“The last day of the war provided chilling closure. The ending, in its ferocity, bloodiness, and uselessness, contained the entire war in microcosm. The fighting went on for the hollowest of reasons: no one knew how to stop it.” — Joseph E. Persico Copy Share Image
“Sergeant Powell would never understand what compelled Henry Gunther to rise up and charge the enemy. Gunther had never been seduced by dreams of… — Joseph E. Persico Copy Share Image
“Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Henry Cabot Lodge. Wilson rejected even reasonable compromises, and Lodge refused to budge. Hence, the United States failed to enter… — Joseph E. Persico Copy Share Image
“On December 18, he asked each side to set forth its terms for ending the war. The Allies demanded conditions certain to be unacceptable:… — Joseph E. Persico Copy Share Image
“The last deaths of the Great War on the western front occurred at midnight on the twelfth in Hamont, a Belgian town near the… — Joseph E. Persico Copy Share Image
“German resistance continued to present a hodgepodge of fanaticism amid disorder. A British patrol entering a deserted village east of Valenciennes in the northern… — Joseph E. Persico Copy Share Image
“The imperative of war is to kill, and thus all wars are exercises in sanctioned murder.” — Joseph E. Persico Copy Share Image
“The initial conclusion of the subcommittee was that “needless slaughter” took place on November 11, 1918. However, this finding was beaten back by vocal… — Joseph E. Persico Copy Share Image
“Moltke began to tamper with Schlieffen’s plan. Instead of investing 90 percent of the German Army in the French campaign, as required, he began… — Joseph E. Persico Copy Share Image
“Compounding the horror, German officials committed an act of staggering insensitivity: they struck a commemorative medal with a depiction of the sinking ship on… — Joseph E. Persico Copy Share Image
“constant companions throughout the project: Stanley Weintraub’s A Stillness Heard Round the World, A. J. P. Taylor’s The First World War, John Keegan’s The… — Joseph E. Persico Copy Share Image
“Mustard gas was stubborn, clinging to the ground as long as three days. Heavier than air, it settled into craters and trenches where men… — Joseph E. Persico Copy Share Image
“Barely across the Ourcq, Donovan’s battalion began taking fire from three sides. One bullet grazed Wild Bill’s thigh; another tore off the heel of… — Joseph E. Persico Copy Share Image
“A great many of the Army officers were very fine in the way that they took care of their men. But there were certain… — Joseph E. Persico Copy Share Image
“MacArthur strode before his men, armed only with a riding crop, a cigarette holder clamped jauntily between his teeth, without the slightest suggestion in… — Joseph E. Persico Copy Share Image
