Doughboys, the Great War, and the Remaking of America

Doughboys, the Great War, and the Remaking of America PDF Author: Jennifer D. Keene
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 9780801874468
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
How does a democratic government conscript citizens, turn them into soldiers who can fight effectively against a highly trained enemy, and then somehow reward these troops for their service? In Doughboys, the Great War, and the Remaking of America, Jennifer D. Keene argues that the doughboy experience in 1917–18 forged the U.S. Army of the twentieth century and ultimately led to the most sweeping piece of social-welfare legislation in the nation's history—the G.I. Bill. Keene shows how citizen-soldiers established standards of discipline that the army in a sense had to adopt. Even after these troops had returned to civilian life, lessons learned by the army during its first experience with a mass conscripted force continued to influence the military as an institution. The experience of going into uniform and fighting abroad politicized citizen-soldiers, Keene finally argues, in ways she asks us to ponder. She finds that the country and the conscripts—in their view—entered into a certain social compact, one that assured veterans that the federal government owed conscripted soldiers of the twentieth century debts far in excess of the pensions the Grand Army of the Republic had claimed in the late nineteenth century.

Doughboys, the Great War, and the Remaking of America

Doughboys, the Great War, and the Remaking of America PDF Author: Jennifer D. Keene
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 9780801874468
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Get Book

Book Description
How does a democratic government conscript citizens, turn them into soldiers who can fight effectively against a highly trained enemy, and then somehow reward these troops for their service? In Doughboys, the Great War, and the Remaking of America, Jennifer D. Keene argues that the doughboy experience in 1917–18 forged the U.S. Army of the twentieth century and ultimately led to the most sweeping piece of social-welfare legislation in the nation's history—the G.I. Bill. Keene shows how citizen-soldiers established standards of discipline that the army in a sense had to adopt. Even after these troops had returned to civilian life, lessons learned by the army during its first experience with a mass conscripted force continued to influence the military as an institution. The experience of going into uniform and fighting abroad politicized citizen-soldiers, Keene finally argues, in ways she asks us to ponder. She finds that the country and the conscripts—in their view—entered into a certain social compact, one that assured veterans that the federal government owed conscripted soldiers of the twentieth century debts far in excess of the pensions the Grand Army of the Republic had claimed in the late nineteenth century.

Doughboys on the Great War

Doughboys on the Great War PDF Author: Edward A. Gutiérrez
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700624449
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
“It is impossible to reproduce the state of mind of the men who waged war in 1917 and 1918,” Edward Coffman wrote in The War to End All Wars. In Doughboys on the Great War the voices of thousands of servicemen say otherwise. The majority of soldiers from the American Expeditionary Forces returned from Europe in 1919. Where many were simply asked for basic data, veterans from four states—Utah, Minnesota, Connecticut, and Virginia—were given questionnaires soliciting additional information and “remarks.” Drawing on these questionnaires, completed while memories were still fresh, this book presents a chorus of soldiers’ voices speaking directly of the expectations, motivations, and experiences as infantrymen on the Western Front in World War I. What was it like to kill or maim German soldiers? To see friends killed or maimed by the enemy? To return home after experiencing such violence? Again and again, soldiers wrestle with questions like these, putting into words what only they can tell. They also reflect on why they volunteered, why they fought, what their training was, and how ill-prepared they were for what they found overseas. They describe how they interacted with the civilian populations in England and France, how they saw the rewards and frustrations of occupation duty when they desperately wanted to go home, and—perhaps most significantly—what it all added up to in the end. Together their responses create a vivid and nuanced group portrait of the soldiers who fought with the American Expeditionary Forces on the battlefields of Aisne-Marne, Argonne Forest, Belleau Wood, Chateau-Thierry, the Marne, Metz, Meuse-Argonne, St. Mihiel, Sedan, and Verdun during the First World War. The picture that emerges is often at odds with the popular notion of the disillusioned doughboy. Though hardened and harrowed by combat, the veteran heard here is for the most part proud of his service, service undertaken for duty, honor, and country. In short, a hundred years later, the doughboy once more speaks in his own true voice.

