Verdun: The Longest Battle of the Great War by Paul Jankowski

[Martin Bennitt]

This highly-praised book is to be recommended in every respect, in my opinion. If you're just looking for a detailed chronological account of the fighting at Verdun, this is not it -- the actual timeline only takes up about the first tenth of its 250 pages. But if you want to know why the battle was fought, how it affected the participants and how it was seen by the general staffs and the home fronts, during and after the conflict, Jankowski is the one. The usual explanation, that Falkenhayn wanted to "bleed the French white", is not so simple on closer examination, as the phrase only appeared in Falkenhayn's post-war memoirs citing a memorandum he is supposed to have sent to the Kaiser at the end of 1915, all trace of which has been lost. In fact Falkenhayn seems to have had no clear aims, and preferred to hold forces in reserve to defeat hastily-prepared counter-offensives by the British or the French which he hoped would be prompted elsewhere to relieve the pressure at Verdun. But the battle dragged on for ten months as each side fell into what Jankowski calls "the offensive trap," "the attrition trap" and "the prestige trap", and by the time it was over their losses were almost identical.

Jankowski, a professor of history at Brandeis University near Boston, has a clear flowing style with excellent descriptive writing. Drawing on a wide range of sources from both sides, he is especially good on what it was like to fight at Verdun, and how the ordinary soldiers viewed each other, their enemies, their commanders and the civilians at home.

"Verdun: the Longest Battle of the Great War", is published next week by the Oxford University Press at £22.99 in the UK. http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199316892.do

I read the American edition which came out earlier but it seems to have been originally issued in a French translation by Gallimard.

Cheers Martin B

[Fattyowls]

Martin, thanks for this; I think I'll change my request for a Lambourghini Huracan for my birthday and get the book instead.

Pete.

[Martin Bennitt]

I'm sure you won't be disappointed but I'd like to know your own views once you've read it.

Cheers Martin B

[trenchtrotter]

On my list for sure. Will order next week.

TT

[phil andrade]

Downloaded onto my kindle, and I'm 27% through it.

Very torn here between two conflicting reactions.

Much to commend. A very good synthesis, combining cultural and historiographical themes with some hard headed stuff about the actual fighting.

I find myself having to read paragraphs again and again, because the sentences are convoluted and the thrust obscured in meandering prose.

Here you are :

" In the end the calculus of competitive loss, of weakening one's enemy more than oneself, rested on shaky, conjectural foundations, whether articulated as loss figures or as relative force on the Somme after the bloodletting on the Meuse. Such hopeful computations vindicated holding on at Verdun less frivolously than ambition or vainglory, but both betrayed self-delusion as well as self-doubt, discernible in recurrent justifications to themselves of the wisdom of the endless battle. Both sides' refusal to withdraw sprang more deeply from a fixation that expressed itself in different ways and yet required little explanation because it was so widely shared - from a kind of collective vanity that went, oftener than not, by the name of prestige."

I struggle with this. Could it not be stated in more simple language ?

On no account do I intend to disparage the authority of the account. There is some powerful stuff here. I feel it's enhanced my knowledge of the battle. I commend it emphatically, but feel exasperated by the difficulties I've experienced trying to read the sentences. Maybe it's my fault.

Phil (PJA)

[David Ridgus]

Thanks for the review Martin. Verdun is one of the (many) gaps in my Great War knowledge and this looks like the one volume answer to that problem

David

[nigelcave]

I am not sure that it is: if I were you I would start with something that is a good read, such as The Price of Glory - OK the world has moved on since then, but Horne does write very well; then equip yourself with the very useful IGN forestry map for the area and then have a go at this - it is not an easy read, as has been pointed out above.

[phil andrade]

Anxious that my bitch about the prose has created a bad impression.....I must say that the chapter on Attrition is one of the best renditions I've read on the mythology of the battle.

