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Plus in the Wondery app or

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on Apple Podcasts. Imagine

0:22

it's October 1918 and

0:24

you're a major in the U.S. Army. You

0:27

and roughly 550 men under

0:29

your command are trapped on the north

0:31

slope of a ravine in northwest France

0:33

and the situations bleak. The

0:35

Germans have you surrounded, ammunition is running

0:38

low, and for the past hour a

0:40

relentless artillery barrage has pinned your unit

0:42

down. The worst thing is,

0:44

it isn't the Germans bombarding you but

0:46

your own side. Another

0:48

shell slams into the ground above

0:51

causing dirt to rain down. You

0:53

ignore it, stay focused on your watch,

0:55

timing the gap between shells. Counting

0:58

the seconds, you realize your hunch is right.

1:01

The bombardment has eased. Not

1:03

much, but enough to give you a chance

1:05

to get word to command that it's your

1:07

unit they're firing on. You

1:10

race out of the bunker into the command hole where

1:12

the pigeons are. The Private who

1:14

tends the carrier pigeon salutes. Major

1:16

Sir, at ease Private. The bombardment has

1:18

eased. We need to use this opportunity

1:21

to send a pigeon to command to tell

1:23

them to stop shelling our position. How many birds

1:25

we got? Just two, Sir. You

1:28

and the Private's eyes meet in the

1:30

silent acknowledgement of how dire this situation

1:32

is. Pigeons are the only

1:34

way to communicate with headquarters. Your

1:36

unit has no telephones, no courier would make

1:38

it back alive, and the Germans will do

1:41

all they can to shoot any pigeon your

1:43

unit releases. All right Private, prepare a

1:45

bird with this message. Private

1:47

grabs a slip of paper and a pencil. We

1:50

are along road parallel 276.4. Our

1:54

own artillery is dropping a barrage directly

1:56

on us. For heaven's sake, stop it.

2:00

Private rolls the message up and slides it into a

2:02

small message tube that clips on the bird's leg. Then

2:04

he reaches into the coop and removes a pigeon.

2:07

But before he can attach the tube, shelter,

2:10

and the Private loses his grip on the

2:12

bird. As it flies up

2:14

and away, you realize there's only one

2:16

chance left. Private concentrate.

2:19

The entire unit is depending on you. Private

2:22

takes the last bird from the coop. A

2:25

male pigeon named Cheramie. French

2:27

for dear friend. He strokes it

2:29

gently and clips the message to his leg.

2:32

It's ready, sir. Then send it. The

2:35

Private lifts Cheramie towards the air and then

2:37

lets go. Wings flapping, the

2:39

unit's last hope takes to the air.

2:42

As the Germans start firing at the bird,

2:44

you say a silent prayer. Then

2:46

you return to your hole and wait as

2:48

shells keep raining down for the next 40

2:51

minutes, until suddenly the

2:53

shelling subsides and then stops altogether.

2:56

It seems Cheramie made it. American

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real person will be there on the phone to

3:58

take care of you. The greatest

4:00

measure of their success is your

4:02

satisfaction. In

4:32

early October 1918, deep

4:34

in the Argonne Forest in northern France,

4:36

Major Charles Whittlesey led nine companies of

4:39

the US 77th Division into combat, part

4:41

of a synchronized attack on the German

4:43

line. But the Allied

4:45

troops accompanying Whittlesey's battalion were stalled, leaving

4:48

him and his men alone deep in

4:50

German territory. These

4:52

men, who would later be known as the

4:54

Lost Battalion, quickly dug in, but due to

4:57

an unknown error, they soon found themselves under

4:59

friendly fire from their own artillery. As

5:02

a last resort, Major Whittlesey sent an

5:04

urgent message by carrier pigeon, begging for

5:06

the shelling to stop. This

5:09

pigeon, Cheramie, miraculously reached its destination at

5:11

the same time that the US command

5:13

realized their mistake and called a stop

5:16

to the barrage. The

5:18

men of the Lost Battalion managed to

5:20

survive several more days of German attacks,

5:23

refusing to surrender. And

5:25

in the end, after sustaining high casualties, Major

5:27

Whittlesey and the remaining men were rescued, and

5:29

Whittlesey was later awarded the Medal of Honor

5:32

for his bravery. Here

5:34

now with me to discuss this incident, as

5:36

well as the mass mobilization of US troops

5:39

and the ways in which modern America was

5:41

shaped by the First World War, is Christopher

5:43

Capozzola, professor of history at MIT and author

5:45

of The First World

5:47

War II. Chris

5:50

Capozzola, welcome to American History Tellers. Thanks

5:54

for having me. Now today, and for now, we're

5:56

going to talk about the American history tellers. the

6:00

past hundred years, the United States

6:02

has been regarded as a military

6:04

powerhouse. But in 1914,

6:07

that wasn't the case. What was the size

6:09

of the US military then when the first

6:11

World War broke out? And what was its

6:13

general mission at the time? So

6:15

the United States military is small in

6:17

1914, but it's mighty.

6:19

There were maybe about 125, maybe

6:22

or so thousand troops.

