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Question: Why was the American entrance into World War I the turning point of the war!?
Let's put it this way: the more reasons, the better!. Best answer goes to someone with credible information backed up with sources!.

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Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Many often downplay the importance of America's entry into The Great War,because of the AEF or American Expeditionary Force's limited time on the battlefield!.

U!.S!. troops did not fully engage in battle until 1918 the final year of hostilities,and compared to the other belligerents who had been three years in the trenches this could be seen as AEF putting forth only minimum effort!.

Now to truly grasp the importance of the AEF's contribution one must understand the state of the battle forces of the other belligerent nations at that point in the conflict!.

Bear with me as this is a long answer,but it contains the information that you require!.

While WWI was originally seen as a war that would end rather quickly (most were betting on being home by Christmas 1914) reality would prove to be much different!.

By Christmas 1914 the war had settled into a war of attrition with both sides living in muddy, blood filled trenches that stretched from the Swiss border to the coast of the North Sea!.

This stalemate would more or less continue throughout the remainder of the war as the troops fought a nearly impossible siege war!.

Barbed wire,machine guns and heavy artillery made it nearly impossible to force the enemy from their trenches!.Even if one side managed to capture and enemy trench it would more than likely be recaptured in a counter attack within days or sometimes hours!.

An typical attack on an enemy trench usually began with several days of a heavy non-stop artillery barrage,afterword troops would emerge from their trenches and walk across no-mans land in the face of massive machine gun and artillery fire,men were killed in massive waves and those who reached the enemy trenches would be stopped by massive barbed wire entanglements only to be mowed down by machine guns!.

The train of thought was that the artillery barrage would destroy the barbed wire and decimate the enemy troops so badly that the attacking force could simply walk over and easily take the trench!. Unfortunately the artillery was quite ineffective against the barbed wire!.

As for the troops under attack,most merely hid in pillboxes or in underground dugouts until the long artillery barrage ceased,at which point they would emerge to man the artillery and machine guns and simply slaughter their attackers who were advancing across no-mans land!.

Yet these attacks were not constant and long periods of time would pass where both sides merely sat in their trenches lobbing artillery at each other and with snipers picking off anyone who dared show their head over the parapet of the trench!.

Thousands of soldiers would die daily from this and the term that was used to decribe this casual daily killing : wastage!.

So along with the thousands who fell daily to wastage,soldiers,sometimes tens of thousands would become casualties daily during an attack!.

On the first day of the battle of Somme the British Expeditionary force suffered approximatly 60,000 casualties including 20,000 deaths in a 24 hour period!.

By the end of 1916, after the horrible battles of Verdun,The Somme,and the major naval battle of Jutland,all of the belligerents were running out of supplies and resources,most importantly manpower!.

It is said that the European nations of France,Britain,and Germany had lost almost an entire generation of men!.

So by 1916 both sides were obviously running out of steam!.Meanwhile on the other major battle front in the east, Russia was suffering from much internal unrest and was on the verge of civil war!.In 1917 the Bolsheviks overtook the Russian government and decided to opt out of the conflict by signing a treaty with Germany!.

This allowed Germany to move it's troops from the eastern to the western front in preparation for a final decisive attack that would break through the enemy line!.This was not good news for the allies!.

So here we are, both sides running out of steam and suffering terribly from attrition!.
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Enter the AEF!

On June 26th,1917 the first US troops arrive in France!.With them they brought the promise of scores "fresh" troops,war materials, and virtually unlimited industrial might!.

Ths was good news for the allies!.This was not,however good news for the central powers!.

Although the German troops arriving from the eastern front were battle hardened and quite experienced when compared to the U!.S!. troops and their newly created AEF,they were also tired and weary, exhausted by their long march from the eastern front and suffering from attrition as well as their counterparts on the western front!.

The AEF however inexperienced were fresh, energetic and well supplied!.

The signifigance of this is as follows : with fresh troops and supplies from America the allied forces would now be able to regroup and let their troops get some much needed rest as well as restock with much needed supplies!.

This did not deter Germany which planned a massive spring assault meant to deal the final crushing blow!. Undaunted by what thay saw as amateur U!.S!. troops,an underestimation to say the least!.

Germany's Erich Ludendorf launched the Kaiserschlact or Kasier's war in March of 1918 in a final attempt to break the enemy line,but it failed and Germany suffered massive troop loss which it would not be able to recover from and now faced the unthinkable!.

With both France and Britain as well as Germany unable to replace their troops in any signifigant numbers it stands to reason that the AEF would have been the dominant force on the battlefield by mid 1919 or so!.

The availability of manpower and resources to the AEF outweighed it's lack of experience!.

Taking this, along with many other factors, into consideration Germany sought an armistice!.

So it was not necessarily what the AEF did on the battlefield that ultimatly lead to the end of the conflict, but the promise of what was to come!.Www@QuestionHome@Com