Volume II of III This volume is sub-titled The Battle of St Mihiel, and covers St Mihiel, Pont a Mouson and Metz. The first 18 pages provide the historical background, how the St Mihiel salient was formed in September 1914 and how it was eventually eliminated four years later, in September 1918. Details of the American forces (corps and divisions) involved are given with photos of some of their commanders. Then follow the outlines of three guided tours round the battlefields with comments on the scenes of interest and accounts of the fighting. The first tour covers Verdun to Commercy, via Calonne trench, Eparges, Apremont Forest, Ailly Wood and St Mihiel, including a visit to the latter. The next trip goes from Commercy to Metz, via Pont a Mousson and including a visit to Pretre Wood where there was heavy fighting from Sep 1914 to May 1915 when it finally passed into French hands and remained there. It ends with a tour of Metz. The third tour runs from Metz to Verdun via Etain, the main place of interest visited on this leg which does not take in the Verdun battlefield. Good maps and battlefield photos all make this an interesting piece of WWI history.
Choice Magazine Outstanding Academic Titles of the Year for 2017 "A uniquely colorful chronicle of this dramatic and convulsive chapter in American--and world--history. It's an epic tale, and here it is wondrously well told." --David M. Kennedy, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author of FREEDOM FROM FEAR From August 1914 through March 1917, Americans were increasingly horrified at the unprecedented destruction of the First World War. While sending massive assistance to the conflict's victims, most Americans opposed direct involvement. Their country was immersed in its own internal struggles, including attempts to curb the power of business monopolies, reform labor practices, secure proper treatment for millions of recent immigrants, and expand American democracy. Yet from the first, the war deeply affected American emotions and the nation's commercial, financial, and political interests. The menace from German U-boats and failure of U.S. attempts at mediation finally led to a declaration of war, signed by President Wilson on April 6, 1917. America and the Great War commemorates the centennial of that turning point in American history. Chronicling the United States in neutrality and in conflict, it presents events and arguments, political and military battles, bitter tragedies and epic achievements that marked U.S. involvement in the first modern war. Drawing on the matchless resources of the Library of Congress, the book includes many eyewitness accounts and more than 250 color and black-and-white images, many never before published. With an introduction by Pulitzer Prize–winning historian David M. Kennedy, America and the Great War brings to life the tempestuous era from which the United States emerged as a major world power.
The Great War’s bitter outcome left the experience largely overlooked and forgotten in American history. This timely book is a reexamination of America’s first global experience as we commemorate WWI's centennial. The U.S. steered clear of the Great War for more than two years, but President Woodrow Wilson reluctantly led the divided country into the conflict with the goal of making the world “safe for democracy.” The country assumed a global role for the first time and attempted to build the foundations for world peace, only to witness the experience go badly awry and it retreated into isolationism.The Great War was the first continent-wide conflagration in a century, and it drew much of the world into its fire. By the end, four empires and their royal houses had fallen, communism was unleashed, the map of the Middle East was redrawn, and the United States emerged as a global power—only to withdraw from the world’s stage.The United States was disillusioned with what it achieved in the earlier war and withdrew into itself. Americans have tried to forget about it ever since. The Great War in America presents an opportunity to reexamine the country’s role on the global stage and the tremendous political and social changes that overtook the nation because of the war.
Vol III of III This final volume deals with the Meuse-Argonne battlefields. The background history goes back in time and gives a brief account of the Argonne campaign of 1792 against the Prussians before coming on to the Great War, covering the 1914-1918 fighting in the next twenty-two pages supported by good maps and battlefield photos. Then follow details of two guided tours round the scenes of the fighting, the first starts from Verdun and takes in Buzancy, Varennes, Vauquois, Clermont-en-Argonne and Sainte Menehould, some 155 km. The fighting at Vauquois is described in detail and the ravaged state of that battlefield is still very evident today. The next trip, 130 km, starts out from Sainte Menehould and goes on to Varennes, Montfaucon, Grandpre, Vienne-le-Chateau, La Gruerie Wood, Le Four de Paris,La Hayte Chevanchee and La Chalade. There are excellent accounts of the fighting in the areas covered by the tours. These three volumes together add up to a good, well illustrated record of the Americans in France.
Volume I of III This admirable account of the part played by the American army on the Western Front is in three volumes. This first volume is concerned with the Second Battle of the Marne covering the period May-August 1918 and the first forty or so pages provides an historical background to the fighting, supported by good, clear maps and interesting photographs. The rest of the book is taken up with a three-day battlefield tour with a map for each day, taking in Chateau Thierry, Belleau Wood, Soissons, Fismes and all places of interest in between with an account of any actions. The tour ends back in Paris.
As in the two preceding volumes of “Americans in the Great War,” no attempt is made in this third volume to describe the military engagements in great detail. It was thought better to illustrate the ruin and devastation caused by the great struggle, rather than to dwell too long on the actual hostilities. This object has been attained by securing a great number of carefully selected and exclusive photographs and maps, all of which are published in this volume, together with necessary descriptive text. Like its predecessors this volume is not a military treatise but a guide book. Nevertheless, it is the duty of the author as well as a great pleasure to hesitate long enough at this moment to say a word in appreciation of the invaluable service rendered to France and to civilization by the valiant American soldiers. It was during the period covered in the pages following that the American Army reached its maximum fighting strength, and achieved its greatest military triumphs. The splendid fighting spirit of the troops was remarked by all, and their fine comradeship, both on the firing line and at rest, won the widest possible admiration. Furthermore, the seasoned military experts who had been engaged in the war for four long years were amazed to discover with what remarkable rapidity the American soldiers and their high spirited officers had adapted themselves to the art of war. In the words of Marshal Foch: “As for the American troops you may tell your people that they are admirable. They can be reproached only with going ahead too fast!” The Meuse-Argonne campaign ended with the signing of the Armistice on November 11, 1918. Marshal Joffre in a speech of thanksgiving said: “I am proud to have been the sponsor of the noble American Army, which has been the determining cause of our present victory.
