INTA 4803 TP      WAR IN THE 20th CENTURY

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WW I: 1918 - End of the War, Seeds of the Next

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"Lafayette, we are here." Colonel Charles E. Stanton, US Army Aide de camp to General John Pershing Remarks at the tomb of the Marquis de Lafayette Paris, July 4, 1917 (Frequently attributed to Gen. Pershing)

 

Lesson Objectives •  Understand the situation Germany faced as it entered 1918. •  Be able to describe the changes in the war on the Western front in 1918. •  Understand the role the US played in the fighting in Europe. •  Be able to describe the operations of the US military in Europe in the years immediately following the armistice. •  Be able to discuss the major provisions of the Versailles Treaty and how this document sowed the seeds for World War II.

 

Study Guides •  How were U.S. forces integrated into the war effort in Europe?   What were some of the issues involved? •  Describe the character and conduct of the war on the Western front in 1918. •  What tactical and technical innovations were introduced in the last year of the war?

 

Assignment Readings: "World War I: The U.S. Army Overseas" Charles B. MacDonald American Military History, Chapter 18 Maurice Matloff (ed) Washington: US Army Center of Military History, 1989 "The Spring Offensive" (Operation Michael) Wikipedia "The Western Front in 1918"   (animated map) The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century PBS "The Origins of Blitzkrieg - WWI: Stormtroopers" Henric Lund Bellum   Read down to (but not including) "Stormtroopers in Battle". This is an excellent essay on the development and employment of stormtrooper tactics in WW I.   Unfortunately, like many publications written in another language, the translation leaves something to be desired in editing.   I have extracted this section, edited the spelling and syntax, and saved it as a PDF.  I have included in [   ] any wording changes made to improve understanding of the text. Click here to download this extract as a PDF. "Strumtruppen / Stormtroopers" World War 1: Trenches on the Web          These illustrations support the previous article on the origins of Stormtrooper tactics. "The Ending of World War One, and the Legacy of Peace" Martin Kitchen War Wars in-depth (BBC) "The Armistice" Michael Duffy firstworldwar.com "The Aftermath of World War I" Wikipedia "Treaty of Versailles" Wikipedia     READ: Down to, but not including, "Impositions on Germany" Supplemental Resources: "Lafayette, We are Here: The Yanks Arrive in Europe" Raquel Hendrickson Doughboy Center: The Story of the American Expeditionary Forces "The Offensive Tactics of 1918" Timothy T. Lupfer The Dynamics of Doctrine: The Change in German Tactical Doctrine During the First World War, Chapter 2 Leavenworth Paper No. 4 Fort Leavenworth, Kansas: Combat Studies Institute, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, July 1981         NOTE: OHL = die Oberste Heeresleitung (German Army High Command) "The Central Powers Whine for Peace"   (Sep-Oct 1918) Francis A. March (1863-1928), in collaboration with Richard J. Beamish History of the World War: An Authentic Narrative of the World's Greatest War, 1919 AEF Siberia Christine L. Putnam The Doughboy Center       • The story of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in Siberia, 1918-1920 "American Troops in Northern Russia and Siberia"   (cached) John Culloton Militaria.com

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