# data[].attributes.body
Battles, facts, and pictures

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Civil War was America's bloodiest and most divisive conflict, pitting the Union Army against the Confederate States of America. The war resulted in the deaths of more than 620,000 people, with millions more injured and the South left in ruins.

# data[].attributes.body
Learn about battles, primary sources, FAQ and videos about the Civil War.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The American Civil War was the defining event in our nation's history. Between 1861 and 1865 10,000 battles and engagements were fought across the continent, from Vermont to the New Mexico Territory, and beyond. The four-year struggle between north and south made heroes of citizen soldiers, forever changed the role of women in society, and freed more than 3 million slaves.

# data[].attributes.body
History.com provides lots of videos about this time period!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Reconstruction (1865-1877), the turbulent era following the Civil War, was the effort to reintegrate Southern states from the Confederacy and 4 million newly-freed people into the United States. Under the administration of President Andrew Johnson in 1865 and 1866, new southern state legislatures passed restrictive " Black Codes" to control the labor and behavior of former enslaved people and other African Americans. Outrage in the North over these codes eroded support for the approach known as Presidential Reconstruction and led to the triumph of the more radical wing of the Republican Party. During Radical Reconstruction, which began with the passage of the Reconstruction Act of 1867, newly enfranchised Black people gained a voice in government for the first time in American history, winning election to southern state legislatures and even to the U.S. Congress. In less than a decade, however, reactionary forces-including the Ku Klux Klan -would reverse the changes wrought by Radical Reconstruction in a violent backlash that restored white supremacy in the South.

Emancipation and Reconstruction

At the outset of the Civil War, to the dismay of the more radical abolitionists in the North, President Abraham Lincoln did not make abolition of slavery a goal of the Union war effort. To do so, he feared, would drive the border slave states still loyal to the Union into the Confederacy and anger more conservative northerners. By the summer of 1862, however, enslaved people, themselves had pushed the issue, heading by the thousands to the Union lines as Lincoln's troops marched through the South.

Their actions debunked one of the strongest myths underlying Southern devotion to the "peculiar institution"-that many enslaved people were truly content in bondage-and convinced Lincoln that emancipation had become a political and military necessity. In response to Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which freed more than 3 million enslaved people in the Confederate states by January 1, 1863, Black people enlisted in the Union Army in large numbers, reaching some 180,000 by war's end.

Did you know? During Reconstruction, the Republican Party in the South represented a coalition of Black people (who made up the overwhelming majority of Republican voters in the region) along with "carpetbaggers" and "scalawags," as white Republicans from the North and South, respectively, were known.

Emancipation changed the stakes of the Civil War, ensuring that a Union victory would mean large-scale social revolution in the South. It was still very unclear, however, what form this revolution would take. Over the next several years, Lincoln considered ideas about how to welcome the devastated South back into the Union, but as the war drew to a close in early 1865, he still had no clear plan. In a speech delivered on April 11, while referring to plans for Reconstruction in Louisiana, Lincoln proposed that some Black people-including free Black people and those who had enlisted in the military-deserved the right to vote. He was assassinated three days later, however, and it would fall to his successor to put plans for Reconstruction in place.
READ MORE: How the Black Codes Limited African American Progress After the Civil War
Andrew Johnson and Presidential Reconstruction

At the end of May 1865, President Andrew Johnson announced his plans for Reconstruction, which reflected both his staunch Unionism and his firm belief in states' rights. In Johnson's view, the southern states had never given up their right to govern themselves, and the federal government had no right to determine voting requirements or other questions at the state level. Under Johnson's Presidential Reconstruction, all land that had been confiscated by the Union Army and distributed to the formerly enslaved people by the army or the Freedmen's Bureau (established by Congress in 1865) reverted to its prewar owners. Apart from being required to uphold the abolition of slavery (in compliance with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution), swear loyalty to the Union and pay off war debt, southern state governments were given free rein to rebuild themselves.

As a result of Johnson's leniency, many southern states in 1865 and 1866 successfully enacted a series of laws known as the " black codes," which were designed to restrict freed Black peoples' activity and ensure their availability as a labor force. These repressive codes enraged many in the North, including numerous members of Congress, which refused to seat congressmen and senators elected from the southern states.

In early 1866, Congress passed the Freedmen's Bureau and Civil Rights Bills and sent them to Johnson for his signature. The first bill extended the life of the bureau, originally established as a temporary organization charged with assisting refugees and formerly enslaved people, while the second defined all persons born in the United States as national citizens who were to enjoy equality before the law. After Johnson vetoed the bills-causing a permanent rupture in his relationship with Congress that would culminate in his impeachment in 1868-the Civil Rights Act became the first major bill to become law over presidential veto.

Radical Reconstruction

After northern voters rejected Johnson's policies in the congressional elections in late 1866, Radical Republicans in Congress took firm hold of Reconstruction in the South. The following March, again over Johnson's veto, Congress passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867, which temporarily divided the South into five military districts and outlined how governments based on universal (male) suffrage were to be organized. The law also required southern states to ratify the 14th Amendment, which broadened the definition of citizenship, granting "equal protection" of the Constitution to formerly enslaved people, before they could rejoin the Union. In February 1869, Congress approved the 15th Amendment (adopted in 1870), which guaranteed that a citizen's right to vote would not be denied "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
READ MORE: When Did African Americans Get the Right to Vote?
By 1870, all of the former Confederate states had been admitted to the Union, and the state constitutions during the years of Radical Reconstruction were the most progressive in the region's history. The participation of African Americans in southern public life after 1867 would be by far the most radical development of Reconstruction, which was essentially a large-scale experiment in interracial democracy unlike that of any other society following the abolition of slavery.

Southern Black people won election to southern state governments and even to the U.S. Congress during this period. Among the other achievements of Reconstruction were the South's first state-funded public school systems, more equitable taxation legislation, laws against racial discrimination in public transport and accommodations and ambitious economic development programs (including aid to railroads and other enterprises).
READ MORE: The First Black Man Elected to Congress Was Nearly Blocked From Taking His Seat
Reconstruction Comes to an End

After 1867, an increasing number of southern whites turned to violence in response to the revolutionary changes of Radical Reconstruction. The Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist organizations targeted local Republican leaders, white and Black, and other African Americans who challenged white authority. Though federal legislation passed during the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant in 1871 took aim at the Klan and others who attempted to interfere with Black suffrage and other political rights, white supremacy gradually reasserted its hold on the South after the early 1870s as support for Reconstruction waned.

Racism was still a potent force in both South and North, and Republicans became more conservative and less egalitarian as the decade continued. In 1874-after an economic depression plunged much of the South into poverty-the Democratic Party won control of the House of Representatives for the first time since the Civil War.
READ MORE: How the 1876 Election Effectively Ended Reconstruction
When Democrats waged a campaign of violence to take control of Mississippi in 1875, Grant refused to send federal troops, marking the end of federal support for Reconstruction-era state governments in the South. By 1876, only Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina were still in Republican hands. In the contested presidential election that year, Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes reached a compromise with Democrats in Congress: In exchange for certification of his election, he acknowledged Democratic control of the entire South.

The Compromise of 1876 marked the end of Reconstruction as a distinct period, but the struggle to deal with the revolution ushered in by slavery's eradication would continue in the South and elsewhere long after that date. A century later, the legacy of Reconstruction would be revived during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, as African Americans fought for the political, economic and social equality that had long been denied them.
READ MORE: Black History Milestones: A Timeline

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Reconstruction, the turbulent era following the U.S. Civil War, was an effort to reunify the divided nation, address and integrate African Americans into society by rewriting the nation's laws and Constitution. The steps taken gave rise to the Ku Klux Klan and other divisive groups.

# data[].attributes.body
Check out these primary sources about the Reconstruction period.
https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart5.html

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
African American Odyssey Introduction |Overview |Object List | Search Part 1: Forever Free |Black Exodus
Part 2

The Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 freed African Americans in rebel states, and after the Civil War, the Thirteenth Amendment emancipated all U.S. slaves wherever they were. As a result, the mass of Southern blacks now faced the difficulty Northern blacks had confronted--that of a free people surrounded by many hostile whites. One freedman, Houston Hartsfield Holloway, wrote, "For we colored people did not know how to be free and the white people did not know how to have a free colored person about them."