To my dismay, though, the erroneous figure of 160,000 French and 140,000 " dead" is cited. The official figure of 162,000 French is for killed and missing : of the latter category, about 70,000 were prisoners. The 140,000 + German figure is often bandied about, but that, too, is an exaggeration : the actual figure of killed and missing was in the order of 100,000, of whom about one quarter were prisoners. If we allow for the numbers who died of wounds, the total dead for the two sides combined in the tenth months was just over 200,000, slightly more than half of them French.

Phil (PJA)

[David Ridgus]

I am not sure that it is: if I were you I would start with something that is a good read, such as The Price of Glory - OK the world has moved on since then, but Horne does write very well; then equip yourself with the very useful IGN forestry map for the area and then have a go at this - it is not an easy read, as has been pointed out above.

Thank you Nigel - sound advice. Horne's book on Algeria was a wonderful read so I'm sure I'll like this one too

David

[SteveMarsdin]

David, I don't know whether you've visited the Verdun battlefield (I know Pete has) but if you haven't, try and fit in to a holiday itinerary; with all the forestation that has taken place it is one of the few battlefields where it is difficult to make sense of the topography from Google Earth.

You will be told that you need one week, two weeks etc. to "see it all" but the truth is you never will, I am fortunate to be able to visit most years as it is only 50 minutes from my in-laws in Belgium and I always manage to find or learn something new. Even in half-a-day (a day trip from the Somme ?) you will get a sense of the geography, see beneath the trees and, coupled with some relevant reading, get a better understanding of the battle.

[David Ridgus]

David, I don't know whether you've visited the Verdun battlefield (I know Pete has) but if you haven't, try and fit in to a holiday itinerary; with all the forestation that has taken place it is one of the few battlefields where it is difficult to make sense of the topography from Google Earth.

You will be told that you need one week, two weeks etc. to "see it all" but the truth is you never will, I am fortunate to be able to visit most years as it is only 50 minutes from my in-laws in Belgium and I always manage to find or learn something new. Even in half-a-day (a day trip from the Somme ?) you will get a sense of the geography, see beneath the trees and, coupled with some relevant reading, get a better understanding of the battle.

Thanks for that Steve. We are planning a school trip for the autumn and I'd been mulling over trying something a bit different from the standard Tyne Cot - Menin Gate - Serre - Thiepval - Lochnagar route (nothing wrong with that itinerary I hasten to add). Do you think, with some preparatory work back in school (as it's not a topic normally we cover), a trip to Verdun would work for the students (it's a given it would work for me!)

David

[David Filsell]

There is no doubt that Horne's book is now dated - its a good few years old. Nigel is correct- the world has moved on. Sadly, books on Verdun in English have not. I await a review copy of Verdun from OUP - who are very slow even to react to my request for a copy by replying, in other words typically 'Academic' in their approach to marketing.

Errror5s and all, Price of Glory is currently about the only worthwhile book on the topic ( apart from Christina Holstein's invaluable works) in the UK or the US. Frankly most of the rest of English language works on the battle seem little better to me than secondary source pot boilers. And of course very few French language accounts of the Great War of any kind are available in English sadly.

[SteveMarsdin]

Hi David (Ridgus),

I'm not a teacher but my wife is and I've accompanied several school trips.........the short answer is yes !

The longer journey time to the area would be counter-balanced by shorter distances between locations when you get there.

[Fattyowls]

I would endorse the points made by David F and Nigel above. The Price of Glory was the book which inspired my interest in WW1 and it remains a classic. Maybe some of it's assertions can now be questioned but it's power and quality can't. That I have been drawn back to the mill on the Meuse again and again is testimony to that power. That said I'm always ready to read a new take on the battle because as David F says there are relatively few works in English to choose from. I sometimes think that the whole war revolves around the 155mm turret on top of Douaumont; Verdun influenced what happened in the British sectors further north throughout 1916 and into 1917 and I think anyone who wants to fully understand the Western Front should visit.

Steve is spot on; it's a really small battlefield in comparison to those further north and there are lots of things to see on the way down and the way back if you break the journey up.

Pete.

P.S. Phil, your example of the prose hasn't put me off one bit but that sentence is not great; it's not big and it's not clever; it's just showing off. Glad to see your evangelical concern for accuate casualty figures hasn't diminished either.

