American History

The 1920s saw the end of the First World War when Germany accepted the armistice and the alliance emerged victorious. Most of this victory was as a result of the advanced fighting skills of the US army led by General Pershing. The first election brought an end to the leadership of President Woodrow Wilson, who was the twenty-eighth president of the US and his liberal policies. The Americans choose President Harding who was a republican. This restored power to the conservative group for most of the twenties and thirties. Before the armistice, plans for demobilization were already in place. The US defense department had not anticipated such a quick end to the First World War and was therefore faced with the challenge of ensuring that most of these military officers were demobilized honorably with very little impact on the domestic economy. Thirty demobilization camps were set up over the US and more than 3.25 million military officers were discharged leaving a small military force for post war duties as well as domestic occupation. The US defense department however also kept a large reserve of unused weapons from the First World War for possible emergency use and peacetime efforts.

The US government had ignored the treaty of Versailles and even after the armistice had continued to fight and invade Germany until 1921 when a separate treaty was signed. The last American troops evacuated Germany in 1923. Shortly after German troops were given the armistice in the First World War, the American war department had already convinced congress on the necessity of establishing a regular American army of about five hundred thousand men. In addition, General Pershing who had led the First World War American force had already introduced the concept of training these troops in a formal military school. The American defense department therefore also suggested the implementation of a three month training system for these troops in order to allow the steady expansion of the force and to give them relevance in modern warfare. Congress however refused these requests despite the possibility of a war with Japan arguing that if such a conflict occurred it would primarily be naval and not on land. The US government therefore sorely relied on the navy as their main line of defense for the twenties and most of the thirties.

After the First World War, in the early 1920s, most of the formidable international powers formed an alliance in order to provide a strong international security system. The US congress had decided not to join this League of Nations leaving them with the need to establish a strong military force. As a result of a lot of accumulated distrust on international alliances, the American government focused on developing an army sorely for the protection of their domestic interests as opposed to international security. The result was therefore a small mobilization army which continued to reduce as international threats seemed to recede. This relatively small army consisting of nineteen thousand officers and two hundred thousand enlisted men relied on the materials left over after the 1918 armistice. Congress therefore, was not pushed for any further funding in the 1920s.

In the 1920s the US army was therefore only involved in peacekeeping missions and not active combat. In 1920, the American regular army units were dispatched to guard the Mexican boarder due to the various constant political revolutions taking place. In 1921, the regular army also supplied troops to settle the numerous land disputes which were emerging within America. In the 1920s and 1930s, the only American force stationed on foreign land was a garrison of one thousand soldiers which was stationed at Tientsin, China from 1912 to 1938 and one thousand officers stationed in the Philippines for five months in 1932.
The national defense act which was passed by congress in June 4, 1920 governed both the regulation and the organization of the American army until 1950. This act rejected the need to expand the army as argued previously by Calhoun and instead advocated splitting the army into three branches. This comprised of the standing regular force, an organized reserve force and the National Guard. These three forces were to be regulated during the peacetimes and would be expected to contribute their share of officers incase of any war. This act relied heavily on the ability of the government to recruit and rely on citizen soldiers incase of any war emergencies. However the act also gave precedence to the importance of training the National Guard and the reserved forces during the peacetimes and this duty was given to the regular force. Thirty one service schools were set up to cater for the training of these officers. There was an overall increased emphasis on the importance of training armies internationally.

Three new branches were formed under this act. These included the air service branch, the chemical warfare branch and the finance department. The responsibility of the planning, supervising and preparing for war was given to the war department under this act. In 1921 General Pershing who had led the troops of the First World War, became the chief of staff and reorganized all the military personnel into five divisions as he had during combat. These divisions were personnel, intelligence, training and operations, supplying and the new division of planning and preparation for war. This was meant to bring an improved level of efficacy into the American army and prevent the disorganization crisis which had taken place at the battle of Meuse Argonne where several troops went without communication, food and water for days. In 1926 a new division, the air corps were established.

The aviation warfare maintained its vitality even in the face of the tank almost becoming obsolete due to increased political conservatism. The army was split into two based on the use of airplane warfare. One camp advocated for the use of airplanes to that of offering fire support and reconnaissance to ground tank troops while the other camp led by Brig. Gen. William Mitchell advocated for the use of airplanes for strategic bombing. In 1921 and 1923 Brig. Gen. William Mitchell had used airplanes in several tests against obsolete warships to demonstrate their potential in strategic bombing. Despite the decision to only use airplanes for reconnaissance and fire support, William Mitchell avidly continued expressing his distaste with the decision his superiors and congress had taken leading to his demotion to the rank of colonel in 1925. This was followed by a court martial the following year for insubordination and an eventual resignation. This debate however continued into the Second World War until 1940 when Gen. Frank Andrew purchased the B17 bomber.

General MacArthur, who was the chief of staff, in the thirties, recommended a reorganization of the forces and an increase n the size leading to expansion changes between 1930 and 1935. He also led to a more realistic organization of the country incase of a war. His recommendations highlighted the need for strategic mobility. MacArthur insisted on the need to use the armys resources to replace the means of transport from horses to a smaller but more favorable means of transport. The inception of a motorized means of transport allowed the army to provide faster and more efficient systems of transport to replace the horses which had been their main means of transport since the cavalry.

The army also underwent reformation in organization allowing the creation of new divisions in order to allow control over the training of larger air and ground forces. During this interwar period, the army focused its limited resources on maintaining personnel strength and training its forces as opposed to acquiring new equipment. Small budgets assigned by congress in the light of the great depression led to the crippling of various army arsenals and army laboratories. Despite these hurdles, the army used the existing resources to build on the technological advances of the First World War. The industrial period in the 1920s and 1930s brought a revolution in technology bringing along various technological advances for the army.

Four army headquarters and a general headquarters were created between 1932 and 1935 allowing the National Guard and the reserve forces to train together with the navy. In 1935, congress accepted the need to increase the size of the army and ordered the regular army to increase its capacity to one hundred and sixty five thousand troops. This was followed by an increase in combat equipment which had now become obsolete against any modern equipment and by 1938 the regular army had achieved both improved strength and readiness and were ready for any emergency. With increased congressional support, infantry tanks were mechanically developed to support attacks and Calvary tanks were developed more adequately to support any war missions. The need for increased mobility was emphasized in the development of the tanks.

In conclusion, the American army in the 1920s and 1930s was faced with inadequate personnel and equipment as a result of low funding and budget cuts. America refused to form the great alliance due to unresolved conflicts from international alliances choosing instead to form a small army capable of sorely protecting their national interests. The American army focused on discharging most of the officers who had served in the First World War and only retained a small force for occupation and domestic affairs. The 20s were relatively peaceful and the only officers on foreign soil were one thousand privates who had earlier on been deployed to china and later in 1932, one thousand more were deployed to Philippines. Training of officers became an integral issue in developing a formidable force and military training schools were set up. The regular army was mandated with the task of training the rest of the troops. During this time, there was a conflict on the use of airplanes in the war. While the army superiors agreed that they would only be used for providing fire support and reconnaissance to ground troops, others including general Mitchell were of the opinion that these planes should be used for strategic bombing and air raids. This led to his eventual demotion and resignation. However, the debate did not end and in 1940 in the wake of the Second World War, General Frank Andrew purchased the first B17 bomber amidst a lot of protests. General MacArthur who was the chief of staff in the 1930s led congress to make changes in the administration, organization and funding of the army. He proposed and enacted a larger army force which had better strategic mobility and in addition focused on attaining high quality equipment from the obsolete reservoirs retained after the First World War. By 1939, the American army was therefore adequately prepared for the Second World War.