Even after the Emancipation Proclamation, two more years of war, service by African American troops, and the defeat of the Confederacy, the nation was still unprepared to deal with the question of full citizenship for its newly freed black population. The Reconstruction implemented by Congress, which lasted from 1866 to 1877, was aimed at reorganizing the Southern states after the Civil War, providing the means for readmitting them into the Union, and defining the means by which whites and blacks could live together in a nonslave society. The South, however, saw Reconstruction as a humiliating, even vengeful imposition and did not welcome it.

During the years after the war, black and white teachers from the North and South, missionary organizations, churches and schools worked tirelessly to give the emancipated population the opportunity to learn. Former slaves of every age took advantage of the opportunity to become literate. Grandfathers and their grandchildren sat together in classrooms seeking to obtain the tools of freedom.

After the Civil War, with the protection of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1866, African Americans enjoyed a period when they were allowed to vote, actively participate in the political process, acquire the land of former owners, seek their own employment, and use public accommodations. Opponents of this progress, however, soon rallied against the former slaves' freedom and began to find means for eroding the gains for which many had shed their blood.

Celebration of Emancipation

Thomas Nast's depiction of emancipation at the end of the Civil War envisions the future of free blacks in the U.S. and contrasts it with various cruelties of the institution of slavery.

Thomas Nast.

Emancipation.
Philadelphia: S. Bott, 1865.
Wood engraving.
Prints and Photographs Division.
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-2573 (5-9)

Victorious Soldiers Return

Alfred R. Waud.

Mustered Out.
Little Rock, Arkansas, April 20, 1865.
Drawing. Chinese white on green paper.
Published in Harper's Weekly, May 19, 1866.
Prints and Photographs Division.
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-175 (5-1)

Alfred Waud's drawing captures the exuberance of the Little Rock, Arkansas, African American community as the U. S. Colored Troops returned home at the end of the Civil War. The victorious soldiers are joyously greeted by women and children.

Black Exodus to Kansas

During Reconstruction freed slaves began to leave the South. One such group, originally from Kentucky, established the community of Nicodemus in 1877 in Graham County on the high, arid plains of northwestern Kansas. However, because of several crop failures and resentment from the county's white settlers, all but a few homesteaders abandoned their claims. A rising population of 500 in 1880 had declined to less than 200 by 1910.

Standard Atlas of Graham Co. Kansas, Including a Plat Book of the Villages, Cities, and Townships.
Lithograph map.
Chicago: A. Ogle, 1906.
Geography and Map Division. (5-8a)

A page of photographs and a township map from a 1906 county land ownership atlas provide evidence that some of these black migrants still owned land in and around this small village. Their impressive determination in an area with few good natural resou rces has resulted in the only surviving all-black community in Kansas.

Standard Atlas of Graham Co. Kansas, Including a Plat Book of the Villages, Cities, and Townships.
Index of families in Nicodemus.
Chicago: A. Ogle, 1906.
Geography and Map Division. (5-8b)

Ho For Kansas!

The Nicodemus Town Company was incorporated in 1877 by six black and two white Kansans. It was the oldest of about twenty towns established predominately for blacks in the West. After the Civil War there was a general exodus of blacks from the South. These migrants became known as "Exodusters" and the migration became known as the "Exoduster" movement. Some applied to be part of colonization projects to Liberia and locations outside the United States; others were willing to move north and west. Benjamin Singleton led an exodus of African Americans from various points in the South to Kansas.

Ho for Kansas! Nashville, Tennessee, March 18, 1878.

Copyprint of broadside.
Historic American Buildings Survey, Prints and Photographs Division. (5-13)

African American Population Distribution, 1890

Statistical Atlas of the United States Based on the Results of the Eleventh Census. Plate 11.
Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1898.
Lithograph.
Geography and Map Division. (5-18)

African American population distribution and migration patterns can be traced using maps published in the statistical atlases prepared by the U. S. Census Bureau for each decennial census from 1870 to 1920. The atlas for the 1890 census includes this map showing the percentage of "colored" to the total population for each county. Although the heaviest concentrations are overwhelmingly in Maryland, Virginia, and the southeastern states, there appear to be emerging concentrations in the northern urban areas (New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toledo, and Chicago), southern Ohio, central Missouri, eastern Kansas, and scattered areas in the West (Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California), reflecting migration patterns that began during Reconstruction.

Reconstruction and Its Aftermath: Part 1 | Part 2
African American Odyssey Introduction |Overview |Object List | Search

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Reconstruction and its Aftermath, a part of the African American Odyssey exhibition, is about the difficulty free blacks faced during the reconstruction period.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
African American Odyssey Introduction |Overview |Object List | Search Part 1: Forever Free |Black Exodus Part 2 The Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 freed African Americans in rebel states, and after the Civil War, the Thirteenth Amendment emancipated all U.S. slaves wherever they were.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
World War I, also known as the Great War, began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. His murder catapulted into a war across Europe that lasted until 1918. During the conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers). Thanks to new military technologies and the horrors of trench warfare, World War I saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction. By the time the war was over and the Allied Powers claimed victory, more than 16 million people-soldiers and civilians alike-were dead.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Tensions had been brewing throughout Europe-especially in the troubled Balkan region of southeast Europe-for years before World War I actually broke out.

A number of alliances involving European powers, the Ottoman Empire, Russia and other parties had existed for years, but political instability in the Balkans (particularly Bosnia, Serbia and Herzegovina) threatened to destroy these agreements.

The spark that ignited World War I was struck in Sarajevo, Bosnia, where Archduke Franz Ferdinand -heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire-was shot to death along with his wife, Sophie, by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914. Princip and other nationalists were struggling to end Austro-Hungarian rule over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand set off a rapidly escalating chain of events: Austria-Hungary, like many countries around the world, blamed the Serbian government for the attack and hoped to use the incident as justification for settling the question of Serbian nationalism once and for all.
READ MORE: 8 Events Leading to the Outbreak of World War I
Kaiser Wilhelm II

Because mighty Russia supported Serbia, Austria-Hungary waited to declare war until its leaders received assurance from German leader Kaiser Wilhelm II that Germany would support their cause. Austro-Hungarian leaders feared that a Russian intervention would involve Russia's ally, France, and possibly Great Britain as well.

On July 5, Kaiser Wilhelm secretly pledged his support, giving Austria-Hungary a so-called carte blanche, or "blank check" assurance of Germany's backing in the case of war. The Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary then sent an ultimatum to Serbia, with such harsh terms as to make it almost impossible to accept.

World War I Begins

Convinced that Austria-Hungary was readying for war, the Serbian government ordered the Serbian army to mobilize and appealed to Russia for assistance. On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and the tenuous peace between Europe's great powers quickly collapsed.

Within a week, Russia, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Serbia had lined up against Austria-Hungary and Germany, and World War I had begun.
READ MORE: World War I Battles: Timeline
The Western Front

According to an aggressive military strategy known as the Schlieffen Plan (named for its mastermind, German Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen), Germany began fighting World War I on two fronts, invading France through neutral Belgium in the west and confronting Russia in the east.

On August 4, 1914, German troops crossed the border into Belgium. In the first battle of World War I, the Germans assaulted the heavily fortified city of Liege, using the most powerful weapons in their arsenal-enormous siege cannons-to capture the city by August 15. The Germans left death and destruction in their wake as they advanced through Belgium toward France, shooting civilians and executing a Belgian priest they had accused of inciting civilian resistance.

First Battle of the Marne

In the First Battle of the Marne, fought from September 6-9, 1914, French and British forces confronted the invading Germany army, which had by then penetrated deep into northeastern France, within 30 miles of Paris. The Allied troops checked the German advance and mounted a successful counterattack, driving the Germans back to north of the Aisne River.

The defeat meant the end of German plans for a quick victory in France. Both sides dug into trenches, and the Western Front was the setting for a hellish war of attrition that would last more than three years.

