When did France get involved in World War I?
French entry into World War I
France entered World War I on August 3, 1914, when Germany declared war. France played only a small part in the diplomatic crisis of July 1914–its top leaders were out of the country from July 15 to July 29, when most of the critical decisions were taken. Austria and Germany deliberately acted to prevent the French and Russian leadership from communicating during the last week in July. But this made little difference as French policy in strong support of Russia had been locked in. Germany realized that a war with Russia meant a war with France, and so its war plans called for an immediate attack on France – through Belgium – hoping for a quick victory before the slow-moving Russians could become a factor. France was a major military and diplomatic player before and after the July crisis, and every power paid close attention to its role. Historian Joachim Remak says:
Zaian War
Lyautey received orders from Army headquarters in Paris on 28 July 1914 the day the First World War began, requesting the dispatch of all available troops to France in anticipation of a German invasion and the withdrawal of his remaining forces to more defensible coastal enclaves. The French government justified this stance by stating that the "fate of Morocco will be determined in Lorraine". Lyautey, who had lost most of his own possessions when his house in Crévic had been burnt to the ground by advancing German forces, was keen to support the defence of France and within a month had sent 37 infantry and cavalry battalions and six artillery batteries to the Western Front – more than had been requested of him. A further 35,000 Moroccan labourers were recruited by Lyautey over the course of the war for service in France.
Nevertheless, Lyautey did not wish to abandon the inland territory his men had fought so hard for, stating that if he withdrew "such a shock would result immediately all over Morocco ... that a general revolt would arise under our feet, on all our points". Left with just 20 battalions of legionnaires (mainly German and Austrian), military criminals of the Infanterie Légère d'Afrique, territorial reservists, Senegalese Tirailleurs and "goumiers", he switched from the offensive to a long-term strategy of "active defence". Lyautey withdrew all non-essential personnel from his rear garrisons, brought in elderly reservists from France and issued weapons and elements of military dress to civilians in an attempt to convince the tribes that the French army in Morocco was as strong as before. Lyautey referred to this move as similar to hollowing out a lobster while leaving the shell intact. His plan depended on holding a "living barricade" of French outposts running from Taza in the north through Khenifra, Kasbah Tadla and Marrakesh to Agadir on the Atlantic coast.
World war
World War I occurred from 1914 to 1918. In terms of human technological history, the scale of World War I was enabled by the technological advances of the second industrial revolution and the resulting globalization that allowed global power projection and mass production of military hardware. Wars on such a scale have not been repeated since the onset of the Atomic Age and the resulting danger of mutually-assured destruction. It had been recognized that the complex system of opposing alliances (the German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires against the British, Russian, and French Empires) was likely to lead to a worldwide conflict if a war broke out. Due to this fact, a very minute conflict between two countries had the potential to set off a domino effect of alliances, triggering a world war. The fact that the powers involved had large overseas empires virtually guaranteed that such a war would be worldwide, as the colonies' resources would be a crucial strategic factor. The same strategic considerations also ensured that the combatants would strike at each other's colonies, thus spreading the wars far more widely than those of pre-Columbian times.
John Charles Phillips
During the First World War, Phillips joined the Second Harvard Surgical Corp and was assigned to General Hospital No. 2 of the British Expeditionary Force in 1915. After his service, he returned home. When the United States was drawn into World War I, he joined the Medical Corps of the US forces as first lieutenant. In 1918 he was promoted to Major. He was part of three important battles in France and part of the army that led to the occupation of Germany. In July 1919, after twenty-six months at war, he returned to the United States.
German entry into World War I
After Germany declared war on Russia, France with its alliance with Russia prepared a general mobilization in expectation of war. On 3 August 1914, Germany responded to this action by declaring war on France. Germany, facing a two-front war, enacted what was known as the Schlieffen Plan, which involved German armed forces needing to move through Belgium and swing south into France and towards the French capital of Paris. This plan aimed to gain a quick victory against the French and allow German forces to concentrate on the Eastern Front. Belgium was a neutral country and would not accept German forces crossing its territory. Germany disregarded Belgian neutrality and invaded the country to launch an offensive towards Paris. This caused Great Britain to declare war against the German Empire, as the action violated the Treaty of London that both Britain and Prussia had signed in 1839 guaranteeing Belgian neutrality and defense of the kingdom if a nation reneged.
American Century
After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the United States pursued a policy of non-intervention, avoiding conflict while trying to broker a peace. President Woodrow Wilson later argued that the war was so important that the US had to have a voice in the peace conference. The United States was never formally a member of the Allies but entered the war in 1917 as a self-styled "Associated Power". Initially the United States had a small army, but, after the passage of the Selective Service Act, it drafted 2.8 million men, and, by summer 1918, was sending 10,000 fresh soldiers to France every day. The war ended in 1919 with the Treaty of Versailles. The United States then adopted a policy of isolationism, having refused to endorse the 1919 Versailles Treaty or formally enter the League of Nations.
Henry Hobbs
In 1915, 15 months before the United States entered World War I, Hobbs sailed to France to serve with the French Ambulance Corps and later with the French Intelligence Corps. He was also a member of the organization department of the Commission for Relief in Belgium in 1915. He also worked with the American Field Service where he was attached to the 1st French Army from 1915 to 1916. In 1917, when the United States entered the war, he served in the United States Army with the rank of captain. He was responsible for procurement, storage, and distribution of lubricating oils for the American Expeditionary Forces. After he was discharged from the military in January 1919, he remained engaged in the oil business. He later became a stone engineer for the Fuller Construction Company of New York.
France
In the 19th century, Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire. His subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a tumultuous succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. France was a major participant in World War I, from which it emerged victorious, and was one of the Allies in World War II, but came under occupation by the Axis powers in 1940. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War. The Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains today. Algeria and nearly all the other colonies became independent in the 1960s and typically retained close economic and military connections with France.
Joseph W. Brooks
After the United States entered World War I in the spring of 1917, Brooks served in France with the United States Army as a captain with the 150th Machine Gun Battalion of the 42nd Division.
Economic history of World War I
French colonies supplied workers for munitions factories and other jobs in France. A famous example was Ho Chi Minh who worked in Paris, and was highly active in organizing fellow Vietnamese, and even demanding a voice for them at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. The French army enlisted hundreds of thousands of colonials. From Africa came 212,000 soldiers, of whom 160,000 fought on the Western front.
British entry into World War I
Great Britain entered World War I on 4 August 1914 when the king declared war after the expiration of an ultimatum to Germany.
