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Todays post is shared from the the Library of Congress

As a student of history, I often wonder how many people understand the significance of the date of Veterans Day and why it is always celebrated on the day of the holiday and not, like Labor Day or Memorial Day, observed on a Monday.  The holiday began originally as a commemoration associated with World War I and then expanded to honor veterans of all modern conflicts.   Armistice Day, 1922 – Woodrow Wilson  standing in the doorway of his home .  [Source: Prints and Photographs, Library of Congress] World War I began on July 28, 1914 when the  Austrian-Hungarian empire prepared to invade Serbia in retaliation for the June slaying of the emperor’s heir – Archduke Ferdinand.  Russia entered the war on Serbia’s side while Germany mobilized to help its ally, Austria.  France and Britain, allies of Russia, were also drawn into the conflict and by the fall 1914, the trench warfare that would characterize the Western Front began.   The United States, however, stayed out of World War I for almost three years.  President Wilson waged a successful reelection campaign using the theme “He kept us out of war.” However in 1917 Germany resumed their policy of unrestricted submarine warfare in an attempt to to starve out Britain but American losses brought the United States into the war on April 6, 1917.  The...

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