The Great War in America: World War I and its Aftermath

The bitter outcome of World War I, The Great War, left the experience largely overlooked and forgotten in American history.

Garrett Peck reexamined America’s first global experience as we commemorate World War I’s centennial. The U.S. had steered clear of the European conflagration known as the Great War for more than two years, but President Woodrow Wilson reluctantly led the divided country into the conflict with the goal of making the world “safe for democracy.” The country assumed a global role for the first time and attempted to build the foundations for world peace, only to witness the experience go badly awry and it retreated into isolationism.