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The Meuse-Argonne Offensive was a major battle of World War I, fought by French, British, and American forces against the German army. The battle lasted for 47 days, resulting in high casualties on both sides, but ultimately led to the defeat of the German army and the end of the war. The United States entered the war in 1917, sending over 1 million soldiers to join the Allied forces. The Meuse-Argonne Offensive was part of a coordinated attack on the Central Powers along the entire Western Front and was particularly costly due to the use of new weapons technologies and the worldwide Spanish flu epidemic. The victory led to the acceptance of an armistice and the end of the war on 11 November 1918.
The Meuse-Argonne Offensive was the final and defining battle of World War I. French, British, and American forces pounded the German defensive lines during the second half of 1918. Casualties were high on both sides, but the eventual defeat of the Imperial German Army led to an armistice that ended the war. The battle of months takes its name from its location in France, in the Argonne forest near the Meuse River.
Since 1914, Allied forces including France, Britain and Russia had been engaged in combat with the Central Powers including Germany and Austria-Hungary. The infamous Western Front of the war, which stretched from France to the North Sea, was the scene of trench warfare which inflicted huge casualties on both sides. The United States was not involved during these early years; many Americans believed the country should stay out of conflict, a philosophy called isolationism.
By 1917, however, it was clear that the United States could not avoid involvement. Many American lives were lost to German submarine warfare, and British agents intercepted a German telegram in Mexico, proposing an alliance against America. Mexico refused, but these events prompted the United States to enter the war, sending more than 1 million soldiers to join the Allied forces on the Western Front.
The arrival of American reinforcements provided a morale boost to the exhausted Allied forces. Buoyed by these new additions, the Allies pressed forward in a series of successful campaigns known as the Hundred Days Offensive. The latest and greatest of these advances was the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Beginning on 26 September 1918, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive was part of a coordinated attack on the Central Forces along the entire Western Front.
Casualties were high in every action of World War I, but the Meuse-Argonne Offensive was particularly costly. New weapons technologies used in warfare included machine guns, poison gas, and aircraft, while the main defensive measures were long interconnected holes in the ground called trenches. The worldwide Spanish flu epidemic was also raging at this time, aided by the unsanitary conditions at the front. More than 300,000 soldiers on both sides lost their lives in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. The 120,000 American dead led to this being called “the deadliest battle in American history”.
Over the course of 47 days, Allied forces advanced slowly through the Argonne Forest, eventually breaking through the German defensive lines and capturing a railway near the Meuse River, essential for supplying German troops. This victory, combined with Allied triumphs elsewhere, led the German government to accept the armistice, ending the conflict on 11 November 1918. The Treaty of Versailles, signed in June 1919, officially ended the war.
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