Pursuit of an "Unparalleled Opportunity"

In Early 1915, the American YMCA sent representatives to negotiate access to military prison camps in England, France, and Germany. The Germans agreed to their terms on the condition that the British, French, and Russians accept similar arrangements. Thus began a process of reciprocity in which the YMCA would come to sign POW-access agreements with the governments of Britain, France, Russia, Serbia, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania. Scant attention has been paid to the contribution of nongovernmental organizations to American neutrality and foreign policy-making during World War I. In this book, Kenneth A. Steuer rectifies this oversight by examining the welfare services provided by neutral organizations during the Great War.