Toward the Great War

As geographic neighbors, the United States and Mexico have experienced varying tension ever since each country was colonized, gained independence, and solidified its boundaries. Between the American Civil War and World War I, the U.S. Army conducted a wide variety of operations on the Mexican border that contributed heavily to the Army's organization, doctrine, and training as it entered World War I. This study examines defining characteristics and operations of the United States Army at the end of the American Civil War, when the deactivation of the Union Army combined with multiple mandates and drastic cuts forced adaptation to high demands in ambiguous environments. This study then examines characteristics and operations of the Army during two interventions in the Mexican Revolution, to include the occupation of Veracruz in 1914 and the Punitive Expedition in 1916. This study examines these operations and their effects on the Army as it radically expanded to meet the demands of World War I, which the Army entered only months after the last incursion into Mexico, by linking the U.S. Army of World War I to its previous operations in Mexico.