6:24

So it's a very small standing

6:27

army. It's able to do what

6:29

American national interests require. And

6:31

there's also a real concern in

6:34

the early 20th century about

6:36

having a force that's any larger,

6:38

a concern that a large standing

6:41

army would be a departure from

6:43

our historic tradition of

6:45

the Minutemen of the Revolution who brought us

6:48

our independence from Britain, and

6:50

also worry that the centralization of

6:52

military power in an armed force

6:54

would threaten civil liberties or freedoms

6:56

at home. It's also

6:58

the case that the kind of war

7:00

Americans imagined they would fight in the early

7:02

20th century was one that would happen

7:04

at sea. This was

7:06

an era of naval buildup, and the United

7:09

States had definitely built up its Navy in

7:11

the previous 20 years in the same way

7:13

that Britain and Germany and Japan had

7:15

been doing. And they anticipated that some

7:18

conflict would happen at the Panama Canal

7:20

in the Pacific or elsewhere. No one

7:22

imagined a massive land war in continental

7:25

Europe. And even how American soldiers

7:27

imagined they would fight the next

7:29

war was different from what was

7:31

waiting for them in Europe. They

7:33

had had experience, whether in the

7:35

Western States of the United States

7:37

or in the Spanish-American war, with

7:40

small formation, often

7:42

horse-based cavalry fighting in

7:45

smaller units with a lot of movement. There

7:47

certainly wasn't significant preparation for

7:50

the large-scale trench warfare that was

7:52

waiting for them. You mentioned

7:55

the American Minuteman tradition. Then

7:57

President Woodrow Wilson also had quite a bit of

7:59

a... of domestic policy to

8:01

balance here between hawks and doves,

8:04

those who wanted to go to war and those

8:06

who didn't. What was he really facing on the

8:08

home front in the first few years as World

8:10

War I raged in Europe? You know,

8:12

remember, the war breaks out in August of 1914, and Americans

8:14

are following it

8:17

incredibly closely. Just because the United States

8:20

doesn't declare war or enter the war

8:22

doesn't mean that they're not involved or

8:24

affected by it. And that affects American

8:27

politics in particular. That on

8:29

the one hand, there are those who think

8:31

that the United States should enter immediately, particularly

8:33

to defend France and to

8:36

fight alongside our primary ally Britain.

8:38

And one of the leading voices for this

8:40

is Theodore Roosevelt. And remember, Theodore Roosevelt

8:43

had just been president. He had been

8:45

in battle. He also hated

8:47

Woodrow Wilson with a passion. The

8:49

two were mad rivals. And

8:51

Theodore Roosevelt wanted the United States to

8:53

enter the war yesterday. So Woodrow Wilson

8:56

is facing that pressure on one side

8:58

and mostly from Republicans. Wilson, who's

9:01

a Democrat, also faces pressure on

9:03

the other side, from populists in

9:05

the South and in the West

9:07

who are opposed to overseas

9:09

adventures, opposed to a large

9:11

military. And then another constituency,

9:13

which is German Americans, a substantial

9:16

proportion of them, who worried

9:18

that the US entering the war on

9:20

the side of Britain and France would

9:22

be devastating to their historic homeland. So

9:25

Wilson, in a way, is a bit squeezed in the

9:27

middle in terms of politics.

9:29

But what was his real sympathies? Where did

9:31

he fall on the spectrum as a person? You

9:34

know, it's a little hard to tell. Wilson didn't

9:37

write down all of his private thoughts

9:39

in any consistent way. He would

9:41

sometimes tell people what they wanted to hear.

9:43

So we may never know

9:45

for sure, but we know that Wilson was

9:48

a real admirer of the British

9:50

political system, of what Britain

9:52

meant in the world in 1914. And fundamentally at

9:54

heart, I think, his

9:58

sympathies were with Britain and France. from the

10:00

very beginning. But he also

10:02

was a believer in peace. I

10:05

think he really did genuinely believe

10:07

that a negotiated settlement, some diplomatic

10:09

outcome could end the war without

10:12

the U.S. actually having to enter

10:14

it. So I guess with this

10:16

optimistic view that peace could

10:19

be diplomatically achieved, Woodrow

10:21

Wilson decides to keep the United States out

10:23

as long as possible. And even though it

10:25

appeared the U.S. would stay out of the

10:28

war for quite a while, Congress

10:30

did pass and Wilson signed the National

10:32

Defense Act of 1916. What

10:35

did this do? I'm glad

10:37

you bring this up, because the National

10:39

Defense Act is probably one of the

10:41

most important pieces of legislation that most

10:43

Americans have never heard of. And

10:46

it's really an important turning point in our

10:48

history. It's adopted in

10:50

the summer of 1916, so the

10:52

United States is not at war

10:54

at this moment. But they know

10:56

what the war is like. And

10:58

they have seen two years of

11:00

war in Europe. So they understand

11:02

the ways that large armies make

11:04

a difference and that tanks, airplanes,

11:06

etc., are already having an impact

11:09

on the outcome of the war. They know

11:11

that this is a new and different conflict.

