UA Marks 100th Anniversary of U.S. Entry Into World War I

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Upon the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, on June 28, 1914, a rapid chain of events followed that led to the beginning of the Great War, known as World War I.

This first global war would leave a body count of more than 19 million people – both soldiers and civilians – and forever reshape the geopolitical landscape of the world.

But it wasn’t until April 6, 1917, that the U.S. broke its position of neutrality and officially entered the war. It was four days after President Woodrow Wilson went before Congress and requested a declaration of war against Germany after Germany sank U.S. merchant ships the month before.

April 6, 2017, marked the 100^th anniversary of the U.S.’s entry into the Great War. To mark the anniversary, The University of Alabama’s history department, the U.S. Army Crimson Tide ROTC Battalion and the U.S. Air Force Detachment 010 will hold an event, “Remembering the Great War,” at 4 p.m. Friday, April 14, in room 205 of Gorgas Library.

The event is free and open to the public.

Three history professors – Dr. John Beeler, Dr. Andrew Huebner and Dr. Harold Selesky – will each give 20-minute presentations on World War I. The ROTC will provide refreshments.

Beeler will speak on World War I as a watershed event; Huebner will discuss America’s involvement in the war; and Selesky will address the changing face of the battle that traumatized a generation of Europeans and Americans.

“This war helps us know who we are and how we got involved in the world,” said Selesky, an associate professor of history. “By participating in this Great War, the U.S. became who it is.

“It is the U.S.’s first major involvement in global war, and it’s how we became a major power. It shapes everything that came afterwards. It’s so monumentally different than what happened before that it shaped how the world is organized 100 plus years later.”

Selesky said this would be the first of a series of events on important anniversaries that the history department will conduct in coming years.

“In the fall of 2017, we’ll remember the 500^th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation,” he said. “In spring 2018, we’ll remember the 50^th anniversary of Tet Offensive in Vietnam, and in spring 2019 we’ll remember the 50^th anniversary of the moon landing.

“These are all significant anniversaries we need to remember.”