The lecture was delivered to a diverse group of people, including those from Germany and Romania, Feb. 19 in Presidents Hall in ?Franklin Hall.
“American observers very much put the blame of all the atrocities at the hands of the Germans,” Neiberg said.
Neiberg said by taking part in the first world war, the United States was seeking financial opportunity.
He explained, through a colorful chart, the financial gain the U.S. received in just five months.
According to Neiberg, the U.S. went from a recession to having $130.9 million in financial gain as a result of engaging in the war.
Anca Pirnoiu is a student on a full-ride scholarship who came to IU from Romania to study immigrant literature.
Pirnoiu attended Neiberg’s lecture because she was curious to see how Romania was involved in World War I.
“We don’t focus much on the first world war, the attention is still focused on the second world war,” Pirnoiu said. “We don’t look back to where it all started. It’s interesting to step back and look at where it all began.”
Coming from the ?standpoint of literature, Piroiu said it’s interesting to see how these speakers dig into archives to make us aware of how the world wars were built up.
“Coming to these lectures is eye-opening,” Piroiu said. “I’m attracted to this idea of how history developed and to try to make sense of how it happened and what ?happened.”
According to his website, Neiberg’s next book will discuss how Americans reacted to events such as the outbreak of the war and the economic depression that hit the U.S. as a result.
Neiberg ends his lecture with a discussion about a song written by George M. Cohan called “Over There.” The song was released in 1917 and was very popular among the United States’ population, according ?to Neiberg.
Neiberg said the song was performed by many famous artists around the world, including those from Ireland and Italy.
He said America does this through a segregated society.
He points out that the song was never covered by an African-American artist, indicating that the African-American population goes through their own process.
“There’s a lot more going on from the bottom up to understand this war than there is from the top down,” Neiberg said. “Despite our national amnesia about the first world war, there’s still a lot we can learn from it.”
