In the year 1914, almost all of Europe broke out in the First World War that the world had ever seen. This was a war between the major alliances of Europe that included Britain, Russia, Germany, France, and Austria-Hungry. But where did America fall into this big picture of destruction and despair, and who was going to help win the war for the allies?.
After the Germans taunted America into the war, there was a lot of worry about whether or not they could build up an army that was large enough, and skilled enough to make a difference in the war. This is where the Doughboys or American Expeditionary Force comes in. These were the brave men that occupied France and fought along with the allies against the invading German armies. This was not the original plan for the AEF. President Wilson had originally planned to scare the Germans out of the war by declaring war on them; the fighting was going to be left up to the allied forces. The idea of even being able to raise an army in time was thought to be impractical at the time and how advanced the Germans had run their campaign. It was thought that American efforts were best if they were left to supplying ammunition, supplies, and money (ww1.com). .
The biggest problem that America would face would be time. It was speculated that it would take nearly ten months just to recruit, train and ship an expeditionary force to Europe. This was an estimate for only 500,000 troops, and the British and French estimates were even worse, predicting it would take nearly one year just to gather 250,000 American troops. This was too slow considering the German submarine campaign that had grossed 881,021 tons of damage, and 500,000 of it were British. Frankly, the allies were running out of time before they either starved to death, or ran out of money (ww1.com). Eventually the Americans turned to an immediate Expeditionary force to be sent to the line to get the US directly involved in the war.
