WWI Project

  • Ansestry of Arnold S. Hoke by his granddaughter, Patricia A. Munson-Siter

    Ansestry of Arnold S. Hoke by his granddaughter, Patricia A. Munson-Siter
    Arnold Stephen Hoke was born on 20 July 1893 in the train depot for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in Spaulding, Union Country, Iowa. His father, His family spent much of his youth moving back and forth the western section of Iowa. Arnold became a traveling representative covering cities in much of the Western US. After a while, he returned to Red Oak, where he worked in a garage. He then signed up with the Iowa National Guard, Co. “M”, 3rd infantry in 1916.
  • Trench Warfare

    Trench Warfare
    For the common soldier, the defining experience of World War 1 was trench warfare. After the French and British stopped the Germans at the Battle of the Marne, the opposing armies raced to the sea trying to outflank each other, creating a long line of trenches along the way, from Switzerland to the English Channel. Armies dug hundreds of miles of complicated trenches. Soldiers reported that the food was barely edible, healthy hygiene impossible, and basic sanitation nonexistent.
  • WWI, Technology And The Weapons Of War

    WWI, Technology And The Weapons Of War
    One of the most upsetting facts about World War 1 is that millions died needlessly because military and civilian leaders were slow on adapting their old fashioned strategies and tactics to the new weapons of 1914. New technology made the war more horrific than before. The United States and other counties felt the effects of the war for years afterward. When attacks were ordered, Allied soldiers went over the top, climbing out of their trenches, crossing no man's land to reach enemy trenches.
  • WW1, Technology and the weapons of war (continuation)

    WW1, Technology and the weapons of war (continuation)
    Airplanes, products of the new technology. At first, they were used only to observe enemy troops and as their effectiveness became apparent, both sides shot planes down with artillery from the ground and with rifles, pistols, and machine guns from other planes. Chemical warfare was used mostly by Germans. At first, gas was just released from large cylinders and carried by the wind into nearby enemy lines. Phosgene and other gases were loaded into artillery shells and shot into enemy trenches
  • The Events of World War 1

    The Events of World War 1
    On June 28, 1914, Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie Chotek, are murdered. The one who killed them was a hired assassin by Serbia who thought that he belonged to them so they decided to kill him. The killer was identified as the Bosnian Serb nationalist Gavrillo Princip. Soon Austria suspected that Serbia is responsible. Then, on July 28, 1914, Austria declares war on Serbia.
  • The Events of World War 1

    The Events of World War 1
    In August 1914, Germany declares war on Russia, France, and Belgium. Britain then declares war on Germany because of its partnership with the countries Germany declared war on. Austria-Hungary Declares war on Russia. France and Britain soon declare war on Austria-Hungary for declaring war on Russia. America declared neutrality as they didn't want to be involved in the war. More declared war on each other and soon everyone was fighting against each other.
  • The Events of World War 1

    The Events of World War 1
    On September 4, 1914, Germany invaded Belgium but is stopped at the First Battle of the Marne. The plan that Germany organized called the Schlieffen Plan failed during the battle. The First Battle of Ypres occurs; Attempting to outflank each other, Allied and German troops were unable to make a decisive victory. After the Battle of Ypres, it was decided that they would now lead to Trench Warfare. November 5, Britain and France declared war on the Ottoman Empire.
  • The Real Story Of The Christmas Truce

    The Real Story Of The Christmas Truce
    The Christmas Truce has become one of the most famous and mythologized events of the First World War. Late on Christmas Eve 1914, men of the British Expeditionary Force heard German troops in the trenches opposite them singing carols and patriotic songs and saw lanterns and small fir trees along their trenches. The following day, British and German soldiers met in no man’s land and exchanged gifts, took photographs and some played impromptu games of football. Elsewhere the fighting continued.
  • The Events of World War 1

    The Events of World War 1
    After a year has passed, the fighting still continues and the first major event of 1915 was the German zeppelin raids on Great Britain that began, bringing the war home to British civilians which occurred on January 10. By the end of the war, both Allied and Central powers will have used chemical weapons. Although many things have occurred the most important part of the war is when Germany is forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles and the Allied powers win the war.
  • The Zimmerman Telegram

    The Zimmerman Telegram
    In January 1917, British cryptographers deciphered a telegram from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German Minister to Mexico, von Eckhardt, offering United States territory to Mexico in return for joining the German cause. The United States Congress formally declared war on Germany and its allies. Several weeks later, on February 24, the British presented the Zimmermann telegram to the U.S Government to capitalize on growing anti-German sentiment in the United States.
  • Veteran History Project

    Veteran History Project
    After serving in the Iowa National Guard, Arnold Hoke joined the US Army in 1917, he and his wife, Clara Hoke, sat down to record their memories of the Great War. Like so many others, Arnold Hoke was thrust into trench warfare in France with little knowledge of what to expect, and initially without a weapon. He saw every major battle that the Army participated in during WWI, and his straightforward descriptions of the trenches and the men lost.
  • Sergeant Arnold Hoke at the Battle of Chateau-Thierry

    Sergeant Arnold Hoke at the Battle of Chateau-Thierry
    As a member of the National Guard, he took part in the Mexican Campaign of 1916-17. In the Army, he was assigned to Machine Gun Company M of the 168th Infantry Regiment, part of the 42nd Infantry Division. Hoke was promoted to corporal on November 1, 1917. He was promoted to sergeant on April 4, 1918. He saw every major battle that the United States Army participated in during World War 1, Including the Champagne- Marne and the Aisne-Marne Offensives, etc.
  • The League Of Nations, 1920

    The League Of Nations, 1920
    The League of Nations was an international organization, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, created after the First World War. Before the U.S Congress, on January 8, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson enumerated the last of his Fourteen Points, which called for a “general association of nation formed under specific covenants for the purpose of avoiding mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.”
  • #VeteranOfTheDay Arnold Stephen Hoke

    #VeteranOfTheDay Arnold Stephen Hoke
    Arnold served 3 enlistments with the Iowa National Guard and the U.S Army from 1917-1922. He served with the 42nd Infantry Division. His stations of duty included Creston, Iowa; Mexican border, France, Germany; Texas. Arnold was thrust into trench warfare in France with little knowledge of what to expect, and initially without a weapon.
  • Ansestry of Arnold S. Hoke

    Ansestry of Arnold S. Hoke
    Arnold noted that in his tape “Memoirs” that one of the main things all men with him griped about throughout the war was the food - the lack of quantity and quality. Arnold’s grandfather, Albert Dunlap, complained about the same thing in his letter home and his journal from the Civil War.