Page 116 - Heavenly Signs III by Mel Gable

114

June 8, 1918 Total Solar Eclipse as viewed above Southern California

This is not the apparent Wrath of God as seen in the heavens on August 21, 2017. We need to look at history to
see what occurred prior to and after the eclipse of 1918. It was World War I. World War I (WWI) was a global
war that was centered in Europe. It began on July 28, 1914 and lasted until November 11, 1918. It was our pride
that kept us from initially going to war. It was followed by the Great Depression that lasted from 1929 - 1941.

At the outbreak of the war, the United States pursued a policy of non-intervention trying to avoid conflict.
However, when a German U-boat sank the British liner RMS Lusitania on May 7, 1915, there were 128
Americans among the dead. President Woodrow Wilson insisted that “America is too proud to fight” but demanded
an end to attacks on passenger ships. Germany complied. Wilson also repeatedly warned that the United States
would not tolerate unrestricted submarine warfare which was in violation of international law. Wilson was
narrowly reelected in 1916 as his supporters emphasized “he kept us out of war.” On January 1917, Germany
resumed unrestricted submarine warfare realizing it would mean American entry. The German Foreign Minister
in the Zimmermann Telegram invited Mexico to join the war as Germany's ally against the United States. In
return, the Germans would finance Mexico's war and help it recover the territories of Texas, New Mexico, and
Arizona. After the sinking of seven U.S. merchant ships by submarines Wilson changed his mind. Wilson called
for war on Germany which the U.S. Congress declared on April 6, 1917.
190

The United States was never formally a member of the Allies but became a self-styled “Associated Power.” The
United States had a small army and wasn’t prepared for War. But, after the passage of the Selective Service Act it
drafted 2.8 million men. By the summer 1918, it was sending 10,000 fresh soldiers to France everyday. Germany
had miscalculated, believing it would be many more months before American soldiers would arrive and that their
arrival could be stopped by U-boats. United States intervention in the war as well as the Wilson administration
itself became deeply unpopular. Congress passed laws to preserve U.S. neutrality in any future conflict.
191

190 Roger Chickering, Stig Förster, Bernd Greiner, German Historical Institute (Washington, D.C.) (2005). "A world at total war:
global conflict and the politics of destruction, 1937–1945". Cambridge University Press.

191 "Selective Service System: History and Records". Sss.gov.