The Great War: August 20, 1918

Today we know that the centennial of the end of World War I is just a few months away. The armistice that ended the fighting was signed on November 11, 1918. But in August 1918, it wasn't clear to anyone that the war was nearing an end. The United States had just upped the age of legibility for the draft to 45, and for the first time men who were fathers could be drafted. Remarkable to us a century later, at least to those of us who are not World War I historians, there were predictions that the war would continue for at least another year. A hundred years ago today, on August 20, 1918, the following appeared on the front page of the Columbia Republican.

At the bottom of the front page of the Columbia Republican for August 20, 1918, as was true of every front page of the weekly paper during this time, there was a picture of the latest batch of inductees, posed on the steps of the courthouse.

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