A Study On The Assimilation Process Of German-americans During The First World War

Although the First World War did not spread to the United States,the Americans were affected strongly by it.As Americans were afraid of the bad effects of war on themselves,isolationism had always been overshadowing on their mind.The German-Americans,as “Model Ethnic”,had suffered from being forced to assimilation the First World War.Meanwhile,the “one hundred percent Americanization” movement had developed to a climax.In the Pre-World War I period,German Immigrants had experienced migration to the USA for two times.During the early 17 th century to the 1830 s,German immigrants were mainly Religious Bodies,escaping to the USA for avoiding religious persecution.There were also a large number of peasants fleeing from home in the reason of evading war and military service.The peak of the number of Germans immigrating to the United States aroused from the 1830 s to the 1890 s.The main reason why the Germans emigrated to the United States during this period was the economy.After the two industrial revolutions,with rapid development of industrialization and urbanization,the United States requires massive labors.Contrarily,due to the formation of the world economic system,the family handicraft industry in German States had been completely destroyed,accompanied with a large number of unemployed people.After the1890 s,with the development of Germany's own industrialization and the restrictions on immigration in the United States,the number decreased gradually.Generally speaking,the German immigrants in the United States before the First World War consisted mainly of two parts.One was composed of religious people represented by various Religious Bodies,and the other was comprised of secular people represented by other communities and societies.They were both connected and independent,but they had not formed a unified German community.The process of integrating into American society was slow,but the German Immigrants still worked actively in their unique way.The Collinsville Incident occurred in the April 1918 was the worst persecution happened to German-Americans during the First World War.The incident that German alien Robert Prager lynched by a mob was not isolated and singled.Nationwide,the persecution of German-Americans that happened in the United Statesafter the war,with the superpatriotic hysteria of American Society,the number of it had shown a rising trend.During the neutral period of the United States before the war,there was a serious disagreement about whether the United States participated in the war and the military aid with the Central Powers between the German-Americans and the mainstream American society.German-Americans tried to maintain the neutrality,while the attitude of the president,based American government was gradually turning to the war.When the United States entered the war,the government set up many unofficial Conference of Patriots and Committee of Defense serving for the war and persecuted the German Americans who did not buy liberty bonds or German spies that just suspected.What's more,the culture and lifestyle of German-Americans had been greatly damaged during this period and its influence on American society was far less than Pre-First World War period.During the Great War,German-Americans were subjected to such large-scale persecution,which was related to the exclusiveness of German culture in the United States,and with the National German-American Alliance for the intensification of the contradictions,as well as the "One Hundred Americanism" movement of the United States during this period.And thus,it led to the forced assimilation of German-Americans in World War I.