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What role did women play in the military in WWI?

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What role did women play in the military in WWI?

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Women served as stenographers, clerks, radio operators, messengers, truck drivers, ordnance workers, mechanics cryptographers and anything related to non-combat duty roles. 11,572 women were enlisted in the war to be in the Navy.

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What role did African Americans play in the military in WWI?

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What role did African Americans play in the military in WWI?

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350,000 or more served as segregated units during the war as support troops. Hundreds of African Americans received offers for training. Over 600 turned out to be captains and lieutenants.

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How many soldiers volunteered for WWI? Was it enough?

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How many soldiers volunteered for WWI? Was it enough?

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More than 4 million were enlisted. 1.5 million of those men had second thoughts on going overseas to fight against Germany with France and Britain. They said it was enough, and was recorded the 7th overall in size. So yes I believe that it was enough if they won.

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May 18, 1917, the Selective Service Act was passed by congress. This act made every male from the age of 21-45 to enroll into the army. Approximately 24 million ended up being registered.

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Why were American troops nicknamed “doughboys?”   

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Why were American troops nicknamed “doughboys?”   

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Troops would have a white piping on their uniform that was like clay. Whenever it would rain the clay substance would turn into doughy blobs which gave them their name “doughboys.”

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It's unknown exactly how U.S. service members in World War I (1914-18) came to be dubbed doughboys-the term most typically was used to refer to troops deployed to Europe as part of the American Expeditionary Forces-but there are a variety of theories about the origins of the nickname.

According to one explanation, the term dates back to the Mexican War of 1846-48, when American infantrymen made long treks over dusty terrain, giving them the appearance of being covered in flour, or dough. As a variation of this account goes, the men were coated in the dust of adobe soil and as a result were called "adobes," which morphed into "dobies" and, eventually, "doughboys."

Among other theories, according to "War Slang" by Paul Dickson the American journalist and lexicographer H.L. Mencken claimed the nickname could be traced to Continental Army soldiers who kept the piping on their uniforms white through the application of clay. When the troops got rained on the clay on their uniforms turned into "doughy blobs," supposedly leading to the doughboy moniker.

However doughboy came into being, it was just one of the nicknames given to those who fought in the Great War. For example, "poilu" ("hairy one") was a term for a French soldier, as a number of them had beards or mustaches, while a popular slang term for a British soldier was "Tommy," an abbreviation of Tommy Atkins, a generic name (along the lines of John Doe) used on government forms.

America's last World War I doughboy, Frank Buckles, died in 2011 in West Virginia at age 110. Buckles enlisted in the Army at age 16 in August 1917, four months after the U.S. entered the conflict, and drove military vehicles in France. One of 4.7 million Americans who served in the war, Buckles was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Today imagery of the doughboy persists in more than 100 World War I commemorative statues across the United States. Most of the statues were erected in the 1920s and often through the fundraising efforts of grassroots veteran's and women's groups. Even small communities were able to pay for the statues since versions of the doughboy statue were mass produced and, therefore, more affordable.

Carptrash/CC BY-SA 3.0

Jennifer Wingate, associate professor of American Studies at St. Francis College and author of Sculpting Doughboys: Memory, Gender, and Taste in America's World War I Memorials, points out that communities were eager to hold up the doughboy as a heroic figure as the nation was anxious during this period over new outbreaks of Spanish influenza and over the rehabilitation of returning veterans. The early 1920s also marked the first Red Scare when, in the wake of the Russian Revolution of 1917, Americans were on high alert over Communist revolutionaries.

"These images of very fit, fighting doughboys shored up America's confidence during a vulnerable time," says Wingate. "To show evidence of these strong, healthy, strapping men in a vigilant pose or going over the top worked to dispel fears about the economic and physical health of soldiers returning from war."

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Why Were American Soldiers in WWI Called Doughboys?

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It's unknown exactly how U.S. service members in World War I (1914-18) came to be dubbed doughboys-the term most typically was used to refer to troops deployed to Europe as part of the American Expeditionary Forces-but there are a variety of theories about the origins of the nickname.