[David Ridgus]

I would endorse the points made by David F and Nigel above. The Price of Glory was the book which inspired my interest in WW1 and it remains a classic. Maybe some of it's assertions can now be questioned but it's power and quality can't. That I have been drawn back to the mill on the Meuse again and again is testimony to that power.

Thanks Pete. You said recently you want to talk to me about Arras, but your eloquence here reminds me that I want to talk to you about Verdun!

Interestingly your description of Horne's book could be equally made about his great work on Algeria 'A Savage War of Peace'. Even if some of its conclusions have been questioned, the fact is that he has issued three revised editions each more nuanced than the last without anyone coming out with anything even close to being as good. President Bush found it such a compelling read that he phoned Horne from the Oval Office and bent his ear about it for an hour - make of that what you will!

David

[Fattyowls]

Thanks Pete. You said recently you want to talk to me about Arras, but your eloquence here reminds me that I want to talk to you about Verdun!

Interestingly your description of Horne's book could be equally made about his great work on Algeria 'A Savage War of Peace'. Even if some of its conclusions have been questioned, the fact is that he has issued three revised editions each more nuanced than the last without anyone coming out with anything even close to being as good. President Bush found it such a compelling read that he phoned Horne from the Oval Office and bent his ear about it for an hour - make of that what you will!

David

It's the one of his I haven't read for some reason; his description of the Fall of France is absoultely fantastic and his Paris books sensational. I will happily talk to you about Verdun; but bear in mind that people have been hospitalised after listening to me bang on about it in the past. Many years ago I was talking to a girl at a party (like I say, many years ago) and my friend Howard came up and said to her; "if he starts to get boring ask him who won the battle of Verdun and run away while he's working out the answer".

Pete.

[David Ridgus]

Many years ago I was talking to a girl at a party (like I say, many years ago) and my friend Howard came up and said to her; "if he starts to get boring ask him who won the battle of Verdun and run away while he's working out the answer".

Pete.

Whenever my wife is finding me particularly irritating she goes straight for the Great War Kryptonite by asking me, " Who was responsible for the war?" and then watching my brain react the way the starship Enterprise's computer did when asked to calculate pi. Sometimes it keeps her amused for hours.

[Fattyowls]

Whenever my wife is finding me particularly irritating she goes straight for the Great War Kryptonite by asking me, " Who was responsible for the war?" and then watching my brain react the way the starship Enterprise's computer did when asked to calculate pi. Sometimes it keeps her amused for hours.

I've never met Mrs R but I like her already.

[healdav]

Thanks for that Steve. We are planning a school trip for the autumn and I'd been mulling over trying something a bit different from the standard Tyne Cot - Menin Gate - Serre - Thiepval - Lochnagar route (nothing wrong with that itinerary I hasten to add). Do you think, with some preparatory work back in school (as it's not a topic normally we cover), a trip to Verdun would work for the students (it's a given it would work for me!)

David

A Verdun trip will certainly work, but you should get a decent guide and ask to be taken to areas that are not on the usual tourist trip.

My recommendation would be to spend two days there. On day one do the tourist bit, as well as Souville (from the outside), have a look at the Tavannes tunnel, Driant, etc.

Day two ruined villages, lookout post across the valley from Douaumont (deep in the mud at the best of times; the real experience), maybe as far north as Samogneux, and an area near a farm that I know (sorry, don't have my notes and can't remember the name) where there is an artillery emplacement, dugouts, etc.

When I took around an American University group the criticism was that there was just too much to take in (hardly my fault!)

[David Ridgus]

A Verdun trip will certainly work, but you should get a decent guide and ask to be taken to areas that are not on the usual tourist trip.

My recommendation would be to spend two days there. On day one do the tourist bit, as well as Souville (from the outside), have a look at the Tavannes tunnel, Driant, etc.

Day two ruined villages, lookout post across the valley from Douaumont (deep in the mud at the best of times; the real experience), maybe as far north as Samogneux, and an area near a farm that I know (sorry, don't have my notes and can't remember the name) where there is an artillery emplacement, dugouts, etc.