11:14

So what the National Defense Act

11:16

aims to do is to basically

11:18

give the United States the power

11:20

to fight war at a global

11:22

scale. So one thing it does,

11:24

for example, is simply increase

11:26

the size of the standing military. It

11:29

also gives the federal government a great

11:31

deal of power to mobilize the economy

11:33

in the case of a national emergency.

11:36

There's a lot of expenditure for

11:38

technology, airplanes, tanks,

11:40

shipping, etc. And

11:42

maybe the most important part is that

11:44

it enables the president to call the

11:46

National Guard into federal service. And

11:49

this transforms the National Guard from a

11:51

series of 48 state

11:54

militias into a national

11:56

force that's fundamentally aligned with

11:58

the federal forces and give us

12:01

the National Guard that we have today. So

12:04

this was signed in anticipation of what

12:06

looked increasingly like the inevitable entrance of

12:08

the U.S. into the war, which happened

12:10

in April of 1917. I

12:13

guess the increased size of the standing army

12:15

that the National Defense Act provided

12:17

for was not enough. And

12:19

so in May of 1917, the federal

12:21

government passed the Selective Service Act to

12:23

build up U.S. and forces even further.

12:26

But there hadn't been a draft since the Civil

12:28

War. What did this draft of

12:30

1917 look like? So

12:33

the adoption of Selective Service in

12:35

1917 is another transformational moment in

12:37

modern American military history. The United

12:39

States had had a draft before,

12:41

both in the Union and the

12:43

Confederacy during the Civil War. But

12:46

those drafts were highly controversial. And

12:48

in fact, they generated only a

12:50

small fraction of the soldiers who

12:52

entered the Civil War conflict. So

12:55

it had been done before, but it wasn't really

12:57

part of the American tradition. It

12:59

was a real departure to

13:01

say that every man in

13:03

the United States between the ages first

13:05

of 21 to 30, eventually every

13:07

man between the ages of 18 and 45 had to register for

13:12

Selective Service. The

13:14

European powers that had been fighting had already

13:16

been doing this. And so the

13:18

United States is modeling the draft law after

13:20

Europe, Britain in particular. And what

13:23

this does is it creates a registry of

13:25

people who may potentially serve in the U.S.

13:27

armed forces. It doesn't mean

13:30

that they're immediately going in, but having

13:32

that registry then enables the army to

13:34

call up soldiers over time as it

13:36

needs them. And As

13:38

it does this, it's making decisions. And That's

13:40

why it's called Selective Service, right? That The

13:42

government is doing the selecting based on how

13:45

old you are, based on how healthy you

13:47

are, and also based on what job you

13:49

are doing, right? So In Britain at the

13:51

very first days of the war, all of

13:54

the most skilled factory workers rush to the

13:56

front lines and many of them are killed.

13:58

And Suddenly Britain has. The Industrial Manpower

14:01

Crisis In Nineteen Fourteen. The United

14:03

States doesn't want to repeat that

14:05

mistake, and so selective service is

14:07

always designed at least as much

14:09

to keep people out of the

14:11

army as to get them in.

14:13

Another big difference is that selective

14:15

service was designed to put as

14:17

human face on a big expansion

14:19

of government power. Rights of the

14:22

Selective Service is administered locally. You

14:24

register as maybe the county or

14:26

community level of, and you tended

14:28

to register in very community. Based

14:30

places maybe the post office

14:32

or town hall, sometimes even

14:34

a church basement. They deliberately

14:36

avoided police stations or army

14:38

bases as registration points. They

14:40

wanted to make it feel

14:42

like this was the community

14:44

responding to the crisis rather

14:46

than the state imposing militarization

14:48

on American society. And. With

14:50

these changes, hundred the public react in the draft.

14:53

This. Is a hard South and

14:55

even the it bad legislation that

14:57

pass the Selective Service Act has

14:59

substantial opposition. It's particularly from populace

15:01

voters in most in the Democratic

15:04

party, but also republicans. There was

15:06

a concern that this was a

15:08

real departure from American political and

15:10

military traditions. On the other hand,

15:12

there was a great deal. Support

15:14

for the war and to draft

15:17

seemed like the fairest way to

15:19

ensure that the right people would

15:21

get into service and out. Was

15:23

resistance that was evasion, but overall

15:25

most people supported the draft and

15:27

also spotted the draft to work

15:29

as a system so that it

15:31

would be fair. You mention resistance,

15:33

an invasion of the draft of

15:35

course, or were conscientious objectors and

15:37

and draft dodgers? How are they

15:39

viewed? These. Are some of

15:41

the most unpopular people on the

15:43

home front during the first from

15:45

war and and each of those

15:47

groups for different reasons? I It's

15:50

so Conscientious objectors were recognized in

15:52

law for the first time in

15:54

the Selective Service Act of nineteen.

