Americans All! Foreign Born Soldiers in the First World War

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Americans All! Foreign Born Soldiers in the First World War

This April marks the centennial of American involvement in the First World War, a global conflagration that upended the established world order.
 
During the conflict, foreign-born soldiers represented nearly 1 out of 5 servicemen in the U.S. Army. This surge of Old World soldiers – from 46 different nations – challenged the culture of the American military, its linguistic and religious traditions, and required top brass to reconsider training methods.
 
Join HSP on May 24 as Dr. Nancy Gentile-Ford examines how the U.S. War Department drew on the experiences of progressive social welfare reformers & ethnic community leaders who assisted with training, socializing, and meeting the cultural and religious needs of immigrant soldiers. The lecture will also analyze why U.S. War Department policies did not call for the harsh Americanization of foreign-born soldiers, but instead created an atmosphere that made both American and ethnic pride acceptable.
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