Particularly long and costly battles in this campaign were fought at Verdun (February-December 1916) and the Battle of the Somme (July-November 1916). German and French troops suffered close to a million casualties in the Battle of Verdun alone.
READ MORE: 10 Things You May Not Know About the Battle of Verdun
World War I Books and Art

The bloodshed on the battlefields of the Western Front, and the difficulties its soldiers had for years after the fighting had ended, inspired such works of art as " All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque and " In Flanders Fields"by Canadian doctor Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. In the latter poem, McCrae writes from the perspective of the fallen soldiers:

To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Published in 1915, the poem inspired the use of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance.

Visual artists like Otto Dix of Germany and British painters Wyndham Lewis, Paul Nash and David Bomberg used their firsthand experience as soldiers in World War I to create their art, capturing the anguish of trench warfare and exploring the themes of technology, violence and landscapes decimated by war.
READ MORE: How World War I Changed Literature

The Eastern Front

On the Eastern Front of World War I, Russian forces invaded the German-held regions of East Prussia and Poland, but were stopped short by German and Austrian forces at the Battle of Tannenberg in late August 1914.

Despite that victory, Russia's assault had forced Germany to move two corps from the Western Front to the Eastern, contributing to the German loss in the Battle of the Marne.

Combined with the fierce Allied resistance in France, the ability of Russia's huge war machine to mobilize relatively quickly in the east ensured a longer, more grueling conflict instead of the quick victory Germany had hoped to win under the Schlieffen Plan.
READ MORE: Was Germany Doomed by the Schlieffen Plan?
Russian Revolution

From 1914 to 1916, Russia's army mounted several offensives on World War I's Eastern Front, but was unable to break through German lines.

Defeat on the battlefield, combined with economic instability and the scarcity of food and other essentials, led to mounting discontent among the bulk of Russia's population, especially the poverty-stricken workers and peasants. This increased hostility was directed toward the imperial regime of Czar Nicholas II and his unpopular German-born wife, Alexandra.

Russia's simmering instability exploded in the Russian Revolution of 1917, spearheaded by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks, which ended czarist rule and brought a halt to Russian participation in World War I.

Russia reached an armistice with the Central Powers in early December 1917, freeing German troops to face the remaining Allies on the Western Front.

America Enters World War I

At the outbreak of fighting in 1914, the United States remained on the sidelines of World War I, adopting the policy of neutrality favored by President Woodrow Wilson while continuing to engage in commerce and shipping with European countries on both sides of the conflict.

Neutrality, however, was increasing difficult to maintain in the face of Germany's unchecked submarine aggression against neutral ships, including those carrying passengers. In 1915, Germany declared the waters surrounding the British Isles to be a war zone, and German U-boats sunk several commercial and passenger vessels, including some U.S. ships.

Widespread protest over the sinking by U-boat of the British ocean liner Lusitania-traveling from New York to Liverpool, England with hundreds of American passengers onboard-in May 1915 helped turn the tide of American public opinion against Germany. In February 1917, Congress passed a $250 million arms appropriations bill intended to make the United States ready for war.

Germany sunk four more U.S. merchant ships the following month, and on April 2 Woodrow Wilson appeared before Congress and called for a declaration of war against Germany.
READ MORE: Should the US Have Entered World War I?
Gallipoli Campaign

With World War I having effectively settled into a stalemate in Europe, the Allies attempted to score a victory against the Ottoman Empire, which entered the conflict on the side of the Central Powers in late 1914.

After a failed attack on the Dardanelles (the strait linking the Sea of Marmara with the Aegean Sea), Allied forces led by Britain launched a large-scale land invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula in April 1915. The invasion also proved a dismal failure, and in January 1916 Allied forces staged a full retreat from the shores of the peninsula after suffering 250,000 casualties.

Did you know? The young Winston Churchill, then first lord of the British Admiralty, resigned his command after the failed Gallipoli campaign in 1916, accepting a commission with an infantry battalion in France.

British-led forces also combated the Ottoman Turks in Egypt and Mesopotamia, while in northern Italy, Austrian and Italian troops faced off in a series of 12 battles along the Isonzo River, located at the border between the two nations.

Battle of the Isonzo

The First Battle of the Isonzo took place in the late spring of 1915, soon after Italy's entrance into the war on the Allied side. In the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, also known as the Battle of Caporetto (October 1917), German reinforcements helped Austria-Hungary win a decisive victory.

After Caporetto, Italy's allies jumped in to offer increased assistance. British and French-and later, American-troops arrived in the region, and the Allies began to take back the Italian Front.

World War I at Sea

In the years before World War I, the superiority of Britain's Royal Navy was unchallenged by any other nation's fleet, but the Imperial German Navy had made substantial strides in closing the gap between the two naval powers. Germany's strength on the high seas was also aided by its lethal fleet of U-boat submarines.

After the Battle of Dogger Bank in January 1915, in which the British mounted a surprise attack on German ships in the North Sea, the German navy chose not to confront Britain's mighty Royal Navy in a major battle for more than a year, preferring to rest the bulk of its naval strategy on its U-boats.

The biggest naval engagement of World War I, the Battle of Jutland (May 1916) left British naval superiority on the North Sea intact, and Germany would make no further attempts to break an Allied naval blockade for the remainder of the war.

World War I Planes

World War I was the first major conflict to harness the power of planes. Though not as impactful as the British Royal Navy or Germany's U-boats, the use of planes in World War I presaged their later, pivotal role in military conflicts around the globe.

At the dawn of World War I, aviation was a relatively new field; the Wright brothers took their first sustained flight just eleven years before, in 1903. Aircraft were initially used primarily for reconnaissance missions. During the First Battle of the Marne, information passed from pilots allowed the allies to exploit weak spots in the German lines, helping the Allies to push Germany out of France.

The first machine guns were successfully mounted on planes in June of 1912 in the United States, but were imperfect; if timed incorrectly, a bullet could easily destroy the propeller of the plane it came from. The Morane-Saulnier L, a French plane, provided a solution: The propeller was armored with deflector wedges that prevented bullets from hitting it. The Morane-Saulnier Type L was used by the French, the British Royal Flying Corps (part of the Army), the British Royal Navy Air Service and the Imperial Russian Air Service. The British Bristol Type 22 was another popular model used for both reconnaissance work and as a fighter plane.

Dutch inventor Anthony Fokker improved upon the French deflector system in 1915. His "interrupter" synchronized the firing of the guns with the plane's propeller to avoid collisions. Though his most popular plane during WWI was the single-seat Fokker Eindecker, Fokker created over 40 kinds of airplanes for the Germans.

The Allies debuted the Handley-Page HP O/400, the first two-engine bomber, in 1915. As aerial technology progressed, long-range heavy bombers like Germany's Gotha G.V. (first introduced in 1917) were used to strike cities like London. Their speed and maneuverability proved to be far deadlier than Germany's earlier Zeppelin raids.

By war's end, the Allies were producing five times more aircraft than the Germans. On April 1, 1918, the British created the Royal Air Force, or RAF, the first air force to be a separate military branch independent from the navy or army.

Second Battle of the Marne

With Germany able to build up its strength on the Western Front after the armistice with Russia, Allied troops struggled to hold off another German offensive until promised reinforcements from the United States were able to arrive.

On July 15, 1918, German troops launched what would become the last German offensive of the war, attacking French forces (joined by 85,000 American troops as well as some of the British Expeditionary Force) in the Second Battle of the Marne. The Allies successfully pushed back the German offensive and launched their own counteroffensive just three days later.

After suffering massive casualties, Germany was forced to call off a planned offensive further north, in the Flanders region stretching between France and Belgium, which was envisioned as Germany's best hope of victory.

The Second Battle of the Marne turned the tide of war decisively towards the Allies, who were able to regain much of France and Belgium in the months that followed.

Role of the 92nd and 93rd Divisions

By the time World War I began, there were four all-Black regiments in the U.S. military: the 24th and 25th Infantry and the 9th and 10th Cavalry. All four regiments comprised of celebrated soldiers who fought in the Spanish-American War and American-Indian Wars, and served in the American territories. But they were not deployed for overseas combat in World War I.

