World War 1

• 
• 5/29/2022
  

  Honor Those Lost By Working for Peace

  by William Lambers

  The annual remembrance of the war dead at Memorial Day is also a call to serve those who today are threatened by war and attendant hunger. 

• 
• SOURCE: Smithsonian
  5/24/2022
  

  An Exclusive Look at the New WWI Memorial

  Sculptor Sabin Howard's ambitious design for the memorial relied on the modern power of digital photography to capture motion and the old-school forming of clay to freeze it in time. 

• 
• 3/20/2022
  

  Again, Russia is at the Center of an American-Backed War for Democracy

  by James D. Robenalt

  The abdication of Tsar Nicholas II in 1917 removed a major principled objection to calls for Americans to fight for the sake of democracy. The moral lines are clearer today, but once again Russia is at the center of an American debate about intervention.

• 
• SOURCE: Nursing Clio
  3/15/2022
  

  “Not being a man, I wanted to do the next best thing”: Female Gentlemen and the First World War

  by Anna Elisabeth Gehl

  Volunteering as nurses at the front of the Great War was occasion for many privileged British women to craft a new gendered identity incorporating the virtues of duty and self-control previously associated with "gentlemanliness." 

• 
• SOURCE: New Statesman
  3/3/2022
  

  Sanctions are an Economic Weapon. Targeting Matters

  by Nicholas Mulder

  The Biden approach shows a reframing of economic sanctions from being a deterrent to being a non-military weapon of war. This has happened before, and history shows that sanctions against an aggressor nation can be expected to fail unless they are paired with aid to Ukraine.

• 
• 2/27/2022
  

  Remember Blowback over Belgium: Will Putin Lose the War of Image?

  by Robert Brent Toplin

  The potential for global media attention to the atrocities that will result from a Russian occupation of Ukraine should give Putin pause to reconsider the cost of military victory. 

• 
• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  11/11/2021
  

  Black Veterans of the First World War are Often Overlooked

  by Michelle Moyd

  Nearly 638,000 African men fought in Africa and Europe. Some were conscripted by colonial powers and forced to fight or labor, and others hoped through service to stake claims to political rights. More global attention to their service and its relationship to colonialism is needed.

• 
• SOURCE: The Guardian
  11/01/2021
  

  Records of 320,000 Punjab Soldiers from Great War Uncovered`

  The records have the potential to fill gaps in understanding and even dispel popular myths and misunderstandings about the participation of South Asian troops in the British military in World War 1. 

• 
• 10/24/2021
  

  How the Great War Helped the Drive for Prohibition

  by Kathryn Smith

  Hatred of Germans (and their beer) was essential to dry propaganda.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  8/20/2021
  

  Finally, the Medal of Honor for the Harlem Hellfighters of World War I

  "Unlike many Black soldiers who were limited to manual labor and custodial duties, the Harlem Hellfighters made it to the front lines. There were celebrated for their bravery, helping to change the perception of Black soldiers as inferior."

• 
• 7/4/2021
  

  Could Wilson have Ended the Great War Two Years Earlier? Zelikow's "Road Less Traveled" Reviewed

  by James Thornton Harris

  Philip Zelikow's book is a provocative and contrarian argument that Woodrow Wilson missed a chance to end the first world war in 1916. 

• 
• 6/13/2021
  

  Valor Roll: American Newsies in the Great War and the Flu Pandemic

  by Vincent DiGirolamo

  Newsies were a critical labor force in the early 20th century, connecting Americans to information. The author of a history of Newsies shows that their service drew praise in the First World War but suspicion in the ensuing influenza pandemic.

• 
• SOURCE: Science
  5/17/2021
  

  Human Tissue Preserved since World War I Yields New Clues about 1918 Pandemic

  "The partial genomes hold some tantalizing clues that the infamous flu strain may have adapted to humans between the pandemic’s first and second waves."

• 
• SOURCE: History.com
  5/17/2021
  

  How the Shocking Use of Gas in World War I Led Nations to Ban It

  "In 1925, the League of Nations adopted the Geneva Protocol, which prohibited the use of chemical and biological agents in war, but did not stop nations from continuing to develop and stockpile such weapons."

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  5/8/2021
  

  Melting Glaciers Have Exposed Frozen Relics of World War I

  Melting glaciers have allowed access to a mountain barracks used by Austro-Hungarian soldiers fighting the "White War" in the Italian Alps. 

• 
• SOURCE: Keeping Democracy Alive
  5/10/2021
  

  Peace Was on the Floor in 1916-17, but Wilson Failed to Pick it Up

  by Burt Cohen

  Burt Cohen discusses Philip Zelikow's book which argues that diplomatic failures by the great powers extended the first world war by two years and contributed to the catastrophes of fascism and Stalinism. 

• 
• SOURCE: History.com
  4/28/2021
  

  How World War I Fueled the Russian Revolution

  Stephen Miner of Ohio University says that while the collapse of Czarist Russia was likely without the first world war, the conflict made it virtually inevitable. Lynne Hartnett of Villanova says war exposed the weaknesses of the regime. 

• 
• 4/25/2021
  

  The "Doughboys" Made their Biggest Contribution Fighting Postwar Hunger

  by William Lambers

  At the anniversary of American entry into the first World War, we should remember the role of American troops in distributing food as part of the American Relief Administration. 

• 
• 3/14/2021
  

  Peace, Waiting to Be Picked Up: The Secret Diplomacy Failure of 1916 that Changed the World

  by Philip Zelikow

  In 1916, the major warring powers of Europe secretly pursued an American-brokered, face-saving peace. Confined to the shadows, the negotiations came close, but failed, with grave consequences for the world. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  2/28/2021
  

  African-American Sacrifice in the Killing Fields of France

  For their bravery in capturing Séchault from the Germans on Sept. 29, 1918, and for other combat action, the regiment known as the "Harlem Hellfighters" was awarded France’s highest military honor, the Croix de Guerre, soon after the war.