After the end of the war, several agencies would cooperate to try to reduce or eliminate these sicknesses in Arkansas and other states. Meanwhile, physical examinations of prospective soldiers revealed chronic health problems in Arkansas, including hookworm, pellagra, and venereal diseases. Colleges and universities in Arkansas struggled to remain open while most of their students went off to fight Reserve OfficersвЂ™ Training Corps (ROTC) programs often provided the best source of income for institutions of higher education in Arkansas during the war years. Robinson) in North Little Rock (Pulaski County) and Eberts Field in Lonoke County. The sudden enlistment of thousands of Arkansans into the military caused a labor shortage in Arkansas, even as new job opportunities were being provided in the construction of Camp Pike (now Camp Joseph T. Lead and zinc mining increased dramatically in Arkansas during the war years, and a factory in Helena (Phillips County) employed hundreds of workers who crafted rifle stocks from local hardwoods. Armies needed cotton for uniforms and bandages, increasing the prices paid to cotton growers in Arkansas. By June 5, 1917, a total of 149,207 Arkansans had registered (only about 600 eligible men failed to register) after the age limit was increased to forty-five the next year, 199,857 Arkansans had registered.Д®ven before the United States entered the war, the fighting in Europe and elsewhere was affecting Arkansas. Army, and all men aged twenty-one to thirty were required to register for military service. The Arkansas National Guard was incorporated into the U.S. Among the reasons for this change in policy was the fact that American ships had been sunk by German submarines, which were attempting to enforce a blockade of the British Isles. In spite of this, however, Wilson committed the United States to the alliance that included France and Great Britain when war was declared on Germany on April 6, 1917, less than a month after the inauguration that began his second term. When he ran for reelection in 1916, Woodrow Wilson reminded voters that he had kept the United States out of war. Arkansas soldiers were sent to New Mexico in 1916 to serve as part of a border guard, although they remained on United States territory and did not engage in any fighting. Aside from its traditional isolationist attitude, the United States was also more concerned about civil war in neighboring Mexico than it was with fighting on other continents. When the war first began, the United States and its government were determined to remain outside the hostilities. The war also brought about new military technology, including barbed wire, machine guns, poisoned gas, armored vehicles, and the increasingly efficient use of submarines and airplanes for military purposes.

The war changed governments in Germany and Austria-as well as Russia, with a revolution that created the Soviet Union. Generally called the вЂњGreat WarвЂќ at the time, it involved fifteen nations sending roughly 65 million soldiers into combat, of which 8.5 million were killed, 21 million were injured, and 7.7 million were captured or missing. The Balkan region of southeastern Europe-which had been part of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Austrian Empire-was seeking independence with the encouragement of the Russian government the assassination of Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914, ignited a summer of conflict in Europe and Africa, combat that would involve the United States and last more than four years. World War I was the result of many complex factors, including a network of alliances linking the larger powers in Europe and the growing power of nationalism in some regions of the world.

Still, World War I did deplete the young male population of the state for a time, brought new institutions into the state that continue to the present time, and gave many Arkansans a new view of the world and of ArkansasвЂ™s place in an increasingly connected world community. World War I had less impact on the state of Arkansas than the Civil War or World War II.

Company of heroes the great war 1918