Soldiers take part in a memorial service during an Anzac Day event. Anzac Day is a patriotic holiday in Australia and New Zealand that honors people who served in the armed forces.
Credit: © Kristian Dowling, Getty Images

Today, April 25, is Anzac Day, a patriotic holiday honoring current and former members of the Australian and New Zealand armed forces. ANZAC stands for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the name of the combined overseas force that fought in World War I (1914-1918). Anzac Day marks the anniversary of the Allied invasion of Turkey’s Gallipoli Peninsula on April 25, 1915.

In World War I, the Central Powers—Germany and Austria-Hungary—fought against the Allies—an alliance that included the United Kingdom, France, and Russia. As the war progressed, additional countries joined each alliance. Australia and New Zealand, former British colonies, entered the war as allies of the United Kingdom. Allied soldiers from the United Kingdom, France, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere fought troops of the Ottoman Empire, which was aligned with the Central Powers, at Gallipoli. The Ottoman Empire, centered in what is now Turkey, entered the war as a German ally in October 1914.

The ANZAC became known for the bravery and skill of its soldiers fighting against the Ottoman Empire during World War I (1914-1918). ANZAC forces landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula, in Turkey, in an area later called Anzac Cove, shown here. After many months of hard fighting, the troops were withdrawn, and the campaign at Gallipoli failed.
Credit: © Bettmann/Corbis

On April 25, 1915, some 75,000 soldiers from Australia, France, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom landed on Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. At that time, it was the largest military landing in history. The campaign was a costly failure for the Allies, who left Gallipoli after eight months of brutal and fruitless warfare. Some 127,000 people from all nations died there.

The campaign was particularly hard for ANZAC forces. More than 8,000 Australian soldiers were killed in action during the Gallipoli campaign. More than 19,000 Australian soldiers were wounded. More than 2,700 New Zealanders were killed, and more than 4,700 were wounded. During the campaign in Gallipoli, the ANZAC forces gained a reputation for bravery and skill. In Australia and New Zealand, Anzac Day is observed each year on April 25 in honor of people who have served in the armed forces of the two countries.

On April 25, 1916, services in Australia and New Zealand marked the first Anzac Day to remember the fallen of Gallipoli. Today, Anzac Day services are held throughout Australia and New Zealand, as well as at Gallipoli’s “Anzac Cove.” For the last two years, services and celebrations have been limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people stood out on their driveways to safely honor the armed forces. This year, traditional dawn services and marches will resume. In Sydney, the dawn service begins at 4:30 a.m. at the Cenotaph in Martin Place, where many young men enlisted to fight in World War I. Cenotaph means empty tomb. War memorial cenotaphs honor soldiers whose bodies lie elsewhere. The solemn service includes a reading of the “Ode of Remembrance,” part of the poem “For the Fallen” written by British poet Laurence Binyon soon after the outbreak of war in 1914:

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.”

The audience then responds: “We will remember them.”

Later in the day, veterans and current service members march from Martin Place towards Hyde Park, where the Anzac Memorial is located. National ceremonies begin a few hours later in Canberra and Wellington, the capital cities of Australia and New Zealand.

Code talkers were Native Americans who used their languages to help the United States military communicate in secret. This black-and-white photograph shows two Navajo code talkers operating a radio during World War II (1939-1945). The Navajo language was unknown to the Germans and Japanese and proved impossible for them to decipher.
Credit: NARA

On November 11, the anniversary of the end of World War I (1914-1918), the United States observes Veterans Day honoring men and women who have served in the United States armed services. In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11 as Armistice Day to remember the tragedies of war and appreciate peace achieved by the armistice (truce). In 1938, Armistice Day was made a federal holiday. Congress renamed the day Veterans Day to honor all United States Veterans in 1954. Around the world, the anniversary of the end of World War I is a day to remember those who have died in war. Australia, Canada, and New Zealand observe Remembrance Day on November 11. The United Kingdom observes Remembrance Day on the Sunday closest to November 11.

November is also Native American Heritage Month, a time to observe the cultures, histories, and traditions of Native Americans. Many Native Americans have served in the United States armed forces, contributing to the United States’ success in World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945). Most notably, Native Americans called the Code Talkers developed and used codes that enabled the United States and its allies to communicate globally without enemy interference.

