World War One

The National Army, a combined force of volunteer and conscript men, was created in 1917 to fight in the First World War. Its base was the regular United States Army, but the National Army was also added onto with recruits from the National Guard as well as drafted men. At first, the land forces were separated into three groups, the National Guard, The National Army, and the Regular Army, but as time passed they mingled to the point that they were made into one and simply called the United States Army. At its largest point, the army had more than six million men. In the midst of the war, promotions happened fast and many people took advantage of this by making sure to show their skills as swiftly as possible and moving up the hierarchy of the American Army.

The United States Army didn’t join the war effort until 1917, because of the amount of time to it took to train and prepare the soldiers adequately. They joined in on the side of the Triple Entente, the British, French, and Russians, and they contributed greatly to the offensive attack that eventually broke the German lines. After the war had passed, as per usual during peacetime, the army decreased its numbers swiftly and efficiently.