VII Corps was organized at the end of World War I on 19 August 1918, at Remiremont, France and was inactivated on 11 July 1919.

The VII Corps headquarters was withdrawn from the Organized Reserve on 15 August 1927 and allotted to the Regular Army.

On the same date, the headquarters company, VII Corps, was withdrawn from the Organized Reserve and allotted to the Regular Army.

The corps headquarters was transferred on 25 January 1941 to the Ramsey Building at 19th Street and North E Avenue, Birmingham, Alabama.

In late December 1941, VII Corps headquarters was moved to San Jose, California as part of the Western Defense Command and as it continued to train and prepare for deployment.

VII Corps led the initial assault of Operation Cobra, the First Army-led offensive as part of the breakout of the Normandy area.

Its success is credited with changing the war in France from high-intensity infantry combat to rapid maneuver warfare.

As finally envisaged in the General Defense Plan circa 1989, the 1st Canadian Division with its main headquarters at Kingston, Ontario, would have been assigned to the Commander, Central Army Group's tactical reserve, fighting alongside either the German II Corps or VII Corps.

It consisted of 1,487 tanks, 1,384 infantry fighting vehicles, 568 artillery pieces, 132 MLRS, 8 missile launchers, and 242 attack helicopters.

[14] The 1st Armored Division would head north to engage the Iraqi Republican Guard in the Battle of Medina Ridge.

The cost in lives was 36 US and UK dead; trifling, in terms of expected casualties, for the war the two armies had trained for against the Soviets.

Virtually every manoeuvre battalion in the 1st and 3rd Armored Divisions, 1st Inf Div (M), and 2 ACR received the Valorous Unit Award.

In addition, six of the ten VII Corps manoeuvre brigade headquarters that saw substantial combat against the Republican Guard received the VUA in contravention of the spirit, if not the letter, of AR672-5-1's guidance that "[o]nly on rare occasions will a unit larger than a battalion qualify for award of the VUA.

VII Corps HQ returned to Germany and was disbanded as part of the post-Cold War American defense spending cuts.

A farewell ceremony was held in downtown Stuttgart at Schlossplatz, where the VII Corps colors were retired on 18 March 1992.