Military history of Canada during World War I
The military history of Canada during World War I 
began on August 4, 1914, when the United Kingdom entered the First World War (1914–1918) by declaring war on Germany. The British declaration of war automatically brought Canada into the war, because of Canada's legal status as a British dominion which left foreign policy decisions in the hands of the British parliament. However, the Canadian government had the freedom to determine the country's level of involvement in the war. On August 4, 1914, the Governor General declared a war between Canada and Germany. The Militia was not mobilized and instead an independent Canadian Expeditionary Force was raised.
Russian entry into World War I
Russia depended heavily on the French alliance--a two front war against Germany was winnable, but not if Russia was alone. French ambassador Maurice Paléologue hated Germany and saw that when war broke out France and Russia had to be close allies against Germany. His approach was in agreement with President minister Raymond Poincaré who trusted him. He promised unconditional French support to Russia in the unfolding crisis with Germany and Austria. Historians debate whether he exceeded his instructions but they agree he failed to inform Paris of exactly what was happening, and did not warn that Russian mobilization might launch a world war.
Adriatic Campaign of World War I
The Adriatic Campaign of World War I was a naval campaign fought between the Central Powers and the Mediterranean squadrons of Great Britain, France, the Kingdom of Italy, Australia and the United States.
1st Battalion Royal Irish Rifles in World War I
The 1st Battalion Royal Irish Rifles was serving in Aden when the First World War broke out in August 1914. The Ottoman Empire had not yet entered the war so the battalion was sent to England in September, where it prepared for a deployment to France, attached to the 25th Infantry Brigade, 8th Division. It travelled from Southampton to Le Havre at the start of November and took up positions east of Laventie in the Pas de Calais.
Home front during World War I
President Woodrow Wilson took full control of foreign policy, declaring neutrality but warning Germany that the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare against American ships would mean war. Wilson's mediation efforts failed; likewise, the peace efforts sponsored by industrialist Henry Ford went nowhere. Germany decided to take the risk and try to win by cutting off Britain; the US declared war in April 1917. America had the largest industrial, financial and agricultural base of any of the great powers, but it took 12–18 months to fully reorient it to the war effort. American money, food and munitions flowed freely to Europe from spring 1917, but troops arrived slowly. The US Army in 1917 was small and poorly equipped. The draft began in spring 1917 but volunteers were also accepted. Four million men and thousands of women joined the services for the duration. By summer 1918 American soldiers under General John J. Pershing arrived in France at the rate of 10,000 a day, while Germany was unable to replace its losses. The result was an Allied victory in November 1918.
John Frederick Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis
Trefusis was still Adjutant at Sandhurst when World War I broke out in August 1914. The Irish Guards went to France immediately as part of the British Expeditionary Force, and Trefusis joined them as a reinforcement on 18 September, following the battalion's heavy losses at Villers-Cottérêts during the Retreat from Mons and at the First Battle of the Aisne. He resumed his former position as Adjutant, replacing a wounded officer.
France–United States relations
During World War I the United States was initially neutral but eventually entered the conflict in 1917 and provided much-needed money—as loans to be repaid—that purchased American food, oil and chemicals for the French effort. The American troops were sent over without their heavy equipment (so that the ships could carry more soldiers). They used French artillery, airplanes and tanks, such as the SPAD XIII fighter biplane and Renault FT light tank serving in the aviation and armored formations of the American Expeditionary Force on the Western Front in 1918. In 1918 the United States sent over a million combat troops who were stationed to the south of the main French lines. They gave the Allies a decisive edge, as the Germans were unable to replace their heavy losses and lost their self-confidence by September 1918.
Western Front (World War I)
The Western Front was the main theatre of war during the First World War. Following the outbreak of war in August 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne. Following the Race to the Sea, both sides dug in along a meandering line of fortified trenches, stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France, which changed little except during early 1917 and in 1918.
National Council of French Women
When World War I (1914–18) began feminists were expected to suspend their demands and support their country in its struggle.
During the war the CNFF would not support the pacifist movement. 
The official line was that French women had always been sympathetic to pacifism and sought "peace and international understanding, if not in the entire world, at least in Europe." However, "until the German women protested to their own government against its violations of international law and the crimes of its army against civilians, any cooperation with them would be a betrayal of the nation; the fact that they belong to the female sex was quite irrelevant."
Ireland and World War I
During World War I (1914–1918), Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which entered the war in August 1914 as one of the Entente Powers, along with France, and the Russian Empire. In part as an effect of chain ganging, the UK decided due to geopolitical power issues to declare war on the Central Powers, consisting of the German Empire, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria.
Allies of World War I
As with Britain, France's colonies also became part of the war; pre-1914, French soldiers and politicians advocated using French African recruits to help compensate for France's demographic weakness. From August to December 1914, the French lost nearly 300,000 dead on the Western Front, more than Britain suffered in the whole of WWII and the gaps were partly filled by colonial troops, over 500,000 of whom served on the Western Front over the period 1914-1918. Colonial troops also fought at Gallipoli, occupied Togo and Kamerun in West Africa and had a minor role in the Middle East, where France was the traditional protector of Christians in the Ottoman provinces of Syria, Palestine and Lebanon.
Jean Hissette
When the First World War broke out in 1914 Jean Hissette was still a medicine student and had spent his July vacations in Lacuisine. On 1 August 1914, mobilization day, he left Lacuisine for the duration of the war. During the First World War and after the war had ended, Jean performed four years of military service as a medically adorned sanitary officer in the medical service unit of the 1st division of the Belgian Army. He was mainly deployed in the front line against the Germans at the Yser.
French Army in World War I
The French army was heavily involved in the allies' line of defense during the final German offensives in spring 1918. When British troops were attacked during Operation Michael, 40 French divisions were sent to help them. Those troops finally took part in the battle. Then, the third German offensive was launched against French positions in Champagne. The French troops began to lose ground but eventually, the Germans were stopped by a counterattack led by General Charles Mangin.
Europe
Two world wars and an economic depression dominated the first half of the 20th century. World War I was fought between 1914 and 1918. It started when Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by the Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip. Most European nations were drawn into the war, which was fought between the Entente Powers (France, Belgium, Serbia, Portugal, Russia, the United Kingdom, and later Italy, Greece, Romania, and the United States) and the Central Powers (Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire). The war left more than 16 million civilians and military dead. Over 60 million European soldiers were mobilised from 1914 to 1918.
French Army in World War I
This article is about the French Army in World War I. During World War I, France was one of the Triple Entente powers allied against the Central Powers. Although fighting occurred worldwide, the bulk of the fighting in Europe occurred in Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Alsace-Lorraine along what came to be known as the Western Front, which consisted mainly of trench warfare. Specific operational, tactical, and strategic decisions by the high command on both sides of the conflict led to shifts in organizational capacity, as the French Army tried to respond to day-to-day fighting and long-term strategic and operational agendas. In particular, many problems caused the French high command to re-evaluate standard procedures, revise its command structures, re-equip the army, and to develop different tactical approaches.
