Editing Woodrow Wilson (section)

==== Course of the war ====
{{Main|World War I}}
Under the command of General Pershing, the [[American Expeditionary Forces]] first arrived in France in mid-1917.<ref>Clements (1992), p. 144</ref> Wilson and Pershing rejected the British and French proposal that American soldiers integrate into existing Allied units, giving the United States more freedom of action but requiring for the creation of new organizations and supply chains.<ref>Clements (1992), p. 150</ref> Russia exited the war after signing the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] in March 1918, allowing Germany to shift soldiers from the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]] of the war.<ref name="clements149151">Clements (1992), pp. 149–151</ref> Hoping to break Allied lines before American soldiers could arrive in full force, the Germans launched the [[German spring offensive|Spring Offensive]] on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]. Both sides suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties as the Germans forced back the British and French, but Germany was unable to capture the French capital of [[Paris]].<ref>Berg (2013), p. 474</ref> There were only 175,000 American soldiers in Europe at the end of 1917, but by mid-1918 10,000 Americans were arriving in Europe per day.<ref name="clements149151"/> With American forces having joined in the fight, the Allies defeated Germany in the [[Battle of Belleau Wood]] and the [[Battle of Château-Thierry (1918)|Battle of Château-Thierry]]. Beginning in August, the Allies launched the [[Hundred Days Offensive]], pushing back the exhausted German army.<ref>Berg (2013), pp. 479–481</ref> Meanwhile, French and British leaders convinced Wilson to send a few thousand American soldiers to join the [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War|Allied intervention]] in Russia, which was in the midst of a [[Russian Civil War|civil war]] between the Communist [[Bolsheviks]] and the [[White movement]].<ref>Berg (2013), pp. 498–500</ref>

By the end of September 1918, the German leadership no longer believed it could win the war, and Kaiser [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II]] appointed a new government led by [[Prince Maximilian of Baden]].<ref>Clements (1992), pp. 165–166</ref> Baden immediately sought an armistice with Wilson, with the Fourteen Points to serve as the basis of the German surrender.<ref>Berg (2013), p. 503</ref> [[Edward M. House|House]] procured agreement to the armistice from France and Britain, but only after threatening to conclude a unilateral armistice without them.<ref>Heckscher (1991), pp. 479–488.</ref> Germany and the Allied Powers brought an end to the fighting with the signing of the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918]].<ref>Berg (2013), pp. 511–512</ref> Austria-Hungary had signed the [[Armistice of Villa Giusti]] eight days earlier, while the Ottoman Empire had signed the [[Armistice of Mudros]] in October. By the end of the war, 116,000 American servicemen had died, and another 200,000 had been wounded.<ref>Berg (2013), p. 20</ref>