To the Last Man - Jeff Shaara [384]
“I should like to have seen my troops marching into Berlin.”
“You would have taken the war into Germany? At what cost? A million American lives? Two or three more years of war? Forgive me, my friend, but you are being naÏve. You would suggest that we continue this war until there is some conclusion that is satisfactory only to generals? Who would have gone with you? France and England are as defeated as the Germans, have suffered as much. I should not have to instruct you on basic military wisdom, John. Never underestimate your enemy. The Germans would have defended their homeland with far greater passion than they defended the lands they had conquered from us. If Foch would have sent all of our troops across the Rhine, then all those political factions that still threaten to destroy the German government would have suddenly had a reason to unite. Instead of the kaiser, they would have had a new enemy. You. The German people would have rallied around their troops. The workers would have returned to their factories. There would have been snipers on every rooftop, mines on every roadway.”
Pershing appreciated Joffre’s candor, was feeling embarrassed now. “I cannot argue with what you say. But it still frustrates me. How else is a general to see it? We had them defeated on every front, but we were not allowed to complete the task. There may be a price to pay for that. A price for you to pay. Germany still believes France to be her enemy, and no matter how many years pass, you will still have your common border, and you must still maintain a military presence there.”
“That is not your problem, John. It is time for you and Pétain and Haig to step aside, and hand the world over to the men with the papers, the men who redraw the maps and write the treaties. It has always been, and it will always be. Soldiers make terrible diplomats, and you know very well that when peace comes to a free land, soldiers are simply in the way. Men like you are an uncomfortable reminder that peace is fragile, temporary, that even in the best of times, prosperity must be protected by men with guns.”
“If the peace is temporary, it will be because we were not allowed to eliminate the enemy’s ability to make war.”
“You must step back, John. You must see this war as the civilians see it. Strategy and tactics mean nothing to people who have lost their sons, their homes, their villages. The woman who has seen her husband’s mutilated body will care very little for which political principle is worth standing up for. Do not forget, John. Nations fight wars, not armies. It is the leaders who start wars, whether they are civilian or military, whether they be presidents or kings or dictators. You and I are merely the tools they use. Your president is an idealist, a man who sees the world as he wishes it to be. Is not a world without war better than one with such a horror? It matters not to the idealist who prevails on the battlefield. President Wilson believes he has a duty to change our world so that it is a better place for all mankind. I doubt he will succeed, but I applaud him for believing it is possible.”
“So who is more naÏve? He is my president and I obey him, and I suppose I even respect him. But I don’t believe he understands war. I don’t believe he understands that to some people, war is the preferred state, the only means to an end. Germany caused this war for no other reason than it was their desire to do so. How many wars have begun for no greater purpose than hatred of a neighbor, or a desire to grab a piece of land?”
“John, perhaps your president understands the lessons of this war, lessons that we should all have learned. The world has never seen anything like this before. The suffering and the destruction went far beyond what anyone could predict, what any nation has ever endured. We must hope that this time the leaders have been sufficiently horrified by the price of their arguments, that they have learned a lesson from what it can cost to have an enemy. I cannot imagine in my