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The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand rapidly triggered a domino effect among European alliances. This immediate mass mobilization characterized the start of the conflict. Most people mistakenly believed the war would be brief, something that was quickly contradicted by the long, brutal reality of the next four years, making the conflict called “The Great War”. -
President Woodrow Wilson wanted to stay neutral and avoid fighting in the war. But Germany did hostile things over and over, mainly starting unrestricted submarine warfare again (sinking ships without warning). This made the U.S. Congress declare war on Germany. This was a critical step because joining the war committed America's huge factories (industrial strength) and many soldiers (manpower) to the Allied side, totally shifting the balance of power and helping the Allies win. -
Even after the U.S. joined the war, President Wilson asked for a million volunteer soldiers, but only 73,000 men signed up in six weeks, it failed fast. So, Congress had to pass an Act to use the draft (conscription) to get enough soldiers. This was a super important law because it resulted in about 2.8 million men being drafted for the American army, which made the military strong enough to fight and let officers like Captain Curtin join. -
As the U.S. military got ready, the government passed this Act to stop people at home from disagreeing with the war. The law made it a crime for anyone to share information that was meant to stop the war effort or to help the enemy countries. This law greatly increased the federal government's power, but it also meant that people lost some of their civil liberties (freedoms) so the government could protect national security during the war. -
This major attack by the Allies in Belgium showed just how terrible trench warfare was. The battle lasted for months, with fighting happening in constant mud and water, and it caused huge numbers of deaths and injuries for the British army. This battle sets the stage for the kind of terrible trauma and huge medical workload that Captain Curtin would soon face while working with the British ambulance unit -
This battle was a really important attack led by French and American soldiers. The goal was to cut the key German train tracks. Captain Curtin's unit, the American 2nd Division, was the main force that broke through the very strong German defenses called the Siegfried Line at Blanc Mont Ridge. His division beat the best German fighting groups who were dug in very deep. This was a vital win that helped make the Germans finally retreat from the war. -
Captain Eugene A. Curtin started working for the Army Medical Corps and was sent to Europe soon after the U.S. declared war. By December 1917, news reports confirmed he was already working in the field, giving people a glimpse of the war. When he got to Europe, he was immediately attached to the 100th Ambulance unit of the British army. This assignment put him right next to the worst fighting areas where the British had already had huge losses of soldiers. -
After the Bolshevik Revolution, the new Russian leader Vladimir Lenin and the Soviet government really wanted to stop fighting in the war. They signed a treaty that officially pulled Russia out of World War I. This was a huge change because it let Germany move dozens of its army groups from the Eastern Front over to the Western Front. This made the fighting much harder for the Allies and meant that the American soldiers needed to arrive very quickly to help. -
The "Spanish Influenza" wasn't a battle, but its spread was very important to the war effort and to doctors' experiences. The first official report was at Camp Funston, Kansas, before the disease quickly spread across the sea to the trenches. This worldwide disease killed about 20 million people. This added a major, fast-killing medical crisis a fatal infection on top of all the combat injuries that doctors like Curtin already had to manage. -
This attack was the first big fighting operation by the American army . The U.S. 1st Division successfully captured the German village, proving that the American forces were well-trained and could fight effectively using a coordinated approach. Even though they had over 800 injuries or deaths, the success of the 1st Division restored the Allies confidence after they had been stuck in a stalemate for years. -
The artillery caused many soldiers to suffer from "shell shock". The symptoms were terrible: overwhelming tiredness, intense shaking, lasting confusion, and being unable to function. As a medical officer, Captain Curtin was among the doctors. He had to manage these serious mental and nerve injuries, facing a huge challenge in trying to understand and treat these severe, unseen wounds. -
Trench life was bad because the cold and mud, plus rats and lice, spread sickness fast. Doctors like Curtin had to treat diseases like trench fever and trench foot. Trench foot often caused the foot to die and be cut off amputation. Dealing with all these sicknesses, the 1918 flu, and combat wounds completely used up the few medical supplies they had. -
Captain Curtin's unit, the 2nd Division, fought harder than almost any other American unit and had over 24,000 casualties (injuries and deaths). This meant Curtin worked under huge pressure doing triage, where he had to quickly check, sort, and help the badly wounded. He did this life-saving work while always being in danger from enemy bombing (counter-shelling) during the desperate last few weeks of the war.