Videos

Military historian James Carl Nelson looked at the efforts of U.S. Army Sergeant Alvin York, who was responsible for seizing German positions in the 1918 Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the last…

University of Georgia professor John Morrow, Jr. recounted the life story of Eugene Bullard. Bullard grew up in Georgia but, dissatisfied with the prospects for Black Americans in the Jim Crow…

Firearms expert George Dillman explained the evolution of rifles and carbines used during World Wars I and II. He discussed more than 20 firearms of the era, detailing the manufacturing…

The immediate post-World War I era was a period in U.S. history marked by violent labor strikes, mass anti-immigration rallies, race riots, and a government crackdown on socialist and other leftist…

In 2013, Congress created the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission. One of its directives was to establish a national World War I memorial in Washington, D.C.  Edwin Fountain, the commission’s…

While the victorious Allied Forces met during the Versailles Conference in 1919, the United States and Britain battled behind closed doors over the size of the U.S. Navy. Former Navy…

Military historian Geoff Babb discussed the influence of the United States, Europe; Japan, and Russia in early 20th century China. Babb argued that the Chinese communist movement was…

Matthew Naylor gave a tour of and talked about the National World War I Museum and Memorial, built to preserve the history of what was at the time called “The Great War” and to honor the…

Historian Garrett Peck talked about his book, The Great War in America: World War I and Its Aftermath. He chronicled how the war impacted Americans as well as societal issues such as Prohibition,…

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture Guest Associate Curator Krewasky Salter discussed African American soldiers in WWI and how their experiences served as a…

William Jewell College Professor Gary Armstrong discussed the U.S. Senate’s rejection of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles to end World War I, which President Woodrow Wilson had spent seven months overseas…

Author and former classical musician Jonathan Rosenberg discussed his new book, Dangerous Melodies: Classical Music in America from the Great War through the Cold War, which explores the…

Tait Keller, co-editor of Environmental Histories of World War I, talked about the diverse ecological impacts the first World War had across the globe. He explained how these went far…

C-SPAN visited monuments, villages, and an American cemetery associated with the September 12 to 16, 1918 World War I Battle of Saint-Mihiel, France. Locations included the Montsec American…

Historian Mitchell Yockelson led a tour of American monuments, battlefields, and a cemetery in northeastern France to commemorate the centennial of several battles in May and June of 1918.…

This “Film Bulletin” produced by the U.S. Army Signal Corps shows how training, informational, and Hollywood films were distributed by ship, airplane, train, truck, and sometimes camel to…

To mark the 2018 centennial of World War I, a panel of historians met to reflect on African Americans in the Great War. They talked about the discrimination that black soldiers faced…

Sculptor Sabin Howard discussed the process behind creating a “A Soldier’s Journey,” the sculptural component of the new National World War I Memorial, which is being constructed on…

Three historians discussed the struggle by black troops in two World Wars to overcome racism and earn the right to fight as combat soldiers. Speakers included John Morrow Jr. and Jeffrey Sammons,…

Author and Virginia Commonwealth University history professor emeritus Melvin Urofsky described the constitutional issues the Supreme Court faced during World War I. He was introduced by…