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The AEF means American Expeditionary Force and they were the soldiers that were sent to Europe during World War I to fight.

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How did the Spanish Influenza impact America’s ability to build a military?

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How did the Spanish Influenza impact America’s ability to build a military?

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The Spanish Influenza traveled from camp to camp throughout the military and also through the Atlantic. 20% to 40% of the U.S. army was sickened from this virus. This virus killed more american soldiers than the enemies did. Going into war with all these people dying, they struggled but still fought it off.

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This one looks like it's standing in front of the flag like he's protecting it, and it says “The Call to Duty, For Home and Country,” which means to do it for our home and country

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Library of Congress
Even after the Civil War, Americans retained an affinity for picking up arms to defend their beliefs, but World War I changed that.

Trench warfare, poison gas, and new weapons turned the battlefields of WW I into a nightmare of dated tactics, and ordnance no one had ever seen before. It was particularly ugly, and the Americans who fought the war became known as the " Lost Generation".

So, propoganda was needed to generate support of the conflict and these Library of Congress posters provide us with an insight into this struggle with their collection of over 1900 posters created between 1914 and 1920.

We selected a few of the posters that show how the U.S. war effort not only attempted to convince males to enlist, but also how it seduced women into working for the Red Cross and those at home into buying 'Liberty Bonds" to support "our boys."

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These Are The Powerful Posters That Got America Into WW1

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Even after the Civil War, Americans retained an affinity for picking up arms to defend their beliefs, but World War I changed that. Trench warfare, poison gas, and new weapons turned the battlefields of WW I into a nightmare of dated tactics, and ordnance no one had ever seen before.

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The message in this poster shows uncle Sam being commanding and pointing at the viewer and urging all the men to enlist.

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The top hat, the goatee, the burning eyes and that long accusing finger - the"I Want YOU!" poster has become one of the most iconic images in American history. Used by the U.S. Army to recruit troops during the First World War, this image transformed the character of Uncle Sam into a stern and powerful figure. His persuasive pose and marked demeanour proved to be a hugely effective tool during the war, and a staggering four million copies of it were printed between 1917 and 1918.

While the poster continues to be recognised the world over, its creator's name has not fared quite as well. Born in New York in 1877, James Montgomery Flagg was a hugely prolific illustrator, who - at the peak of his career - was said to have been the highest paid magazine illustrator in all of America. Talented from a young age, Flagg had sold his first illustration at the age of twelve. By fourteen he had become a regular illustrator for Life, and two years after that he joined the staff of its rival publication Judge.

Flagg was an outspoken man who didn't suffer fools gladly. An unapologetic fan of fast cars and beautiful women, he took great pleasure in his work and in return it brought him fame and fortune. He lived the life of a bohemian, mixing with celebrities and sycophants and earning a reputation for being one of the most colourful and cantankerous characters of his day.

When the war broke, Flagg was thirty-nine years of age and so was too old to enlist. Instead, he volunteered his skills to the Division of Pictorial Publicity (DPP) - a group initially established by the illustrator Charles Dana Gibson. The DPP had grown out of an effort to use illustration as a means to promote the war effort and it was quickly absorbed into Woodrow Wilson's Committee on Public Information. At its peak, it held over three-hundred illustrators in its ranks, including the likes of Howard Chandler Christy, N.C. Wyeth and even a young Norman Rockwell.

Flagg, who had already created the"I Want YOU!" image for a July 1916 issue of Leslie's Weekly, produced forty-six posters for the DPP's war effort - many of them featuring the character of Uncle Sam. For Flagg, the use of this national personification was the ideal tool for propaganda, and while images of Uncle Sam had existed since as early as the 1800s, it was Flagg's version that cemented the identity that we think of today.

Flagg saw little issue in borrowing images and ideas from other artists and he did this frequently. "How well the idea was handled was far more interesting to him than its origin" noted Susan E. Meyer in her 1974 biography of the illustrator. His fondness for appropriation is particularly clear when comparing his Uncle Sam poster to Alfred Leete's poster Lord Kitchener Wants You from 1914. Here, Flagg has simply replaced the British War Secretary with Uncle Sam, and while the illustrator never denied or admitted the similarity between the two works, the resemblance is clearly evident.

