World War I Podcast

During WWI, efforts were made on all sides to provide servicemen with identity tags to assist with identifying remains. This helped in some cases, but given the nature of the battlefields, many bodies were never recovered or were not identifiable. These servicemen made the greatest ultimate sacrifice. They not only sacrificed their lives – they sacrificed their identity. They are the “unknowns.” After WWI, many families had to deal with not just the loss of a servicemember but the idea that they would likely never know the final resting place of their loved one. In response to this collective loss, some nations constructed tombs to honor the unknowns. America’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier stands in the Memorial Amphitheatre of Arlington National Cemetery. It overlooks Washington, D.C. and is guarded 24/7 by soldiers of The Old Guard, the US Army 3rd Infantry Regiment. To explore the WWI origins of this tomb, the World War I Podcast spoke with Gavin McIlvenna, Co-Founder and Past President of the Society of the Honor Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (SHGTUS). 

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Africa is sometimes referred to as a “sideshow” of World War I, but that label is misleading.  As with modern Europe, it is impossible to understand modern Africa without understanding it’s experience of WWI.  The Cameroon Campaign of 1914-1916 was a campaign fought in West Africa that involved engagements on land as well as a successful amphibious operation. It lasted a mere 18 months, but it continues to have a significant impact today on Nigeria and Cameroon. To discuss the Cameroon Campaign, the World War I Podcast hosted Adeboye Tinubu, a PhD candidate at the University of Calgary and a specialist in the Cameroon Campaign and the Nigerian soldiers who fought in the campaign. 

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At the turn of the 20th Century, many in the West were quite confident that they were living in the most civilized era in history. Progress had at last won out over barbarism – or so it seemed. Then the battlefields of World War I quickly proved a charnel house – challenging not just the belief in man’s progress, but the limits of modern medicine. And yet, the horrors of the battlefield prompted a wave of medical innovations that form the basis of modern medicine today. To discuss this evolution in medicine, the World War I podcast interviewed Dr. Thomas Helling, a Professor of Surgery and head of General Surgery at the University of Mississippi in Jackson. He is an expert on military medicine, trauma and critical care, and the author of The Great War and the Birth of Modern Medicine. 

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WWI saw a dramatic evolution in the technical collection of intelligence. From the start, SIGINT – the interception of communication signals – played a major role in the war.  As the war went on, it was clear that secure communications could mean the difference between victory or defeat. This led to the rise of code interceptors, code makers and code breakers. When the US Army arrived on the battlefields of France, it had to quickly find ways to encrypt its communications. One solution was to use Native American languages to transmit information. Today, many are familiar with the Navajo Code Talkers of WWII, but few know that Native Americans served as Code Talkers in WWI. To discuss the WWI Code Talkers, the WWI History Podcast hosted Dr. William C. Meadows, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Missouri State University and author of The First Code Talkers: Native American Communicators in World War I. 

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America’s path to World War I was complicated. Although committed to a nominal policy of neutrality for most of the war, the pre-war years for America involved an internal battle over the nation’s future. Most could agree that America should have a more dynamic international role – but that meant different things to different people – and it wasn’t just a debate between the traditional interests or political parties. Powerful progressive forces splintered over the nation’s response to the war. To discuss America’s entry into WWI in the context of this debate – the World War I Podcast sat down with Dr. Neil Lanctot, author of The Approaching Storm: Roosevelt, Wilson, Addams and Their Clash Over America’s Future. 

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Prior to World War I, most people regarded the National Guard as the militia, not as a valuable part of the nation’s strategic reserve. The 1916 National Defense Act – a piece of legislation that a young officer named Douglas MacArthur helped the US Army lobby for – would lay the groundwork for National Guard units to be activated into Federal service. In 1917, as the United States prepared to fight in Europe, National Guard units across the country were activated into Federal service. Maine’s 103rd Infantry Regiment was one of these units and it would see service in France as part of the 26th Division. Known as the “Yankee Division,” the 26th would see considerable combat in France during the war. To discuss the experience of the 103rd Infantry Regiment during World War I, the World War I Podcast interviewed Captain Jonathan Bratten, command historian of the Maine Army National Guard and author of To the Last Man: A National Guard Regiment in the Great War. 