15:56

Seventeen Tens of thousands of people

15:58

files conscientious Objector claims. Very few

16:00

of those claims were in fact actually

16:02

supported. He had to prove that you

16:04

were a pacifist. You had to prove

16:07

that you had been a pacifist in

16:09

a long before the war started. Assisting

16:11

that out became one of the jobs

16:13

as the Us Military. In fact, they

16:15

interview every single one of them and

16:18

test their knowledge of the bible and

16:20

so forth. So by the time it's

16:22

done, only a few thousand consensus object

16:24

her claims were validated by the Us

16:26

Military. On the other hand, the easiest

16:28

way to avoid the army. And Ninety

16:31

Seventeen is simply not to register for

16:33

the dressed. Also, think about it, this

16:35

is a more than one hundred years

16:38

ago right? There are snow birth certificates,

16:40

there are almost no passports, there are

16:42

no driver's licenses, there's no social security

16:45

card. does very hard for the government's

16:47

to know who you are. So as

16:49

you simply don't register or you know,

16:52

skip town or move around in a

16:54

you might be invisible to the transport.

16:56

And there were many such people. perhaps

16:59

as many as. Three hundred thousand over

17:01

the course of the war. As a

17:03

of interest in the slang term of

17:05

the period those these records slackers and

17:07

these are really some of the most

17:09

unpopular. It's most as carefully targeted individuals

17:11

over the course of the war. From.

17:14

Small towns to big cities all

17:16

across the country. In nineteen eighteen,

17:18

you would encounter what recalled slacker

17:20

rates were individual organizations would mobilize

17:23

to track down draft dodgers, finding

17:25

them on the streets, in baseball

17:27

stadiums, on street cars, in movie

17:30

theaters. people would be interrogated and

17:32

as to show their draft cards,

17:34

and if they didn't have them,

17:36

they were presumed to be draft

17:39

evaders or slackers, often taken to

17:41

a local armory or jail until.

17:43

They could sort out their status and and

17:45

register if they hadn't done some. So.

17:48

you're painting a picture of i'm complex

17:50

emotions and thoughts about the war leading

17:52

up to america's involvement and of course

17:55

you know even in designing the selective

17:57

service seen in the government is aware

18:00

of the importance of manipulating the image. And

18:03

part of getting anyone enthusiastic about

18:05

signing up for military obviously included

18:07

propaganda. One of your

18:10

books called, Uncle Sam Wants You,

18:12

has that iconic image on its

18:14

cover. Did the recruiting

18:16

effort have its desired effect? Did we

18:18

get large numbers of men to enlist?

18:21

Or were we forced to rely on the draft? You

18:23

know, this is an image that needs no

18:25

introduction of Uncle Sam pointing out at the

18:28

viewer with his finger saying, you know, I

18:30

want you. And so then the Army is

18:32

recruiting soldiers hand over fist as soon as

18:34

the enabling legislation is passed in May of

18:36

1917. And by the

18:38

fall of 1918, when the

18:40

armistice comes, about four million men

18:42

have been registered, have been drafted or

18:44

volunteered and brought into service. American

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Talk a little bit about a man who

20:16

was asked to leave the American Expeditionary Forces

20:18

Gen. John person. Tell us a little bit

20:20

about him, who who was he and and

20:22

what was he was. Certain. Person

20:24

was the very image of a

20:26

soldier tall neatly cropped hair mustache

20:29

love to wear uniforms insisted that

20:31

it be perfect out you know,

20:34

every time you put it on

20:36

who is incredibly strict, demanding a

20:38

stickler for the rules and the

20:41

traditions of the army that months

20:43

the or policy your shoes and

20:45

signing the buttons on your uniform

20:48

and keeping all that's a uniform

20:50

so appropriately even them at the

20:52

front lines see. Made his way

20:55

to West Point of Bills. His

20:57

career largely through wars in the

20:59

American West, in the Philippines, and

21:01

by the time he's put in

21:03

charge of the American Expeditionary forces,

21:06

he has decades of military experience

21:08

under his belt. He also knew

21:10

how to work of room person

21:12

was a political general, He knew

21:14

how to navigate Capitol Hill. His

21:16

first wife was the daughter of

21:19

the chair of the Senate's Military

21:21

Affairs committee. so you know person

21:23

was. In that sense very much

21:25

as a modern American general. Where.

21:27

He may be to father of

21:30

modern American generals. He certainly mentor

21:32

many people who went on to

21:34

be famous generals themselves and were

21:36

War two? Absolutely. There's an entire

21:39

generation of younger soldiers, early career

21:41

officers who make their mark in

21:43

the first was War, and we

21:45

know is I'm primarily answer their

21:48

contributions to the second row for

21:50

people like Source Mar Salts, Omar

21:52

Bradley, had a Douglas Macarthur, and

21:54

even people who began as military

21:56

officers, but then. Finish their careers

21:58

and politics like. Eisenhower and many

22:01

of them pass through the American

22:03

Expeditionary Forces and as they do

22:05

so for saying as identifying them,

22:07

recruiting them, supporting them, and promoting

22:09

them to lead an army that's

22:11

growing every day. So. America was

22:13

facing some novelty in it's approach to

22:15

the war, had built up an army

22:18

very quickly and need to modernize is

22:20

technology very quickly, so it probably needed

22:22

to adapted strategies very quickly. we know

22:24

in the military today, or war games

22:27

and scenarios all sorts of things. but

22:29

did America as a declared war on

22:31

Germany, have any plans for the war

22:33

in Europe? It did it did.