The Code Talkers were small groups of Native Americans who served in the United States armed forces in World War I and World War II. Code Talkers developed and used codes in Native American languages to send secret messages, helping the United States and its allies win both wars.

The engineer Philip Johnston suggested the United States Marine Corps use Navajo language as a code during World War II. He grew up on a Navajo reservation and knew that the Navajo language is unwritten, difficult to decipher (decode), and unknown to most people who are not Navajo. In 1942, the United States Marine Corps recruited 29 Navajo men to develop the code. The code talkers used familiar wards to represent U.S. military terms. For example, bombs were called eggs in Navajo. They also created a new phonetic alphabet with Navajo words.

Similarly, in World War I, 19 Choctaw men had served in the U.S. Army, sending and receiving messages based on the Choctaw language. During World War II, 17 Comanche men used their language for code in the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

March 15, 2019

Today, March 15, marks the 100th anniversary of the first meeting of the American Legion in Paris, France, in 1919. The American Legion is the largest veterans’ organization in the United States. Its creation in Paris came in the months following World War I (1914-1918).  During the war, large numbers of U.S. troops served in Europe. A group of U.S. military officers led by Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., the son of President Theodore Roosevelt, created the organization as a way to organize and help the many soldiers leaving military service.

United States soldiers attend the first meeting of the American Legion on March 15, 1919, in Paris, France. Credit: Harry S. Truman Library & Museum

In January 1919, Lt. Colonel Roosevelt met with other officers following the death of his father, the former president, on January 6. During this meeting, they discussed the problems veterans might face after returning to the United States. Many soldiers would have trouble adjusting to civilian life, finding work, or dealing with the physical and mental scars of the war. Veterans’ organizations had existed previously, but none was adequate to handle the large numbers—2 million soldiers—demobilizing (leaving the military) in 1919. The officers met again in February to plan the first organizational meeting in March, which was attended by some 1,000 people. At that meeting, the organization adopted a temporary constitution and the name the American Legion.

The first meeting of the American Legion took place 100 years ago on March 15, 1919. Credit: © The American Legion

The U.S. Congress granted the American Legion a national charter in September 1919, and the group’s first national convention took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in November. All men who had served in the military during wartime were eligible to join the Legion. Also in 1919, an American Legion Auxiliary was created for women veterans and the families of soldiers killed in combat.

Today, men and women may join the American Legion if they are current members of the U.S. armed forces, or have served during a number of war eras specified by the organization and been honorably discharged. The American Legion has about 2 million members and thousands of local posts throughout the United States.

November 12, 2018

Yesterday, November 11, marked the 100th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended World War I (1914-1918). Large, somber ceremonies took place on the anniversary in Berlin, London, Paris, and other cities, as well as at important battlefield sites and at Compiègne, the town in northern France where the armistice was signed in 1918.

In northeastern France, soldiers of the United States Army’s 7th Infantry Division cheer the end of World War I on Nov. 11, 1918. Credit: U.S. Army

At 11 a.m. on November 11 (“the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”), Germany agreed to armistice terms with France and the United Kingdom, ending the last of the fighting during World War I. The war involved many more countries, however, and it caused greater destruction than any other war up to its time. The war took the lives of some 15 million people.

British troops leave their trenches during the 1916 Battle of the Somme during World War I. Credit: © Paul Popper, Popperfoto/Getty Images

Long-running tensions between Austria-Hungary and Serbia led to war in the summer of 1914. France, Russia, and the United Kingdom joined the war on Serbia’s side—a group that came to be known as the Allies. Germany backed Austria-Hungary to form the Central Powers. Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire later joined the Central Powers, and Italy, the United States, and other nations later joined the Allies. As part of the British Empire, soldiers from Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, and South Africa fought in the war, as did soldiers from Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, and other French colonies at the time. Belgium, Greece, Romania, and other nations were forced to fight as the war crossed their borders.

Soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) march through Sydney, Australia, in 1919, shortly after the end of World War I. Credit: Australian War Memorial

Fighting in World War I took place on the Western Front in Belgium and northern France; the Eastern Front in eastern Europe; the Italian Front along the border of Austria-Hungary and Italy; the Salonika Front in the Balkan Peninsula; and the Middle Eastern Front in southwestern Asia. Fighting also occurred in parts of Africa and around the world at sea.

