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U.S. Homefront
While soldiers fought and made sacrifices overseas for the war, Americans on the Homefront were expected to make sacrifices as well. WWI required that everyone in America from industry leaders to workers and farmers contribute in some way. Americans who could not serve were asked to contribute in other ways from planting gardens to grow their own food to contributing money. Even personal freedoms were limited during the war. Business, labor, and government also cooperated to ensure soldiers had everything they needed to win the war.
U.S. Military in Europe
World War I was the first time in American history that the United States sent soldiers abroad to defend foreign soil. On April 6, 1917, when the United States declared war against Germany, the nation had a standing army of 127,500 officers and soldiers. By the end of the war, four million men had served in the United States Army, with an additional 800,000 in other military service branches. Once war was declared, the army attempted to mobilize the troops very quickly. The fatigued British and French troops, who had been fighting since August 1914, sorely needed the relief offered by the American forces. In May 1917, General John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing was designated the supreme commander of the American army in France, and the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) were created. American soldiers were initially called doughboys because they were fresh to the fighting and had clean new uniforms. By the time Germany signed the Armistice on November 11, 1918, the American Expeditionary Forces had evolved into a modern, combat-tested army recognized as one of the best in the world. The United States had sustained more than 320,000 casualties in the First World War, including over 53,000 killed in action, over 63,000 non-combat related deaths, mainly due to the influenza pandemic of 1918, and 204,000 wounded.
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