Pershing's Crusaders: The American Soldier in World War I

by Richard Faulkner

Overview

The Great War caught a generation of American soldiers at a turning point in the nation’s history. At the moment of the Republic’s emergence as a key player on the world stage, these were the first Americans to endure mass machine warfare, and the first to come into close contact with foreign peoples and cultures in large numbers. What was it like, Richard S. Faulkner asks, to be one of these foot soldiers at the dawn of the American century? How did the doughboy experience the rigors of training and military life, interact with different cultures, and endure the shock and chaos of combat? The answer can be found in Pershing’s Crusaders, the most comprehensive, and intimate, account ever given of the day-to-day lives and attitudes of the nearly 4.2 million American soldiers mobilized for service in World War I.

Pershing’s Crusaders offers a clear, close-up picture of the doughboys in all of their vibrant diversity, shared purpose, and unmistakably American character. It encompasses an array of subjects from the food they ate, the clothes they wore, their view of the Allied and German soldiers and civilians they encountered, their sexual and spiritual lives, their reasons for serving, and how they lived and fought, to what they thought about their service along every step of the way. Faulkner’s vast yet finely detailed portrait draws upon a wealth of sources—thousands of soldiers’ letters and diaries, surveys and memoirs, and a host of period documents and reports generated by various staff agencies of the American Expeditionary Forces. Animated by the voices of soldiers and civilians in the midst of unprecedented events, these primary sources afford an immediacy rarely found in historical records. Pershing’s Crusaders is, finally, a work that uniquely and vividly captures the reality of the American soldier in WWI for all time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780700623730
Publisher:	University Press of Kansas
Publication date:	03/17/2017
Series:	Modern War Studies
Pages:	784
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.30(h) x 2.00(d)

About the Author

Richard S. Faulkner is a supervisory professor of Military History at the US Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth. He is the author of The School of Hard Knocks: Combat Leadership in the American Expeditionary Forces, which received the 2013 Distinguished Book Award sponsored by the Society for Military History.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations

1. Pershing’s Crusaders: The American Soldiers of the Great War

2. “I Want You for the U.S. Army”: Motivations, Joining Up, and Conscription

3. “Oh How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning”: Life in Training Camps

4. Learning “The Savage Game”: Training in the United States

5. Of “Canned Willie,” “Slum,” and Hard Bread: The Doughboy’s Food

6. Of “Tin Hats,” “Little Tanks,” and Entrenching Tools: The Doughboy’s Clothing and Equipment

7. Be It Ever So Humble: The Doughboys’ Shelter

8. “Good-Bye Broadway, Hello France”: Life on Board Ship for France

9. “The French They Have Their Customs Rare, Parlez-Vous”: The Doughboys and the French and British People

10. Of Trench Guns, Sho-Shos, and Trench Knives: The Doughboy’s Weapons

11. “Oh, the Army, the Army, the Democratic Army, the Jews, the Wops, the Dutch and Irish Cops”: Ethnic Soldiers and African Americans in the AEF

12. The Ninety-Day Wonders and Sam Brownes: The Officers and NCOs of the AEF

13. After England Failed: Tommies, Poilus, and the American Soldiers

14. Harsh Schoolmasters, Devious Huns, and Dejected Prisoners: the Doughboys and the German Soldiers Meet

15. Training and Trenches in France

16. “Mother, Take Down Your Service Flag, Your Son’s in the S.O.S.”: Life in the Services of Supply and the Rear Area

17. “How ‘Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm, after They’ve Seen Paree?”: Sex, Sin, and Temptation in the AEF

18. ÜSky Pilots,” “Holy Joes,” and the Doughboy’s Religion

19. The Longest Hours: Preparing for Battle

20. The Big Show: The Doughboy in Combat

21. “The Cavalry, the Artillery, the Lousy Engineers”: The Artilleryman, Tankers, Combat Engineers, and Signalmen in Battle

22. Restless Young Men with Guns: Morale and Discipline

23. CC Pills, Going West, and the Hen-flew-End-Ways: The Sick, the Wounded, and the Dead

24. “And We’ll All Go Back ‘Cause It’s Over, Over Here”: The Armistice, Occupation Duty, and Returning Home

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

"This book is not only a fascinating read but also a seminal volume to keep as a reference and a reminder of how things were for Pershing’s Doughboys."—Roads to the Great War

"[No book] will be more important to our understanding of the U.S. Soldier during WWI than Richard Faulkner’s Pershing’s Crusaders. It is unquestionably a book which will be of huge benefit and appeal for years to come. It is a special book which is a valuable addition t the scholarship of the Great War."—Infantry

"A book that serves both as an indispensable starting point for anyone who wants to learn about the American soldier in World War I and a valuable, well-organized reference work to which readers can return to learn more about any aspect of the doughboys’ service."—Army History

"Magisterial in its scope, the book realizes the author’s intentions of presenting both a snapshot of Americans caught up in their first global war and a remarkably intimate overview of their experiences at home and over there."—Journal of American History

"Must reading for all students of World War I, the Progressive Era, and particularly the lives of American soldiers at a defining moment of the twentieth century."—Michigan War Studies Review