When the United States of America declared war on Germany, it was not known exactly what shape their intervention would take—i.e., if their help would be limited to aiding the Allies financially and industrially and tightening the blockade, or if they would take an active part in the military operations. Opinions on this point were much divided, and if many were in favour of an unrestricted participation in the war, others were for a more moderate programme. When, at the beginning of April, 1917, President Wilson announced that America’s help was to be unrestricted, the army of the United States comprised some 9,000 officers and 200,000 men—a mere “drop in the ocean,” as numbers go in modern warfare. Marshal Joffre’s visit to the United States aroused great enthusiasm; the Conscription Bill was promptly passed, and the American War Minister, Mr. Baker, and Marshal Joffre studied the organization and transportation to France of a powerful expeditionary force. With wonderful rapidity recruits were raised, regiments formed, and training camps built. French and British instructors co-operated heartily, and, pending the creation of national war factories, France equipped the first American army with her famous 75mm. guns, 155mm. howitzers, machine-guns, etc. By March, 1918, the American Army had grown to more than 110,000 officers and 1,400,000 men, with sixteen immense training camps, besides special technical schools and up-to-date aviation camps. When, on March 28, in the name of the American people, General Pershing offered to place the whole of the forces under his command at the disposal of Marshal Foch, who had just been made “Generalissimo of the Allied Armies,” part of the new American army had already landed in France, and several divisions were facing the enemy on the Lorraine front. Meanwhile, the American Army continued to grow apace. In August, thirty-two divisions of fighting troops, besides the staffs of the non-combatant services—in all, more than 1,300,000 men—had landed in France. In October this number had swelled to 1,700,000, while more than 2,000,000 men were training in American camps. The German U-boats failed to check America’s gigantic effort for the “New Crusade,” and each month 250,000 American soldiers reached France, with their arms, equipment, and baggage. It was estimated that in 1919 the American forces in the field would be numerically equal to the entire German army. The victorious termination of the war prevented this formidable American army from demonstrating its full strength, but that portion which took part in the fighting gave ample proof of its mettle. Long before the United States declared war, American Red Cross and aviation volunteers had proved the fine qualities of the American soldier. The expectations of the Allies were fulfilled; wherever they fought the American expeditionary forces gave a good account of themselves. “We have come to kill and be killed, so let’s go ahead,” declared Generals Pershing and Bliss when, on March 28, they gallantly offered to lead their troops into battle. And it is a fact that their men did “go ahead” with a fine contempt for death.
How does a democratic government conscript citizens, turn them into soldiers who can fight effectively against a highly trained enemy, and then somehow reward these troops for their service? In Doughboys, the Great War, and the Remaking of America, Jennifer D. Keene argues that the doughboy experience in 1917–18 forged the U.S. Army of the twentieth century and ultimately led to the most sweeping piece of social-welfare legislation in the nation's history—the G.I. Bill. Keene shows how citizen-soldiers established standards of discipline that the army in a sense had to adopt. Even after these troops had returned to civilian life, lessons learned by the army during its first experience with a mass conscripted force continued to influence the military as an institution. The experience of going into uniform and fighting abroad politicized citizen-soldiers, Keene finally argues, in ways she asks us to ponder. She finds that the country and the conscripts—in their view—entered into a certain social compact, one that assured veterans that the federal government owed conscripted soldiers of the twentieth century debts far in excess of the pensions the Grand Army of the Republic had claimed in the late nineteenth century.
Like See No Evil and At the Center of the Storm, this is a vivid and gripping account of the Central Intelligence Agency, a life of secrets, and a war in the shadows. Called the "Bob Gates of his generation" by Politico, Michael Morell was a top CIA officer who played a critical role in the most important counterterrorism events of the past two decades. Morell was by President Bush's side on 9/11/01 when terrorists struck America and in the White House Situation Room advising President Obama on 5/1/11 when America struck back-killing Usama bin Ladin. From the subway bombings in London to the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Morell always seemed to find himself on the cusp of history. A superb intelligence analyst and briefer, Morell now presents The Great War of Our Time, where he uses his talents to offer an unblinking and insightful assessment of CIA's counterterrorism successes and failures of the past twenty years and, perhaps most important, shows readers that the threat of terrorism did not die with Bin Ladin in Abbottabad. Morell illuminates new, growing threats from terrorist groups that, if unaddressed, could leave the country vulnerable to attacks that would dwarf 9/11 in magnitude. He writes of secret, back-channel negotiations he conducted with foreign spymasters and regime leaders in a desperate attempt to secure a peaceful outcome to unrest launched during the "Arab Spring." Morell describes how efforts to throw off the shackles of oppression have too often resulted in broken nation states unable or unwilling to join the fight against terrorism. Along the way Morell provides intimate portraits of the leadership styles of figures ranging from Presidents Bush and Obama, CIA directors Tenet, Goss, Hayden, Petraeus, Panetta, and Brennan, and a host of others.
