In October 2016, the World War One Historical Association hosted a World War I Centennial Symposium at the MacArthur Memorial. Historian Paul Walsh examined American neutrality and the political difficulties faced by President Woodrow Wilson from 1914-1917. Keeping America out of war during that period grew increasingly difficult, and Walsh explains how public opinion gradually began to swing in favor of backing the Entente Powers. )
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In October 2016, the World War One Historical Association hosted a World War I Centennial Symposium at the MacArthur Memorial. Greg Hansard, the Manager of Web and Digital Resources at the Virginia Historical Society, presented on the topic: “Haven of Safety: U.S. Internment of German Sailors, 1914-1917.” Hansard described the largely positive and beneficial relationship between the German sailors and the local community but also addressed the problems of internment – including escapes and sabotage.
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In October 2016, the World War One Historical Association hosted a World War I Centennial Symposium at the MacArthur Memorial. Carl Bobrow, a member of the collections department at the National Air and Space Museum, presented on the topic: “Russian Air Assets in the Brusilov Offensive 1916.” Mr. Bobrow is an expert on the advent and development of Russian aviation and his lecture examined the extent to which the largely forgotten Russian air assets in the Brusilov Offensive were vital to its success.
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In October 2016, the World War One Historical Association hosted a World War I Centennial Symposium at the MacArthur Memorial. Dr. David Silbey of Cornell University presented on the topic: "A Citizen Army Learns to Fight: The Tactical Evolution of the British Army in 1916." Dr. Silbey explores how the British created a mass army by 1916. It was that army - not the highly trained professional army of 1914 - that was expected to win the war against Germany. In many ways, the Battle of the Somme was the crucible of the new British 'citizen army.' It was also the beginning of the tactical evolution of the British army that would lead to in victories in 1918.
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In October 2016, the World War One Historical Association hosted a World War I Centennial Symposium at the MacArthur Memorial. The focus of the Symposium was 1916, and that was an interesting year in terms of military aviation. During 1916, Austrian flying boats attacked Venice sixteen times, London was bombed by German Zeppleins, the British adopted strategic bombing, the French launched an air reprisal raid, and the Italians and the Russians began to have success with the largest airplanes built to that date. Steve Suddaby, an author and retired CIA analyst, explored all of these topics in his presentation: "From Venice to London: Aerial Bombing in 1916."
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In October 2016, the World War One Historical Association hosted a World War I Centennial Symposium at the MacArthur Memorial. William MacMullen, a member of the U.S. Navy League, the U.S. Naval Institute, and past Executive Director of the U.S. Naval Ship Building Museum, gave a presentation entitled: "Big Navies, Big Innovations, Big Battle...then Fizzle. Why?" MacMullen discussed ship design and construct-ability, the Dreadnought Race, and the evolution of technology versus tradition.
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From 1890-1914, Kaiser Wilhelm II struggled through a series of scandals and crises. His gaffes on the international stage embarrassed his government and helped create the alliances that would be arrayed against Germany in 1914. Due to these issues, even as he struggle for personal rule, his power within Germany was on the wane. When World War I began, he assumed his role as Supreme Warlord, the leader of the German army. The German general staff believed he could not “lead three soldiers over a gutter,” and therefore conspired to keep actual power out of his hands. In the end, it did not matter. In the first weeks of the war, the Kaiser suffered a nervous collapse. As historian Miranda Carter points out, for the rest of the war, he was merely a “flimsy fig leaf” for a Germany ruled by a military dictatorship. At the end of the war there were calls to officially blame him for the war through an international trial. This would never materialize – instead he spent the next 22 years of his life in exile (23:16)

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Kaiser Wilhelm II: Part One
When the World War I ended, King George V of England wrote of his cousin Kaiser Wilhelm II: “…I look upon him as the greatest criminal known for having plunged the world into this ghastly war.” But who was Kaiser Wilhelm II? Was he criminal bent on world domination? Or was he a bumbling fool in a picklehaub? Throughout the war, Allied propaganda seemed to suggest either identity was a possibility. Ironically, it wasn’t just his enemies who were confused about his identity. Throughout his life, the Kaiser also struggled to come to terms with his own identity. As the grandson of Queen Victoria, the half English Kaiser was supposed to be the champion of Anglo-German unity. Instead, he would spend a lifetime torn between the two identities. To explain these contradictions, Kaiser Wilhelm II’s life will be examined over the course of two podcast episodes. Part one will discuss his early life and years as emperor.

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On January 16, 1917, a coded German dispatch was intercepted by British Naval Intelligence. Over the next weeks, cryptographers in the innocuous sounding Room 40 began deciphering the message. What they found was shocking. Germany was proposing to bankroll Mexico in a war that would serve two purposes: 1. Keep the U.S. from aiding the Allies, 2. Allow Mexico to recover its lost territories of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The message also asked Mexico to lure Japan, one of the Allied nations in World War I, into the alliance. Desperate to add the fresh strength of neutral America to their cause, the British shared the telegram with the U.S. Government. The public release of the Zimmerman Telegram convinced many Americans that neutrality had failed. Few wanted war, but as Barbara Tuchman concluded in her study of the affair, the Zimmerman Telegram “killed the American illusion that we could go about our business happily separate from other nations.”

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In this podcast, W. Douglas Fisher and Joann H. Buckley, authors of the book: African American Doctors of World War I, shed light on the little known story of African American doctors who served during World War I. Fisher and Buckley discuss the difficulties these men faced in obtaining medical degrees, their service in a segregated military, and their ultimate return to life in the United States. Why did they serve? What is their legacy? Fisher and Buckley answer these questions and more! (24:05)

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