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Editorial Reviews
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"If you haven't seen Verdun, you haven't seen anything of war," said one veteran infantryman of the First World War, referring to a particularly gruesome episode in a four-year clash known for its monotonous brutality. More than 300,000 men were killed at Verdun, out of more than 700,000 total casualties. "By any standards, the figures are formidable: almost one death a minute, day and night, for the ten months that the battle lasted," writes Ian Ousby, who expresses astonishment at "how much suffering was expended and how many lives were lost over strips of ground so small, so insignificant." It began in February, 1916, when the Germans launched an offensive against the French. Neither army made much headway against the other, even as the deaths on both sides rose to staggering proportions. This was typical of the trench warfare of the time. In one sense, Verdun was not much different from other battles in the war; Ousby even calls it a "microcosm" of the larger conflict. Yet, he also argues that it was the war's bleakest and most hopeless scene of engagement. Ousby offers a chronicle of the fighting, and writes from the French perspective--much of the book, in fact, ruminates on the meaning of French nationalism. This combination of military and intellectual history makes The Road to Verdun a top-rate addition to First World War literature. --John Miller
From Publishers Weekly
British polymath Ousby, who edited The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English among many other titles, died last year at 54. Following up on his previous, much-praised historical work, Occupation: The Ordeal of France 1940-1944, this sadly posthumous book is a new triumph. The 1916 Battle of Verdun was the longest and one of the bloodiest of WWI: lasting 10 months, the battle killed 700,000 French and German soldiers, 10% of all those killed in the war. Yet a sense of glory was maintained, however inappropriately, amid the gore: the road leading to the battlefield was called the Sacred Way, and the French General Neville gained immortality by his brave statement, "They [the Germans] shall not pass." Ousby divides the story into three parts: "Friction at Verdun, February 1916"; "The Endless Crisis, 1870-1914" and "The Mill on the Meuse, March-December 1916." Ousby shows how the French loss to the Germans in 1870, followed by their losing the regions of Alsace and Lorraine, was essential background for understanding Gallic heroism at Verdun. Unlike those French who were quick to surrender to the Nazis in WWII, in 1916 they were resolved to win or die. So they did both, as Ousby notes, quoting the chilled reaction of one French soldier, Jacques P‚ricard, when he trips over the face of a dead soldier in the snow. Even today, 150,000 unidentified dead soldiers are commemorated by rows of white crosses at Verdun, a ghastly memorial to the carnage. Ousby's account is a must for any modern world history buff.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
"If you haven't seen Verdun, you haven't seen anything of war," said one veteran infantryman of the First World War, referring to a particularly gruesome episode in a four-year clash known for its monotonous brutality. More than 300,000 men were killed at Verdun, out of more than 700,000 total casualties. "By any standards, the figures are formidable: almost one death a minute, day and night, for the ten months that the battle lasted," writes Ian Ousby, who expresses astonishment at "how much suffering was expended and how many lives were lost over strips of ground so small, so insignificant." It began in February, 1916, when the Germans launched an offensive against the French. Neither army made much headway against the other, even as the deaths on both sides rose to staggering proportions. This was typical of the trench warfare of the time. In one sense, Verdun was not much different from other battles in the war; Ousby even calls it a "microcosm" of the larger conflict. Yet, he also argues that it was the war's bleakest and most hopeless scene of engagement. Ousby offers a chronicle of the fighting, and writes from the French perspective--much of the book, in fact, ruminates on the meaning of French nationalism. This combination of military and intellectual history makes The Road to Verdun a top-rate addition to First World War literature. --John Miller
From Publishers Weekly
British polymath Ousby, who edited The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English among many other titles, died last year at 54. Following up on his previous, much-praised historical work, Occupation: The Ordeal of France 1940-1944, this sadly posthumous book is a new triumph. The 1916 Battle of Verdun was the longest and one of the bloodiest of WWI: lasting 10 months, the battle killed 700,000 French and German soldiers, 10% of all those killed in the war. Yet a sense of glory was maintained, however inappropriately, amid the gore: the road leading to the battlefield was called the Sacred Way, and the French General Neville gained immortality by his brave statement, "They [the Germans] shall not pass." Ousby divides the story into three parts: "Friction at Verdun, February 1916"; "The Endless Crisis, 1870-1914" and "The Mill on the Meuse, March-December 1916." Ousby shows how the French loss to the Germans in 1870, followed by their losing the regions of Alsace and Lorraine, was essential background for understanding Gallic heroism at Verdun. Unlike those French who were quick to surrender to the Nazis in WWII, in 1916 they were resolved to win or die. So they did both, as Ousby notes, quoting the chilled reaction of one French soldier, Jacques P‚ricard, when he trips over the face of a dead soldier in the snow. Even today, 150,000 unidentified dead soldiers are commemorated by rows of white crosses at Verdun, a ghastly memorial to the carnage. Ousby's account is a must for any modern world history buff.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
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