Diplomatic history of World War I
The Diplomatic history of World War I covers the non-military interactions among the major players during World War I. For the domestic histories see Home front during World War I. For a longer-term perspective see International relations of the Great Powers (1814–1919) and Causes of World War I. For the following era see International relations (1919–1939). The major allied players included Great Britain, France, Russia, and Italy (starting in 1915) and the United States (from 1917). The major Central Powers included Germany and the Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). Other countries—and their colonies—were also involved. For a detailed chronology see Timeline of World War I.
Americans in France
During the United States campaigns in World War I the American Expeditionary Forces fought in France alongside British and French allied forces in the last year of the war, against Imperial German forces. The first 14,000 U.S. infantry troops landed in France at the port of Saint Nazaire and by May 1918 over one million U.S. troops were stationed in France, half of them being on the front lines.
Félicien Challaye
Challaye served in World War I, and he was wounded in combat in 1915. After the war, he became a staunch pacifist. By 1931, he suggested he preferred peace to war, even if France had to be invaded by Germany.
World War I
World War I (often abbreviated as WWI or WW1), also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.
Causes of World War I
Imperial rivalries pushed France, Germany and Britain to compete for control of Morocco, leading to a short-lived war scare in 1911. In the end, France established a protectorate over Morocco that increased European tensions. The Agadir Crisis resulted from the deployment of a substantial force of French troops into the interior of Morocco in April 1911. Germany reacted by sending the gunboat SMS "Panther" to the Moroccan port of Agadir on 1 July 1911. The main result was deeper suspicion between London and Berlin, and closer military ties between London and Paris.
Two-front war
During World War I, Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm II fought a two-front war against French, British, Belgian, and (later) American forces on the Western Front while simultaneously fighting the Russians on the Eastern Front. Russia’s participation ended in the First World War, when the Bolshevik leaders signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in March 1918. Germany had foreseen such a scenario, and developed the Schlieffen Plan in order to counteract being surrounded by its enemies. Under the Schlieffen Plan, German forces would invade France via Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands (the idea to go through the Netherlands was abandoned because of the country's neutrality), quickly capturing Paris and forcing France to sue for peace. The Germans would then turn their attention to Russia in the east before the Tsar could mobilize his massive forces. Due to several factors however, the Germans failed to achieve the plan's aims.
United States Army
The United States joined World War I as an "Associated Power" in 1917 on the side of Britain, France, Russia, Italy and the other Allies. U.S. troops were sent to the Western Front and were involved in the last offensives that ended the war. With the armistice in November 1918, the army once again decreased its forces.
History of French foreign relations
By 1914 French foreign policy was thus based on an alliance with Russia, and an informal understanding with Britain, all based on the assumption that the main threat was from Germany. The crisis of 1914 was unexpected, and when Germany mobilized its forces in response to Russian mobilization, France also had to mobilize or be overwhelmed bu sheer numbers. Germany then invaded Belgium and France, and World War I had begun.
Alan Seeger
Having moved to the Latin Quarter of Paris to continue his itinerant intellectual lifestyle, on August 24, 1914 Seeger joined the French Foreign Legion so that he could fight for the Allies in World War I (the United States did not enter the war until 1917).
French Third Republic
A change of fortunes in the late summer and autumn of 1918 led to the defeat of Germany in World War I. The most important factors that led to the surrender of Germany were its exhaustion after four years of fighting and the arrival of large numbers of troops from the United States beginning in the summer of 1918. Peace terms were imposed on Germany by the Big Four: Great Britain, France, the United States, and Italy. Clemenceau demanded the harshest terms and won most of them in the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. Germany was largely disarmed and forced to take full responsibility for the war, meaning that it was expected to pay huge war reparations. France regained Alsace-Lorraine, and the German industrial Saar Basin, a coal and steel region, was occupied by France. The German African colonies, such as Kamerun, were partitioned between France and Britain. From the remains of the Ottoman Empire, Germany's ally during World War I that also collapsed at the end of the conflict, France acquired the Mandate of Syria and the Mandate of Lebanon.
Paris in World War I
The outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 saw patriotic demonstrations on the Place de la Concorde and at the Gare de l'Est and Gare du Nord as the mobilized soldiers departed for the front. But while the Paris newspapers were confident of a quick victory, the German army swept through Belgium and marched rapidly toward Paris.
France–Ireland relations
As part of the British Empire, Irish soldiers fought in France during World War I (1914-1918) and Irish troops fought in the Battle of the Somme. In 1922, the Irish Free State obtained its independence from the United Kingdom. In 1929, Ireland opened a diplomatic legation in Paris and appointed Gerald Edward O'Kelly de Gallagh et Tycooly as the first Irish Minister to France. In 1930, France opened its first diplomatic legation in Dublin. During World War II (1939-1945) Ireland remained officially neutral. Approximately 50 Irish men and women joined the French Resistance, such as Irish writer Samuel Beckett. After the war, both nations upgraded their diplomatic legations to embassies.
United States
The United States remained neutral from the outbreak of World War I, in 1914, until 1917 when it joined the war as an "associated power", alongside the formal Allies of World War I, helping to turn the tide against the Central Powers. In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson took a leading diplomatic role at the Paris Peace Conference and advocated strongly for the U.S. to join the League of Nations. However, the Senate refused to approve this and did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles that established the League of Nations.
Josephine Hale
World War I began in 1914, and in 1917 Josephine Hale enlisted in the Red Cross. At the time the Red Cross had an age limit on enlistment, and the forty year old Hale lied about her age, stating she was thirty-five, in order to enlist. Her ability to speak French was viewed as an asset and she paid for her own passage to Europe in order to ensure her acceptance.
Kiffin Rockwell
At the outbreak of World War I, on August 3, 1914, Kiffin Rockwell offered his services to France by letter, which he wrote with his brother Paul, to the French Consul-General in New Orleans. James Norman Hall, the author of the "History of the Lafayette Flying Corps", suggested that Kiffin Yates Rockwell was the first American who saw military service with France during the beginning of World War I. Without waiting for a reply, the Rockwell brothers boarded SS "St Paul", American Line in New York City and on August 7, 1914 departed for Europe, where they enlisted in the French Foreign Legion.
List of French villages destroyed in World War I
During the First World War, specifically at the time of the Battle of Verdun in 1916, many villages in northern France were destroyed by the fighting. After the war, it was decided that the land previously occupied by the destroyed villages would not be incorporated into other communes, as a testament to these villages which had "died for France", as they were declared, and to preserve their memory. While three of the villages were subsequently rebuilt and are governed as normal communes, the other six are entirely unpopulated and are managed by a council of three members, appointed by the prefect of Meuse. All of these communes are located in the Canton of Charny-sur-Meuse in the Arrondissement of Verdun, and are located generally north of the city of Verdun, in the Lorraine region of northeastern France.
