"Has the US forgotten about World War One?" Topic

"The US entered the war in 1917 – almost three years after European powers had been bludgeoning themselves to near destruction. Some 53,000 US soldiers were killed in combat, according to the defence department, while 64,000 died off the battlefield, including deaths from the influenza epidemic. Another 200,000 were wounded.

At the time, few Americans wanted to join a conflict largely thought to be pointless and irrelevant. Despite its profound impact on what became the "American Century", World War I remains a marginal war for many in the US.

"The Great War" was overtaken in the national consciousness by the Great Depression and World War II, says Edwin Fountain, vice-chairman of the WWI Centennial Commission. The commission has been authorised by Congress to build the new memorial in Washington, DC, as well as increase awareness of the war…"
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Armand

Most in the US don't remember much about history than what happened a few months ago. Military History is only really known about by those who study it or participated …

The USA is very indifference to WW1. Most of the population wasn't that motivated during the war and just want to forget it after. It also suffers from the 25 Ann. being during WW2 and the 50th Ann being during the Vietnam war.

I thought the First World War was the seven years war?

Not forgotten here. There are monuments to WWI all around my state. I guess it matters where you are.

Luke AFB and Ernest A. Love field (the local Prescott, Arizona airport) serve as some sort of memorial.

Fort Lewis was known as Camp Lewis and built for the Great War, near my Puyallup home outside Tacoma. The US had fewer war dead than Canada. It participated in one major offensive in the last months of the war. It isn't surprising more Americans don't have a stronger connection to WWI.

I have had college students that have never heard of Van Gogh, don't know why the year 1492 is significant, and most can't get within 100 years of when WW1 happened, if asked for a rough date.

Don't forget (if you even knew about it) that there is a dedicated museum to WWI in downtown Kansas City, Mo. that is first rate! Perhaps they need to do a better job of advertising?….

My grandfather and my great-uncle fought in the war, so I think my siblings, cousins and I all know something about it. I had my grandfather's unit photo scanned in earlier this year, and plan to send them each a cd with the picture for Christmas. As for our kids and grandkids, not so much, especially since Charles Shulz died, and we no longer have dogfights between Snoopy and the Red Baron.

Manitou Springs (near me) has a memorial statue of a doughboy.

Our WWI literature is "What Price Glory," an unusual Marine Corps buddy story, which is much more upbeat than what the British and Germans produced in the wake of the war. Once in a while the movie will show up on cable.

Grelber

As my grandparents came over just before the war and my uncles were too young, my family (in the US at least) missed out on the fighting.

As my maternal grandfather had served earlier in the Austro-Hungarian cavalry (he was a Slovene), had he not emigrated he would most probably have been on the wrong side.

On the other hand, at least my siblings and I do know more American history than most.

The simple answer is that WWI is a horrible tragedy, WWII is glorious heroism.

People want to forget tragedies and will glorify heroism.

For most people in the US 1914-1918 was business as usual. In Europe daily life ground to a halt and everything was shaken up to the core, empires fell and the world changed.

Yes I think everyone would agree that it occupies far, far less space in the general historical consciousness of the public than WW2 does. Though as others point out, for those who don't take a particular interest in the study of history, that consciousness is pretty darn small anyway.

As others have pointed out here, I think the main reason is that the scale of American involvement and American sacrifices were so strongly overshadowed by the following war.

The monuments are there though. I used to live close to Prospect Park in Brooklyn, and one monument that I found interesting is actually a commemoration of Lafayette's contribution to the American War of Independence. It was donated by the French – in 1916, when they were eager to see the US enter WW1.

If I remember correctly there is also a memorial to the American war dead in the park, down by the boathouse by one of the lakes.

One question that occurs to me, I wonder if something similar is the case for Russia, maybe to a different degree. The Russians suffered terribly in the First World War, and yet again the damage of the Second World War was so much greater. Everywhere you go in Moscow there are memorials to the Great Patriotic War – statues and plaques and museums and place names. It seems to occupy a huge place in the public consciousness.

My impression just as an outsider is that WWI is much less remembered. Not to say that it isn't remembered at all, just so much less. Of course it was an awfully turbulent century for them in general.

Dye4 is correct. Visited Kansas City for a seminar a few summers ago. Of all the things I wanted to see, the only one I made it to was the WWI museum. It was amazing.

Another positive shout out for the Kansas City WWI museum. Visited last year and spent the full day.

I'm not sure we even covered WW1 in my US history classes in the late 1980s and early 1990s.