The Road to Verdun: World War I's Most Momentous Battle and the Folly of Nationalism

by Ian Ousby

Book Overview

A powerfully immediate and controversial account of one of the longest and bloodiest engagements of World War I. In mid-February 1916, the Germans launched a surprise major offensive at Verdun, an... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385503938
• ISBN13: 9780385503938
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Doubleday Books
• Length: 393 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

This is not the story of Verdun, but of what led up to it and let it continue

Ousby has divided the book into three sections: the first is the beginning of the attack on Verdun in 1914 and the German attack in 1916; the second is supposed to be a history of France from 1870 to 1914, but is really an historical polemic that begins with the French Revolution of 1789 and goes all the way up to the 1940 surrender; the third section is the French reaction to the German advance and their counter-attack. The best part of Ousby's book is his retelling of the accounts and memories of the men who fought at Verdun (almost all French) and the long range effect of the number of men who seemed to have been thrown away like so much detritus. We hear about Generals who are known by names like the 'Mangeur' or the maneater, and others that are famous for telling their men to hold to the last man. But the saddest part is reading about how men can become innured to death and talk about fighting along side the 'dead' and those who will be dead. The troops take on a lackadaisical attitude towards life, knowing that they are being sent to their deaths, and in many cases for no reason except that the Generals can say they are trying to do something. Life can be made cheap (ask anyone involved in the drug trade), but soldiers who will willingly 'sacrifice' for their country, don't want to be 'sacrificed' (it should be voluntary). It's especially poignant that almost three-quarters of the French Army served at Verdun at one time or other. This made a bonding of the survivors that could not be understood by anyone who didn't serve and had lasting effects well into the last half of the twentieth century. The middle part of the book is a wonderful explanation by Ousby as to why he feels, what happened at Verdun was bound to happen because of the way the French Military was trying to win back its' honor after being destroyed in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and losing the provinces of Alsace and Northern Lorraine. Whereas in prior wars, land was gained and lost, France had not changed much since the days of Louis XIV and that the growth of 'nationalism' and the creation of the 'French people' (like the German 'Volk') made the loss of land equal to the amputation of a limb. It was an open wound that wasn't going away and was always there to see. If your looking for a straight forward military history of the battle, go somewhere else, but if you want to understand WHY the battle happened and WHY it happened the way it did, read this book.

a very good book

A very good book on the First World War - among the best that I have read. It does a very good job of connecting past (1870), present (1916) and future. The emotional side of war in the trenches is well brought out by diary excerpts. The leaders as well as the `Poilu' are described. The impact of the war of 1870 is explained - Verdun is near Metz which at the time was territory occupied by Germany. European antagonisms are well brought out. The historical flow of France and Germany are well documented. This book focuses on the French side much more than the German side.

Strong Middle Section

Ian Ousby's The Road to Verdun is both about the battle itself and the growth of a particular form of French nationalism which took root after the disasters of the 1870 Franco-Prussian War. The middle section on the growth of nationalism is, by far, the most potent element in the book. The author makes effective use of his sources in making this period come alive. He is not quite as effective in connecting this directly with the battle of Verdun itself as an unique outgrowth of this nationalism but he does capture the truth of the battle in very graphic terms. His arguments demonstrating the folly of nationalism are always interesting, though. The use of letters from the front, diaries, and memoirs in building his case allows the reader to see the personal side of this clash. An often fascinating read.

The Senselessness of War

In 1950 at the age of 18 on a visit to France I was taken to the battlefields of Verdun. The first stop was the ossuary, an almost 300 feet long building with a tower like a gothic lighthouse whose beam sweeps the thousands of white crosses in the sloping field in front of the building. I was taken to the rear of the building and asked to look through the porthole-like windows below the building's main floor. I was horrified to see a pile of human skulls and bones some 5 feet high that runs the length of the building. Later I was taken to the "Tranchee des Baionettes" and other sites. For two days after, I hardly spoke, haunted by the thought of the human slaughter less than 37 years before.I have read many books in both English and French about the battle of Verdun and have subsequently visited the battlefields on several occassions as well as the Somme. When I read Alastair Horne's book, I imagined it could only be the last word and nothing new would ever be written about the battle again. I recall vividly his epilogue wherein he writes that he defies anyone knowing the history of the battle and the location to spend a night alone on the "Mort Homme". He writes of the poisoned soil, the loss in altitude of the hill due to incessant shellfire pounding away the terrain and the fact that only a moss-like growth covers the clayey-pebbled ground between the planted pines. I went to "Mort Homme" a few months later to scrabble up the moss and found Horne was not telling a tale.When I got the book by Ian Ousby, it was because he did such a fine job in "Occupation". He does another fine job here, making his story an absorbing read as well as throwing in new thoughts on the 'mentalites' that led to WW1 and the senseless conflict. Yes, I knew of the controversies surrounding the origins of the war, yes I knew of the far from lucid reasons why Falkenhayn persuaded 'Little Willie' to authorize the attack on Verdun and the equally unenlightened reasons why the French decided to hold, no matter what. Still, Ousby puts these in a context from which I still managed to learn a few things.Perhaps had Ousby lived, he would have written a more comprehensive account, but for me, this will do. It made me want to revisit yet again a sad monument to man's stupidity, endurance and courage.If only Bush would read this book.. maybe it would diminish his equally foolish saber-rattling.

Moonscape of the patriots

This new account of the battle of Verdun (cf. Alistair Horne's The Price of Glory) and its place in the warfare of World War I is not comprehensively detailed in its battlefield account (perhaps usefully so) but extremely good at the overall context, history since the era of 1870 and the Franco-Prussian war, and the mood, general tenor, and nationalistic mystique that mesmerized the defense of the great fort. It is disconcerting to consider abandoning Verdun in a step backward to the nearby rear terrain might have proven a better vantage and have saved lives. But the reflex to defend the 'symbol' at all costs, and a very steep cost at that, was overwhelming, and finally successful--in winning back some few squares miles of cratered moonscape. The strange character of this battle is its lack of definition, beginning with the ambiguous lack of direct objectives of the German Falkenhayn whose tactic seems to have been to send men over the top, merely to bleed the enemy through attrition. The author also brings out the issue of the Social Darwinism of the times, although, as all too often, letting Darwin's theory off the hook. There is little distinction between 'Social Darwinism' and 'Darwinism' in its shadowy background influence on the tenor of a whole generation. The description of the troops on the march returning meeting the troops arriving, along the Voie Sacree, tells the tale, the ghosts of the trenches, in a Verdun book of the dead.