Russia withdrew from the war in 1917, but the United States entered that year, providing the help the Allies needed to win the war. After a series of cataclysmic battles in the spring of 1918, the war turned quickly against the Central Powers. By the time Germany agreed to stop fighting on November 11, Bulgaria (September 29), the Ottoman Empire (October 30), and Austria-Hungary (November 3) had already left the war. The warring nations then signed a series of formal peace treaties. The Treaty of Versailles, signed between Germany and France, Italy, and the United Kingdom, embittered many Germans and was a rallying cry on the road to World War II (1939-1945). 

After World War I, November 11 was remembered annually as Armistice Day, a holiday now known as Veterans Day in the United States and Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom and nations of the former British Empire.

October 8, 2018

On Oct. 8, 1918, 100 years ago today, Alvin York, a soldier in the United States Army, killed more than 20 German troops and forced 132 others to surrender during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France during World War I (1914-1918). York was a member of a patrol sent to silence German machine-gun nests. An expert marksman, York shot about 25 enemy soldiers and forced a German major to order the survivors to surrender. For his deed, York received the Medal of Honor, the highest award for courage given by the U.S. military. Marshal Ferdinand Foch of France called York’s action “the greatest thing accomplished by any private soldier of all the armies of Europe.” Although he became famous as “Sergeant York,” he held the rank of corporal at the time of his incredible feat.

Sergeant Alvin C. York is seen here in 1919 aboard the USS Ohioan, the troop transport that returned him to the United States after the end of World War I. Credit: National Archives

York’s Medal of Honor citation reads, “After his platoon had suffered heavy casualties and 3 other noncommissioned officers had become casualties, Cpl. York assumed command. Fearlessly leading 7 men, he charged with great daring a machine gun nest which was pouring deadly and incessant fire upon his platoon. In this heroic feat the machine gun nest was taken, together with 4 officers and 128 men and several guns.”

Alvin Cullum York was born on Dec. 13, 1887, in Fentress County, Tennessee, and grew up on a mountain farm. He developed amazing marksmanship with the rifle and pistol while a boy. He became deeply religious and sought exemption from the draft because he believed war was wrong. But he was denied exemption.

The 1941 motion picture Sergeant York told York’s life story and detailed his exploits of October 1918. York died on Sept. 2, 1964.

August 2, 2018

One hundred years ago, in 1918, the Spanish flu began taking its deadly toll around the world. The Spanish flu was the worst outbreak of influenza, or flu, in history. Medical historians estimate that from 1918 through 1919, the Spanish flu killed at least 600,000 people in the United States and 20 million to 50 million people worldwide. The Spanish flu was the first and most severe of three pandemics (worldwide occurrences) of influenza in the 1900’s. Less severe pandemics occurred in 1957 and in 1968.

The Camp Jackson Base Hospital in South Carolina is filled with Spanish flu patients in the fall of 1918. Credit: Otis Historical Archives/National Museum of Health and Medicine

The Spanish flu struck in the final year of World War I (1914-1918), while many European nations were concentrating on war efforts. Many soldiers died of influenza, and troop concentrations and movements helped spread the disease. Most countries at war did not publicly acknowledge the number of deaths from influenza because of strict wartime censorship. The pandemic became known as the Spanish flu because the disease was widely reported in Spain, which remained neutral during the war.

Spanish flu caused symptoms similar to other influenza infections, including fever, chills, headaches, body aches, and fatigue. However, many people suffering from Spanish flu quickly developed severe pneumonia (inflammation of the lungs) and pulmonary edema (excess fluid accumulation in the lungs), causing victims to suffocate. Unlike other varieties of influenza, which most seriously affect infants and the elderly, the Spanish flu killed mainly young, healthy adults between 20 and about 40 years of age.

Medical historians believe the virus that caused Spanish flu, like many strains of influenza virus, probably originated in Asia. However, the first reported outbreaks of the disease occurred in the United States. The disease quickly spread to Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. During the height of the pandemic, the huge number of deaths severely disrupted many societies. Many countries tried various public health measures to contain the pandemic. In the United States, several cities closed schools, churches, theaters, and other public gathering places. By the end of 1919, the pandemic had largely ended.

