Others chose to emigrate because they feared the long mandatory military service that many European countries required of their male citizens. ![]() Refugees from Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Serbia, and Turkey fled the Balkan Wars Russians fled the unrest that would culminate in the Russian Revolution and Jews fled for their lives from anti-Semitic pogroms throughout eastern Europe. The precursors to World War I led to an increase in immigration from some regions of Europe. While many Americans appreciated the contributions immigrants made to the labor force and did not feel threatened by ethnic diversity, others were not happy about the large numbers of foreigners arriving on U.S. ![]() Those arriving simply had to pass a medical and legal inspection to show that they would not pose a danger or burden to their new country - and 98% of those arriving at Ellis Island passed. The United States up to this point had an “open door” immigration policy, with no limit on the number of people who could enter the United States. During the decade leading up to the war, an average of 1 million immigrants per year arrived in the United States, with about three-quarters of them entering through the Ellis Island immigration station in New York Harbor. The First World War brought an end to one of the biggest periods of immigration in American history. 1917 poster encouraging immigrants to support the war effort
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