The Lion's Pride Lion's Pride Volume 12 (Spring 2019) | Page 27

against the Central Powers (specifically Germany) without the United
States joining the war at the last moment in 1918. Some sources counter
that this may be an attempt to recover some national pride after the
Americans swooped into battle in the final year and “took credit” for the
victory themselves and point out the necessity of the governments of
France and Great Britain to cover for their own mistakes. It is also
verifiable that without monetary support from the United States, it would
have been more difficult for the Entente to afford to wage a war on this
grand scale. Therefore, with the facts available and with the support of
first-hand sources, it can be concluded that the entry of the United States
into World War I was indispensable to the Entente victory.
One of John Mosier’s (2001) most important conclusions in his book
The Myth of the Great War is that the French and British officialdom
and public started believing their own propaganda efforts and
downplayed the effect the American contribution had on the outcome of
the war: “the great myth of the war, then, is that Great Britain and
France won it” (p. 9). Mark Grotelueschen (2017), in his analysis of the
American war effort, points out that despite the “revisionism” of
scholars in the 1980’s and 90’s who seriously criticized the leadership
and effectiveness of the “American Expeditionary Force,” the
“[American] contribution to the military defeat of the German Army was
significant” (p. 3).