The Great War at Home

One hundred years ago, the United States entered the First World War, turning the University of Wisconsin campus inside out.

For nearly two years, the UW pressed its limited resources to help wage the war and enlisted nearly its entire student body and faculty into service on the home front. It’s a striking contrast to today — the United States has been at war in Afghanistan for more than 15 years, but the ongoing conflict hardly alters day-to-day life for most students and faculty.

For many Americans, World War I is lesser known, a confusing clash of nations quickly glossed over in most high school history classes on the way to the seemingly simpler good-and-evil story of World War II, with its better visuals and surviving participants. But the Great War — as it was known — sowed the seeds for the Great Depression, the rise of Fascism, and the Second World War. It can arguably be called the most important event of the 20th century.