ABSTRACT
It is not an over-exaggeration to say the First World War was the pivotal event that shaped the twentieth century. Once begun, the war gained a momentum of its own, and try as they might, all participants, from world leaders down to the common soldier, found themselves at the mercy of the war’s brutality and the problems left unresolved and newly created by the conflict. Americans often pass quickly over their own experiences during the war. Wartime conditions created fertile ground for women’s suffrage, prohibition, the Great Migration, and immigration restrictions. African American civil rights activists suffered crushing disappointment in their expectations that their participation would lead to increased recognition for civil rights. Americans lamented the differences between the Second World War and the Korean and Vietnam Wars, wondering if the nation had over-reached its foreign entanglements.