"The scope of the work, the depth of [Faulkner’s] research, and the entertaining prose make Pershing’s Crusaders indispensable to anyone with an interest in World War I."—Journal of Military History

". . . intensely thought-provoking and at times powerfully emotional. . . . One does not need to be a historian to enjoy and again insight into what is essentially a human story. A must read."—On Point: The Journal of Army History

"One hundred years after the United States entered World War I, we have an extremely well researched and detailed account written by an Army veteran and World War I scholar about doughboys."—Military Review

"This book has no rival in the WWI genre. [It] gives readers a unique insight into the daily lives of the soldiers from beginning to end. Essential."—Choice

"Faulkner has produced an excellent account of the life and service of the soldiers and marines of the Great War. This is an impressive work, covering all aspects of the American military experience, both at home and at the Front. . . an indispensable work for anyone interested in the conflict or the history of American mobilization."—New York Military Affairs Symposium Review

"A magnificent overview of the great national experiment represented by the American Expeditionary Forces. Combining the best methods of military history with interesting statistics and sociological techniques, Faulkner covers virtually every conceivable aspect of the doughboys’ experience, from their motivation for military service to their experiences in battle to their unbridled exhilaration on seeing the Statue of Liberty on their return to New York Harbor."—Military History Quarterly

"Overall, the portrait is objective, providing balanced accounts of the war effort. Faulkner gives readers a better understanding of the doughboys and a greater appreciation of the endeavors undertaken to fight and achieve victory."—Library Journal (starred review)

"There is still a great deal that we do not know about the American soldiers of World War I. Faulkner has done an admirable job of closing that gap and giving us the best analysis yet of who these men were, what they experienced, and why it matters."—Michael S. Neiberg, author of Dance of the Furies: Europe and the Outbreak of World War I

"Faulkner corrects many misconceptions that continue to cloud doughboy identity by providing readers with the most nuanced portrait of the World War I American soldier in print. Faulkner stresses that he strived to offer an account of the doughboy that would honor Bell Irvin Wiley’s classic studies on the Civil War soldier. He has succeeded."—Edward A. Gutiérrez, author of Doughboys on the Great War: How American Soldiers Viewed Their Military Experience

"This is the book that readers fascinated by the American experience of World War I have been waiting for—an encyclopedic, vividly written account of what it was like to be an American soldier one-hundred years ago. Faulkner shows us what the doughboys of 1918 ate and wore, where they slept, how they were trained and armed, and how they fared in combat against a more experienced adversary. This superb book, an instant classic on par with Bell Irvin Wiley’s The Life of Johnny Reb and The Life of Billy Yank, is the closest thing to being there."— Steven Trout, editor of Scarlet Fields: The Combat Memoir of a World War I Medal of Honor Hero

“In recent decades scholars have critically examined the AEF as a combat force, but we've been waiting for nearly a century for a thorough, deeply researched, authoritative social history of that massive, path-breaking army. Richard S. Faulkner has finally provided it. This superb study is absolutely essential reading for anyone interested in America's first great expeditionary army.” —Mark E. Grotelueschen, author of The AEF Way of War: The American Army and Combat in World War I

"At last, scholars and enthusiasts of the First World War have a solidly researched, top to bottom and beginning to end study of the Doughboy in the form of Faulkner’s superb and engaging work. Everyone will find something of interest in Pershing’s Crusaders, much of it never studied before; but the author scores particularly in his intriguing analysis of how American soldiers interacted with their friends (French and British) and enemies (Germans). This work is certain to define our understanding of the Doughboys for many years to come."—Edward G. Lengel, author of Thunder and Flames: Americans in the Crucible of Combat, 1917–1918

"Richard Faulkner’s all-encompassing and deeply researched study of the World War I doughboy is superb, a magnificent work that probes every aspect of the American soldier's existence in the Great War, and it appears appropriately just in time to honor the centennial of U.S. entry into the war in 1917."—John H. Morrow, Jr., author of Harlem’s Rattlers and the Great War: The Undaunted 369th Regiment and the African American Quest for Equality

From the Publisher

★ 03/15/2017
Faulkner (military history, U.S. Army Command and General Staff Coll.) analyzes all facets of the American doughboys who served during World War I. Rather than a chronological study or traditional survey, Faulkner's work is more of an "anthropological study," looking at the interactions and motivations of junior officers and enlisted men. Chapters describe various experiences, including the selective service process and the voyage to France, along with other aspects, such as training, food, medical care, pay, clothing, equipment, weapons, and shelter. Also described is the perception of allied, enemy, and fellow American soldiers. Significant care is taken to depict the treatment of African American soldiers, including their interactions with French residents and within the U.S. Army. Overall, the portrait is objective, providing balanced accounts of the war effort. Faulkner gives readers a better understanding of the doughboys and a greater appreciation of the endeavors undertaken to fight and achieve victory. VERDICT A solid, well-researched work that should appeal to anyone interested in learning more about the American soldier during World War I.—Matthew Wayman, Pennsylvania State Univ. Lib., Schuylkill Haven

Library Journal