World War, but he also had an affinity for his men. Part
of his legacy concerns African-American troops, start-
ing with his service with the 10th Cavalry in the last
decade of the 19th century. When he went to France,
he determined that black soldiers, usually relegated to
occupations behind the lines, would play a larger part,
seeing combat and being treated as equals by their white
comrades. In this respect, Pershing was years ahead of
his time.
References: Vandiver, Frank Everson, Black Jack: The Life
and Times of John J. Pershing (College Station: Texas A&M
University Press, 1977); Palmer, Frederick, John J. Persh-
ing, General of the Armies: A Biography (Harrisburg, Pa.:
Military Service Publishing Company, 1948); Braddy,
Haldeen, Pershing’s Mission in Mexico (El Paso: Texas
Western Press, 1966); “President Calls the Nation to
Arms; Draft Bill Signed; Registration on June 5; Regulars
under Pershing to Go to France,” The New York Times, 19
May 1917, 1; Vandiver, Frank Everson, “Pershing, John
Joseph,” in American National Biography 24 vols., edited
by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (New York: Ox-
ford University Press, 1999), 17:376–379.
Pétain, Henri-Philippe-Benoni-Omer-Joseph
(1856–1951) French marshal
Born at Cauchy-à-la-Tour, in northern France, on 24
April 1856, Philippe Pétain was born into a family of
farmers and received a local education in local schools.
He was admitted to the Saint-Cyr military academy,
known as St-Cyr, which had been founded by naPo-
leon bonaParte, and was commissioned into the
French army in 1878. For a number of years, Pétain
served as an instructor in military tactics. Following the
Russo-Japanese War (1904–05), he came to believe that
a new way of fighting wars was needed for the armies
of Europe, although his was a minority view among
French military officers. He was promoted to colonel
in 1910.
By the time the First World War broke out, Pétain
was 58 years old and nearing retirement. However, the
French needed every soldier and officer they had to fight
the German army, whose invasion of France had brought
them to within 30 miles of Paris. Promoted to brigadier
general, Pétain led French troops in the offensive known
as Artois in the first days of the war. At the start of 1916,
he was dispatched to Verdun to command French forces
there. Although Verdun was surrounded by the Ger-
mans, and the French were hopelessly outnumbered and
outgunned, Pétain was able to utilize the artillery to a
greater degree and hold off the continual enemy assaults.
As a result of his actions, he rose from being an unknown
officer to a hero of France in a short period.
Throughout 1916, the British and French armies
were “bled white” on the western front as they poured
millions of men into a gruesome conflict that left ap-
palling numbers of dead and wounded. By early 1917,
French troops were in full mutiny against their com-
manders, and Robert-Georges niVelle, the French
commander in chief, was replaced by the more trusted
Pétain, who immediately accepted the troops’ demands
and improved their living conditions (food, shelter, and
so on). He also changed fighting conditions by conduct-
ing only defensive operations. Discipline in the French
troops was quickly returned to normal, which historians
believe came about due to Pétain replacing Nivelle.
Pétain coordinated the activities of the French
army with the British and other commanders, includ-
ing the American general John J. Pershing and the
overall commander in chief of the Allied armies, French
marshal Ferdinand foch. He oversaw the offensive of
September 1918, which broke the back of the German
army in France and led eventually to the armistice in
November 1918. Soon afterward, Pétain was named as
a marshal of France. He was appointed to the Supreme
War Council, the coordinating committee overseeing
the war as a whole, and to the office of inspector general
of the French army.
Pétain remained an important leader in the French
military in the years after the war, serving as minister of
war in 1934. Following the German invasion of France
in May 1940, Paul Reynaud, the new prime minister—
who had replaced Edouard Daladier in March 1940—
named Pétain as vice premier to stabilize the government.
On 16 June 1940, Pétain, who was then 84 years old,
was asked to form a government to negotiate with the
Germans, who had taken Paris and controlled much of
France. Reynaud tried to escape the country, but Pétain,
now anxious to save France from further punishment,
ordered his arrest and turned Reynaud over to the Ger-
mans. The French government led by Pétain is known as
the Vichy government, or the Régime de Vichy, named
after the new capital in the town of Vichy, southeast of
Paris. The Vichy government elected Pétain as “chief of
state” to deal with the Germans on all matters.pétAin, henRi-philippe-benoni-omeR-JoSeph