Figure 1.--This is uniderntified postcard back snapshot is the kind of patriotic dispalys we see in America throughout World War I. The Germans did nor believe that a country without an ethnic core was a real country. It is not possible to identify the ethcities of the chikldren here, but they would have included German-Americans. Notice the two African american children. The German commanders were astonished with the feroicity of the American troops, calling them the 'Devil Dogs'. Despite the performance of American troops in World War I, Hitler and the NAZIs again thought that Ameriuca with its ethnic mix, especially Blacks and Jews, were not a serious threat.

America had tried to stay out of Workd War I. President Wilson was reelected in large measure because 'he kept us out of war'. After winnining relection (1916), Wilson set about applying real pressure on the Allies and Germany to end the War with a negoitiated settlement. Britain and France were relutant, but were dependent on American loans. The Germans hesitated, but ultimately decided on a military sollution. They decided that their U-boats could blockade Britain. And the Russian Revolution presented the oppoprtunity for a massive offensive on the Western Front. The Kaiser brought made the disaterious decision to bring America into the War by resuming unrestricted submarine warfare. The result was an explosion of patriotic feeling. Never before or after in Ameica has there been such unavashed patriotic exuberance, remarkable given the resitance to the War. The President put the War on a high moral plane -- 'a war to end all wars' amd a war 'to mmake the world safe for democracy'. The Germans did not regard America, without a core ethnic base as a real nation. Since unification (1871), Volkish and racist thought had been growing in Germany. Leading to a general under appreciation of American strength. The British in contrast while having some of the sane attutudes as the Germans, for the most part saw the vital impoortnce of bringing America into the War. Ethnic groups in America did have different opinions about the War. American German and Irish grops in particular opppsed the War. This had, however, no impact on the men who did the fighting. The Americans that America mobilized for war, regardless of their varied ethnicities, fought with vigor and a patriotic fervor that matched the Germans with their ethnic core. The Americans showed no attachment to their ancestrial homelands. The fighting became a race between the Gernans moving forces West and the Americans bringing forces to France to train. The Germans managed to bring a milliom men from the Eastern Front for their great Western Offensive. After initial successes, however, the Allies were bolstered by the even larger American Expeditionary Force. Throughout the year and a half of America's involvement of War there was midespread support and patriotic expression reaching a creshendo after the Germans gave in and agreed to an armisticebthat bordering on surender Within a short period, Americans became disenchanted with the War. It was true that the War was not the 'War to end all wars' and did not 'make the world safe for democracy'. Lost in the disenchantment was the monumental achievement of American nationalism--preventing a single country, namely Germany, from dominating Europe militarily. The modern woke generation disprages patriotic displays like this, but again the impact of American nationalism had a positive impact on the developmentof our modern world--a democratic and tolerant Europe with a profusion of ethnicities and country living together peacefully and not dominated by a single dominant imperial power.

Created: 6:54 AM 11/30/2021
Last updated: 6:55 AM 11/30/2021