The Disinherited
April 1917
The United States enters World War I on the side of Britain and France after discovering that Germany is trying to persuade Mexico to enter the war as Germany's ally. "Larry now works at the railroad yard. His friend and co-work, Ed Warden, introduces Larry to the pleasures of womanly flesh by setting him up with Wilma, an experienced fifteen-year-old girl. Larry is not quite eighteen years old since he is too young to enlist."
France–Senegal relations
During World War I and World War II, Senegalese soldiers known as "Senegalese Tirailleurs" fought in both wars for France and they fought during the Battle of France and in the Italian Campaign under the Free France government in exile led by General Charles de Gaulle. After the Liberation of Paris and the end of World War II, Senegal became part of the French Union in 1946.
List of First World War Victoria Cross recipients
The First World War, also known as the Great War and in the United States as World War I, was a global military conflict that embroiled most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance. More than 70 million military personnel were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history. The main combatants descended into a state of total war, directing their entire scientific and industrial capabilities into the war effort. Over 15 million people were killed, making it one of the deadliest conflicts in history. The proximate cause of war was the assassination on 28 June 1914 of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. Soon after, a system of alliances were activated that would see Europe at war. The Western Front saw the largest concentration of Commonwealth troops with soldiers occupying sectors of the line from the North Sea to the Orne River.
Military history of the United States
The United States originally wished to remain neutral when World War I broke out in August 1914. However, it insisted on its right as a neutral party to immunity from German submarine attack, even though its ships carried food and raw materials to Britain. In 1917 the Germans resumed submarine attacks, knowing that it would lead to American entry. When the United States declared war in early April 1917, the United States Army was still small by European standards (most of which had conscription) and mobilization would take at least a year. Meanwhile, the United States continued to provide supplies and money to Britain and France, and initiated the first peacetime draft. Industrial mobilization took longer than expected, so divisions were sent to Europe without equipment, relying instead on the British and French to supply them.
World War I
Trenches, machine guns, air reconnaissance, barbed wire, and modern artillery with fragmentation shells helped bring the battle lines of World War I to a stalemate. The British and the French sought a solution with the creation of the tank and mechanised warfare. The British first tanks were used during the Battle of the Somme on 15 September 1916. Mechanical reliability was an issue, but the experiment proved its worth. Within a year, the British were fielding tanks by the hundreds, and they showed their potential during the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917, by breaking the Hindenburg Line, while combined arms teams captured 8,000 enemy soldiers and 100 guns. Meanwhile, the French introduced the first tanks with a rotating turret, the Renault FT, which became a decisive tool of the victory. The conflict also saw the introduction of light automatic weapons and submachine guns, such as the Lewis Gun, the Browning Automatic Rifle, and the Bergmann MP18.
Andorra
Andorra declared war on Imperial Germany during World War I, but did not take part directly in the fighting. Some Andorrans volunteered to take part in the conflict as part of the French Legions. It remained in an official state of belligerency until 1958 as it was not included in the Treaty of Versailles.
France and weapons of mass destruction
During World War I, France, not Germany as commonly believed, was actually the first nation to use chemical weapons though this was notably a nonlethal tear gas attack (xylyl bromide) carried out in August 1914 against invading German troops. Once the war had degenerated into trench warfare and new methods to attain an advantage were sought, the German Army initiated a chlorine gas attack against the French Army at Ypres on 15 April 1915, initiating a new method of warfare but failed that day to exploit the resulting break in the French line. In time, the more potent phosgene replaced chlorine in use by armies on the Western Front, including France, leading to massive casualties on both sides of the conflict however the effects were mitigated by development of protective clothing and masks as the war progressed.
Causes of World War I
After Bismarck's removal in 1890, French efforts to isolate Germany became successful. With the formation of the Triple Entente, Germany began to feel encircled. The French foreign minister, Théophile Delcassé went to great pains to woo Russia and Great Britain. Key markers were the Franco-Russian Alliance of 1894, the 1904 Entente Cordiale with Great Britain and finally the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907, which became the Triple Entente. This informal alignment with Britain and formal alliance with Russia against Germany and Austria eventually led Russia and Britain to enter World War I as France's allies.
French entry into World War I
As the French ambassador to Germany (1907-1914) Jules Cambon worked hard to secure a friendly détente. He was frustrated by French leaders such as Raymond Poincaré, who decided Berlin was trying to weaken the Triple Entente of France, Russia and Britain, and was not sincere in seeking peace. The French consensus was that war was inevitable.
Effect of World War I on children in the United States
The United States was involved in World War I for the last 19 months of the war (April 1917 to November 1918), 4,355,000 men were conscripted into service. By summer 1918, they were trained and shipped to France at the rate of 10,000 military personnel a day.
French entry into World War I
France could strengthen its position in the event of war by forming new alliances or by enlisting more young men. It used both methods. Russia was firmly in the same camp, and Britain was almost ready to join. In 1913 the controversial "three year law" extended the term of conscription for French draftees from two to three years. Previously young men were in training at ages 21 and 22 then joined the reserves; now they were in training at ages 20, 21, and 22.
French battleship Vérité
At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, "Vérité" was assigned to the 1st Division of the 2nd Squadron in the Mediterranean, along with "République" and "Patrie". The French fleet was initially used to cover the movement of French troops—the XIX Corps—from Algeria to metropolitan France. As a result, the fleet was far out of position to catch the German battlecruiser , which, contrary to French expectations, steamed to Constantinople rather than attempt to interfere with the troop transports. For the majority of the war, the French used their main fleet to keep the Austro-Hungarian fleet bottled up in the Adriatic Sea. In 1914 she participated in the Battle of Antivari, where the battle line caught the Austro-Hungarian cruiser by surprise and sank her. The French battleships then bombarded Austrian fortifications at Cattaro in an attempt to draw out the Austro-Hungarian fleet, which refused to take the bait.
Allies of World War II
After Germany invaded Poland, France declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939. In January 1940, French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier made a major speech denouncing the actions of Germany:
France experienced several major phases of action during World War II:
Nathan C. Wyeth
When the United States entered World War I in April 1918, Wyeth sought to join the military. He loved France, and was deeply upset at reports of the destruction and loss of life there. Too old at age 47 to be conscripted, he sought an architectural job with the Army as a way of helping the French people. Wyeth was released from his bridge contract with the Army Corps of Engineers in 1918 so he could be commissioned as a Major in the United States Army. For the duration of the war, he worked for the Hospital Division of the Office of the Surgeon General, designing temporary hospitals for construction in France.