22:36

so. The United States had a series of

22:38

plans for all kinds of war scenarios and

22:40

there is even one for up you know

22:42

the possibility of Us invasion by Canada and

22:45

that we were prepared for and and case

22:47

that ever happened which hasn't Yes but by

22:49

the time the U S enters the war

22:52

in April nights and seven seen any of

22:54

those were plans were completely out of date,

22:56

many of them or says tossed out and

22:58

and new plans for developed on the one

23:01

hand in a what was happening on the

23:03

ground as very clear and even. By

23:05

the end of Nineteen Fourteen, and

23:07

it certainly just as clear in

23:10

the spring of Nineteen Seventeen when

23:12

the Us gets involved which is

23:14

that there to giant forces that

23:16

has dug in, hundreds of miles

23:19

of chances facing each other against

23:21

barbed wire, snipers, Land. Mines,

23:23

artillery right arm and so there's no

23:25

easy solution here. No clear way to

23:28

go around this and there's no easy

23:30

way to go through it. For about

23:32

three years, the British and the France

23:34

had been trying to ladder. They've been

23:37

trying to go through it by just

23:39

throwing an eighteen year old boys at

23:41

this wall and hope that they can

23:44

break through. And although initially the Americans

23:46

think that they're going to do something

23:48

different, said they'll be smaller, it'll be

23:50

more nimble. It's essentially they start. Adopting

23:53

the same approach, which is says

23:55

to bring enormous numbers of troops

23:57

and increasing amounts of firepower, Against

24:00

the Germans and hope that eventually they'll

24:02

have better luck. So. This must

24:04

all be terrifying for their newly drafted

24:06

soldier American soldier about to be shipped

24:09

over to Europe. Once you're tempted, you

24:11

still have to be trained once you

24:13

walk through the experience of a new

24:15

draft. he. Sat. Experience and from

24:17

in a draftee to soldier was rapid,

24:19

a little bit chaotic and proudly pretty

24:21

terrifying for the young men who were

24:24

involved. So if you had register for

24:26

the draft I didn't mean you are

24:28

necessarily going to go but came later

24:30

was a call up where you would

24:32

be told that you would have to

24:34

enter the forces and literally the next

24:37

phase of it as something called entertainment

24:39

where you literally get on a train

24:41

and go to a military camps. And

24:43

so one of my favorite stories from

24:45

my research. It's. Came from a

24:47

little town and Connecticut where the local

24:50

newspaper would prince the names as the

24:52

people who are required to appear on

24:54

any given day for entertainment nights would

24:56

say you know tomorrow person A D

24:58

and seats need to show up at

25:01

the train station at six Am but

25:03

then the newspaper would also tablas the

25:05

following and they say is A B

25:07

and C don't show up tomorrow Local

25:10

residents d an ass will be required

25:12

to go in their place and when

25:14

I read that in the Arc. Of

25:16

it sought to me I realized like oh

25:18

this is how they're selling the army right?

25:21

Because suddenly D and Ass and their entire

25:23

family, their friends, their bosses has a real

25:25

it is acid incest and making sure that

25:27

a B and C don't over sleep. And

25:30

then right after in treatment is training

25:32

camps Exactly right. So it's successor then

25:34

as I cared as the train dingo.

25:36

Sometimes it brings you to an existing

25:38

military facility and sometimes it would bring

25:41

you to an empty seals in the

25:43

middle as New Jersey or the middle

25:45

of Kansas or the middle of California

25:47

and your first job as a soldier

25:49

and literally would be to build the

25:51

barracks that you going to sleep and

25:53

skill sets built. Thirty two of them

25:56

in a hurry. Sixteen in the north

25:58

and sixteen in the south. And

26:00

this is a deliberate attempt fifty or

26:03

sixty years after the Civil War to

26:05

kind of create some unity between the

26:07

North in the And. It's also one

26:09

of the key ways in which the

26:12

Us. military and the Twentieth century expands

26:14

it's footprint into nearly every county and

26:16

and state and community in the country.

26:19

So in these training camps in the

26:21

United States, many are training with wouldn't

26:23

rifles with broomsticks at best, with outdated

26:26

rifles left over from the Spanish American

26:28

War and for many of. Them. They

26:30

don't actually fire a new rifle

26:32

until they actually get to France.

26:34

Speaking of France, there were also

26:36

training camps in Europe. How did

26:38

they differ from ones on Us

26:40

soil? So. The training camps

26:42

in the United States are much

26:44

bigger. You know these are like

26:46

small cities that include hospitals and

26:48

schools and seared or and they

26:51

are fundamentally factories for making soldiers

26:53

and they are using the methods

26:55

as of the assembly line in

26:57

of someone said see for a

26:59

uniform someone trains you with a

27:01

weapon and on your serves like

27:03

churn through this miss seen in

27:05

a pretty rapid amount of time,

27:07

usually about two to three month,

27:09

sometimes as little as six weeks.

