The U.S. entered World War 1 on April 6, 1917, only 1 year and 7 months before the war ended. In total, over 4.8 million men and women served in the U.S. armed forces, which is just over half the number raised by Britain and France each.
The lower number of service men and women as well as its late entry show that the war was of less importance to the U.S. as it was to the other countries in the Allied Forces. The mere fact that the U.S. had the man power to send over a group of artists for the sole purpose of documenting the war shows that the U.S. was not devastated by the fighting like Europe was.
It is also important to remember that before the war the U.S. was firmly entrenched in isolationism, it had little concern for what the rest of the world was doing. Joining a global conflict was uncharacteristic of the U.S. and was not very popular amongst its citizens. This is reflected in the art work done by the AEF as not a single piece shows any dead bodies. This is likely because the U.S. government did not want the American public to reflect on it's sons dying for a war that they did not want to be a part of.
Rounding Up German Prisoners in a Recaptured Village on the Marne by George Harding
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