United States home front during World War I
The US effort to produce and ship war material to France was characterized by several factors. The US declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917 with only a small munitions industry, very few medium and heavy artillery pieces, and few machine guns. By June 1917 the US had decided that their forces would primarily operate alongside the French, and would acquire their artillery and machine guns by purchasing mostly French weapons in theater, along with some British weapons in the case of heavy artillery. Shipments from the US to France would primarily be of soldiers and ammunition; artillery equipment in particular occupied too much space and weight to be economical. These priorities combined with the short 19-month US participation in the war meant that few US-made weapons arrived in France, and the need for extensive training of artillery units once in France meant that fewer still saw action before the Armistice. A comparison with World War II would be that the US started preparing for that war in earnest shortly after the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939; by the time the US entered the war following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 there had already been 27 months of mobilization.
French Army in World War I
France was bound by treaty to defend Russia. Austria–Hungary had declared war on Serbia due to the Black Hand's assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, which acted as the immediate cause of the war. France was brought into the war by a German declaration of war on August 3, 1914.
Belgium in World War I
When World War I began, Germany invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg as part of the Schlieffen Plan, in an attempt to capture Paris quickly by catching the French off guard by invading through neutral countries. It was this action that technically caused the British to enter the war, as they were still bound by the 1839 agreement to protect Belgium in the event of war. On 2 August 1914, the German government demanded that German armies be given free passage through Belgian territory, although this was refused by the Belgian government on 3 August. The Belgian King Albert I addressed his Parliament on 4 August, saying "Never since 1830 has a graver hour sounded for Belgium. The strength of our right and the need of Europe for our autonomous existence make us still hope that the dreaded events will not occur." The same day German troops invaded Belgium crossing the frontier at dawn. Liège was attacked on 4 August and fell on 7 August.
France–Americas relations
French relations with the New World suddenly became of great importance, in the context of a wider search for new allies, once France was at war with Germany in 1914. Newfoundland, Canada, and the British West Indies were immediately at war as parts of the British Empire. The French Canadian population, however, was less than enthusiastic about the war, despite the appeals to defend the ancestral homeland. The eventual entry of the United States into the war was major boost to the Allies on the Western Front, including France, and it also paved the way for Latin American allies of the United States to declare war on the Central Powers (although they did not send troops to Europe) including Cuba, Panama, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Haiti. Brazil did send a naval contribution against German submarines.
German occupation of north-east France during World War I
The German occupation of north-east France refers to the period in which French territory, mostly along the Belgian and Luxembourgish border, was held under military occupation by the German Empire during World War I. Owing to the speed of the German invasion of Belgium in 1914, fighting reached French soil early in the war. Though their advance was stopped at the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914, the Germans gained control of a portion of French territory which remained under German occupation behind the stabilized Western Front for much of the rest of the war.
Military history of Canada
On August 4, 1914, Britain entered the First World War (1914–1918) by declaring war on Germany. The British declaration of war automatically brought Canada into the war, because of Canada's legal status as subservient to Britain. However, the Canadian government had the freedom to determine the country's level of involvement in the war. The Militia was not mobilized and instead an independent Canadian Expeditionary Force was raised. The highpoints of Canadian military achievement during the First World War came during the Somme, Vimy, and Passchendaele battles and what later became known as "Canada's Hundred Days".
Foreign relations of France
In the 19th century France built a new colonial empire second only to the British Empire. It was humiliated in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, which marked the rise of Germany to dominance in Europe. France was on the winning side of the First World War, but fared poorly in the Second World War. It fought losing wars in Indochina (ending in 1954) and Algeria (ending in 1958). The Fourth Republic collapsed and the Fifth Republic began in 1958 to the present. Under Charles De Gaulle it tried to block American and British influence on the European community. Since 1945 France has been a founding member of the United Nations, of NATO, and of the European Coal and Steel Community (the European Union's predecessor). As a charter member of the United Nations, France holds one of the permanent seats in the Security Council and is a member of most of its specialized and related agencies.
World War II by country
France was one of the original guarantors of Polish security and as such was one of the first countries to declare war on Germany. On May 10, 1940 Germany began their attack on France. After six weeks of intense battling, on June 22, 1940 following the Battle of France, the French government signed an armistice with Germany, leading to the foundation of Vichy France and the Free French Forces in exile. The leader of the Free French, Charles de Gaulle, took control of France in 1944 and the country ended the war as an ally.
Jean Launois
The first World War broke out in 1914. On December 15, 1916, Launois enlisted in the mounted artillery rather than waiting for his "age class" to be inducted. Documentation is scarce on his military service, but he did see action on the Western Front during the winter, spring, and summer of 1917. In late December 1917, his division was sent to the Eastern Front (Italy) where he again saw action. During this time, Launois created many sketches of and studies of French soldiers.
United States Army World War I Flight Training
When the United States entered World War I, the exhausted British and French forces wanted American troops in the trenches of the Western Front as soon as possible. By 1917, aerial warfare was also considered key to the success of the ground forces, and in May 1917, The French, in particular, asked the Americans to also bolster Allied air power. The French wanted the Americans to supply 5,000 pilots and planes, along with 50,000 mechanics to supplement the French and British air forces already in combat.
Louis Pergaud
Pergaud had tried to register as a pacifist, but he was conscripted into the French Army at the outbreak of the First World War. He had been placed in the active reserve following his national service twelve years before. In this capacity he served in the Battle of Lorraine during the German invasion of France, and subsequently on the Western Front.
French Armed Forces
Following defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, Franco-German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco-German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power and since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners.
French entry into World War I
Edward VII's visit to Paris in 1903 stilled anti-British feeling in France, and prepared the way for the Entente Cordiale. Initially however, a colonial agreement against the Kaiser's aggressive foreign policy deepened rather than destroyed the bond between the two countries. The Moroccan Crises of 1905 and 1911 encouraged both countries to embark on a series of secret military negotiations in the case of war with Germany. However, British Foreign Minister Edward Grey realized the risk that small conflicts between Paris and Berlin could escalate out of control. Working with little supervision from the British Prime Minister or Cabinet, Grey deliberately played a mediating role, trying to calm both sides and thereby maintain a peaceful balance of power. He refused to make permanent commitments to France. He approved military staff talks with France in 1905, thereby suggesting, but not promising, that if war broke out Britain would favour France over Germany. In 1911, when there was a second Franco-German clash over Morocco, Grey tried to moderate the French while supporting Germany in its demand for compensation. There was little risk that Britain would have conflicts with anyone leading to war. The Royal Navy remained dominant in world affairs, and remained a high spending priority for the British government. The British Army was small, although plans to send an expeditionary force to France had been developed since the Haldane Reforms. From 1907 through 1914, the French and British armies collaborated on highly detailed plans for mobilizing a British Expeditionary Force of 100,000 combat troops to be very quickly moved to France, and sent to the front in less than two weeks. Grey insisted that world peace was in the best interests of Britain and the British Empire.
