Navigating the Heartache WWI Brings
The global impact of the Great War reverberated throughout world history. In the United States, the outbreak of the war brought about a significant event impacting every citizen. The conflict didn’t just influence how the United States recognized its place internationally, but how it behaved socially. (This post was written by guest blogger Thomas Richardson.)…
European armies were larger than they had been even before the outbreak of World War I. Millions served on both sides and with them were the most technologically sophisticated and advanced military machinery of the day. (This post was written by guest blogger Thomas Richardson.) More than 13 million men served in the German Army…
The home front directed factory production, agricultural output, and local community energies to the war effort in World War I. President Woodrow Wilson stated that “it is not only an army we must shape and train, but also a nation.” (This post was written by guest blogger Thomas Richardson.) National sentiment leaned mostly to isolation,…
The Meuse-Argonne was the scene of bloody fighting inflicted and sustained by the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Shining through the fighting were acts of bravery and sacrifice by those saving their comrades and leading troops against deadly odds. (This post was written by guest blogger Thomas Richardson.) One of the most well-known of these…
The U.S. Army faced a significant hurdle during their mobilization into the Great War: modern military technologies utilized by European armies were lacking in the U.S. Army and officers scantly adopted them. (This post was written by guest blogger Thomas Richardson.) Training schools like Fort Leavenworth with the Cavalry School and School of the Line…
Today, it’s called the Villisca ax murder house, but in the early 1910s, it was known simply as the home of the Moore family. Villisca is a sleepy town in southwestern Iowa that became the scene of a gruesome crime the night of June 9, 1912. That night, an unknown assailant snuck into the home…
I was excited to see that Erik Larson’s book Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America is in development to be made into a motion picture starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Larson’s book reads like a novel but is, in reality, a nonfiction piece. Every event that occurs in the…
The United States joined World War I on April 6, 1917, and Americans fought their first major engagement in the Battle of Belleau Wood in June 1918. The American Expeditionary Force was forced to learn how to fight in a world where warfare had become more aggressive, mechanized and deadly. The U.S. Army’s last engagement…
The Jungle might very well be the most influential novel you probably don’t know. Written by Upton Sinclair in 1906, the novel was intended to show the horrible conditions in America’s slums. Instead, Sinclair exposed the unsanitary conditions in meatpacking plants. The novel first appeared as a serial (a common occurrence in the 19th century)…
Women entered the 20th century with a world of opportunities. As the new century dawned, it was becoming increasingly common and acceptable for women to work. Women continued to hold many of the same positions they had before – teacher, servant, mill worker, shop girl and seamstress – but new jobs also enticed women. War…