General WW2 History Overview

inconclusive, and always murderous assaults across the “no-man’s land” dividing them. Life in the trenches was almost indescribably terrible. They were usually muddy, wet, cold, and swarming with lice and rats, the trenches were a place of extraordinary physical stress and discomfort. Although American forces had trench experiences of their own, they were very brief compared to those of the European armies. Instead, the United States tipped the balance of power in the battle and made it possible for the Allies to at last to break out of their entrenched positions and advance against the Germans. World War I was a proving ground for a range of military and other technologies that came into use on a large scale for the first time during the fighting in France. The new forms of technological warfare required elaborate maintenance. Faster machine guns required more ammunition. Motorized vehicles required fuel and spare parts and mechanics capable of servicing them. The logistical difficulties of supplying so many supplies became a major factor in planning tactics and strategy. Once supplies were unloaded and stored, the process of repacking and moving them forward when troops broke through lines and advanced forward was hopelessly time-consuming. Late in the war, when Allied armies were advancing toward Germany, they frequently had to stop for days at a time to wait for their equipment to catch up to them. The American experience in World War I was brief, but it had profound effects on the government, on the economy, and on society. By the time the war ended, the United States government had appropriated $32 billion for expenses directly relating to the conflict. This was a staggering sum by the standards of the time. The entire federal budget had seldom exceeded $1 billion before 1915, and as recently as 1910, the nation’s entire gross national product had been only $35 billion. To raise the money, the government relied on two

Some topics in this essay:
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