Scientists have long sought to discover why the particular variety of influenza that caused the Spanish flu was so deadly and spread so quickly. In the 1990’s, they identified preserved lung tissue of victims of the disease that still contained the genetic information from the Spanish flu virus. They confirmed it as a variety of H1N1, one of several types of influenza viruses that can infect both people and certain animals, such as swine. Scientists believe birds are the original source of the Spanish flu and other pandemic influenza viruses. Birds carry many varieties of influenza viruses and in rare occasions transmit these viruses to human beings. In 2005, scientists re-created the Spanish flu virus through a process called reverse genetics. By studying the virus, they hope to discover why the disease spread so quickly and why it was so deadly. In addition, scientists can study the Spanish flu virus to develop new vaccines and treatments to prevent or contain future influenza outbreaks.

May 3, 2018

Dogs have lived with people as pets for more than 10,000 years. Over that time, dogs have accompanied people in all sorts of situations, including when people have gone to war. Dogs fought alongside soldiers in the days of ancient Rome, and they continue to do so today. One hundred years ago, in the final year of World War I (1914-1918), one particular war dog earned military and other honors in the United States Army. That dog, a pit bull terrier named Stubby, also earned his stripes and achieved the Army rank of sergeant.

Sergeant Stubby wears his stripes and several medals on his Army uniform. Credit: Division of Armed Forces/Smithsonian National Museum of America History

Stubby was a scrawny brown-and-white puppy when he wandered onto the campus of Yale University in Connecticut in 1917. At the time, the Army’s 102nd Infantry Regiment was training there before being sent to Europe to fight in the war. Stubby seemed to enjoy running among the troops on the practice field as they marched and drilled. One of the soldiers, Private John Robert Conroy, became especially attached to Stubby.

When the 102nd received orders to board a troop ship headed for France, Conroy smuggled Stubby aboard. The rest of the men quickly became fond of the little stowaway, and Stubby became the mascot of the 102nd Regiment. The soldiers even taught the dog to salute—Stubby would raise his right front paw to his face.

John Robert Conroy and Sergeant Stubby pose for a post-war photo in March 1919. Credit: Division of Armed Forces/Smithsonian National Museum of America History

Soon after the 102nd arrived in Europe, the regiment was sent to fight on the Western Front in France. Stubby had never been trained in the horrific conditions of war, but from the beginning, the small dog reacted calmly to the noise and confusion of the battlefield. When the soldiers heard incoming shells and ran to take cover in the trenches, Stubby ran, too. Soon, with his superior canine hearing, Stubby would know that shells were coming before the men did. When the soldiers saw Stubby run for cover, they ran too.

But Stubby did more than run and hide from danger. When any of his men were injured during a battle, Stubby would run out onto the field, find the soldier, and stay with him until he could be rescued. Stubby’s daring actions resulted twice in wounds and the dog was cared for in a Red Cross hospital.

Besides his excellent hearing, Stubby also possessed a canine’s superior sense of smell. During a gas attack by the enemy, Stubby gave his troops early warning and saved the soldiers from injury or death. Stubby also carried messages across the battlefield, took turns at guard duty, and once even caught a German spy! For his service, Stubby was made an honorary sergeant in the U.S. Army.

After the war, Sergeant Stubby returned to the United States with Conroy. He was introduced to President Woodrow Wilson (whom Stubby saluted) and later met Presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge. Stubby marched in many parades and was named a life member of the Red Cross, the American Legion, and the YMCA.

When Conroy went to Georgetown University to study law, Stubby became the mascot of the university’s football team. Stubby often enjoyed playing with the football on the sidelines at halftime. Stubby eventually died of old age in 1926, with his favorite soldier, Conroy, at his side.

Sergeant Stubby was the subject of the 1978 children’s book, Stubby—Brave Soldier Dog. In 2018, an animated film, Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero, recounted Stubby’s story and that of his best friend, Private Conroy.

