"Women Always Drew the Short Straw": Military Power and Sexual Exploitation in the American Occupation of Koblenz, 1918–1923

Abstract

D e s p i t e t h e U n i t e D s t a t e s repeatedly occupying foreign territory militarily from the early nineteenth century, participation in the Allies’ post–World War I occupation of the German Rhineland had special importance. Conducted to enforce the armistice during peace negotiations and German demilitarization thereafter, that occupation was the first time that American forces had been stationed in Europe, had operated within an international coalition, or had controlled territory of another great power. American participation has nonetheless received little scholarly attention. The consensus has been, following Keith Nelson, that American rule was “benign.” This article explores some of the more difficult realities of German-American relations, particularly, the sexual economy created by martial rule and Germany’s economic distress.