If you'd like to read To the Last Man, a free download is available: https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/to-the-last-man.pdf. You can also request a hard copy by emailing: usarmy.leavenworth.tradoc.mbx.armyu-aup-rp@army.mil 

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The World War I Podcast is going on a brief hiatus for a month. During this short break though – feel free to keep sending in topic suggestions or if you’re an author or publisher, keep sending those review copies. If you visit the Memorial’s website, you can also fill out a suggestion form online. We can’t cover everything and the volume of requests is high – but listeners play a really important role in helping us identify unique and interesting topics – and we enjoy hearing from you.

Thanks for supporting the podcast. We will be back in June 2022!  

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Throughout history, war has had a profound impact on the natural environment. It is frequently linked with famine, pollution, and other ecological disruptions that lead to disease or plagues of pests. Often however, we tend to think of the environmental impact of a conflict as limited to the area of the actual battlefield. The Western Front battlefields of WWI seem like the perfect examples of ecological disaster – and yet – the damage to rivers, fields, and forests in these areas was not the only environmental impact of the war. Radiating from the European epicenter of the conflict and making it a truly global war, was a scramble by all the warring powers for the natural resources needed to power the war effort. To discuss the global environmental impact of WWI, the World War I Podcast hosted Dr. Tait Keller, Associate Professor and Chair of History at Rhodes College and an expert on how warfare and energy extraction evolved during WWI. 

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When World War I began in Europe, American journalists rushed to cover the war. Most assumed they would cover the new war as they had covered other wars, but the scale, brutality, and duration of the war required a more diverse and comprehensive type of war coverage. As Europe fully mobilized and the boundaries between battlefield and homefront blurred, many editors sought to capture a more complete picture of the war by also exploring the war from a “woman’s angle.” To discuss this “angle,” and the American women who covered the war,  the World War I Podcast hosted Chris Dubbs, author of An Unladylike Profession: American Women War Correspondents in World War I. 

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The Tour de France is one of the greatest endurance competitions in the world. An annual multi-stage men’s bicycle race, the Tour takes riders through France, and occasionally through neighboring countries. The competition began in 1903 and 2022 will see the 109th edition of the race. Only WWI and WWII have cancelled the competition. In the case of WWI, the Tour returned roughly seven months after the war ended. This 1919 Tour took place at a very interesting moment – as people in France grappled with the emotional, psychological, logistical, and political end of the war. To discuss the 1919 Tour de France and this particular moment in the aftermath of WWI, the World War I podcast hosted Adin Dobkin, author of Sprinting Through No Mans Land: Endurance, Tragedy, and Rebirth in the 1919 Tour de France.

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When World War I began in Europe, American journalists rushed to cover the war. The decades prior to 1914 had been filled with colonial conflicts, revolutions and wars around the world. Many reporters assumed they would cover the new war in Europe as they had covered other wars. However, the scale, brutality, and duration of World War I forced journalists to rewrite the traditional rules of reporting and to find creative ways to access information about the war to try to keep the American public informed. To discuss the stories of these reporters and their coverage of World War I, the World War I Podcast hosted Chris Dubbs, a military historian and journalist, and the author of American Journalists in the Great War. 

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During World War I, General John J. Pershing considered Douglas MacArthur his finest battlefield commander and George Marshall his finest staff officer. Pershing preferred Marshall to MacArthur but acknowledged that they were very different men. To Pershing, Marshall had a military mind, while MacArthur had a warrior mind. The military mind exists, according to Samuel P. Huntington, “in a world of grays.” In contrast, MacArthur’s warrior mind was “one of blacks and whites and loud and clashing colors.”

While both men would go on to have a very long, very consequential working relationship, some MacArthur biographers suggest that their World War I service sowed a seed of antagonism that had major consequences in the future. Is this true?? What happened between them in World War I?? To answer this question, Jim Zobel and Amanda Williams sat down to discuss the Marshall/MacArthur relationship during this period.