April 20, 2018

On April 21, 1918, 100 years ago tomorrow, famed German fighter pilot Baron Manfred von Richthofen <<RIHKT hoh fuhn>>, known as the Red Baron, was shot down and killed during World War I (1914-1918). Richthofen shot down 80 enemy planes before he died, making him the war’s “highest scoring” flying ace. He also trained and led his own fighter squadron. Richthofen became a celebrated hero during the war, and was known as the Red Baron because of his red-painted planes.

Baron Manfred von Richthofen, known as the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot during World War I (1914-1918). He was killed in action 100 years ago on April 21, 1918. Credit: © Everett Historical/Shutterstock

Manfred Albrecht von Richthofen was born into an aristocratic family on May 2, 1892, in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland). He was educated at military schools and became a cavalry officer in the German army. In 1915, Richthofen transferred to the air service. He began flying as an observer, gathering intelligence while a pilot flew the plane, but he soon took flying lessons and became a pilot himself.

In 1916, Richthofen joined the squadron of Oswald Boelcke, an accomplished fighter pilot who had developed successful air battle strategies. In 1917, Richthofen was given command of Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG1, or Fighter Wing 1), famously known as “The Flying Circus” for the unit’s fantastically painted fighter planes and because of its reputation for showing up in many different locations like a traveling circus.

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The Fokker D. VII, a 1918 German fighter plane used in World War I, was known for its fast climbing ability. Credit: WORLD BOOK illustration by Tom Morgan

In April 1917, a month known as “Bloody April” to Allied airmen suffering heavy losses in northern France, Richthofen shot down an astounding 21 enemy planes. In July, he received a bullet wound to the head but managed to land his plane. He returned to combat in August as JG1 was outfitted with the famous Fokker Dr.1 triplane (a plane with three pairs of wings). The Dr.1 was infamously hard to fly, and Richthofen more often flew Albatros biplane fighters , which had the standard two pairs of wings. It was in a Dr.1, however, that the Red Baron was killed. JG1 later switched to the Fokker D.VII biplane, a plane which Richthofen helped to develop but never flew in combat. The D.VII proved to be Germany’s most effective fighter plane of the war.

During the 1918 Battles of Villers-Bretonneux in northern France, Richthofen was killed as he pursued an enemy plane far into hostile territory. He was shot through the chest, and his plane crash-landed. It is unclear whether Richthofen was brought down by Australian troops on the ground or by a Canadian pilot coming to the aid of the other plane. Richthofen’s 1917 autobiography, Der Rote Kampfflieger (The Red Air Fighter), became a German best-seller (he was 25 when it was published). Richthofen’s brother Lothar and his cousin Wolfram von Richthofen also served as a fighter pilots in JG1 (and both survived the war).

March 30, 2018

On April 1, 1918, 100 years ago this Sunday, the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force (RAF) became the world’s first national air force independent of an army or navy. The RAF is responsible for most of the United Kingdom’s military air operations. The RAF has long been one of the world’s most advanced and powerful air forces. The RAF centenary—celebrated as RAF100—is being marked by special activities and events throughout the United Kingdom from April through November 2018.

The Sopwith Camel, seen here at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, was an early famous fighter plane of the Royal Air Force. Credit: U.S. Air Force

A gala concert will launch RAF100 at London’s Royal Albert Hall on March 31. On April 1, a Centenary Baton Relay begins at London’s Royal Courts of Justice and will run through historic RAF sites for 100 days, returning to London on July 10 for the Horse Guards Parade. That same day, a centenary service will be held at Westminster Abbey followed by a parade and flypast of old and new RAF planes over Buckingham Palace. The RAF100 Aircraft Tour will be bring historic warplanes to such U.K. cities as Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, London, and Manchester. Air shows featuring RAF aircraft will take place throughout the summer and special exhibitions will feature at the RAF Museum in London and its satellites in other cities.

The United Kingdom formed its first air force, the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), in 1912. It was part of the British Army. A separate Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was formed in 1914. Early in World War I (1914-1918), RFC aircraft were used mainly for reconnaissance (information gathering) and for directing artillery (heavy gun) attacks. RNAS aircraft mainly hunted German submarines and airships. Both services soon developed swift new fighter planes, called scouts at the time, for air-to-air combat. Famous British fighters included the Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 and the Sopwith Camel. British bombers, such as the Airco DH4 and DH9, attacked enemy ground targets later in the war. On April 1, 1918, the RFC and RNAS merged to form the Royal Air Force.

