Synopses & Reviews
Alongside Waterloo and Gettysburg, the Battle of Verdun during the First World War stands as one of historys greatest clashes. Yet it is also one of the most complex and misunderstood, in a war only imperfectly grasped.
Conventional wisdom holds that the battle began in February 1916 and lasted until December, when the victorious French wrested all the territory they had lost back from the Germans. In fact, says historian John Mosier, from the very beginning of the war until the armistice in 1918, no fewer than eight distinct battles were waged for the possession of Verdun. These conflicts are largely unknown, even in France, owing to the obsessive secrecy of the French high command and its energetic propaganda campaign to fool the world into thinking that the war on the Western Front was a steady series of German checks and defeats.
Although British historians have always seen Verdun as a one-year battle designed by the German chief of staff to bleed France white, Mosiers careful analysis of the German plans reveals a much more abstract and theoretical approach.
Our understanding of Verdun has long been mired in myths, false assumptions, propaganda, and distortions. Now, using numerous accounts of military analysts, serving officers, and eyewitnesses, including French sources that have never been translated, Mosier offers a compelling reassessment of the Great Wars most important battle.
Review
“Mr. Mosier [is] one of the more entertainingly contrarian military historians writing today...An important and groundbreaking book about the Eastern front.”—
The Washington Times on
Hitler vs. Stalin
“The author knows his military history, strategy, and tactics…packed with evidence, much of it ingeniously obtained and argued.” —The Washington Post on The Myth of the Great War
“This provocative book tosses military-history hand grenades on almost every page, challenging just about every generally held notion about World War II.”—Forbes on The Blitzkrieg Myth
“A dramatic departure from the conventional wisdom…a dramatic chronicle of the most brutal theater in the most brutal war in one of historys most brutal centuries...This is a clear-eyed, compelling description of a battle that has been described many times, but seldom with such an ironic eye.”—The Boston Globe on Hitler vs. Stalin
“There is much in the work I really admire, not least its brilliant recasting of the traditional military narrative.”—Niall Ferguson on The Myth of the Great War
Review
“Mr. Mosier [is] one of the more entertainingly contrarian military historians writing today.”—
The Washington TimesSynopsis
The Battle of Verdun during the First World War stands as one of historys greatest clashes. Yet it is also one of the most complex and misunderstood.
Although British historians have always seen Verdun as a one-year battle designed by the German chief of staff to bleed France white, historian John Mosiers careful analysis of the German plans reveals a much more abstract and theoretical approach. From the very beginning of the war until the armistice in 1918, no fewer than eight distinct battles were waged there. These conflicts are largely unknown, even in France, owing to the obsessive secrecy of the French high command.
Our understanding of Verdun has long been mired in myths, false assumptions, propaganda, and distortions. Now, using numerous accounts of military analysts, serving officers, and eyewitnesses, including French sources that have never been translated, Mosier offers a compelling reassessment of the Great Wars most important battle.
About the Author
John Mosier, who earned his Ph.D. at Tulane University, is a professor at Loyola University in New Orleans, where he teaches courses in film, modern European literature, and the 18th-century novel. His books on the World Wars, including
The Myth of the Great War and
Hitler vs. Stalin, have given him a reputation as a leading revisionist historian.
Table of Contents
The Price Of Glory Preface
1. La Débâcle
2. Joffre of the Marne
3. Falkenhayn
4. Operation Gericht
5. The Waiting Machine
6. The First Day
7. The Fall of Colonel Driant
8. Breakthrough
9. Fort Douaumont
10. De Castelnau Decides
11. Pétain
12. The Take-over
13. Reappraisals
14. The Mort Homme
15. Widening Horizons
16. In Another Country
17. The Air Battle
18. The Crown Prince
19. the Triumvirate
20. 'May Cup'
21. Fort Vaux
22. Danger Signals
23. The Secret Enemies
24. The Crisis
25. Falkenhayn Dismissed
26. The Counterstrokes
27. The New Leader
28. Aftermath
Epilogue
Bibliography of Principal Sources
Reference Notes
Index