World War I

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in August 1914 put into motion the events that would lead the United States to declare war on Germany in April. Thus began World War I (WWI), a conflict that claimed the lives of more than 16 million people. Campus quickly mobilized in response to the declaration. This response included establishing a unit of the Reserve Officers' Training Corp. (ROTC) in 1917 and the Student Army Training Corps (SATC) in 1918. More than 3,000 people from across the country were trained through SATC. By the conclusion of the war in 1918, more than 9,000 Badgers had served their country during WWI, with nearly 200 of those killed during active duty.