Blacks serving alongside white soldiers on the front lines in Europe was inconceivable to the U.S. military. Instead, the first African American troops sent overseas served in segregated labor battalions, restricted to menial roles in the Army and Navy, and shutout of the Marines, entirely. Their duties mostly included unloading ships, transporting materials from train depots, bases and ports, digging trenches, cooking and maintenance, removing barbed wire and inoperable equipment, and burying soldiers.

Facing criticism from the Black community and civil rights organizations for its quotas and treatment of African American soldiers in the war effort, the military formed two Black combat units in 1917, the 92nd and 93rd Divisions. Trained separately and inadequately in the United States, the divisions fared differently in the war. The 92nd faced criticism for their performance in the Meuse-Argonne campaign in September 1918. The 93rd Division, however, had more success.

With dwindling armies, France asked America for reinforcements, and General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, sent regiments in the 93 Division to over, since France had experience fighting alongside Black soldiers from their Senegalese French Colonial army. The 93 Division's, 369 regiment, nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters , fought so gallantly, with a total of 191 days on the front lines, longer than any AEF regiment, that France awarded them the Croix de Guerre for their heroism. More than 350,000 African American soldiers would serve in World War I in various capacities.
READ MORE: A Harlem Hellfighter's Searing Tales from the WWII Trenches
Toward Armistice

By the fall of 1918, the Central Powers were unraveling on all fronts.

Despite the Turkish victory at Gallipoli, later defeats by invading forces and an Arab revolt that destroyed the Ottoman economy and devastated its land, and the Turks signed a treaty with the Allies in late October 1918.

Austria-Hungary, dissolving from within due to growing nationalist movements among its diverse population, reached an armistice on November 4. Facing dwindling resources on the battlefield, discontent on the homefront and the surrender of its allies, Germany was finally forced to seek an armistice on November 11, 1918, ending World War I.
READ MORE: Why World War I Ended With an Armistice Instead of a Surrender
Treaty of Versailles

At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, Allied leaders stated their desire to build a post-war world that would safeguard itself against future conflicts of such devastating scale.

Some hopeful participants had even begun calling World War I "the War to End All Wars." But the Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28, 1919, would not achieve that lofty goal.

Saddled with war guilt, heavy reparations and denied entrance into the League of Nations, Germany felt tricked into signing the treaty, having believed any peace would be a "peace without victory," as put forward by President Wilson in his famous Fourteen Points speech of January 1918.

As the years passed, hatred of the Versailles treaty and its authors settled into a smoldering resentment in Germany that would, two decades later, be counted among the causes of World War II.
READ MORE: The Treaty of Versailles Punished Germany With These Provisions
World War I Casualties

World War I took the lives of more than 9 million soldiers; 21 million more were wounded. Civilian casualties numbered close to 10 million. The two nations most affected were Germany and France, each of which sent some 80 percent of their male populations between the ages of 15 and 49 into battle.
READ MORE: The Perilous But Critical Role of World War I Runners
The political disruption surrounding World War I also contributed to the fall of four venerable imperial dynasties: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Turkey.

Legacy of World War I

World War I brought about massive social upheaval, as millions of women entered the workforce to replace men who went to war and those who never came back. The first global war also helped to spread one of the world's deadliest global pandemics, the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, which killed an estimated 20 to 50 million people.

World War I has also been referred to as "the first modern war." Many of the technologies now associated with military conflict-machine guns, tanks, aerial combat and radio communications-were introduced on a massive scale during World War I.

The severe effects that chemical weapons such as mustard gas and phosgene had on soldiers and civilians during World War I galvanized public and military attitudes against their continued use. The Geneva Convention agreements, signed in 1925, restricted the use of chemical and biological agents in warfare and remains in effect today.

Photo Galleries

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
World War I began in 1914, after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and lasted until 1918. During the conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Facts, information and articles about World War I, aka The Great War

World War I Facts

Dates

July 28, 1914 - November 11, 1918

Location

Europe, Mideast, Africa, Pacific, Atlantic, Mediterranean, North Sea, Baltic Sea

Generals/Commanders

Allied Powers / Entente:
King George V
President Raymond Poincare
Tsar Nicholas II
King Victor Emmanuel III
King Peter I
King Albert I
Emperor Taisho
Chief of General Staff Constantin Prezan
Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos
President Woodrow Wilson

Central Powers:
Kaiser Wilhelm II
Emperor Franz Josef I
Minister of War Enver Pasha
Tsar Ferdinand I

Outcome

Allied Victory

Casualties

Allied Powers casualties: 22 million
Central Powers casualties: 37.5 million

Results

End of Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman & Russian empires
Harsh surrender terms forced on Germany major cause of WWII
Redrawing of borders in Europe & Mideast

World War I Articles

Explore articles from the History Net archives about World War I

" See all World War I Articles

World War I summary: The war fought between July 28, 1914, and November 11, 1918, was known at the time as the Great War, the War to End War, and (in the United States) the European War. Only when the world went to war again in the 1930s and '40s did the earlier conflict become known as the First World War. Its casualty totals were unprecedented, soaring into the millions. World War I is known for the extensive system of trenches from which men of both sides fought. Lethal new technologies were unleashed, and for the first time a major war was fought not only on land and on sea but below the sea and in the skies as well. The two sides were known as the Allies or Entente-consisting primarily of France, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, and later the United States-and the Central Powers, primarily comprised of Austria-Hungary (the Habsburg Empire), Germany, and the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). A number of smaller nations aligned themselves with one side or the other. In the Pacific Japan, seeing a chance to seize German colonies, threw in with the Allies. The Allies were the victors, as the entry of the United States into the war in 1917 added an additional weight of men and materiel the Central Powers could not hope to match.

The war resulted in a dramatically changed geo-political landscape, including the destruction of three empires: Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian. New borders were drawn at its conclusion and resentments, especially on the part of Germany, left festering in Europe. Ironically, decisions made after the fighting ceased led the War to End War to be a significant cause of the Second World War.

As John Keegan wrote in The First World War (Alfred A. Knopf, 1999), "The First World War was a tragic and unnecessary conflict ... the train of events that led to its outbreak might have been broken at any point during the five weeks of crisis that preceded the first clash of arms, had prudence or common goodwill found a voice."

Casualties in World War I

In terms of sheer numbers of lives lost or disrupted, the Great War was the most destructive war in history until it was overshadowed by its offspring, the Second World War: an estimated 10 million military deaths from all causes, plus 20 million more crippled or severely wounded. Estimates of civilian casualties are harder to make; they died from shells, bombs, disease, hunger, and accidents such as explosions in munitions factories; in some cases, they were executed as spies or as "object lessons." Additionally, as Neil M. Heyman in World War I (Greenwood Press, 1997) wrote, "Not physically hurt but scarred nonetheless were 5 million widowed women, 9 million orphaned children, and 10 million individuals torn from their homes to become refugees." None of this takes into account the deaths in the Russian Civil War or the Third Balkan War, both of which directly resulted from World War I, nor the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918 that killed 50 million people worldwide, which was spread in part by conditions at the front and by soldiers returning home.

The highest national military casualty totals-killed, wounded, and missing/taken prisoner-in round numbers (sources disagree on casualty totals), were:

Russia: 9,150,000

Germany: 7,143,000

Austria-Hungary: 7,000,000

France, 6,161,000

Britain & Commonwealth: 3,190,000

Italy: 2,197,000

Turkey (Ottoman Empire): 975,000

Romania: 536,000

Serbia: 331,000

USA: 323,000

Bulgaria: 267,000

For more information, click to see the Casualties of World War I.