In the 1920’s, RAF warplanes flew missions in the Middle East, India, and North Africa. In the late 1930’s, the RAF expanded to keep pace with Germany’s air force. In 1939, the Royal Navy took control of the RAF’s Fleet Air Arm.

Royal Air Force Supermarine Spitfires patrol the skies above the United Kingdom during World War II. Credit: AFHRA

Early in World War II (1939-1945), the RAF lost hundreds of aircraft and crew to German flyers over Belgium and France. The RAF recovered, however. The force repelled repeated German air attacks in the 1940 Battle of Britain. The battle made legends of two British planes—the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire—as well as the pilots who flew them. RAF bombers—most famously the four-engine Avro Lancaster—flew thousands of missions against Germany and occupied Europe. RAF air squadrons also played important roles in North Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. A number of non-Britons served in the RAF. Flyers came from several countries, including Australia, Canada, Czechoslovakia, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, and the United States.

In the 1950’s, RAF aircraft supported military operations in Cyprus, Egypt, Kenya, Malaysia, and elsewhere. During part of the Cold War, RAF warplanes armed with nuclear weapons helped deter (discourage) a Soviet attack on the United Kingdom or its allies. The Cold War was an intense rivalry between Communist and non-Communist nations between 1945 and 1991.

RAF warplanes—including the Harrier ground attack aircraft—played important roles during the Falklands War of 1982. RAF aircraft also were active during the Persian Gulf War of 1991, the Afghanistan War (2001-2014), and the Iraq War (2003-2011). The RAF has taken part in numerous North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) combat and relief missions.

March 21, 2018

On March 21, 1918, 100 years ago today, the German army launched a massive spring offensive against Allied troops during World War I (1914-1918). The German Spring Offensive was actually a series of assaults on Allied positions from March 21 through July 18, 1918, along the Western Front, the battlefront that stretched through Belgium and northern France. The German assaults broke the Allied lines and ended the stalemate of trench warfare (fighting from fortified ditches). The offensive gained much territory, but it failed to achieve German victory. It also exhausted the German army, setting the stage for Allied counterattacks and an ultimate Allied victory in World War I.

German soldiers advance in northern France during the German Spring Offensive of 1918. Credit: © Everett Historical/Shutterstock

For most of World War I, the strength of the German military was split. Fighting against the British and French (and later, the American Expeditionary Forces as well) on the Western Front required millions of German troops. At the same time, German forces were needed to battle Russian, and later Romanian, forces on the Eastern Front. The Eastern Front would eventually stretch from Estonia to Romania.

By December 1917, both Russia and Romania were defeated and nearing surrender. The end of fighting on the Eastern Front then allowed Germany to concentrate its military on the West. For the first time, German forces would outnumber the Allies on the Western Front.

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Allied troops eventually stopped the German Spring Offensive. United States troops played key roles in the fighting at Château-Thierry, Cantigny, and Belleau Wood. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

The Germans needed to take advantage of their numbers in early 1918. By that time, the United States had entered the war on the Allied side, but the majority of U.S. forces had not yet reached Europe. The Germans planned a huge offensive that sought to force an Allied surrender before U.S. troops could arrive in strength.

Beginning on March 21, German assaults took place along the Somme and Aisne rivers in northern France, and in Flanders, on France’s border with Belgium. The Germans hoped to destroy the British army and force France to negotiate a peace. The German assaults gained much ground, and some German troops reached the Marne River northeast of Paris, the French capital. However, heavy casualties (people killed, wounded, captured, or missing), failing supplies, and Allied counterattacks ground the last of the assaults to a halt in July.

The offensive took a heavy toll on the German army, with more than 500,000 casualties. Having used up its reserves from the Eastern Front, Germany could no longer replace such huge numbers of troops. The casualties and lack of overall success badly damaged German morale. Allied casualties also reached 500,000. However, by the offensive’s end, more than 1 million U.S. troops were in France and continuing to pour into the country at a rate of more than 250,000 each month. Massive Allied assaults began in August 1918 and continued until Germany signed an armistice (agreement to stop fighting) in November. The agreement ended World War I.