French Third Republic
In an effort to isolate Germany, France went to great pains to woo Russia and Great Britain, first by means of the Franco-Russian Alliance of 1894, then the 1904 Entente Cordiale with Great Britain, and finally the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907 which became the Triple Entente. This alliance with Britain and Russia against Germany and Austria eventually led Russia and Britain to enter World War I as France's Allies.
American entry into World War I
The American entry into World War I came in April 1917, after more than two and a half years of efforts by President Woodrow Wilson to keep the United States out of the war and broker a peace in Europe. Apart from an Anglophile element urging early support for the British, American public opinion reflected that of the president: the sentiment for neutrality was particularly strong among Irish Americans, German Americans, and Scandinavian Americans, as well as among church leaders and among women in general. On the other hand, even before World War I had broken out, American opinion had been more negative toward Germany than towards any other country in Europe. Over time, especially after reports of atrocities in Belgium in 1914 and following the sinking of the passenger liner RMS "Lusitania" in 1915, the American citizens increasingly came to see Germany as the aggressor in Europe. Wilson, a Democrat, made virtually all the key policy decisions over foreign affairs. He denounced German submarine sinking of passenger trips carrying peaceful Americans, especially the "Lusitania" in 1915. Former President Theodore Roosevelt and many Republicans demanded war, but Wilson forced the Germans to promise not to sink passenger ships of merchant ships without giving the people aboard time to launch their lifeboats.
Economic history of World War I
The German invasion captured 40% of France's heavy industry in 1914, especially in steel and coal. French GDP in 1918 was 24% smaller than in 1913; since a third went into the war effort, the civilian standard of living fell by half. But thousands of little factories opened up across France, hiring women, youth, elderly, disabled veterans, and behind the lines soldiers. Algerian and Vietnamese laborers were brought in. Plants produced 200,000 75mm shells a day. The US provided much food, steel, coal and machine tools, and $3.6 billion in loans to finance it all; the British loaned another $3 billion.
International relations of the Great Powers (1814–1919)
The First World War was a global conflict that lasted from 1914 to 1918. It saw the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary, later joined by the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria), fighting the "Entente" or "Allied" powers, led by Britain, Russia and France from 1914, who were later joined by Italy in 1915, and other countries such as Romania in 1916. The United States, initially neutral, tried to broker a settlement but in April, 1917, it declared war on Germany. The U.S. cooperated with the Allies but did not formally join them, and it negotiated peace separately. Despite overcoming Romania in 1916 and Russia in March 1918, the Central Powers collapsed in November, 1918; and Germany accepted an "armistice" that in practice was a total surrender. Much of the diplomatic efforts of the major powers was oriented toward learning neutral countries into the alliance with promises of rich territorial rewards. Britain, United States and Germany spent large sums funding their allies. Propaganda campaigns to maintain morale at home and undermine morale in the enemy camp, especially among minorities, was a priority for the major powers. They also engaged in subversion, by subsidizing political groups that try to overthrow the enemy regime, as the Bolsheviks did in Russia in 1917.
Both sides made secret agreements with neutrals to entice them into joining the war in return for a slice of enemy territory after victory was achieved. Some land was promised to several nations, so some promises therefore had to be broken. That left permanent bitter legacies especially in Italy. Blaming the war in part on secret treaties, President Wilson called in his Fourteen Points for "open covenants, openly arrived at".
History of Martinique
With war with Germany looming, in 1913 France enacted compulsory military service in the colony, and called on Martinique to send 1,100 men per year to France for training. When World War I finally came, 18,000 Martiniquans took part, of whom 1,306 died. During the war, the French government requisitioned Martinique's rum production for the use of the French Army. Production doubled as sugar mills converted to distilleries, helping the recovery of the local economy.
French Army in World War I
While the French Army's main commitment was inevitably to the Western Front, significant forces were deployed in other theatres of war. These included the occupation of the German colonies of Togo and Kamerun in West Africa, participation in the Dardanelles and Palestinian campaigns against the Ottoman Empire and a diversionary offensive in the Balkans carried out in conjunction with other Allied forces. The biggest French deployment to help an ally was the mission to Romania, led by Henri Berthelot, during the second half of the war.
United States campaigns in World War I
The year the United States entered World War I was marked by near disaster for the Allies on all the European fronts. A French offensive in April, with which the British cooperated, was a failure, and was followed by widespread mutinies in the French armies. The British maintained strong pressure on their front throughout the year; but British attacks at Messines Ridge (7 June), at Passchendaele (31 July), and at Cambrai (20 November) failed in their main objective–the capture of German submarine bases–and took a severe toll of British fighting strength. Three American engineer regiments–the 11th, 12th, and 14th–were engaged in construction activity behind the British lines at Cambrai in November, when they were unexpectedly called upon to go into the front lines during an emergency. They thus became the first AEF units to meet the enemy.
Home front during World War I
The war validated Canada's new world role, in an almost-equal partnership with Britain in the Commonwealth of Nations. Arguing that Canada had become a true nation on the battlefields of Europe, Borden demanded and received a separate seat for Canada at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Canada's military and civilian participation in the First World War strengthened a sense of British-Canadian nationhood among the Anglophones (English speakers). The Francophones (French speakers) supported the war at first, but pulled back and stood aloof after 1915 because of language disputes at home. Heroic memories centered around the "Canada's Hundred Days" battles of 1917, especially the Battle of Vimy Ridge where 3,600 died.
History of France
Preoccupied with internal problems, France paid little attention to foreign policy in the 1911–14 period, although it did extend military service to three years from two over strong Socialist objections in 1913. The rapidly escalating Balkan crisis of 1914 caught France unaware, and it played only a small role in the coming of World War I. The Serbian crisis triggered a complex set of military alliances between European states, causing most of the continent, including France, to be drawn into war within a few short weeks. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia in late July, triggering Russian mobilization. On 1 August both Germany and France ordered mobilization. Germany was much better prepared militarily than any of the other countries involved, including France. The German Empire, as an ally of Austria, declared war on Russia. France was allied with Russia and so was ready to commit to war against the German Empire. On 3 August Germany declared war on France, and sent its armies through neutral Belgium. Britain entered the war on 4 August, and started sending in troops on 7 August. Italy, although tied to Germany, remained neutral and then joined the Allies in 1915.
French entry into World War I
Mounting international tensions and the arms race led to the need to increase conscription from two to three years. Socialists, led by Jean Jaurès, deeply believed that war was a capitalist plot and could never be beneficial to the working man. They worked hard to defeat the conscription proposal, often in cooperation with middle-class pacifists and women's groups, but were outvoted.
