The U.S. enters World War I



1. How did the United States raise an army?

In 1917 once the U.S. had declared war on Germany, they realized they were not prepared and severely lacked troops as only 200,000 men were enlisted in the armed forces. In order to fill this void, Congress passed the Selective Service Act. This act required that all men in the U.S. register with the government. Soon 24 million men had registered and of these 3 million were chosen to fight in the U.S. army.



2. How did U.S. soldiers help win the war?

U.S. soldiers helped to win the war by preventing German U-boat attacks by using the convoy system. With this sysytem, a group of destroyers would help escort merchant ships across the Atlantic. This greatly minimized U-boat attacks and by Fall of 1917, shipping losses were cut in half. Along with this newly introduced convoy system, the U.S. also deployed a large amount of troops in Europe who not only helped to win many decisive victories but positively impacted the spirits of the tiresome allied troops.

3. What were the estimated economic costs of the war?

The war was a very expensive one as its total cost was roughly 338 billion dollars. The United States suffered severe economic losses of approximately 32 billion dollars, 52 percent of the nation's gross national product during that time.



4. What did the war cost in terms of the number of civilian deaths; military deaths?; injuries?; and refugees?

The war was very costly in terms of deaths, injuries, and refugees. There were an estimated 22 million deaths with about half being civilian and half soldiers. In terms of injuries there were about 20 million wounded and as for refugees there were about 10 million.



5. Define armistice.

Armistice is a mutual agreement between opponents to end hostilities between them.