German emperor was supposed to be tried as a war criminal. Why wasn't he?

Upcoming Event: The Treaty of Versailles: A Hundred Years Later

On Tuesday, June 4, Professor Margaret MacMillan will put the treaty in perspective, one hundred years later. 

A World War I Documentary Becomes ‘Event Cinema’

‘They Shall Not Grow Old’ breaks box-office records

The Revolt in the Trenches: WWI, Revolution, and Bulgaria

by Jana Tsoneva

One year after the Bolsheviks ended Russia’s participation in World War I, revolutionary soldiers in Bulgaria forced their government to do the same.

What Was on the Minds of the Big Three at Potsdam?

by Michael S. Neiberg

It wasn't the looming Cold War.  It was the way World War I had ended.  Call that the power of analogies from history.