The Last of the Doughboys

The Last of the Doughboys PDF Author: Richard Rubin
Publisher: HMH
ISBN: 0547843690
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 549

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Book Description
“Before the Greatest Generation, there was the Forgotten Generation of World War I . . . wonderfully engaging” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). “Richard Rubin has done something that will never be possible for anyone to do again. His interviews with the last American World War I veterans—who have all since died—bring to vivid life a cataclysm that changed our world forever but that remains curiously forgotten here.” —Adam Hochschild, author of To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914–1918 In 2003, eighty-five years after the end of World War I, Richard Rubin set out to see if he could still find and talk to someone who had actually served in the American Expeditionary Forces during that colossal conflict. Ultimately he found dozens, aged 101 to 113, from Cape Cod to Carson City, who shared with him at the last possible moment their stories of America’s Great War. Nineteenth-century men and women living in the twenty-first century, they were self-reliant, humble, and stoic, never complaining, but still marveling at the immensity of the war they helped win, and the complexity of the world they helped create. Though America has largely forgotten their war, you will never forget them, or their stories. A decade in the making, The Last of the Doughboys is the most sweeping look at America’s First World War in a generation, a glorious reminder of the tremendously important role America played in the “war to end all wars,” as well as a moving meditation on character, grace, aging, and memory. “An outstanding and fascinating book. By tracking down the last surviving veterans of the First World War and interviewing them with sympathy and skill, Richard Rubin has produced a first-rate work of reporting.” —Ian Frazier, author of Travels in Siberia “I cannot remember a book about that huge and terrible war that I have enjoyed reading more in many years.” —Michael Korda, The Daily Beast

Doughboy War

Doughboy War PDF Author: James H. Hallas
Publisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 146175089X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
This multilayered history of World War I's doughboys captures the experiences of American soldiers as they trained for war, voyaged to France, and faced the harsh reality of combat on the Western Front in 1917-18. Hallas uses the words of the troops themselves to describe the first days in the muddy trenches, the bloody battles for Belleau Wood, the violent clash on the Marne, the seemingly unending morass of the Argonne, and more, revealing what the doughboys saw, what they did, how they felt, and how the Great War affected them.

Tommy, Doughboy, Fritz

Tommy, Doughboy, Fritz PDF Author: Emily Brewer
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
ISBN: 1445637952
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
From Ammo to Zig-Zag, many of the words we use today were invented in World War 1. They provide a unique insight into the experience of the war, and the inventiveness and humour of ordinary soldiers.

US Doughboy 1916–19

US Doughboy 1916–19 PDF Author: Thomas Hoff
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1780965338
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 135

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Book Description
Dedicated to the life of the average US soldier during World War I, this book follows the doughboy during the course of the war: from conscription, arrival at a training facility, transportation to Europe, and finally into combat in the trenches. The evolution of the US Army is discussed, and its organization, the tension between Pershing's desire for “open” warfare and the actual reality of trench warfare is examined in detail. Appearance, equipment and weaponry of the American soldier are all featured, along with vivid descriptions of day-to-day experiences and the shock of combat on the front.

Doughboys on the Great War

Doughboys on the Great War PDF Author: Edward A. Gutiérrez
Publisher: Modern War Studies (Hardcover)
ISBN: 9780700619900
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
An engaging and informative narrative drawn from the first-hand accounts of American soldiers who served in France during World War I.

Memories of World War I

Memories of World War I PDF Author: R. Jackson Marshall
Publisher: North Carolina Division of Archives & History
ISBN: 9780865262829
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Describes the Great War as seen through the eyes of North Carolina doughboys who fought on the western front in Belgium and France.

Honoring the Doughboys

Honoring the Doughboys PDF Author: Jeffrey A. Lowdermilk
Publisher: George F Thompson Publishing
ISBN: 9781938086182
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The author's passion for World War I and of military history began as a lad when he listened to his grandfather, George A. Carlson, tell his life's stories about serving as a 'doughboy' in Europe during the Great War. When his grandfather passed away in 1982, his mother gave to Jeff her father's amazing diary, which included not only lengthy descri

Portrait of War

Portrait of War PDF Author: Peter Krass
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
Portrait of War tells the gripping true story of eight graphic artists recruited by the government and sent into combat to create a visual historical record of World War I. Featuring both their stunning illustrations and deep personal reflections, Portrait of War is a moving testament to the bravery of these artist-soldiers and the remarkable record of war they left behind.