America.

This is coolbert:

What if?

Continuing yet further still extracts with my commentary from original articles as seen at the isegoria.net Internet web site topic the Great War.

"Should America have entered World War I?"

"The US entered the Great War 100 years ago, but why?"

MORE IMPORTANTLY CONSIDER NOT SO MUCH THE QUESTION "WHY" BUT RATHER "WHAT IF" THE USA HAD NOT BECOME A COMBATANT.

From a comment to the isegoria.net original entry and thanks to Cassander:

"In 1917, the French army mutinies were put down largely by the French government and general staff going around promising that there wouldn’t be a major offensive until the Americans showed up. In the absence of the expectation of millions of doughboys arriving, those mutinies get a lot harder to deal with. Combined with the Russian revolution, the position of the Allies looks extremely shaky. A negotiated peace, or at least ceasefire, in 1917 was a very strong possibility if the US didn’t enter the war."

THAT BREAKDOWN OF FRENCH ARMY DISCIPLINE IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE FAILED NIVELLE OFFENSIVE MOST ACUTE. FRENCH TROOPS WILLING TO FIGHT STRICTLY DEFENSIVELY BUT NO MORE GOING OVER THE TOP IN FRUITLESS OFFENSIVE ACTION! FRENCH MILITARY AND CIVILIAN MORALE AT AN ALL-TIME LOW!

Massive infusions of fresh American troops that only answer to the morale crisis of the allies on the Western Front from 1917 onward! Yanks to the rescue and all that?

Probably so!

coolbert.