Causes of World War I

Prime Minister of Germany Otto von Bismarck had prophesied that when war again came to Europe it would be over "some damn foolish thing in the Balkans." Indeed, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir apparent to the Habsburg throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife, Sophie, by a Serbian nationalist on June 28, 1914, was the match that lit the fuse-but it didn't create the powder keg. The outbreak of war between European nations was the result of several factors:

Concern over other countries' military expansion, leading to an arms race and entangling alliances

Fear of losing economic and/or diplomatic status

Long-standing ethnic differences and rising nationalism in the Balkans

French resentment of territorial losses in the 1871 Franco-Prussian War

The influence exerted by military leaders

Following their 1871 victory in the Franco-Prussian War, the German states unified into a single nation. Its leader, Kaiser Wilhelm II, eldest grandson of Britain's Queen Victoria, envisioned an Imperial Navy that could rival Great Britain's large and renowned fleet. This would increase German influence in the world and likely allow the country to expand its colonial holdings. Britain, fearful of losing its dominance of the seas, accelerated its naval design and construction to stay ahead of the Kaiser's ship-building program.

Russia was rebuilding and modernizing its large army and had begun a program of industrialization. Germany and Austria-Hungary saw the threat posed by Russia's large population and, hence, its ability to raise a massive army. They formed an alliance for self-protection against the Russian bear.

France, still stinging over the loss of Alsace and part of Lorraine in the Franco-Prussian war, made an agreement allying itself with Russia in any war with Germany or Austria-Hungary. Britain, after finding itself friendless during the Second Boer War in South Africa (1899-1902) allied itself with France and worked to improve relations with the United States of America. Russia, with many ethnic groups inside its vast expanse, made an alliance with Serbia in the Balkans.

The old Ottoman Empire was crumbling; "The Sick Man of Europe" was the phrase used to describe the once-powerful state. As its ability to exert control over its holdings in the Balkans weakened, ethnic and regional groups broke away and formed new states. Rising nationalism led to the First and Second Balkan Wars, 1912 and 1913. As a result of those wars, Serbia increased its size and began pushing for a union of all South Slavic peoples. Serbian nationalism led 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir apparent to the Habsburg throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife, Sophie. Austria-Hungary, urged on by Germany, sent a list of demands to Serbia in response; the demands were such that Serbia was certain to reject them. When it did, the Habsburg Empire declared war on Serbia on July 28, exactly one month after the archduke's assassination. Russia came in on the side of the Serbs, Germany on the side of the Habsburgs, and the entangling alliances between the nations of Europe pulled one after another into the war. Although diplomats throughout Europe strove to settle matters without warfare right up to the time the shooting started, the influence military leaders enjoyed in many nations won out-along with desires to capture new lands or reclaim old ones.

Combat in the First World War

German military planners were ready when the declarations of war began flying across Europe. They intended to hold off the Russians in the east, swiftly knock France out of the war through a maneuver known as the Schliefffen Plan, then throw their full force, along with Austria-Hungary, against the Russians. The Schliefffen Plan, named for General Count Alfred von Schlieffen who created it in 1905, called for invading the Low Countries (Luxembourg and Belgium) in order to bypass to the north the strong fortifications along the French border. After a rapid conquest of the Low Countries, the German advance would continue into northern France, swing around Paris to the west and capture the French capital. It almost worked, but German commander in chief General Helmuth von Moltke decided to send his forces east of Paris to engage and defeat the weakened French army head-on. In doing so he exposed his right flank to counterattack by the French and a British Expeditionary Force, resulting in the First Battle of the Marne, September 6-10, 1914. Despite casualties in the hundreds of thousands, the battle was a stalemate, but it stopped the German drive on Paris. Both sides began digging a network of trenches. The First Battle of the Marne was a window onto how the rest of the war would be fought: extensive trenchworks against which large numbers of men would be hurled, suffering extremely high casualties for little if any territorial gains. The centuries-old method of massed charges to break through enemy positions did not work when the men faced machine guns, barbed wire, and drastically more effective artillery than in the past.

The next four years would see battles in which millions of artillery shells were fired and millions of men were killed or mutilated. Click here to read about some of the costliest battles of the First World War. Deadly new weapons were responsible for the unprecedented carnage.

New Weapons of World War I

Among the lethal technological developments that were used for the first time (or in some cases used for the first time in a major conflict) during the Great War were the machine gun, poison gas, flamethrowers, tanks and aircraft. Artillery increased dramatically in size, range and killing power compared to its 19th-century counterparts. In the war at sea, submarines could strike unseen from beneath the waves, using torpedoes to send combat and merchant ships to the bottom. Click here for more information on Weapons of World War I.

War on the Eastern Front

On the Eastern Front, the German general Paul von Hindenburg and his chief of staff Erich Ludendorff engineered strategies that gave them dramatic victories over Russian armies. The war became increasing unpopular among the Russian people. Ludendorff, sensing a chance to take Tsar Nicholas II's country out of the war, arranged for an exiled Marxist revolutionary named Vladimir Lenin to cross Europe in a special train and get back into Russia. As hoped, Lenin helped fuel the rising revolutionary fervor. The tsar was deposed and executed with his family in the March 1917 revolution. For the first time in Russian history a republican democracy was established, but its leaders underestimated the people's resistance to continuing the war. When the new government failed to bring about a rapid peace, it was overthrown in November by a socialist revolution led by Lenin, following which Russia signed a peace agreement with Germany.

War in the Mountains

Fighting in the high elevations of the Balkans and Alps created additional agony for soldiers fighting there: bitterly cold winters and especially rugged terrain.

Serbia, whose countryman had fired the shots that gave rise to the slaughter taking place in Europe, was invaded twice by Austria-Hungary but repulsed both attempts. In the autumn of 1915, a third invasion came. This time the Hapsburgs were joined by Germany and Bulgaria. The outnumbered Serbs gave ground. Ultimately, the Serbian Army only escaped annihilation by a demanding march through Albania to the Adriatic Sea, where the French Navy rescued the survivors.

Romania remained neutral until August 1916 when it joined the Allies and declared war on Austria-Hungary in hopes of securing additional territories including Transylvania. As the poorly trained Romanian army advanced into Transylvania, German forces invaded and occupied Romania itself, quickly knocking the country out of the war.

Italy, wooed by both sides, entered the war on the Allied side in May 1915. Its efforts were concentrated on breaking through Austria's mountain defenses, but its poorly equipped soldiers were ground up in a series of attacks at the Isonzo River, though their opponents also suffered severely. What gains the Italians made in the war were wiped out by a rout that began at Caporeto in October 1917 and unhinged the entire line.

The War Spreads Beyond Europe

While soldiers in Europe lived and died in the muddy, disease-ridden trenches, Britain attempted an attack in February 1915 against the Ottoman Empire, the "soft underbelly" of Europe, to aid the Russians and, ideally, force Turkey out of the war. An attempted invasion on the Gallipoli Peninsula resulted in a bloody repulse, but war in the interior of the Ottoman Empire met with greater success. Arab groups seeking to overthrow the empire waged a successful guerrilla war in the Mideast, led by Prince Feisal, third son of the Grand Sharif of Mecca. The revolt was aided by British liaison officer T.E. Lawrence of Wales, who became known as Lawrence of Arabia.

When the war ended, the Ottoman Empire was broken up. England and France drew borders for new countries in the Mideast without regard for ethnic and religious factions. The centuries-old tensions between the native inhabitants of the region led to many of the problems causing turmoil in the Mideast today, another irony of the War to End War.

Africa was home to a sideshow of the European fighting. European nationals and colonial troops of both sides fought against each other, but the German colonies were widely separated and unable to support each other. In German East Africa (Tanzania) an aggressive general named Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck waged a guerilla campaign against his British opponents until after the armistice was signed in Europe that ended the Great War.

In the waters of the Pacific Ocean German commerce raiders found prey among merchant vessels of Allied nations. Japan joined the Allies war effort on August 23, 1914, ostensibly in fulfillment of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of 1911. The Land of the Rising Sun seized German colonies such as the Marianas, Marshalls and Carolines island chains that would see intense fighting during the Second World War.

