Lusitania Sinking

By war's end, 65 million men had been mobilized in the Great War. More than 8 million died during the long conflict.

America sent nearly 5 million men and spent more money on the war than the country had spent in the hundreds of years since it first became a country. For the first time in its history, the United States imposed an income tax on its citizens.

Woodrow Wilson, who had campaigned for reelection on a peace platform, anguished about joining the hostilities. America was feeding the troops and the people in Europe and the country initially resisted committing its own troops. But Germany's invasion of neutral Belgium and the sinking of the Lusitania, among other reasons, hardened the hearts and minds of Americans against the German Empire.

Once the United States declared war on Germany, Americans had to make many sacrifices. To further that end, the federal government used an amazing array of propaganda posters to keep people supporting the war. The Library of Congress has digitized many of those posters. Here are links to some of the most interesting:

• "While Germany dreams of dominating the world by force there can be no peace."
  
  
• "Food is ammunition. Don't waste it."
  
  
• "If you want to fight join the Marines." (A 1915 poster depicts a young woman in uniform.)
  
  
• "Gee!! I wish I were a man. I'd join the Navy. Be a man and do it."
  
  
• "An heroic sacrifice" - children give up ice cream, candy and cookies.
  
  
• "You are lucky. The 'war' bread that you get would seem like cake to the children of Europe."
  
  
• "Defeat the Kaiser and his U-Boats. Victory depends on which fails first, food or frightfulness. Eat less wheat."