At the time, Flagg's Uncle Sam felt like a dynamic and exciting re-imagining of the character. Uncle Sam had always been portrayed as a folksy and friendly type, but under Flagg's expressive brush, America was to be shown as a handsome and robust figure. Whether it was through patriotism, thriftiness or vanity, the story goes that Flagg decided to use himself as the model for this new rendition of Sam. According to Meyer, the illustrator was acutely aware of his own good looks and was particularly proud of his shapely eyebrows. Ageing himself with makeup, a fake goatee and wearing the now iconic hat, Flagg composed the image in front of a mirror and thus Uncle Sam was made in Flagg's own image.

As the years passed, the illustrator began to look more-and-more like his original creation and he continued to use himself as the model for several more posters - even occasionally posing for press photos in full Uncle Sam garb (below). It was a decision that won him the admiration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who praised his resourcefulness and noted that his methods suggested that he had "Yankee forebears".

After the First World War, Flagg returned to working with a number of advertising and publishing clients. Despite the fading lustre of illustration's " Golden Age", he continued to have success - particularly in magazines where nearly every major publisher wanted to work with him. He drew caricatures of movie stars, illustrated a handful of books and even wrote an autobiography. When America returned to war in 1941, his posters were suddenly back in demand. Millions more of his iconic Uncle Sam poster were printed and the image continued to be just as effective.

Unfortunately, as the post-war era dawned, the world had changed too much for Flagg. Illustrators needed to work fast to adapt to the changing world of mass markets and colour photography and Flagg found that his style of illustration was quickly falling out of fashion. Drifting into obscurity, he found himself trapped in a world that he deplored. His vision was failing and his health had left him incapable of enjoying the playboy lifestyle that he had once so much adored. "I really died twenty years ago" he noted, "but nobody had the nerve to bury me".

James Montgomery Flagg died on May 27, 1960, and was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx. Despite once being one of the most celebrated figures in American culture, only twenty people came to pay their respects. It was a sad end for a once much-loved figure. Yet today, his poster remains one of the most iconic images of the twentieth-century; a lasting icon that symbolises the power of patriotism. This, I feel, is an achievement that even Flagg himself could not bemoan.

Where next?
If you found this article interesting you might also enjoy exploring these selections:

The Portraits of John Singer Sargent
Flagg's great hero was the American painterJohn Singer Sargent (1856-1925). Arguably the greatest portrait painter of his era, Sargent had impressive technical skills and it's not hard to see the influence that he had on the illustrator.

Ludwig Hohlwein's Heroic Realism
It was not just the Allied Powers that produced propaganda during the wars, and despite his controversial output, it would be remiss not to mention the work of German artistLudwig Hohlwein (1874-1949). A talented artist, Hohlwein was a member of the Nazi party and designed posters for the NSDAP, the Nazi People's Welfare and the 1936 Olympic Games.

The Portraits of Everett Kinstler
An admirer of Flagg's work since early childhood,Everett Raymond Kinstler (b. 1926) went on to become a devoted friend of the illustrator. Kinstler's 1952 portrait of the illustrator feels like a truly fitting tribute to a man who played such an influential role in this young artist's life.

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"I Want YOU!" - The Story of James Montgomery Flagg's Iconic Poster - Illustration Chronicles

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The top hat, the goatee, the burning eyes and that long accusing finger - the"I Want YOU!" poster has become one of the most iconic images in American history. Used by the U.S. Army to recruit troops during the First World War, this image transformed the character of Uncle Sam into a stern and powerful figure.

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I think the poster's message is that if you want to help out your country and be a hero, then join them to stand for the flag. It says “always faithful,” which means to be loyal to the country.

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War Propaganda Poster (ca. 1918). World War I Poster (28" X 42"). | Lot #26359 | Heritage Auctions

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War Propaganda Poster (ca. 1918). World War I Poster (28" X 42"). "Be a U.S. Marine" - Available at Sunday Internet Movie Poster...