World War I
German strategy for a war on two fronts against France and Russia was to rapidly concentrate the bulk of its army in the West to defeat France within four weeks, then shift forces to the East before Russia could fully mobilise; this was later known as the Schlieffen Plan. On 2 August, Germany demanded free passage through Belgium, an essential element in achieving a quick victory over France. When this was refused, German forces invaded Belgium on 3 August and declared war on France the same day; the Belgian government invoked the 1839 Treaty of London and in compliance with its obligations under this, Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August. On 12 August, Britain and France also declared war on Austria-Hungary; on the 23rd, Japan sided with the Entente, seizing German possessions in China and the Pacific. In November 1914, the Ottoman Empire entered the war on the side of the Alliance, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai Peninsula. The war was fought in and drew upon each powers' colonial empires as well, spreading the conflict to Africa and across the globe. The Entente and its allies would eventually become known as the Allied Powers, while the grouping of Austria-Hungary, Germany and their allies would become known as the Central Powers.
Military history of France
A variety of factors—ranging from inexperienced conscripts and a smaller industrial base to low population growth and obsolete military doctrines—crippled the French effort at the outset of World War II. The Germans won the Battle of France in 1940 despite the French often having better equipment than their opponents. Prior to the Battle of France, there were sentiments among many Allied soldiers, French and British, of pointless repetition; they viewed the war with dread since they had already beaten the Germans once, and images of that first major conflict were still poignant in military circles. The costs of World War I along with the now stale doctrine employed by the French Army (while the Germans were developing a doctrine which stressed initiative from junior commanders and combining different arms, the French sought to minimize casualties through a rigorously controlled type of battle and a top down command structure) forced the French to look for more defensive measures. The Maginot Line was the result of these deliberations: the French originally allocated three billion francs for the project, but by 1935 seven billion had been spent. The Maginot Line succeeded in holding off the German attack. However, while the French thought that the main weight of the German attack would arrive through central Belgium, and accordingly deployed their forces here, the assault actually came further south in the Ardennes forest. The Third Republic collapsed in the ensuing conflict.
French Foreign Legion
In World War I, the Foreign Legion fought in many critical battles on the Western Front. It played a smaller role in World War II than in World War I, though having a part in the Norwegian, Syrian and North African campaigns. During the First Indochina War (1946–1954), the Foreign Legion saw its numbers swell. The FFL lost a large number of men in the catastrophic Battle of Dien Bien Phu. During the Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962), the Foreign Legion came close to being disbanded after some officers, men, and the highly decorated 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment (1 REP) took part in the Generals' putsch. Operations during this period included the Suez Crisis, the Battle of Algiers and various offensives launched by General Maurice Challe including Operations Oranie and Jumelles.
Russian entry into World War I
Russia entered into World War I on August 1, 1914, when Germany declared war on it. In accordance with its war plan, Germany ignored Russia and moved first against France--declaring war on August 3 and sending its main armies through Belgium to attack Paris from the north. The invasion of Belgium caused Britain to declare war on Germany on August 4. The main parties were now at war. Soon Turkey joined on Germany's side, and later Italy on the Allied side. Historians on the origin of the First World War has emphasized the role of Austria of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The consensus of scholars includes scant mention of Russia, and briefly mentions Russia's defense of Orthodox Serbia, its pan-Slavic roles, its treaty obligations with France, and its concern for protecting it status as a great power.
1st Army (France)
The First Army () was a field army of France that fought during World War I and World War II. It was also active during the Cold War.
British entry into World War I
British leaders increasingly had a sense of commitment to defending France against Germany. Firstly, if Germany again conquered France as had happened in the Franco-Prussian War, it would become a major threat to British economic, political and cultural interests. Secondly, partisanship was involved. The Liberal Party was identified with internationalism and free trade, and opposition to jingoism and warfare. By contrast the Conservative Party was identified as the party of nationalism and patriotism; Britons expected it "to show capacity in running a war." Liberal voters demanded peace, but they also were outraged when the Germans treated Belgian neutrality as a worthless "scrap of paper" (in the words of the German chancellor ridiculing the Treaty of London (1839)). Germany, "en route" to a massive attack on France, invaded Belgium early on the morning of 4 August. The victims called upon Britain for military rescue under the 1839 treaty and in response, London gave Berlin an ultimatum which expired at 11pm London time, which was ignored. The king declared war on Germany that same evening August 4, 1914.
Allies of World War I
Brazil entered the war in 1917 after the United States intervened on the basis of Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare sinking its merchant ships, which Brazil also cited as a reason to enter the war fighting against Germany and the Central Powers. The First Brazilian Republic sent the Naval Division in War Operations that joined the British fleet in Gibraltar and made the first Brazilian naval effort in international waters. In compliance with the commitments made at the Inter-American Conference, held in Paris from 20 November to 3 December 1917, the Brazilian Government sent a medical mission composed of civilian and military surgeons to work in field hospitals of the European theater, a contingent of sergeants and officers to serve with the French army; Airmen from the Army and Navy to join the Royal Air Force, and the employment of part of the Fleet, primarily in the anti-submarine war.
German entry into World War I
As the war started, Germany stood behind its ally Austria-Hungary in a confrontation with Serbia, but Serbia was under the protection of Russia, which was allied to France. Germany was the leader of the Central Powers, which included Austria-Hungary at the start of the war, and later included the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria; arrayed against them were the Allies, consisting chiefly of Russia, France and Britain at the beginning of the war, Italy, which joined the Allies in 1915, and the United States, which joined the Allies in 1917.
Chantilly Conferences
Held from July 7, 1915, The first inter-allied military conference of the First World War was convened at "Grand Quartier Général" (GQG) Chantilly, France shortly after Italy entered the war against the Central Powers. Attending were representatives from Britain (including the Commander-in-Chief Sir John French and the Chief of the Imperial General Staff William Robertson), France (Alexandre Millerand, the Minister of War and Joseph Joffre, the Commander-in-Chief), Belgium, Italy, Serbia and Russia. Joffre told the delegates that concerted, coordinated action would create the most favourable conditions for an Allied victory to present themselves. No specific undertakings were agreed upon as a consequence of the conference. A later conference at Chantilly about five months later, was more ambitious in its aims and led to a commitment by the Allies to begin an offensive should an Ally be endangered by the Central Powers.
Causes of World War I
Thus, in response to Russian mobilisation, Germany ordered the state of Imminent Danger of War (SIDW) on 31 July, and when the Russian government refused to rescind its mobilisation order, Germany mobilised and declared war on Russia on 1 August. Given the Franco-Russian alliance, countermeasures by France were correctly assumed to be inevitable and so Germany declared war on France on 3 August 1914.
