A Fraternity of Arms

America and France in the Great War

Robert B. Bruce

• Publisher: University Press of Kansas
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9780700612536, 9780700612536
• eBook ISBN: 9780700625949
• Topic: Geschichte
• Subtopic: Französische Geschichte

Norman B. Tomlinson Award

Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Book Award

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the United States had already become an international power and a recognized force at sea, but its army remained little more than a frontier constabulary. In fact, when America finally entered World War I, the U.S. Army was still only a tenth the size of the smallest of the major European forces.

While most previous work on America's participation in the Great War has focused on alliance with Great Britain, Robert Bruce argues that the impact of the Franco-American relationship was of far greater significance. He makes a convincing case that the French, rather than the British, were the main military partner of the United States in its brief but decisive participation in the war-and that France deserves much credit for America's emergence as a world military power.

In this important new look at the First World War, Bruce reveals how two countries established a close and respectful relationship-marking the first time since the American Revolution that the United States had waged war as a member of a military coalition. While General Pershing's American Expeditionary Forces did much to buoy French morale and military operations, France reciprocated by training over 80 percent of all American army divisions sent to Europe, providing most of their artillery and tanks, and even commanding them in combat.

As Bruce discloses, virtually every military engagement in which the AEF participated was a Franco-American operation. He provides significant new material on all major battles—not only the decisive Second Battle of the Marne, but also St. Mihiel, Cantigny, Reims, Soissons, and other engagements—detailing the key contributions of this coalition to the final defeat of Imperial Germany. Throughout the book, he also demonstrates that there was a mutual bond of affection not only between French and American soldiers but between the French and American people as well, with roots planted deep in the democratic ideal.

By revealing the overlooked importance of this crucial alliance, A Fraternity of Arms provides new insights not only into World War I but into coalition war-making as well. Contrary to the popular belief that relations between France and the United States have been tenuous or tendentious at best, Bruce reminds us that less than a century ago French and American soldiers fought side by side in a common cause—not just as allies and brothers-in-arms, but as true friends.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of Tables, Illustrations, and Maps
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1 American Volunteers in France, 1914–1917
• 2 America Embraces France: Joffre and the French Mission to the United States
• 3 The Arrival of the American Expeditionary Forces in France and the Crisis in French Morale, April–July 1917
• 4 The Role of France in Arming and Training the American Expeditionary Forces
• 5 The Amalgamation Controversy, December 1917–February 1918
• 6 Springtime of War: The First Franco-American Battles, May–June 1918
• 7 The Second Battle of the Marne: The Franco-American Battle That Turned the Tide
• 8 The Franco-American Armies in the Autumn Campaigns, 1918
• 9 Conclusion
• Appendix: Maps
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Index
• Back Cover