United States Enters WWI “….the world must be made safe for democracy.” Woodrow Wilson Addressing Congress and urging a declaration of war

Americans Prepare to Fight April 6, 1917, Congress declared war Allies very happy Allies needed supplies and soldiers United States had only 200,000 soldiers Selective Service Act- Congress approved a national draft 3 million men were drafted and 2 million men volunteered

Fighting and Winning American Expeditionary Force (AEF)- American troops who sailed overseas AEF soldiers learned about trench warfare General John J. Pershing (USA) realized that trench warfare was not working Created plan that would send Germans out of their trenches and force them to retreat to open country

Fighting and Winning Russia dropped out of the war Russian revolution against the czar due to millions of soldiers dead and widespread starvation throughout the country Russia’s new government made peace with Germans This enabled Germany to bring back soldiers from the east- increased forces to 3.5 million men

Fighting and Winning Germans rushed to capture Paris, France American troops arrived just in time- German forces were 50 miles outside of Paris Gradually American machine guns and artillery forced the Germans back Summer of 1918, more than a million American soldiers were in Europe

Pershing’s Plan Tanks would advance through trenches Airplanes would deliver machine-gun fire and drop bombs Coordination of huge numbers of soldiers, tanks, airplanes, and artillery forced the German soldiers back to their own border To avoid invasion of their own country, German leaders agreed to an armistice-cease-fire November 11, 1918 – guns were silenced