America in the World War 1 years, before and during the U.S. involvement in the war. View of Woodrow Wilson in academic robe and cap, as President of Princeton University. Steel mill with stacks belching smoke. Workers tap an open hearth furnace in steel mill. Children on a city street dancing and being sprayed with a fire hose to keep cool in summer. Boy hopping over the backs of his friends. Boys seated on a bench. Scenes from early motion pictures, interposed with images of Uncle Sam from Army recruiting poster: They are rapid montage comedy and stunt scenes, including Keystone Cops chasing fugitive; cars racing, gangster shootouts from cars; automobile hijinks; men raising barrier at railroad level crossing while a woman is left dangling from the raised crossing gate; car races and crosses railroad track in front of rapidly approaching locomotive; comic car chase down; line of 3 open top cars racing over an edge into a deep ditch, a motorcycle taking flight off of a road and into a river; a man waving warning flag frantically at a blasting site; The Cunard Ocean Liner ship, RMS Lusitania, underway; Newspaper front page about torpedoing of the Lusitania. American soldiers boarding troop ship for France in World War 1; View of the troop ship deck filled with U.S. soldiers. Various scenes of U.S. troops in the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in France during World War I: amid war torn ruins and destroyed buildings in France; firing French 75s and heavier artillery; soldiers charging across no-man's land; French and American soldiers caring for wounded behind the lines and in trenches of the battlefields; soldiers placing helmets and identification cards of fallen soldiers on rifles that are inverted, bayonet into ground.
Events during World War I. Sketches : workers in a German arms factory. German soldiers advance towards France. Animation of a map shows the German invasion of France through Belgium. Kaiser Wilhelm II, the German Emperor. Buildings damaged by invading Germans. U.S. president Thomas Woodrow Wilson advises Americans to stay calm. American people read papers. Cartoon depicts the President about his domestic reforms. The German atrocities in Belgium. Man holds a dead person. Sketch depicts Germany crushing everything on its way. The apprehensive people of America. Sketches of American man against a German leader. Trucks and taxi cabs on the Orne river. A gun barrel. Bombs being dropped on the German ships. Worker at a factory in America. Sketch of a man standing beside a flag having the dollar sign shows the prosperous America. Sketch shows the various resources required by the American industries. An American ship carrying war materiel. Sailors in German submarines. German submarines target allied ships. Sketches of U.S. president Wilson warning Germany. On 1st May 1915 RMS Lusitania a British luxury ship at sea as it starts from New York. Paper shows a warning by the German government. A German sailor on board a submarine as it targets a ship. The RMS Lusitania ship sinks killing many, including Americans. The U.S. secretary of State William Jennings Bryan and Thomas Woodrow Wilson with other officials. The former U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt addresses people opposing President Wilson's policy. The President prepares a note for Germany. Sketch of U.S. Democratic Presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan during his resignation. Sketch of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
British Austin armoured cars moving along a road in France, during World War 1. British infantry and German prisoners and wounded moving in opposite direction at side of road. Behind the Austins are two Armoured Autocars of the 1st Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade that arrived in France in 1915.
American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) fire machine guns at the First Division Training Camp, Gondrecourt-le-Chateau, Department Meuse,France, during World War 1. A French instructor coaches each American soldier as they fire French Chauchat C.S.R.G. Model 1915 light machine guns.Bullets pass through the targets and strike the embankment behind at the firing range.
Armed members of the Belgian Expeditionary Armored Squadron, ACM-corps (Autos Canons Mitrailleuses) are seen assembling with their motorcycles in preparation for their unit's parade in Longchamps, Paris, France, on April 17, 1915, before their departure to Russia, during World War I.
The French line ship, SS Lorraine, in camouflage paint, seen backing into port at Bordeaux, France, on June 24, 1918. Belgian troops of the ACM Corps (Autos-Canons-Mitrailleuses, Belgian armored unit) disembark. They are seen as they walk down a gangway from the ship, in combat uniforms and steel helmets, and carrying their weapons and personal gear. (Note: Soldiers of this armored unit from Belgium fought alongside the Imperial Russian army against German and Austrian troops in 1915 in Russia, during World War 1, before the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, after which they were stranded in hostile territory. They left Vladivostok for the United States on the SS Sheridan, and docked at San Francisco on May 12, 1918. They were warmly greeted as they proceeded across the U.S. to New York city, where they participated in the Memorial Day Parade. After leaving New York City, aboard the SS La Lorraine, they reached Bordeaux on June 24 1918.)