Paths of Glory: The French Army 1914-1918 [Hardcover]

Anthony Clayton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 28, 2003

A world-famous expert on the French military provides a major contribution to our understanding of World War I. He reveals why and how the French army fought as it did, with profiles of the senior commanders--Joffre, Pétain, Nivelle, and Foch--and analyzes the major campaigns on the Western Front, the Near East and Africa. There are details on the trenches, the makeup and performance of colonial armies, the mutinies of 1917, and how, ultimately, the wartime experience helped shape the nation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'[Anthony Clayton] provides a succinct narrative of operations, chronicles the main changes in weapons and organisation, and compresses a vast amount of information in a very tight compass. The result provides a very sensible summary for the monoglot Englishman, and probably a bettre single-volume account than is available in French.' Hew Strachan, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH (10/5/03) 'DrClayton is an acknowledged authority on the French Army, and his book is a valuable overview of the subject, bringing together a good deal of informationin a readable fashion. He has drawn upon important work carried out by Fenchscholars, together with some primary research of his own. His method is to provide a narrative of the princpal events, interleaved with analysis of topics such as command and control, trench warfare, airpower, tactics, and personnel and equipment. Although the main focus is on the Western Front, Clayton also provides useful sections on FreNch Army activities in the 'sideshows' suchas Gallipoli, Macedonia and Italy ... Clayton pays careful attention to the all-important subject of morale, and he pains a convincing picture of an armyplaced under such appalling strain that, in 1917, it suffered from a number of serious mutinies ... PATHS OF GLORY is an important book that provides a firm base from which scholars can explore aspects of the French Army of 1914 -1918 in more detail.' Gary Sheffield, RUSI JOURNAL (1/4/03) 'We learn how gallantly the French fought, against immense numerical odds, how they bore the brunt of the German onslaught for almost three years, and how the ordinary French soldier proved himself in terms of heroism and military expertise to be the equal of his British and American counterparts. An excellent account of thi

About the Author

Anthony Clayton was Senior Lecturer at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst for 29 years (1965-94). One of Britain's leading military historians, he was made a Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Academiques in 1988 in recognition of his expertise in French military history.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Cassell; 1st Edition edition (May 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0304359491
• ISBN-13: 978-0304359493
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #991,621 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Effort but Too Short, December 4, 2003

By 

R. A Forczyk (MD, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Paths of Glory: The French Army 1914-1918 (Hardcover)

In Paths of Glory, former Sandhurst professor Anthony Clayton provides the first complete history of the French Army in the First World War. While the narrative is a bit short (200 pages) and does not offer the depth necessary to analyze operations in detail, Clayton's work represents an excellent overview of the army that bore the brunt of the fighting for the Allies on the Western Front in 1914-1918. Clayton also makes the point that this army, much maligned because of its poor preparation for combat in 1914 and pitiful performance in 1940, still was capable of four years of sustained combat against the best army in the world. For readers accustomed to viewing the Western Front through German or British eyes, this volume offers a wonderful alternative.

Clayton begins Paths of Glory with a chapter on the French frontier offensive in 1914 and then backtracks in the second chapter to discuss pre-war strategy and doctrine. After this, Clayton then devotes one chapter to operations in each year of the war, plus a separate chapter on developments within the French army. There is also a separate chapter on peripheral operations involving the French (Gallipoli, Salonika, Italy, Africa and the Mideast). Appendices include order of battle in 1914, tactical organization, conscription and reserves, equipment, capsule biographies of the main French generals, and the career of a single French infantry regiment in 1914-1920. Clayton includes 14 simple sketch maps, which unfortunately only a few depicting operational movements or dispositions. The author also includes 43 photographs, ranging from leaders, to equipment to tactical scenes.

Clayton assesses the main French problem in 1914 as a failure of "strategic intelligence" in not anticipating that the main German army would fall in Belgium or that reserve formations would be used in the enemy's first echelon. This faulty intelligence assessment led to a rash offensive plan known as "Plan XVII", which was handicapped by rigid adherence to a faulty tactical doctrine, over-age commanders and inadequate heavy artillery. Despite all the French military flaws, the French army somehow survived the heavy losses in the frontier battles and managed to thwart the German drive on Paris by quick repositioning of forces. Clayton does not do a particularly good job of assessing how the French were able to avoid defeat in 1914, but tends to favor the "tough" no-nonsense leadership of Joffre, Foch and a handful of other French operational-level commanders. However, Clayton's defense of Joffre's command style rings hollow; certainly Napoleon would not have thought much of a commander who emphasized regular meals and uninterrupted sleep over visiting his troops.

Clayton focuses heavily on morale issues - always critical for French armies - in the chapters on Verdun and the 1917 mutinies. The mutiny is assessed as relatively limited in scope, but extensive in long-term effects. Perhaps the best chapters in Paths of Glory cover the post-mutiny period where Petain was able to lead the battered French army through a period of recovery. While Petain's later career as leader of Vichy France has darkened his name, his leadership abilities with a deeply-shocked army were astoundingly effective. Indeed, Petain was not only able to rebuild the French army's morale, but to re-equip and re-train the forces to fight a modern war; the result was a much more powerful French army in 1918 (although a brittle one).

Although Clayton offers some useful nuggets of information in places - such as information on French tank developments or the greater reliance on African troops - the volume is a bit too much of an overview, albeit with a Gallic perspective. Indeed, Clayton writes well and offers excellent insight about the fighting capabilities of the much-maligned French army, but the reader will come away from this book wishing that it had been 200 pages longer.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost one of a kind, April 21, 2004

By 

Rick Kaneen "PrPro" (Tucson, Az USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Paths of Glory: The French Army 1914-1918 (Hardcover)

As other reviewers have said, getting anything in English about the French army in WWI is difficult, especially compared to the numerous English and American accounts. I therefore snapped this book up immediately looking for an account of those little known engagements. It's a fine book, well researched and informative, well written for the most part. But it left me wanting more detail. It primarily looks at strategic and operational level action rather than the tactical. Excellent for understanding the French command. I was hoping for more of a Lyn MacDonald approach. Perhaps this author will see these reviews calling for a more detailed view and write another in that vein. I would certainly purchase it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Summary of French Army During WWI, November 9, 2004

By 

George Coppedge (Czech Republic) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Paths of Glory: The French Army 1914-1918 (Hardcover)

The book summarizes all the famous major operations of the French Army during WWI, along with numerous thoughtfully-included maps and photos. It goes into much greater detail about the formation of French strategy, tactical doctrine, leading personalities, organization, equipment, logistics, and, significantly, unit morale (including the 1917 mutinies). In addition, the book also has a nice set of appendices with the August 1914 order-of-battle as well as summary bios of leading French generals. The author, Anthony Clayton, also covers the power struggles at the top of the military hierarchy between major military figures along with increasing interference from French gov't officials. Clayton did an excellent job describing Petain, Joffre, Mangin, Castelnau, and Foch.

This book is an ideal introduction to the major challenges facing the French army during WWI and its response to them. An English-language book covering the French army during WWI is somewhat difficult to find compared to the numerous works on the British army, and I was highly pleased with the quality of this one. Excellent, well-researched work! I hope the author makes an in-depth follow up sequel to this one.