“The German delegation has come to receive the proposals of the Allied Powers looking to an armistice.”

This is the story of guns falling silent across war-ravaged fronts–the story of the Great War’s armistice between Germany and the Allied Powers.

Sailors are mutinying. Soldiers are breaking. A revolution–possibly a Bolshevist revolution–is knocking on the Second Reich’s door. German leaders are coming to accept a painful reality: they can’t carry on this war. They look to the merciful words of Woodrow Wilson’s 14 points as they seek an armistice.

But as the German delegation sits down with Allied Supreme Commander Ferdinand Foch in his ornate train carriage at a secluded location within the Compiègne Forest, they find the hardened General is not there to negotiate. He presents a difficult pill to swallow. With little alternative, the German delegation moves forward. The fighting will come to a stop when the clock strikes 11 on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.

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“If I can but reach that bridge,” thought Ichabod, “I am safe.”

This is the story of schoolmaster Ichabod Crane and his ride home after an evening spent trying to woo Katrina Van Tassel at a party hosted by her father at their idyllic farm in rural New York. It’s a terrifying ride–perhaps as deadly as Ichabod’s pursuer is headless. For this third HTDS Halloween special, we “rewind” to one of the oldest ghost stories in American lore: Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”  

Starting with a headless Germanic tale, we’ll hear some of the literary history behind the stories of headless riders on horseback; get a brief bio on this year’s featured author; and then … we’ll see if we can reach that covered bridge before it’s too late.

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Professor Greg Jackson sits down with legendary documentary filmmaker Ken Burns about his latest film The American Buffalo which has a two-part premiere in the US on PBS beginning Monday, Oct. 16, 2023.  

Some refer to Ken Burns as a historian, but he would be quick to tell you that he considers himself a storyteller.

His latest documentary The American Buffalo is a sort of biography of the American bison, or the buffalo as they are more commonly known. The fact is, we would only know of buffaloes from history books if it weren’t for a collective effort to save this species from the brink of extinction in the late 19th century. It’s a remarkable story of how conservationists and hunters alike pulled together to repair some of what had been pulled apart by unchecked slaughter and displacement of wildlife and indigenous peoples. 

HTDS listeners will recognize some of the historical context surrounding this tale from our episodes on the Indian Wars, the Transcontinental Railroad and Teddy Roosevelt.

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“All right, General. We’ll take it, or my name will head the list.”

This is the story of Meuse-Argonne and the Americans’ continued struggles to take the Kriemhilde Line. Tennessean Alvin York hates war, yet he finds himself an unlikely hero when his youthful days of hunting turn him into a prisoner-taking sharpshooter as the US First Army presses forward against the Germans.

But this isn’t a battle just for the First Army anymore. A stressed-out, breaking, Black Jack Pershing finally decides to go for the US Second Army and name generals to command each. He’ll oversee “only” the whole two-million-strong American Expeditionary Force. If he can keep his job, that is. French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau is doing all he can to get the American fired. Nor is Black Jack doing any better at getting along with his usual French frenemy: Marshal Ferdinand Foch.

Meanwhile, General Douglas MacArthur is traumatized–so many of his doughboys are slaughtered, why, he wonders, did God spare him? Elsewhere in the battle, Choctaw doughboys save the day as they use their native language to bypass eavesdropping Germans. Yet, for all of this, can the Americans break the Kriemhilde Line? We’ll find out.

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“Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For heaven’s sake, stop it.”

This is the story of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive’s beginnings.

“Tout le monde à la bataille.” So says Ferdinand Foch as the Allies hit the Germans from several pressure points at once. For the Americans, that means fighting between the thick woods of the Argonne Forest and the deep waters of the Meuse River. The region is heavily guarded and a “natural fortress.” The attack will have a high cost – including injured Harlem Hellfighters and a wounded George Patton.

But deep in the Argonne Forest, some 550 men have the misfortune of being the only force to succeed in pushing as deep as their demanding commander asks. They’re isolated, alone, and soon, surrounded by the Germans with no food, supplies, or reinforcements coming. Worse still, the rest of the US Army isn’t even sure where they are behind German lines. This is the harrowing tale of the Lost Battalion.

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Time to review! Greg and Kelsi talk through the main takeaways of the American story in World War I to date, from causes to new inventions and social changes. We get a little behind the scenes on episodes, a few stories that didn’t make in, and set the stage for the last battle of the Great War.

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“Something has happened to one of the boys.”

This is the story of the Great War’s flyboys – particularly, Americans taking to the skies to fight for France.

Long before the United States will enter the Great War, hundreds of American men head to Europe to fight for the French Republic. Some drive ambulances. Some fight in the French Foreign Legion. But come 1916, some begin to fly.

In 1916, seven pilots (our “Flying Founders,” if you will) start an American squadron within France’s Aéronautique Militaire. Ultimately, 38 men will fly in this squad. They’ll shoot whiskey, have a pet lion cub named “Whiskey” (as well as a second named “Soda”), and risk it all, wielding machine guns amid the clouds. These are the men of the famous Lafayette Escadrille. They number among the 269 Americans who fly for France, collectively known as the Lafayette Flying Corps.

It’s a romanticized fight. The Great War’s pilots are known as the “knights of the sky.” They’re the era’s heroes. Rockstars. But the death rate is steep. The heartbreak is real. That’s particularly true as the beloved son of a US President goes down in flames …

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“Is there any regulation which specifies that a Navy yeoman be a man?” 

This is the story of the United States in the Great War and the role of women in that changing world.

Women of the Progressive Era are all about change. They’re fighting for several reforms — including their own right to vote — and as the United States enters the Great War, they’re ready to embrace new responsibilities and opportunities. Women are stepping into all sorts of new roles, be that on a factory floor or by taking on non-combat roles in the Navy or Marines. Tens of thousands are at the front as nurses, while hundreds of others are not far behind the lines carrying out the indispensable task of communion — these are the US Army’s bi-lingual, quick-acting, and cool-headed switchboard operators, better known as “Hello Girls.” 

From blood-soaked mobile hospitals to radium-filled “studios,” right down to musty office jobs, women play an indispensable part as the United States goes to war. But is the war changing the lives of American women? Or is the war just accelerating change already occurring? We’ll find out.

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