27:11

Before your them taken from these

27:13

counts but on another shame and

27:16

sense to Europe. So getting hundreds

27:18

of thousands of American soldiers from

27:20

North America to Europe is a

27:23

massive enterprise and there are not

27:25

that many ships and that can

27:27

be spared for this worth did

27:29

I'd say it's ends up commandeering

27:32

both American crew sets and also

27:34

Germans passenger vessels that as had

27:36

taken into custody at the beginning

27:39

of the war and reset them

27:41

as. Subsets and these troops sips

27:43

go back and forth across the Atlantic

27:45

over the course of the first was

27:47

four and almost all of them leave

27:50

from Hoboken, New Jersey to to cross

27:52

from New York City And so this

27:54

leads to the line Heaven Hell or

27:56

Hoboken by Christmas and the training camps

27:58

in Europe are much more as a

28:01

can of staging ground in anticipation of

28:03

the battles that are coming. So the

28:05

mood and the seal in those camps

28:07

what have been very different, much more

28:10

real than the kind of factory experience

28:12

of people would have had in the

28:14

United States. Now. Among them,

28:16

many thousands of Americans who went

28:18

through this process. Four hundred thousand

28:20

of those were African Americans who

28:23

served in the armed forces. In

28:25

our series, we talked about a

28:27

famous unit, the Harlem Hell Fighters.

28:29

What was the general experience? So

28:31

four bucks troops in old predominately

28:33

White army. So African American soldiers

28:35

knew that there was a lot

28:37

riding on becoming soldiers. I had

28:40

on sewing Americans, what they could

28:42

do and how they could contribute

28:44

to the war effort at the

28:46

same time. There are plenty of

28:48

white American elites weather in the

28:50

military or outside who are hesitant

28:52

about arming and training African Americans

28:54

who would rather a sign African

28:57

American soldiers to labour battalions to

28:59

service positions. And when people arrive

29:01

in Europe thirty very often unloading

29:03

in the far western part of

29:05

Brittany in or near the City

29:07

of Breasts. And much as the

29:09

work of unloading weather as individuals

29:11

or of material is being done

29:14

by African American soldiers. Who are

29:16

in these labor battalions? And so African Americans

29:18

and May was had to site for the

29:20

right to fight as the very first part

29:22

of what it meant to be a soldier.

29:24

But of course they are also facing a

29:27

segregated army and a President who is committed

29:29

to maintaining the color line and in fact

29:31

imposing up in Washington and elsewhere. So.

29:33

This was. I'm a unique opportunity for these

29:35

African American troops. they are going abroad probably

29:38

should first time in their lives, maybe even

29:40

outside of their local area for the first

29:42

time in their lives and witnessing a whole

29:44

other way of how the world works. World.

29:47

War One team are right at the

29:50

end of Reconstruction and the establishment of

29:52

Jim Crow oppression and the U S.

29:54

So once they were over in Europe,

29:57

what was the African American experience as

29:59

a served. Going. To Europe

30:01

was a transformative experience. Now things in

30:03

Europe or imperfect either they say racism

30:06

in France and in many ways to

30:08

says they had in the United States,

30:10

but not in the same way and

30:12

not with the explicit structures of segregation

30:15

that were so fundamentally part of early

30:17

twentieth century American life. Doesn't give African

30:19

American soldiers new idea. Smite they are

30:21

The news at some crowd was the

30:24

forms of oppression and discrimination when it

30:26

did was a gave them new alternatives

30:28

new vocabulary is that they could. Use

30:30

both and remaking their military service

30:33

at the time and and remaking

30:35

Black Paul Six after the war.

30:37

So for those African American soldiers

30:40

who are serving and combat, many

30:42

of them are doing so not

30:44

under the command as American officers

30:47

but sense officers Cursing did allow

30:49

African American soldiers to be detail

30:51

to the French Army, and they

30:54

did not save as many barriers

30:56

to service to getting access to

30:58

weapons to combat opportunities. To

31:01

the awards and honors that some

31:03

of them earned on the battlefield

31:05

that they might have faced in

31:07

the American Army, Many of these

31:10

combat units faced sustained combat where

31:12

months and months at a time

31:14

they saw some of the worst

31:16

features of the war for some

31:19

of the longest periods of the

31:21

war. for many of course they

31:23

hope said this would transform Americans

31:25

white Americans understanding of their place

31:28

in society. Their rights are opportunities.

31:31

But the story of the immediate

31:33

postwar period as really want us

31:35

disappointment. Their services were not

31:37

honored, many of them found themselves

31:40

excluded from Victory Parade and over

31:42

the summer of Ninety Nineteen in

31:45

a series as instances of

31:47

racial violence from the worst in

31:49

American history. a series as race

31:51

riots and cities and towns across

31:54

the country, both north and

31:56

south targeted African American communities. and

31:58

he's and less. Healing as

32:00

African American soldiers in the

32:03

uniform. Nice

32:12

Yeah what you're hearing are the

32:14

sound of people everywhere putting on

32:16

bomba socks, underwear and teasers made

32:18

from absurdly soft materials that feel

32:21

like plus clowns. And yeah, surplus.

