In the 70's, when times were bad, John had to help earn the family living, and he did it by teaching some of the hardest schools in the district. He took the examinations for West Point when he was twenty, and defeated his friend. "I'm sorry you could not win too," he said. At the end of his first year at West Point he was made class leader, a position won only by hard study. [Sidenote: =Made a general by Roosevelt=] After he graduated from West Point, honors and promotions came fast. Roosevelt had passed by eight hundred and sixty-two older officers to make him a brigadier general. At the beginning of the war he was major general, and later Congress promoted him to the full rank of general, a very rare honor, and the highest in its power to give. [Sidenote: =Arrival in France=] When Pershing, with a few officers and engineers first landed in France the news spread quickly. "The Americans have come." Their arrival meant that the United States would soon take part in the fighting in earnest. New life and fresh resolution came into the hearts of the war-tired veterans of France. [Sidenote: =Germany's last great effort=] =244. The Great Danger in 1918.= Russia had fought bravely for the Allies at the beginning of the war, but about the time the United States entered, a revolution drove the Czar from his throne. Russia was so upset by the revolution that after a year it gave up trying to keep its army at the front, and made peace with Germany. Hundreds of thousands of German soldiers were thus left free to attack the Allies in the west. Germany thought that if she could succeed in taking Paris before many Americans arrived in the trenches, the war would be won. It was her last chance to win. THE CONCLUSION OF THE WAR [Sidenote: =Need of a united front=] =245. Foch the Allied Supreme Commander.= Before the spring of 1918 each of the Allied armies had been acting on its own plan. The places where the trenches of two armies came together were, of course, the weakest, and were favorite points for German attacks. It was now decided to have one commander for all the Allied forces. Foch, a French general highly skilled in the science of war, was chosen for this great task. [Sidenote: =The German advance=] =246. The Crisis of the War.= In their great drive the Germans always struck at the weakest point. They found this where the French and English armies were joined. They drove forward in mass formations or solid blocks. Thousands upon thousands were mowed down by the English and French guns, but on they came. Back, back the Allies fell, day after day, until the Germans reached the Marne again. The world held its breath. Each day the Germans were expected to break through, but each day the Allied troops retreated. Slowly they moved, fighting like demons and always holding at vital points. [Illustration: TRANSPORTS CARRYING AMERICAN TROOPS CONVOYED BY BATTLESHIPS] [Sidenote: =American troops scattered along the front=]