How America Won World War I

Immediately after the armistice was signed in November, 1918, an American journalist asked Paul von Hindenburg who won the war against Germany. He was the chief of the German General Staff, co-architect with Erich Ludendorff of Germany's Eastern Front victories and its nearly war-winning Western Front offensives, and he did not hesitate in his answer. "The American infantry," he said. He made it even more specific, telling the reporter that the final death blow for Germany was delivered by "the American infantry in the Argonne." This is the story of how the American forces did it.

Alan Axelrod, Ph.D., is the author of many books on leadership, history, and military history, including Miracle at Belleau Wood (Lyons Press, 2018), The Battle of the Somme (Lyons Press, 2016), The Battle of Verdun (Lyons Press, 2016), and Selling the Great War: The Making of American Propaganda (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009). He has taught at Lake Forest College (Lake Forest, IL) and Furman University (Greenville, SC) and was most recently a creative consultant and on-screen commentator for The Great War, on the PBS American Experience television series.