Gloucestershire Regiment in World War I
On the Western Front, hostilities commenced 2 August 1914 with the German invasion of Luxembourg and Belgium, designed to envelop Paris in a right sweep that avoided the most heavily defended French territory. The French, whose main effort was directed towards Alsace and Lorraine as a prelude to an invasion of Germany, were thrown onto the defensive on their left flank, which included one cavalry and four infantry divisions of the British Expeditionary Force. At the end of a two-week retreat from Mons the French managed to stop the Germans on the outskirts of Paris in the First Battle of the Marne. German forces retreated to the River Aisne and dug in, the first act of trench warfare that was to dominate the war.
French entry into World War I
The critical issue for France was its relationship with Germany. Paris had relatively little involvement in the Balkan crisis that launched the war, paying little attention to Serbia, Austria, or the Ottoman Empire. However a series of unpleasant diplomatic confrontations with Germany soured relationships. The defeat in 1870-71 rankled, especially the loss of Alsace and Lorraine. Although the issue of Alsace-Lorraine faded in importance after 1880, the rapid growth in the population and economy of Germany left France increasingly far behind. It was obvious that Germany could field more soldiers, and build more heavy weapons. In the 1890s relationships remained good as Germany supported France during its difficulties with Britain over African colonies. Any lingering harmony collapsed in 1905, when Germany took an aggressively hostile position on French claims to Morocco. There was talk of war, and France strengthened its ties with Britain and Russia. Even critics of French imperialism, such as Georges Clemenceau, had become impatient with Berlin. Raymond Poincaré's speeches as Prime Minister in 1912, and then as President in 1913-14, were similarly firm and drew widespread support across the political spectrum. Only the socialists were holdouts, warning that war was a capitalist ploy and should be avoided by the working class. In July 1914, socialist leader Jean Jaurès obtained a vote against war from the French Socialist Party Congress. 1,690 delegates supported a general strike against the war (so long as the German socialists followed suit), with 1,174 opposed. However Jaurès was assassinated on 31 July, and the socialist parties in both France and Germany – as well as most other countries – strongly supported their national war effort in the first year.
German entry into World War I
Germany entered into World War I on August 1, 1914, when it declared war on Russia. In accordance with its war plan, it ignored Russia and moved first against France–declaring war on August 3 and sending its main armies through Belgium to attack Paris from the north. The German invasion of Belgium caused Britain to declare war on Germany on August 4. Most of the main parties were now at war. In October 1914, Turkey joined the war on Germany's side, becoming part of the Central Powers. Italy, which was allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary before World War I, was neutral in 1914 before switching to the Allied side in May 1915.
World War I
The German advance into France was halted at the Battle of the Marne and by the end of 1914, the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, marked by a long series of trench lines that changed little until 1917 (the Eastern Front, by contrast, was marked by much greater exchanges of territory). In 1915, Italy joined the Allied Powers and opened a front in the Alps. The Kingdom of Bulgaria joined the Central Powers in 1915 and the Kingdom of Greece joined the Allies in 1917, expanding the war in the Balkans. The United States initially remained neutral, though it was an important supplier of war material to the Allies. However, after the sinking of American merchant ships by German submarines, and the revelation that the Germans were trying to incite Mexico to make war on the United States, the U.S. declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917. Trained American forces would not begin arriving at the front in large numbers until mid-1918, but ultimately the American Expeditionary Force would reach some two million troops.
Littleton W. T. Waller Jr.
The United States entered World War I in April 1917. Waller Jr. received a temporary promotion to the rank of major and was assigned to the 1st Machine Gun Battalion as a company commander. Waller sailed to France in December 1917 as a member of the Machine Gun Battalion of the 4th Marine Brigade, 2nd Division.
Causes of World War I
Throughout the 1890s and the 1900s the French and the Russians made clear the limits of the alliance did not extend to provocations caused by the others' adventurous foreign policy. For example, Russia warned France that the alliance would not operate if the French provoked the Germans in North Africa. Equally, the French insisted to the Russians that they should not use the alliance to provoke Austria-Hungary or Germany in the Balkans, and that France did not recognise in the Balkans a vital strategic interest for France or for Russia.
Causes of World War II
As World War I ended in 1918, France, along with the other victor countries, were in a desperate situation regarding their economies, security, and morale. The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 was their chance to punish Germany for starting the war. The war "must be someone's fault – and that's a very natural human reaction" analyzed historian Margaret MacMillan. Germany was charged with the sole responsibility of starting World War I. The War Guilt Clause was the first step towards a satisfying revenge for the victor countries, namely France, against Germany. France understood that its position in 1918 was "artificial and transitory". Thus, Clemenceau, the French leader at the time, worked to gain French security via the Treaty of Versailles.
Allies of World War I
The United States declared war on Germany in April 1917 on the grounds that Germany violated US neutrality by attacking international shipping with its unrestricted submarine warfare campaign. The remotely connected Zimmermann Telegram of the same period, within which the Germans promised to help Mexico regain some of its territory lost to the U.S nearly seven decades before in the event of the United States entering the war, was also a contributing factor. The US entered the war as an "associated power", rather than a formal ally of France and the United Kingdom, in order to avoid "foreign entanglements". Although the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria severed relations with the United States, neither declared war, as did Austria-Hungary. Eventually, however, the United States also declared war on Austria-Hungary in December 1917, predominantly to help hard-pressed Italy.
World War I
In October 1914, the Canadian magazine "Maclean's" wrote, "Some wars name themselves. This is the Great War." However, while certainly accurate in Canada, this was not so even in Britain; historian John Holland Rose's 1911 account of the 1793–1815 wars against France was titled "William Pitt and the Great War". This was validated by Gareth Glover's 2015 book, "Waterloo in 100 Objects", in which he states: "This opening statement will cause some bewilderment to many who have grown up with the appellation of the Great War firmly applied to the 1914–18 First World War. But to anyone living before 1918, the title of the Great War was applied to the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars in which Britain fought France almost continuously for twenty-two years from 1793 to 1815."
Marcel Petiot
During World War I, Petiot volunteered for the French Army, entering service in January 1916.
French entry into World War I
Jules Cambon, the French ambassador to Berlin (1907-1914), worked hard to secure a detente but French leaders decided Berlin was trying to weaken the Triple Entente and was not sincere in seeking peace. The French consensus was that war was inevitable.
4th Infantry Regiment (United States)
In 1917, the United States entered World War I. On 1 October 1917, the Fourth was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division. Stationed at Fort Brown, Texas, the regiment recruited and trained up to strength and on the first anniversary of the American entry into the war, left for France. The Fourth Infantry disembarked at Brest, France in 1918 and participated in the defensive actions of Aisne, Château-Thierry, Second Battle of the Marne, and in the Third Battle of the Aisne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne offensives. The entire regiment was decorated with the French Croix de Guerre, having lost eighty percent of its men, under constant and grueling fire during thirty days on the line; the regiment was relieved by the 60th Infantry.