War at Sea

Among the causes of the First World War was the naval arms race that began with Britain's deployment of HMS Dreadnought, a new design that eschewed small, secondary arms in favor of big guns heavily armored for protection. Every nation wanted a Dreadnought, and Germany sought to increase the size of its fleet to the level of Britain's. Accomplishing that goal while supporting large armies engaged in warfare proved impossible for Germany, but World War I saw the last great battles fought entirely between surface ships. Notable naval engagements include the Falkland Islands and Coronel off South America, and the battles of Heligoland Bight, Dogger Bank and Jutland in the North Sea. Jutland would prove to be not only the largest naval battle up to that time but the last in which fighting would take place only between surface ships. In World War II, the aircraft carrier became the most lethal surface ship and allowed enemy fleets to engage in battle without ever seeing each other from a captain's bridge.

The most significant advance in naval warfare to come out of the Great War was the development of submarines, which the German Imperial Navy called Unterseeboots (undersea boats). That got shortened to U-boats, a name that became synonymous with submarine. Subs could hide beneath the waves in shipping lanes to attack merchant or combat ships with torpedoes without ever being seen. Such attacks on merchant or passenger ships without giving the crews and passengers warning so they could escape in lifeboats was considered a violation of the laws of naval warfare, and became known as "unrestricted" submarine warfare. Germany engaged in such unrestricted warfare until U-20 sunk the British passenger liner Lusitania off Ireland in May 1915. Over 1,200 lives were lost, including 128 Americans, and the US threatened to break diplomatic relations with Germany. The Imperial Navy subsequently instituted strict regulations for U-boat attacks, but those went by the boards in 1917 as the Germans tried to cut off supplies to Britain and starve the island nation into submission. It was a bad decision. The renewal of unrestricted submarine warfare and subsequent sinking of three American ships brought the US into the war, after which Germany's fate was all but sealed.

War in the Air

Airplanes had already seen limited military before World War I began. Italian aircraft were used for reconnaissance and small-scale bombing during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911. Aircraft during World War I continued to be used primarily for reconnaissance, including photo-reconnaissance missions. The first aircraft of the war weren't even armed, since no serious effort had been made to create a fighting flying machine. Pilots began shooting at each other with pistols and rifles. Soon various schemes were attempted to attach machine guns to planes. The breakthrough came in 1915 when Holland's Anthony Fokker developed a method to synchronize a machine gun's fire with the rotation of the propeller on his Eindecker (single-wing) design for the German air force.

Early war planes were very light and used small engines with top speeds of less than 100 mph. On many designs the engine was in the rear and pushed the plane through the air. The demands of wartime, each side trying to outdo the other's technological advances, created rapid improvements in aircraft design. Changes might occur within weeks; in the decades following the war, such changes would take years. By war's end small, single-engine planes had been joined by multi-engine bombers such as the Giant, which Germany used to bomb British cities. Zeppelins were also used for reconnaissance and for bombing over land and sea. Tethered barrage balloons carried observers high above the front to watch enemy troop movements-and attracted the attention of the enemy's airborne fighters.

While the war on the ground was a miserable existence in muddy, rat- and disease-infested trenches, and millions of lives might be spent to gain a few miles of territory, the war in the air captured the imagination of the world. Using this exciting new technology to maneuver through the skies and engage the enemy in one-on-one dogfights in which skillful pilots could rise to the status of ace gave the air war a sense of glamour that still hangs over the pilots of World War I.

America Joins the War

Most Americans saw little reason for the United States to involve itself in "the European War," though some individuals-such as young pilots excited at the notion of flying in combat-enlisted through Canada or elsewhere. President Woodrow Wilson won reelection in 1916 on the slogan, "He kept us out of war." That same year he tried to bring the combatant nations to the bargaining table to seek an end to the war that would be fair to all, but the attempt failed.

America was drawn into the conflict by the Zimmerman telegraph and unrestricted submarine warfare. On January 16, 1917, Foreign Secretary of the German Empire Arthur Zimmerman sent a coded message to the German ambassador in Mexico City, Heinrich von Eckart informing him Germany would return to unrestricted submarine warfare on February 1, a policy that might cause America to declare war. "We shall endeavor in spite of this to keep the United States of America neutral," Zimmerman wrote, but if those efforts failed, Eckart was to convince Mexico to become Germany's ally. As an inducement, Eckart was authorized to offer the return of the US states of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona to Mexico after America was defeated.

The code was broken, and the contents of the telegram published on March 1. Americans were outraged. Two weeks later German U-boats sank three American vessels. Wilson asked Congress on April 1 to authorize a declaration of war against Germany, which it did four days later. War was declared on the other Central Powers shortly thereafter.

When American troops and war materiel began arriving in Europe later in 1917, it unalterably shifted the balance of power in favor of the Allies. A final German offensive began on May 21, 1918, an attempt to win the war before the full weight of American strength could arrive. The Spring Offensive (also called the Ludendorff Offensive and the Kaiser's Battle) sputtered out when German supply vehicles couldn't keep up with the rapidly advancing soldiers across the broken, cratered battleground, and the Kaiser's troops were left in poor defensive positions. An Allied operation that became known as the Hundred Days Offensive pushed the enemy back to the German border by September. Germany's allies began their own peace negotiations.

The German navy mutinied. Ludendorff, architect of many German victories in the east, was dismissed. Riots broke out, often led by German Bolsheviks. Prince Max, Chancellor of Germany, authorized negotiations for peace terms and stipulated that both military and civilian representatives be involved. He then turned his title over to Friedrich Ebert, leader of the Socialist Democratic movement. Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated on November 9. An agreement between the combatants called for all guns to fall silent on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Yet, even on the morning of November 11, before the designated time for the armistice to begin, some field officers ordered their men to make attacks, which accomplished little except more bloodshed.

The Armistice

A series of peace treaties were signed between the combatant nations, but the most significant was the Treaty of Versailles, signed on July 28, 1919, five years after Austria-Hungary had declared war on Serbia. Germany had hoped Woodrow Wilson would be a moderating factor that would allow for more generous peace terms, but the nations that had lost millions of young men to the weapons of the Central Powers were in no mood to be forgiving. As a result of the various treaties, the Ottoman Empire was dismantled. Austria-Hungary was broken into separate nations and forced to cede lands to successor states such as Czechoslovakia. Bulgaria was limited to a 20,000-man army, denied any aircraft or submarines and ordered to pay reparations over a 35-year period. Germany was restricted to a standing army of just 100,000 men, denied possession of certain weapons such as tanks, forced to pay reparations to its former enemies and give up all of its overseas colonies as well as some of its territories in Europe. In the coming years Germans would brood over the harsh terms and seek not only to overturn them but to inflict punishment on the nations that demanded them.

All combatant nations had concealed from their people the true extent of casualties during the war, but in Germany, where Hindenburg and Ludendorff were given control over virtually all aspects of civilian life as well as over the military, any negative reports about what was happening at the front were considered "defeatist" and were prohibited. Accordingly, much of the population believed it when they were told Germany was winning the war. The country's sudden capitulation left them shocked and bewildered. Hindenburg claimed that the German soldier had been winning the war but was "stabbed in the back" by civilians who overthrew the monarchy. The popular old soldier was elected president of Germany, and his "stabbed in the back" myth was used to great effect by a rising political star, Adolf Hitler.

Articles Featuring World War I From History Net Magazines

Featured Articles

More World War I Articles

More World War I Articles

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Facts, information and articles about World War I, aka The Great War World War I Facts Dates July 28, 1914 - November 11, 1918 Location Europe, Mideast, Africa, Pacific, Atlantic, Mediterranean, North Sea, Baltic Sea Generals/Commanders Allied Powers / Entente: King George V President Raymond Poincare Tsar Nicholas II King Victor Emmanuel III King Peter [...]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In the Roaring Twenties, a surging economy created an era of mass consumerism, as Jazz-Age flappers flouted Prohibition laws and the Harlem Renaissance redefined arts and culture.

# data[].attributes.body
This website talks about flappers, architecture, music,

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Flapper - A Trendy Young Woman of the 1920's

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Flapper was part of the 1920's phenonmenon along with their male counterpart, the Sheik...