32:23

And the best part for every

32:25

item you purchase, Mambas donates another

32:27

to someone facing homelessness. Bomb as

32:29

big comfort for every one of

32:31

gonna suck up less wondering a

32:33

new code. Wonder you for twenty

32:35

percent off your prefer dead That's

32:37

been. A mystery to. Us.

32:48

Forces began firing on the front in

32:50

Europe and the Fall of Nineteen Seventy.

32:53

How are these forces used? At first.

32:55

And when did they ramp up to your

32:57

major engagement on the battlefield? The

32:59

first contribution that American soldiers make as

33:01

actually in the summer of Nineteen Seventeen,

33:03

simply by showing up to Us government

33:06

was insistent that we had to get

33:08

some number of soldiers fair and time

33:10

for July fourteenth for Bastille Day, the

33:12

French National holiday as a kind of

33:14

morale boost for the friends people and

33:16

we didn't do that. But it's not

33:18

really until about a year later that

33:20

the United States has enough soldiers on

33:22

the ground to be making as a

33:24

huge impact on the worst outcome. Speaking.

33:27

Of huge impact. I guess we can

33:29

fast forward to the the news are

33:31

Dawn of Sensors in September and October

33:33

of Nineteen Eighteen. What was this initiative?

33:35

and what was the part Us troops

33:37

played in. South. Sudden summers

33:40

are done is a reason and in

33:42

mostly in Northern France it is the

33:44

heart of where the war had them

33:47

thought. Before nineteen fourteen, this was a

33:49

remarkable agricultural lands. By the time the

33:51

Americans arise it looks like the surface

33:53

of the moon. It is devastated. It

33:56

is the war zone at heart and

33:58

it's also have said. The Crusoe

34:00

place where the Allied forces are

34:02

encountering to German fortifications and the

34:04

Germans are very carefully guarding both

34:06

summers river and the are gone.

34:08

Forest and of geography is that

34:10

are to their advantage right? and

34:12

the Germans know that estate lose

34:14

those they will be kind of

34:16

on their back seats. So there

34:18

are a substantial number of sort

34:20

of cases there and the murders

34:22

know that it's going to take

34:24

a lot to get through it.

34:26

So by the time had September

34:29

or October nineteen. eighteen Still I'd

34:31

say it's has about one million

34:33

soldiers and this is some large

34:35

offensive as the work to date

34:37

and one of first that really

34:39

breaks through determined fortifications and turns

34:41

the tide of toward. The

34:44

fighting during this period was brutal and

34:46

intense. There is a story I'd love

34:49

you to tell if you can. One

34:51

of the last battalion. Who.

34:53

Are day and what'd I do? So. In

34:55

the middle of this massive campaign against

34:57

the German forces, there are a series

35:00

of smaller battles to push forward to

35:02

gain one more foot as territory and

35:04

one group of soldiers bouts five hundred

35:06

souls or sewer With the seventy seventh

35:08

decision as to Us army are pushing

35:11

forward and they're having great success and

35:13

segment of the right of them are

35:15

not. and the men to the last

35:17

of them are not. And you can

35:19

kind of guess what happens next. the

35:21

Americans have gotten too far forward, they

35:24

are now completely. Surrounded by the Germans,

35:26

they've made their way up a hill

35:28

and they soon come to realize they're

35:30

trapped. These are some of the most

35:32

amazing soldiers of the first was for

35:34

most of them are from urban areas,

35:36

many of them recent immigrants to the

35:39

United States. They've been in battle before

35:41

many of them and but they've gotten

35:43

themselves into a real difficult situation. So

35:45

there they are, on the top of

35:47

this hell are running out of food,

35:49

the running out of water, they're running

35:51

out of ammunition, and they have very

35:54

limited ability to communicate. With the officers

35:56

back behind the lines. in fact, the only

35:58

way that they have to do. That

36:00

is true. The technology of a

36:02

carrier pigeon that will fly messages

36:04

over the front lines to Germans

36:06

are attacking them from every single

36:08

directions. And then they realize that

36:10

they are under attack, not by

36:12

the Germans, but by their own

36:14

solo American soldiers. and artillery barrage

36:16

is hitting them on the hill

36:18

where they are camped out. Their.

36:21

Commanding Officer Major Charles Whittlesey decides

36:23

to send their last carrier pigeon

36:26

named Sarah. Meets with a message

36:28

begging the Americans to stop the

36:30

artillery barrage. He scrawls out a

36:33

note that says we are along

36:35

the road sneakers to location Artillery

36:37

is dropping a barrage directly on

36:40

us. For heaven's sake, stop it.

36:42

Sarah me makes it back behind

36:44

the lines is also under fire.