When I took around an American University group the criticism was that there was just too much to take in (hardly my fault!)

Thank you healdav for such a detailed itinerary. This is definitely worth a go.

David

[phil andrade]

Whatever happens, if you go to the Verdun sector, you MUST visit the Butte de Vauquois. Not too far distant, it's as evocative as it gets when it comes to landscape, atmosphere and all other attributes of the conflict.

Phil (PJA)

[phil andrade]

I

P.S. Phil, your example of the prose hasn't put me off one bit but that sentence is not great; it's not big and it's not clever; it's just showing off. Glad to see your evangelical concern for accuate casualty figures hasn't diminished either.

Good : don't be put off, because the book has plenty of merit. That makes the over elaborate prose all the more vexing.

The author makes a decent attempt to put the casualty figures into perspective, and then fouls it up a bit by citing the killed and missing as all " dead" . Again, more's the pity because if a chapter is predicated on dispelling myths, then an error of that kind is all the more striking.

But that's my casualty figure fixation, I suppose....it's not going to matter much to the world at large.

Fully endorse the value of The Price of Glory. I read it when I was sixteen on a holiday to the Ligurian coast. It made a macabre contrast with the lovely and romantic experience I was enjoying on those Italian beaches and in the Byron and Shelley grottos. This was three years after the 50th anniversary of the battle. I still rate it as one of the best books on The Great War ; at least, it worked for me.

Phil (PJA)

[Fattyowls]

Whatever happens, if you go to the Verdun sector, you MUST visit the Butte de Vauquois. Not too far distant, it's as evocative as it gets when it comes to landscape, atmosphere and all other attributes of the conflict.

Phil (PJA)

Phil, by cooincidence I was bigging up the Butte in Steve Marsdin's excellent photo thread of his recent visit to Verdun. By another cooincidence I first read The Price of Glory on holiday although in my case it was the Algarve. As for casualty figures I think that it is critical that we understand exactly what they mean as so many myths of the Great War seem to stem from misunderstandings of them.

Pete.

[phil andrade]

Ligurian coast at 16, a caravan in Swanage at 61...things do move on, don't they ?

Today the weather was so bad that being in the van while it rained reminded me of listening to a very tall cow pissing on a flat rock.

But the sun's been shining now. Behind the caravan park is an old quarry area, and it reminds so very much of the crater fields of Verdun !

I daren't tell my wife that.

Now I'm halfway through the book that were discussing. It does pass muster. The flaws that I mention are heavily outweighed by its qualities.

Phil (PJA)

[phil andrade]

As for casualty figures I think that it is critical that we understand exactly what they mean as so many myths of the Great War seem to stem from misunderstandings of them.

Pete.

To be fair to the book, the author does grapple well with this. The notoriety of the battle is not matched by its overall statistical record. This is explained rather deftly by the writer who alludes to the preponderance of metal and firepower actually saving lives, as tactics of dispersal and concealment emptied the battlefield.

From the German statistics, it is apparent that of all the most intense periods of warfare on the Western Front : August to November, 1914 and the spring and autumn battles of 1915 ; the Verdun period of February to June 1916 ; the Somme ; all the spring and autumn fighting of 1917, and of course, the March to November convulsions of 1918.....of all these, the German losses were lowest in the Verdun period ; there was indeed something economical in Operation Gericht. And yet, the Germans themselves regarded the ordeal of Verdun with a special sense of tragedy.

I've always considered Verdun to be the most enigmatic of battles, and the book certainly endorses my perception.

Phil (PJA)

Ligurian coast at 16, a caravan in Swanage at 61...things do move on, don't they ?

Today the weather was so bad that being in the van while it rained reminded me of listening to a very tall cow pissing on a flat rock.

But the sun's been shining now. Behind the caravan park is an old quarry area, and it reminds so very much of the crater fields of Verdun !

I daren't tell my wife that.

Now I'm halfway through the book that we're discussing. It does pass muster. The flaws that I mention are heavily outweighed by its qualities.

Phil (PJA)

Sorry, edited to insert apostrophe, and double posted !