Figure 1.-- The United States when it entered World War I was already the world's imdustrial giant, but a giant without an important arms industry. America's primary industrial contribution to the War was the truck which gave the Allies unprecedented mobility. The unit here was the 7th Division. It was just begining to launch its first major action on the Hindenberg Line when the Armistice was declard.

All the major world powers developed important arms industries. The sole exception was the United States which neither had a sizeable army or important arms industry. The United States had the largest industrial capacity in the world, but that induatry was not yet a major arms producer. The United States helped supply the Allies with munitions, but not arms. And even though the War was waged for nearly 3 years, American companies did not begin to produce arms. The only heavy weapons the United States produced was naval guns. Nor did the United States have an important aviation industry. As a result, when America entered the War, the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) would use American small arms, but for the rest of their arms they would have to use British and French arms. This was one reason that Kaiser Wilhelm and his military advisers, viewing the almost non-existent American Army, discounted the potential importance of the United States. Another German leader leader would incredibly make the same disasterous mistake a generation later. The United States set about drafting a huge army and training the men. The U.S. Army in World War II was well prepared compared to the AEF. Virtually no consideration was given to building an army or producing modern weaponry before samerica entered the War. Most of American Expeditionry would be green troops trained in France. Many had only limited training at the time they were thrown into the World War maelstrom. This was all done in less than a year. Creating a substantil arms industry from scratch was a very different matter. So the AEF would have to fight with Allied weapons. The one American weapon widely used was the standard Springfield 1903 .30–06 rifle. The one innovative American weapon that emerged from World War I was the Browing Automatic Rifle (BAR). Tragically it was not issued in important numbers. The Army was concerned about it falling into German hands. The major American industrial contribution to the War was trucks and the Liberty engine. The truck may not sound like an impressive contribution, but gave the Allies unprecedented mobility. The Germans on the other hand fought the War almost entirely with horses. They had neither the industrial capacity to build trucks or adequate oil supplies to fuel them.

Created: 6:21 AM 3/4/2019
Last updated: 6:21 AM 3/4/2019