To the Last Man - Jeff Shaara [391]
Though the treaty is criticized in Washington as being too harsh and in France as being too lenient, the most emotional reaction to its terms is in Germany itself. Though the German government is mired in political chaos, a power struggle between the different factions who seek control of the country, the German people look beyond their own borders and unite behind one distinctive view: the terms of the treaty are brutally humiliating and a permanent assault on German national pride. With the German economy in shambles, starvation breeds fear, which breeds increasing violence. The people begin to unify, driven by their collective anger toward the enemies who have stripped Germany of her kaiser, her military, and her national identity. All that is missing is a voice, a single figure who can channel that anger into a rallying cry, the kind of response that the toothless German government is unable to provide.
As the American troops sail for home, those who had served the German army now look to their futures as well, a future that to many, seems devoid of hope. One man, a corporal, an Austrian serving with the Bavarian reserves, returns home carrying the same despair as so many of the men he has served alongside, a personal despair that festers into a furious cry for vengeance. The cry will come in September 1922, the man issuing a challenge for his nation to fight back, to throw off the abuses of the Treaty of Versailles. The cry will be heard by a desperate people, the man’s gift for oratory inflaming the nation not just toward a path of revenge, but toward the utter destruction of its enemies. His name is Adolf Hitler.
JOHN J. PERSHING
His outspoken opposition to the armistice is seen by Woodrow Wilson and his deputies as an obstacle to their delegate position at the peace conference, and Pershing is never allowed to participate. He returns to the States in September 1919, and is welcomed as a national hero. He is promoted to “General of the Armies,” which makes him the nation’s first five-star general since George Washington. He is appointed army chief of staff in 1921, spends much of his time modernizing the army’s systems and organization. He retires in 1924, enjoys counseling troubled soldiers, and used his considerable influence to assist veterans of the American Expeditionary Force find their way into civilian life. Always dedicated to the proper recognition of his soldiers, he serves on the American Battle Monuments Commission, ensuring that appropriate attention is given to memorializing the efforts of the American army in France.
He is approached by friends who believe he should run for president, but Pershing refuses, freely acknowledges that he is not a man whose temperament is suited for the realities of politics.
In 1932, he publishes his memoirs, titled My Experiences in the First World War, which is awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
Though Pershing maintains a lifelong friendship with George Patton, when the war concludes, Pershing and Patton’s sister Nita do not resume their romance. Pershing’s romantic interests lie with a considerably younger woman named Micheline Resco, whom he meets in France. The relationship carries hints of scandal, and Pershing guards her privacy and his own with zealous secrecy. In the years after the war, he visits her periodically, and they eventually marry. But the couple maintains their privacy, and “Michette” is rarely visible among the social whirlwind that some try to surround him with in Washington.
With the outbreak of the Second World War, President Franklin Roosevelt calls upon Pershing as a trusted adviser, and Pershing recommends that Roosevelt appoint General George C. Marshall to the post of chief of staff. It is one of Roosevelt’s, and the nation’s most fortunate decisions.
Pershing is disappointed when his surviving son, Warren, does not pursue a military career. But with the outbreak of the Second World War, Warren appreciates the nation’s need for a Pershing in uniform, and he joins the army, rising eventually to the rank of major, and participates