The Spring Offensive of 1918: Germany’s Last Chance to Win the Great War

In 1916, Woodrow Wilson, America’s 28^th president, was re-elected in part—on the wave of a promise: “He Kept Us Out of War” that had distraught Europe, and horrified most Americans since 1914; less than a month after his second inauguration—April 2, 1917—Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany’s proclaimed policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, and for conspiring with Mexico—to separate Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona from the United States.

The already knocked about Germany could hardly tolerate a retaliatory wave of American troops, but it had resolved to “pounce” before soldiers could be fully deployed. The Russian Revolution—and its subsequent withdrawal from the war—readied the German commanders to shift 50 divisions from the Eastern to the Western Front, bolster their resources, and—on March 21, 1918—set the Spring Offensive into motion.

At first, America’s bit in countering the aggressive strategy was limited; with only a small number of combat-ready troops, the Germans succeeded in pushing the Allied lines back dozens of miles while the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) mobilized, and the 1st and 2nd Infantry Divisions were set up to buttress the French and British positions.

America’s presence was burgeoning, by the summer, and Germany’s hold was crumbling from overstretched supply lines, heavy casualties, and exhaustion; daily arrivals of more than 10,000 U.S. troops flowed into France; the May 1918 Battle of Cantigny, flamed the Allies’ success, and so did the larger victories at the Second Battle of the Marne; by July Germany’s monstrous momentum was muted, and the Allies achieved victory in November.

For more information about the America’s part in the “Offensive,” the Grateful American Book Prize recommends Edward G. Lengel’s Thunder and Flames: Americans in the Crucible of Combat, 1917-1918.

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Evacuation Day: The British Withdrawal from Boston, 1776

Millions of people celebrate the patron saint of Ireland on March 17^th—a ritual begun on March 17, 1776, when British forces withdrew from Boston, after an 11-month siege. “Evacuation Day,” as it came to be known, was the consequence of a daring nighttime operation on March 4, ordered by General George Washington, to fortify Dorchester Heights, a strategic position overlooking Boston Harbor—and the city— with artillery. By morning, the British, led by General William Howe, awoke to find themselves at the mercy of American guns. From then on, their withdrawal was inevitable.

The siege had started in April 1775 after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, when colonial militias encircled Boston to trap the British army. After nearly a year of stalemate and suffering, Washington’s bold move severed the impasse. On March 17, over 120 English ships, carrying more than 11,000 soldiers, Loyalists, and supplies, sailed out of Boston Harbor for Halifax, Nova Scotia, ceding control of the city to the Continental Army. The historian David McCullough called the pullback “a spectacle such as could only have been imagined until that morning.”

Evacuation Day was a badly needed boost to American morale, a long-standing honor in Boston along with St. Patrick’s. It was a high point of Washington’s leadership and helped sustain the Patriot cause until the victories at Trenton and Princeton several months later.

For more information about the British evacuation of Boston, the Grateful American Book Prize recommends David McCullough’s 1776.

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Michael F. Bishop, a writer and historian, is the former executive director of the International Churchill Society and the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.

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History Matters is a feature courtesy of the Grateful American Book Prize, an annual award for high quality, 7th to 9th grade-level books dealing with important moments in American history.