What if World War I Had Kept Going? On Nov. 14, 1918, American Expeditionary Force artillery spoke once more. Hundreds of American 75mm guns hammered German positions on the east bank of the River Meuse. After a barrage lasting half an hour, tens of thousands of Doughboys went over the top. Gen. John J. Pershing’s grand offensive toward the German Rhine and Saar valleys had begun.
At the November meeting of the Supreme War Council, Pershing argued that the Allies had the advantage in men, material and momentum over Germany. As such, he pushed for harsh peace terms that would guarantee Germany could not wage war again. Pershing, who was never shy about defending his prerogative as the commander of the American Expeditionary Force, asserted himself now. Pershing argued that as commander of the strongest army on the Western front – one growing stronger still – he was first among equals. Gens. Douglas Haig and Ferdinand Foch reluctantly acquiesced, and Foch added Pershing’s demands to his own at the armistice talks. These included surrender of all occupied territory and the withdrawal of the German army behind the Rhine. Not surprisingly, Berlin rebuffed the Allies’ tough terms. Pershing was not displeased. “A Carthaginian peace it is then,” Pershing remarked to Marshal Henri-Philippe Petain, the only Allied general officer with whom the intransigent American got along.
