re, with another 1.5 million seriously injured. The War had cost the Allies an estimated US$ 126 billion, and the Central Powers a further US$ 60 billion. Britons now celebrated, and wages rose, although higher food prices eroded some of those gains. Women, at least those over 30, finally had the vote, and smoking, gambling and movies boomed, with Charlie Chaplin as movie star.
The US was the greatest beneficiary of the War. US losses amounted to 53,000 men, a small number compared to 8,500,000 casualties of the European combatants. US industry had become more efficient, and key sectors such as chemicals had learned to do without Europe; the US aviation industry had been transformed. Economically, The US had needed European capital before 1914; by 1918 Europe owed the US some US$ 10,000 million.
29/9/1918. Allied troops captured part of the Hindenburg Line. Ludendorff called for an armistice to avert a catastrophe for Germany. Negotiations opened with President Woodrow Wilson of the USA on 4/10/1918 but fighting continued till 11/11/1918.
15/8/1918. The US severed diplomatic relations with the Bolshevik government of Russia.
4/6/1918, Charles Warren Fairbanks, US statesman, died in Indianapolis, Indiana (born 11/5/1852 in Ohio).
12/5/1918, Julius Rosenberg was born (see 19/6/1953).
19/3/1918, US Congress passed the Standard Time Act making the 4 US time zones official.
9/1/1918, U.S troops engaged Yaqui Indian warriors in the Battle of Bear Valley in Arizona, a minor skirmish and one of the last battles of the American Indian Wars between the United States and American Indians.
7/12/1917. The USA declared war on Austria.
4/8/1917. The US said avoiding conscription could be punished with execution.
15/7/1917, US Congress passed the Espionage Act. Section 1 introduced heavy penalties, of up to 20 years in prison, for anyone causing insubordination or disloyalty in the armed forces, or obstructing recruitment; 2,000 prosecutions were brought under this measure. The Act also empowered the US Postmaster to exclude from the mail any material in violation of Section 1.
27/6/1917. American troops arrived in France to fight with the Allies. The American expeditionary force was commanded by General John Pershing.
15/6/1917, The US passed the Espionage Act, under which persons could be fined or imprisoned for hindering the war effort; the Federal Government took control of the US railways.
18/5/1917. The US introduced conscription under the Selective Service Act. This required every male aged 21 to 31 to register for the draft on 6/6/1917. Local Boards would select half a million men for military service..
3/5/1917, US destroyers arrived to join the British navy.
24/4/1917, In the US the Liberty Loan Act authorised the issue of War Bonds.
20/4/1917. The US broke off relations with Turkey.
6/4/1917. The USA declared war against Germany, with a declaration signed by President Woodrow Wilson. This followed the revealing by the British on 1/3/1917 of the Zimmerman Telegram, a missive from Germany to Mexico urging it to declare war on the USA and recover its lost territories. The German Foreign Minister, Arthur Zimmerman, had sent a coded telegram to the German Ambassador in Mexico offering an alliance against the US, in which Mexico would recover its territories of New Mexico, Texas and Arizona. British naval intelligence intercepted and decoded the message and passed it to President Wilson. American shipping bound for Britain had also been attacked by German submarines.
The Germans did not believe that the US could raise and equip an effective army quickly enough to make a difference in Europe, and that even if they did, it could not be transported across a submarine-infested ocean. They seriously underestimated the determination and resources of the US.
Meanwhile this day the King and Queen of England attended a Thanksgiving service at St Pauls Cathedral for the US’s entry into the ‘war for freedom’.
2/4/1917, US President Wilson asked the US Congress to pass a resolution to declare war on Germany.
1/4/1917, Scott Joplin, American co