On April 6, 1917, the United States declared war on Germany after more than two and a half years of neutrality in the Great War. The nation mobilized for an unprecedented commitment of American armed forces overseas, with Army forces organized as the American Expeditionary Forces under the command of General John J. Pershing. Ultimately, more than two million Americans were to serve in the U.S. Army during World War I. The arrival of American forces in France proved critical in repulsing the German Spring Offensive of 1918 and compelling the German surrender in November of that year.
To commemorate the centennial of America’s entry into World War I, the Association of the United States Army and the Center for Military and Diplomatic History are bringing together three of the world’s leading historians of the war: Michael S. Neiberg, PhD, War Studies Chair, Army War College; Edward Lengel, PhD, Chief Historian, White House Historical Association; and John H. Maurer, PhD, Professor, Naval War College. These historians will discuss the state of the Army at the time of the declaration, the development of the Army following the declaration, and America’s strategy for winning the war.
Details
Event takes place 6 April 2017 from 1600 to 1800 and is followed by a reception.
RSVPs to Lindsay Markle at lmarkle@foreignpolicyi.org no later than 29 March 2017
Duty Uniform or Business Attire
Biographies
EDWARD LENGEL, PhD is Chief Historian of the White House Historical Association, located in historic Decatur House on Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. Before beginning work there in the fall of 2016, he directed the Washington Papers project for many years. A military historian, he is the author of several books, including General George Washington: A Military Life; To Conquer Hell: The Meuse-Argonne, 1918; First Entrepreneur: How George Washington Built His--and the Nation's—Prosperity; and the Army Historical Foundation award-winning Thunder and Flames: Americans in the Crucible of Combat, 1917-1918. He is also a regular contributor to magazines including Military History and Military History Quarterly, and appears often on television and radio including NPR and the History Channel.
JOHN H. MAURER, PhD is the Alfred Thayer Mahan Professor of Sea Power and Grand Strategy at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. He is a graduate of Yale University and holds an M.A.L.D. and Ph.D. in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. He is the author or editor of books examining the outbreak of the First World War, military interventions in the developing world, naval rivalries and arms control between the two world wars, and a study about Winston Churchill’s views on British foreign policy and grand strategy. He also serves as a senior research fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, on the Editorial Board of Orbis: A Journal of World Affairs, and Associate Editor of Diplomacy and Statecraft. In recognition for his service and contribution to professional military education, he has received both the U.S. Navy’s Meritorious Civilian Service Award and Superior Civilian Service Award.
MICHAEL S. NEIBERG, PhD is the inaugural Chair of War Studies in the Department of National Security and Strategy at the United States Army War College. His published work specializes on the First and Second World Wars, notably the American and French experiences. His most recent book on the First World War is Dance of the Furies: Europe and the Outbreak of World War I (Harvard University Press, 2011). The Wall Street Journal recently named it one of the five best books ever written about the war. In October, 2012 Basic Books published his The Blood of Free Men, a history of the liberation of Paris in 1944. In May, 2015 Basic published his Potsdam: The End of World War II and the Remaking of Europe. In October, Oxford University Press published his Path to War, a history of American responses to the Great War, 1914-1917.