# data[].attributes.body
You'll need your library card number or use 20005001118178

# data[].attributes.body
You'll need your library card number or use 20005001118178.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867

After the North defeated the South in the Civil War, politicians faced the task of putting the divided country back together. There was great debate about how severely the former Confederate states should be punished for leaving the Union. With the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865, it was up to President Andrew Johnson to try to reunite former enemies. The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 laid out the process for readmitting Southern states into the Union. The Fourteenth Amendment (1868) provided former slaves with national citizenship, and the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) granted black men the right to vote. These were only the first steps, however, toward reconstructing the fragmented nation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Reconstruction (1866-1877) - Jump Back in Time | America's Library - Library of Congress

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867 After the North defeated the South in the Civil War, politicians faced the task of putting the divided country back together. There was great debate about how severely the former Confederate states should be punished for leaving the Union.

# data[].attributes.body
You'll need your library card or use 20005001118178

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Foreign affairs (relationships with other countries) took up a great deal of President Woodrow Wilson's attention. In Europe, there was the outbreak of World War I, also known as the Great War, in 1914, and in Mexico, there was the Mexican Revolution.

# data[].attributes.headline
Jump back in Time - Great Depression and World War II

# data[].attributes.subject
Jump back in Time - Great Depression and World War II

# data[].attributes.body
You'll need your library card number or use 20005001118178

# data[].attributes.headline
Jump Back in Time - Great Depression & World War II

# data[].attributes.subject
Jump Back in Time - Great Depression & World War II

# data[].attributes.body
Need to use your Library Card or 20005001118178

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What was life like for people in the past? One way to learn more is to read or view primary sources. A primary source is firsthand information from the past. It could be a photograph, a letter, or a speech. Other things can be primary sources too.

# data[].attributes.body
Will need your library card or use 20005001118178

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Interactive Map: World War II in the Pacific

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Due to variances in browsers and operating systems, the selected map may not print on this page.

# data[].attributes.headline
Interactive Map of the Underground Railroad

# data[].attributes.subject
Interactive Map of the Underground Railroad

# data[].attributes.body
You may need to use your library card or you can use 20005001118178

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Interactive Map: The Underground Railroad

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Due to variances in browsers and operating systems, the selected map may not print on this page.

# data[].attributes.headline
Read National Geographic for Kids book called Frederick Douglas

# data[].attributes.subject
Read National Geographic for Kids book called Frederick Douglas

# data[].attributes.body
You will need your library card number or you can use 20005001118178.

# data[].attributes.headline
Read National Geographic for Kids book called Anne Frank

# data[].attributes.subject
Read National Geographic for Kids book called Anne Frank

# data[].attributes.body
You will need your library card or use number 20005001118178

# data[].attributes.headline
Read National Geographic for Kids book called Everything World War I

# data[].attributes.subject
Read National Geographic for Kids book called Everything World War I

# data[].attributes.body
You will need your library card number or use 20005001118178

# data[].attributes.headline
Read National Geographic for Kids biography on Abraham Lincoln

# data[].attributes.subject
Read National Geographic for Kids biography on Abraham Lincoln

# data[].attributes.body
You will need your library card number or use 20005001118178

# data[].attributes.headline
Read National Geographic for Kids book called Students on Strike: Jim Crow, Civil Rights, [Brown,] and Me

# data[].attributes.subject
Read National Geographic for Kids book called Students on Strike: Jim Crow, Civil Rights, [Brown,] and Me

# data[].attributes.body
You will need your library card number or use 200050011181781

# data[].attributes.headline
Read National Geographic book called 1862, Fredericksburg: A New Look at a Bitter Civil War Battle

# data[].attributes.subject
Read National Geographic book called 1862, Fredericksburg: A New Look at a Bitter Civil War Battle

# data[].attributes.body
You will need your library card number or use 20005001118178

# data[].attributes.headline
Read National Geographic book Stolen Into Slavery: The True Story of Solomon Northup, Free Black Man

# data[].attributes.subject
Read National Geographic book Stolen Into Slavery: The True Story of Solomon Northup, Free Black Man

# data[].attributes.body
You will need your library card number or use 20005001118178

# data[].attributes.headline
Read National Geographic Book Unraveling Freedom: The Battle for Democracy on the Home Front During World War I

# data[].attributes.subject
Read National Geographic Book Unraveling Freedom: The Battle for Democracy on the Home Front During World War I

# data[].attributes.body
You will need your library card number or use 20005001118178

# data[].attributes.headline
Read National Geographic book: Summer's Bloodiest Days: The Battle of Gettysburg as Told From All Sides

# data[].attributes.subject
Read National Geographic book: Summer's Bloodiest Days: The Battle of Gettysburg as Told From All Sides

# data[].attributes.body
You will need your library card number or use 20005001118178

# data[].attributes.headline
Read National Geographic book:  The Groundbreaking, Chance-Taking Life of George Washington Carver and Science & Invention in America

# data[].attributes.subject
Read National Geographic book:  The Groundbreaking, Chance-Taking Life of George Washington Carver and Science & Invention in America

# data[].attributes.body
You will need your library card or use number 20005001118178

# data[].attributes.headline
Read National Geographic book: National Geographic Kids Everything Battles

# data[].attributes.subject
Read National Geographic book: National Geographic Kids Everything Battles

# data[].attributes.headline
Naval photograph documenting the attack on Pearl Harbor

# data[].attributes.subject
Naval photograph documenting the attack on Pearl Harbor

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Naval photograph documenting the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii which initiated US participation in World War II. Navy's caption: Abandoning ship aboard the USS CALIFORNIA after the ship had | DocsTeach

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This photograph was originally taken by a Naval photographer immediately after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but came to be filed in a writ of application for habeas corpus case (number 298) tried in the US District Court, District of Hawaii in 1944. The case, In Re Lloyd C.

# data[].attributes.headline
Find Primary Source Documents by searching on your topic at this website.

# data[].attributes.subject
Find Primary Source Documents by searching on your topic at this website.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
DocsTeach is a product of the National Archives education division. Our mission is to engage, educate, and inspire all learners to discover and explore the records of the American people preserved by the National Archives.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
DocsTeach is a product of the National Archives education division. Our mission is to engage, educate, and inspire all learners to discover and explore the records of the American people preserved by the National Archives. The National Archives and Records Administration is the nation's record keeper.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
DocsTeach is a product of the National Archives education division. Our mission is to engage, educate, and inspire all learners to discover and explore the records of the American people preserved by the National Archives. The National Archives and Records Administration is the nation's record keeper.

# data[].attributes.headline
Primary Source documents for Wounded Soldiers - Education and rehab

# data[].attributes.subject
Primary Source documents for Wounded Soldiers - Education and rehab

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
With soldiers engaged in deadly combat during World War I, it was not uncommon for many to return home with permanent physical injuries. Among the injuries of the 23 million wounded, included those who were blinded from the bursting of a shell or soldiers who lost limbs from the explosion of a grenade.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
shooting without bullets: wwi film and photography

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Shooting Without Bullets: WWI Film and Photography

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Some have characterized the First World War as the first modern war due to advances in military technology and weaponry, (including biological weapons) and modern forms of warfare. WWI can also be understood as modern, however, in light of the central role of visual media tools and techniques used during the war, both abroad and on the home front in the U.S.A.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This series on Great Movies for Teaching U.S. History, from the Revolutionary War to the Cold War, will publish on consecutive weekdays through May 2. It features films and documentaries inspired by historical events in the United States, including information about their educational value, ratings and appropriateness for children, and how well they represent the time periods covered.

Industrial Revolution & Roaring Twenties: 1870-1920s

After the Civil War it took time to rebuild, both emotionally and physically. However once that was done the country saw tremendous growth and change. During this time period, the country saw big progress in technology as well as pivotal legislation that changed the culture of America.

The second Industrial Revolution (1870-1914) was an era for pioneers in industry and technology. Rockefeller, Tesla, Ford, Edison, JP Morgan, and Carnegie all had their heyday within a span of just a few decades. Here is a short description for each person and some links to documentaries. PBS and American Experience has put together several documentaries on each of these men, which can be viewed online for free along with resources to learn more:

Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla was an inventor, electrical engineer, and physicist. Most famous for experimenting with wireless electricity.

Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison is known for inventing the light bulb. However, his true genius was his expertise in business.

Andrew Carnegie

Carnegie was prominent during the Civil War, but created his fortune through the steel industry. He was also a generous philanthropist.

Henry Ford

Henry Ford was a genius businessman who perfected the assembly line, introduced the idea of franchise, and invented the Model T, the most popular automobile of its time.

The Rockefellers

John D. Rockefeller is remembered for his incredible wealth from Standard Oil.

Teddy Roosevelt can be seen as an embodiment of America during this time. Born shortly after the Civil War, Roosevelt had health problems at a young age. As the country struggled with the aftermath of the war, he struggled with sickness. As America rallied and saw the second Industrial Revolution and expanded its territories, Roosevelt was often made to exercise by his father, and became an avid hunter and outdoorsman. He attended Harvard, joined the Navy, and became president, among several other accomplishments throughout his life.

The three-hour program goes through Roosevelt's whole life and examines many of his accomplishments and hardships along the way, including his personal, social, and political life. The History Channel recreates certain events along the way to keep the viewer engaged. The film features interviews with family members, excerpts from his journal, and clips and images from him.

The History Channel has uploaded the entire video to YouTube, which you can view below. They have also supplied a comprehensive teacher's guide to follow along with the program.

The industrial boom led to much prosperity through the nation and America saw great wealth during what's commonly referred to as the Roaring Twenties. Film, music, entertainment, and travel flourished. Prohibition, the 18 th Amendment outlawing alcohol, also passed during this time.

The critically acclaimed HBO show has been hailed for its acting and production, and the show is historically accurate.

The show begins with Prohibition and focuses on several of the politicians and gangsters who take advantage of the law. The show also features points of view from the average citizen as well as law enforcement's struggle with upholding the law. Some characters are re-imagined to allow a more artistic viewpoint and to make the show more engaging, but there are many characters, such as Al Capone and Louis Kuehnle, whose stories remain true to what actually happened. Aside from the characters, the set and time period are accurately portrayed and the viewer can get a feel for what life was like during that time.

The show is geared to a mature audience and includes controversial themes, explicit content, and violence.

Another film by the acclaimed Ken Burns; while it may be called 'Prohibition,' it's really about the 1920s as a whole. The film centers around the law banning alcohol, but delves deeper into the root of the movement. Immigration, the Red Scare, jazz music, women's issues, politics, and social issues are all covered in this film. In classic Ken Burns style, the man has done his research and recruited others who have done theirs. Using images, film, and documents from the actual time period, viewers get a clear story of what was happening during the time period. Historians who have studied the period are featured in the film, as well as interviews with people who were alive during the time.

Check our interactive slideshow, from our Activity Center, below to learn more about this amazing time period.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Great Movies for Teaching US History: Industrial Revolution & Roaring Twenties - Learning Liftoff

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This series on Great Movies for Teaching U.S. History, from the Revolutionary War to the Cold War, will publish on consecutive weekdays through May 2. It features films and documentaries inspired by historical events in the United States, including information about their educational value, ratings and appropriateness for children, and how well they represent the time periods covered.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In the aftermath of World War I, the 1920s roared with change and excitement. The Industrial Age was booming! Prohibition, jazz, the Shimmy, the Charleston, the car craze, talkies, speakeasies, flappers, gangsters, bubble gum, traffic lights, electrification, the Scopes Monkey Trial, the Red Scare, the Teapot Dome Scandal, Mickey Mouse, the Harlem Renaissance; it was an exciting new era.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Great Depression for Kids and Teachers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
During his first 100 days in office, FDR and Congress introduced 50 new laws and sweeping reforms called the "The New Deal". FDR used his "Fireside Chats" on the radio to keep people informed and encouraged. As the New Deal programs were implemented, things did improve. But the Great Depression did not end.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In 1914, there was an alliance system in place between various countries around the world, a system of secret treaties. These treaties were defensive - if someone attacks, we'll help you and you help us. When Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia in 1914, each country called on their alliances for assistance.

# data[].attributes.body
You need to scroll down a bit until you get to the documents

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Alabama Department of Archives and History, Teacher lesson plans, World War II, lesson 1

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Once the United States entered the war, Alabamians fully supported the effort. They sent men and women off to serve and geared up the home front to support the troops by rationing, planting home gardens, and recycling needed war resources. Political cartoons of the day, like those of Frank Spangler, Sr.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
World War II - Free Games & Activities for Kids

# data[].attributes.body
http://www.wartgames.com/themes/world/holocaust.html

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Holocaust - Free Games & Activities for Kids

# data[].attributes.body
Use your teacher's login for Brainpop

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn about the Roaring Twenties in this student-made, BrainPOP-inspired video by Robert Miller's 4th & 5th graders from Port Orange, Florida.

# data[].attributes.body
Use your teacher's login for Brainpop

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
BrainPOP - Animated Educational Site for Kids - Science, Social Studies, English, Math, Arts & Music, Health, and Technology

# data[].attributes.body
Use your teacher's login for Brainpop

# data[].attributes.body
Use your teacher's login for Brainpop

# data[].attributes.body
Use your teacher's login for Brainpop

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
BrainPOP - Animated Educational Site for Kids - Science, Social Studies, English, Math, Arts & Music, Health, and Technology

# data[].attributes.body
Use your teacher's login for Brainpop

# data[].attributes.body
Use your teacher's login for Brainpop

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
BrainPOP - Animated Educational Site for Kids - Science, Social Studies, English, Math, Arts & Music, Health, and Technology

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This archive of primary documents from World War One has been assembled by volunteers of the World War I Military History List (WWI-L). I nternational in focus, the archive intends to present in one location primary documents concerning the Great War.

T his site is linked from

EuroDocs: Online Sources for European History,

from AmDocs: Documents for the Study of American History,

and from the Documents Room of Carrie: A Full-Text Electronic Library

F or citing documents from this archive, here is an example of

MLA documentation style for citing sources from the World Wide Web.

Conventions and Treaties and Official Papers

Documents by Year:

Pre-1914 - 1914 - 1915 - 1916 - 1917 - 1918 - Post-1918

WWI Resource Center & Image Archive

(See also "Visual Arts" in the IX. Links to Other WWI Sites (below)

The World War I Document Archive has resided on the server of the Brigham Young University Library since February 1996.
To the wiki statistics found here should be added approximately 15 million pre-wiki website visits (1996-2006).

Find out more about this global community of WWI historians, students & enthusiasts.

This site uses the GreatWarDocsBot for site maintenance.

Comments, corrections and suggestions are welcome:

Richard Hacken (hacken @ byu.edu)

Thanks for artistic design to:

Alan Albright and Micheal Shackelford

Please read our Disclaimer and Copyright Notice

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This archive of primary documents from World War One has been assembled by volunteers of the World War I Military History List (WWI-L). I nternational in focus, the archive intends to present in one location primary documents concerning the Great War.

# data[].attributes.headline
Primary Sources for the Great Depression & WWII

# data[].attributes.subject
Primary Sources for the Great Depression & WWII

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Home > Educator Resources > Teaching With Documents > Lessons: 1929-1945

# data[].attributes.headline
Primary Sources for the Great Depression & WWII

# data[].attributes.subject
Primary Sources for the Great Depression & WWII

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Home > Educator Resources > Teaching With Documents > Lessons: 1929-1945

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
PRIMARY DOCUMENTS The Avalon Project: World War II Documents SOUNDS, FILMS, IMAGES & PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE WAR Cinemocracy - propaganda for the war effort: Free Movies Download & Streaming Virtual Radio - World War II Multimedia Database - part of Welcome to the World War II Multimedia Database World War II Photo / Contact Gallery Historic Government Publications from World War II Franklin D.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
"Age of Prosperity," America in the 1920s, Primary Sources for Teachers, America in Class, National Humanities Center

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How did it happen? Would it last? How could the excesses of prosperity be moderated? How could those left out be included? And whose responsibility was all this? business? government? the individual? We begin this Theme with an overview of the decade's perspective on itself, as an "age of prosperity."