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World War I had a profound effect on the French wine industry.  The Champagne wine region was a battleground for most of the war. In addition, the loss of markets, labor shortages and production problems presented huge challenges for the industry. Despite these challenges, wine was a growing part of French national identity.  It also played a daily role in the war. French soldiers received a daily wine ration because French military leaders and doctors considered wine a fortifying tool that increased combat effectiveness. To discuss France, wine, and World War I, the World War I Podcast recently hosted Walter Wolf III—a lawyer, military historian, and wine expert.

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Today when most people think of the USMC in WWI, they think about Belleau Wood. They don’t tend to think of the role Marines played in taking Blanc Mont in the Champagne sector in 1918. The French understood the importance of Blanc Mont, but World War I historians tend to devote just a sentence or a footnote to the battle. To discuss the story of the Marines at Blanc Mont, we sat down with Lieutenant Colonel Peter F. Owen, USMC (ret.) and Lieutenant Colonel John Swift, USMC (ret.), co-authors of the book A Hideous Price: The 4th Brigade at Blanc Mont 2-10 October 1918. 

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When the US entered World War I, Douglas MacArthur was a major attached to the US Army General Staff. About 14 months later, he was a brigadier general. Prior to the war’s conclusion in November 1918, he was on the verge of a promotion to major general. Wartime promotions in the National Army raised many career officers like MacArthur, George Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and George Patton several grades. After the war though, these officers typically reverted back to their pre-war rank in the Regular Army. MacArthur was an exception. He would spend the next several decades as a general officer. 

Jim Zobel and Amanda Williams of the MacArthur Memorial recently sat down together to discuss circumstances behind these World War I promotions - and whether or not they were warranted or influenced by family connections.

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Due to farming, construction, or archeological projects, the remains of soldiers killed in World War I continue to be unearthed along what was once the Western Front.  Although the conflict ended more than 100 years ago, historians, archaeologists, and scientists are able to identify dozens of these soldiers each year.  To discuss this work, we recently sat down with military historian and archaeologist Andrew Robertshaw.

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The Chronicles of Narnia has sold more than 100 million copies in 47 languages. The Lord of the Rings has sold 150 million copies in 38 languages. The authors, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, were combat veterans of World War I. Great historians and statesmen have written that World War I left mankind in an abyss of desolation - and the idea of a lost generation emerging out of this war is a popular one. That might only be part of the story though. For some, like Lewis and Tolkien, the war deepened faith and helped them develop an understanding of a difficult world. To discuss their wartime service and the influence of the war on their writing, we sat down with Dr. Joseph Loconte, author of A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, and a Great War.

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World War I was a very interesting and complicated moment in the U.S./Philippine relationship. Many Filipino's supported the war effort - hopeful that a war to make the world "safe for democracy" would also lead to Philippine independence. Filipinos served in the U.S. military, others bought war bonds, and a Philippine National Guard was created in the hope that it could add  25,000 men to General Pershing's American Expeditionary Force. To explore this relatively overlooked part of World War I history,  Dr. Christopher Capozzola, author of Bound by War: How the United States and the Philippines Built America's First Pacific Century, joined us for a discussion of the Philippines and World War I.

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When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, baseball had been America's national past time for about 60 years. The start of the war also coincided with the start of the 1917 MLB season. Many professional ballplayers would serve in the military, forcing MLB's response to the war to evolve over the 1917-1919 seasons. At the same time, American troops in Europe created hundreds of baseball diamonds and played thousands of baseball games during the war and the occupation that followed. To discuss baseball and World War I, we recently sat down with Al Barnes, co-author of the book Play Ball!: Doughboys and Baseball during the Great War.

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With limited space to tell so many stories, museums always have some very interesting items in storage. The Smithsonian is no different! In this episode, Dr. Frank Blazich, Curator of Military History in the Smithsonian's Division of Political and Military History, shares the story of five very interesting artifacts, currently in storage at the National Museum of American History.

Artifacts include:

• Medal of Honor of George McMurtry, a member of The Lost Battalion
• Mark I Depth Charge
• John J. Pershing's World War I Victory Medal
• Kaiser Wilhelm II's Valet Kit
• Artbook of Charles Mauro

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