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Article: American Expeditionary Forces
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES
AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES,
the American troops serving in Europe during World War I. When the United States declared war on Germany following President Woodrow Wilson's ringing address to Congress, the country found itself without plans for organizing a force that would be capable of offensive action in modern warfare. On 26 May 1917, Major General John J. Pershing, whom Wilson had selected to command American land forces abroad, received orders to proceed with his staff to France. Shortly after his arrival, convinced that military assistance on a vast scale would be necessary to Allied success, Pershing cabled the War Department that it should ...