W.E.B. Du Bois and World War I
When World War I began, the famed historian, sociologist, and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois was at the height of his influence. When the United States entered the war, he encouraged African Ame...
1 Nov 202318min
Douglas MacArthur's 2nd Distinguished Service Cross and the Côte de Châtillon
In the winter of 1918, General John J. Pershing presented then Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur with his second Distinguished Service Cross. The award was for actions in France at the Côte de Châti...
11 Okt 202327min
The US Army and the Rehabilitation of Wounded Soldiers
In 1890, half of the US Government’s budget was devoted to disability pensions for Civil War veterans. This enormous financial burden combined with medical advances led to a different approach when it...
7 Sep 202320min
Portugal and the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps in WWI
Between 1914-1916, Portugal walked a delicate line. While actively engaged in an undeclared war with Germany in Africa, Portugal was not a combatant in Europe, nor did it officially declare neutrality...
2 Aug 202339min
Patriot Priests: French Priests in the French Army
When WWI began in 1914, Catholic priests were virtual pariahs in France. This was the result of a trend towards anti-clericalism that began with the French Revolution and continued in fits and starts ...
2 Jul 202336min
Identifying a World War I Unknown Soldier
On Feb. 8, 2022, a local undertaker was digging a grave in the cemetery at Villers-sur-Fère, a small village in northeastern France near the Ourcq River, where the U.S. Army’s 42d Infantry Division pu...
6 Jun 202320min
Sgt. York and the Other Sixteen
On October 8, 1918, seventeen American soldiers of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 328th Infantry, 82nd Division flanked a German machine gun nest, surprising and capturing dozens of German soldiers. Acting...
3 Jun 202333min
The Order of Prince Danilo I
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby tells the novel’s narrator about his World War I military service and a particularly heroic engagement in the Argonne Forest. He ends his story by...
4 Mai 202345min
