Pershing is hard to make out amidst his entourage aboard the Invicta.

Almost three full years after the First World War began the United States was now set to finally join the fight. General John Pershing arrived in France on June 13, 1917. He crossed the English Channel and arrived in Boulogne-sur-Mer near Pas-de-Calais before moving on to Paris. His last few days in England had been intense. He had lunched with King George and Queen Mary on the 11th, before moving on to the House of Commons, and then the home of U.S. Ambassador Walter Hines Page, where the general met with leaders such as David Lloyd George. Pershing’s engineers, quartermasters, and other key staff had already moved on to Paris. Building an army was no small task and Pershing was eager to put aside the public diplomacy and get down to work. He left London quietly before daybreak, took the train to the coast, boarded his ship, and was in Boulogne by 10:00 am. The stakes were high. Later that very morning a German air raid over London killed nearly 100 people and wounded five times that many.

The dignitaries on hand signal the significance of Pershing’s arrival in Boulogne.

Adoring crowds met Pershing, who was soon off to Paris for the requisite meetings and other affairs with both British and French officials. Field Marshal Joseph Joffre, fresh from his own trip to the United States one month prior, was on hand with numerous others to meet Pershing in the City of Light. There would be numerous strains between the various allies in the weeks and months to come. All had different visions of what the American contribution would look like. For now all that was in the future as Paris turned out to greet America’s leading general.

(images/Library of Congress)

King George V, seen here inspecting the American vessel U.S.S. Finland in Liverpool later in 1917, bore a striking resemblance to his cousin Czar Nicholas II.

General Pershing’s whirlwind visit to England continued on 9 June 1917 with among other things a visit to Buckingham Palace and an audience with King George V. The Americans’ arrival could not have come at a better time personally or militarily for the monarch. The king was a first cousin of both Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Czar Nicholas II of Russia. All three were grandsons of Queen Victoria, who had died in 1901. Nicholas had been deposed just three months prior to Pershing’s arrival in England, and it was becoming increasingly apparent that Russia might soon make a separate peace with Germany.

The monarch, seen here again on the Finland, showed himself publicly throughout the war to boost moral.

It is telling that when “Nicky” was forced to abdicate he was not taken in by his cousin George.The monarchs of Europe understood how increasingly fragile their grip on power was and each was afraid he might be next. It appears a deal had been in the works for Nicholas, Alexandra, and their children to live in exile within England. King George V eventually decided otherwise–the czar and the civil unrest in Russia were a third rail he refused to touch. Instead the Romanovs lived under housed arrest in Tsarskoe Selo near Saint Petersburg until being assassinated in Yekaterinburg in July 1918.

One mistake Nicholas had made was taking command of Russian military affairs This meant that when the losses mounted he himself shouldered a great deal of the blame. His cousin was determined not to let that happen to himself. While King George V showed himself publicly throughout the war, he largely kept his affairs to photo opportunities and patriotic events. He visited hospitals frequently, handed out medals, and that sort of thing. He also quite consciously spent most of his time in London, setting an example for his subjects not to live in fear. Even Pershing he did not keep that long. The king shook hands with the dozen or so officers in the entourage in mid-morning before speaking to General Pershing for all of fifteen minutes. Then it was on to other business for each man.

(top image, U.S. Naval Historical Center; bottom image, Library of Congress)

I intend to write a little bit about Pershing’s arrival in first England and then France over the next few days. Here I wanted to share this image of the general with the mayor of Liverpool taken on the morning on 8 June 1917. As I said last night, Pershing and his entourage had pulled in from the Atlantic Ocean and docked safely in the Mersey River late the previous evening. Europeans were exhausted after nearly three years of war and the arrival of America’s commanding general was a cause for celebration. At least for the British and French. Pershing himself was not much for these public events and saw them as little more than a burden that took hm away from his work. He understood that it was his job to grin and bear it. The scene above was only the beginning.

(image/Library of Congress)