36:47

Us and Sarah needs delivers the

36:49

message to the officer. Spend. The

36:51

lights. So then finally after about

36:54

five days on this hill, the

36:56

Americans breakthrough. In that space

36:58

allows five days, about a hundred of

37:01

the soldiers were killed, another two hundred

37:03

were wounded. But the fact that any

37:05

of them survived at all and that

37:07

none of them are willing to surrender

37:10

to the Germans is really remarkable. Story

37:12

of fortitude and resilience. And. That

37:14

was in September, October of Nineteen Eighteen.

37:16

And of course, it's A few months

37:18

later comes the eleventh hour of the

37:21

eleventh day of the eleventh month. the

37:23

armistice and an end to signing hundred

37:25

troops on the battlefield in Europe wind

37:27

down. How did troop deployments stop back

37:30

home? So. One of my

37:32

favorite stories about the war is something

37:34

called the false Armistice. Most Americans know

37:36

that this war is going to and

37:38

and on November ninth, nineteen eighteen rumors

37:40

started to spread that the war is

37:42

over and so both of the front

37:44

lines and in the home front in

37:46

the United States still poor into the

37:48

streets are celebrating and it was to

37:50

come out and so tell them no

37:52

in of the worst not over. Go

37:54

back to work. It's go back to

37:56

the front lines. It's going to end

37:58

on the eleventh adolescent. The And for

38:01

two days later, the word does

38:03

come to affirm conclusion at Eleven

38:05

Am. But isn't that whole morning?

38:07

there is conflict at the battlefields.

38:09

There are people who die on

38:11

the last day as the conflict

38:14

on November Eleventh. Nights in eighteen

38:16

and in a suit Sues Insane

38:18

Mandates was November eleventh. Nineteen eighteen

38:20

were nonetheless required to get on

38:22

board the train that morning. And

38:24

then as Eleven Am, the trains

38:26

literally stopped and turned around and

38:29

brought them back. To their hometowns and

38:31

drop them off and let them go. So

38:33

in this remarkable moment in which

38:36

everything suddenly standstill wanted to Us

38:38

military lookalikes at the end of

38:40

the war A it had been

38:42

transformed. Yeah, the American Motor have

38:44

been transformed in the space of

38:47

really only about a year and

38:49

a half into an enormous standing

38:51

army With military bases all across

38:53

the United States will see engines

38:55

for producing tens of thousands as

38:58

Sips and airplanes. And so this

39:00

is the structure of the modern

39:02

American Military that. persists for the

39:04

rest of the twentieth century. it

39:06

doesn't stay that big and Nineteen

39:08

Twenties. The United States, you know,

39:11

scales back the size of the

39:13

military and it's budget and so

39:15

forth. but so general structure and

39:17

the format of it remains and

39:19

that sense that America should have

39:21

the power to fight a war

39:23

anywhere and the world's never goes

39:26

away again. In. The wake

39:28

of this conflict, as many, many, many are

39:30

left behind and you been to cemeteries in

39:32

France that still have graves of American soldiers

39:34

who died and in World War One? What

39:36

is his visit to one of the cemeteries?

39:39

Why? They. Are remarkable places

39:41

and most of the maintained

39:43

by the American Battle Monuments

39:45

Commission and which is established

39:47

by Congress to preserve the

39:49

memory of American soldiers and

39:51

also to maintain the spaces

39:53

where they are buried their

39:55

beautiful sort of fields of

39:57

white crosses occasionally a stars.

40:00

That had that reflect the soldiers

40:02

as that time a or hundred

40:04

years ago. On the one hand,

40:06

they are incredibly depressing read to

40:09

be surrounded by all this sacrifice.

40:11

On the other hand, it's incredibly

40:13

inspirational places to and madsen what

40:15

it meant for Americans to make

40:18

these sacrifices to defend our allies

40:20

Britain and France and and South

40:22

Sermon aggressive in your book research

40:24

episode. Thank you so much for

40:27

joining me today on American history

40:29

Tellers! Thanks. Rather me, that was

40:31

my conversation with historian Christopher Kappa

40:33

Zola. His book Uncle Sam Wants

40:35

You World War One and the

40:37

Making of the Modern American Citizen

40:39

is available now from Oxford University

40:41

Press. From.

40:44

Wonder! This is our fifth and final

40:46

episode of World War One from American

40:48

history tellers. In our next

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Not that. The graham.com That's

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Not Earth. Lindsey Graham. American

42:07

History Tellers has hosted Edited and

42:09

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42:11

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42:13

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42:15

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Lot, Managing producer Mask and senior

42:27

manager producer Ryan More senior producer

42:30

Andy Home and executive producers have

42:32

any Lauer, Beckman and Marshall Louis

42:34

for Wonder. Rev

42:41

up your thrills this summer at

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Cedar Point on the all new

42:46

top! Thrilled to drive this guy

42:48

on the world's tallest and fastest

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Tribble Launch Vertical Speedway and it's

42:52

your last chance to get more

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fun for less with our limited

42:56

time bundle for just Forty nine

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Ninety nine get admission, parking and

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all day drinks for one Low

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price but you better hurry because

43:04

this limited time bundle ends June

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Thirtieth saved Now at Cedar Point.

43:09

Dot Com.