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R E S O L U T I O N
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WHEREAS, On November 11, 2018, this nation is commemorating |
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the centennial of the end of World War I, one of the greatest |
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conflicts in human history, and one in which Texans distinguished |
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themselves through their patriotism, courage, and dedication to |
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duty; and |
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WHEREAS, Between 1914 and 1918, the Allied Powers, ultimately |
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composed chiefly of the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and the |
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United States, engaged in a titanic struggle against the Central |
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Powers, whose members included Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, |
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and the Ottoman Empire; in Europe, where most of the fighting took |
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place, combat soon devolved into the brutal stalemate of trench |
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warfare, subjecting troops on both sides to months on end of mud and |
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disease, as they faced each other across the blasted ground between |
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the trenches known as "No Man's Land"; and |
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WHEREAS, World War I was the first conflict to see the |
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widespread use of machine guns, combat aircraft, tanks, submarines, |
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and biological and chemical weapons; especially in the early years |
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of the war, the deadly combination of 20th-century technology and |
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19th-century military tactics resulted in unprecedented carnage; |
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battles dragged on for months, with the Battle of the Somme, between |
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July and November 1916, claiming more than 1.5 million men killed or |
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wounded; and |
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WHEREAS, The United States entered World War I in April 1917, |
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and the State of Texas played a significant role in the American war |
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effort; members of the Texas National Guard formed the core of the |
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famed 36th Infantry Division, also known as the Texas Division, |
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which fought in the Meuse-Argonne offensive in October 1918; nearly |
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200,000 Texans took part in the war, including 450 Texas women who |
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served as nurses, and many other Americans received their training |
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in the Lone Star State; a number of present-day airports across |
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Texas were originally established as training fields for World War |
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I aviators; and |
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WHEREAS, By the end of the war on November 11, 1918, four |
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million Americans had served in the victorious Allied war effort, |
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and more than 116,700 had made the ultimate sacrifice, including |
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over 5,000 Texans; today, their service is honored by memorials |
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across the state and by the World War I monument on the grounds of |
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the State Capitol; a particularly special memorial is the "Merci |
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Boxcar" at Camp Mabry in Austin, one of 49 railway cars presented to |
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each American state and, jointly, to the District of Columbia and |
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the territory of Hawaii, by France in 1949, in gratitude for the |
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provision of relief supplies after World War II and for the service |
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of Americans on French soil in World Wars I and II; such boxcars |
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were well-known to the many American veterans of both wars who rode |
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in them for as long as a week at a time, as they traveled to or from |
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the battlefront; and |
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WHEREAS, The effects of the Great War were far reaching; |
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roughly 15 to 18 million people perished during the conflict, |
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including as many as 8 million civilians; in addition, the defeat of |
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the Central Powers resulted in the dismantling of the German, |
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Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires, while the Russian Empire |
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dissolved with the overthrow of the czar in 1917, during a |
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revolution stoked, in part, by that country's disastrous wartime |
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experience; the end of the war also saw the debut of the United |
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States as a global power, one whose citizen-soldiers had answered |
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the call to duty in defense of the principles of liberty, |
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self-determination, and a just peace; now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 85th Texas |
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Legislature hereby commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of |
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World War I. |