The Great War and America: Civil-Military Relations during World War I

(Hardback)

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The First World War marked a key turning point in America's involvement on the global stage. Isolationism fell, and America joined the ranks of the Great Powers. Civil-Military relations faced new challenges as a result. Ford examines the multitude of changes that stemmed from America's first major overseas coalition war, including the new selective service process; mass mobilization of public opinion; training diverse soldiers; civil liberties, anti-war sentiment and conscientious objectors; segregation and warfare; Americans under British or French command. Post war issues of significance, such as the Red Scare and retraining during demobilization are also covered. Both the federal government and the military were expanding rapidly both in terms of size and in terms of power during this time. The new group of citizen-soldiers, diverse in terms of class, religion, ethnicity, regional identity, education, and ideology, would provide training challenges. New government-military-business relationships would experience failures and successes. Delicate relationships with allies would translate into diplomatic considerations and battlefield command concerns.

Reviews

[T]his is a well-crafted work explaining how America's participation in The Great War changed not only our society, but also expanded the military's view of its role in national affairs and changed forever relations between the civil society and the US armed forces. * The Listening Post *
Civil-military relations are back in the news. There could not be a better time for fresh views on this vital subject. Nancy Gentile Ford's The Great War and America: Civil-Military Relations During World War is a welcome contribution. . . . One of the great virtues of The Great War and America is that it does not limit the topic of soldiers and civilians to issues about wartime dissent and controversy. Rather, Ford surveys the ripple effect of military service throughout the political, economic and cultural life of a nation at war. . . . Ford focuses on the dreadth of issues that really affect who we are and how we think about military service. * ARMY *
. . . Ford excels is in exposing the fault lines of progressivism itself. . . . Ford's tidy organization makes this book accessible and useful for general readers and undergraduates. . . . Recommended. General and undergraduate libraries. * Choice *

Author Bio

Nancy Gentile Ford is Professor of History at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Issues of War and Peace (Greenwood, 2002) and America's All! Foreign Born Soldiers in World War I (2001).