TimelineTimeline
1918 |
1919 |
1920 |
| In 1918 Army strength jumped to 2,395,742. | In 1919 the Army's strength was 851,624. | In 1920 the Army was 204,292 strong. |
On 26 January Pershing organized the American Tank Corps and Maj. George S. Patton, Jr. became a part of it. The Military Police Corps was established on 15 October in the American Expeditionary Force. |
From $1.2 billion in 1916, the national debt rose alarmingly to $25.6 billion, Congress authorized the Victory Medal (World War I) for those troops who had served in the American Expeditionary Forces to Europe, Russia, and Siberia, |
American expenses for World War I were given as $32.8 billion and American casualties were 50,280 killed in action. Despite the impact of weapons like machine guns, planes, poison gas, flame throwers, and tanks, the Army's Chief of Ordnance Gen. Crozier wrote: "the most important weapon with which nations go to war is the infantryman's rifle." |
A Chaplain's School was opened at Fort Monroe. On 28 May Matthew Rivers, a Pima Indian, become the first Arizonan to die in World War I, when his 1st Division went into action at Cantigny, France. |
The Volstead Act was passed to usher in the era of prohibition which would last until 1933. Jack Dempsey became world heavyweight champion. James Joyce's Ulysses was seized and burned by Post Office officials. |
Learning that Pershing was to be retired at half salary, Will Rogers said, 'My Lord, can't our Government do something for a man who is not a Politician?" In November a Pittsburgh radio station broadcasted the first commercial program. |
Congress created the Mexican Border Service Medal for service between 9 May 1916 and 24 March 1917. The sheet music to "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" was sold for 30 cents. In July Bisbee miners, members of the IWW, were "deported" to Mexico on railway cars, and Arizona mines set a production record that month producing nearly 77 million pounds of copper. |
The treaty of Versailles was signed, The Radio Corporation of America was incorporated. Civil War raged in Russia. President Wilson won the Nobel Peace prize. Regular Army troops were used to preserve order during race riots in Washington, D.C., and Omaha, Nebraska, and in the steel strike in Gary, Indiana. |
The National Defense Act of this year authorized a separate regular army of 288,000 and a large National Guard and Organized Reserve. But it was an "army of a dream." Since the Armistice there were 1,083 desertions from the regular army, 2,452 officer resignations, and a record 50 percent vacancies at West Point, Created by the National Defense Act, the Citizens' Military Training Corps provided military training for selected civilians who would become part of a Reserve force. |
Wilson's fourteen points spelled out America's objectives in the war. An influenza epidemic killed more than 500,000 across the U.S. in this year and the next. The Baltic Republics were created after the dismemberment of the Austo-Hungarian Empire. |
The American Legion was created on 15 March in Paris. Pershing was made General of the Armies. The constitution was amended to give women the full rights of citizenship. The National Defense Act created Reserve Officers Training Corps. |
Warren G. Harding was elected president, The first meeting was held of the League of Nations Assembly. Eugene O'Neill's play The Emperor Jones premiered. Census figures showed 106,466,000 citizens. Sinclair Lewis published Main Street. |
The Russian royal family was murdered. Shoulder patches to distinguish divisions become common in the American Army, When Sgt, Alvin York brought his German prisoners to the brigade commander, the general said, "Well, York, I hear you have captured the whole damned German army?" To which York modestly replied, 'I only have one hundred and thirty-two." |
After the assassination of Carranza, Alvaro Obregon was elected president of Mexico. The decade of the 'Harlem Renaissance" began, a period when African-American literature and music were in vogue. A bill which would prohibit Japanese from owning land in the state was signed by Arizona governor Campbell. | |
Brig. Gen. 'Billy" Mitchell proposed to Pershing that airborne divisions be formed to parachute behind enemy lines. The German Max Planck won the Nobel prize in Physics. |
