Author Description
The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916 is the second book of Alistair Horne's trilogy, which includes The Fall of Paris and To Lose a Battle and tells the story of the great crises of the rivalry between France and Germany. The battle of Verdun lasted ten months. It was a battle in which at least 700,000 men fell, along a front of fifteen miles.Its aim was less to defeat the enemy than bleed him to death and a battleground whose once fertile terrain is even now a haunted wilderness. Alistair Horne's classic work, continuously in print for over fifty years, is a profoundly moving, sympathetic study of the battle and the men who fought there. It shows that Verdun is a key to understanding the First World War to the minds of those who waged it, the traditions that bound them and the world that gave them the opportunity. Verdun was the bloodiest battle in history.The Price of Glory is the essential book on the subject.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This work investigates the strategic and psychological significance of the Battle of Verdun as the defining crisis of the Franco-German rivalry during the First World War. Alistair Horne, a noted historian of French and German relations, utilizes extensive archival research and primary accounts to analyze how the ten-month conflict functioned as a war of attrition. He argues that the battle serves as a critical lens for understanding the military traditions, leadership failures, and cultural mindsets that shaped the trajectory of the Great War.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Detailed tactical analysis of the ten-month engagement at Verdun
- Examination of the attrition strategy employed by German command
- Biographical sketches of key military figures including Pétain and Falkenhayn
- Analysis of the socio-political climate in France and Germany during 1916
Scope Limits
- The text focuses primarily on the Verdun sector rather than the broader global theater of the war
- It does not provide a comprehensive technical history of all weaponry used during the conflict
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Historians and military scholars frequently cite this work as a foundational text for understanding the human and strategic cost of the First World War. Readers often note the narrative clarity and depth of research that has kept the book in print for over five decades.
Page Count:
384
Publication Date:
1979-02-22
Publisher:
Penguin Books
ISBN-10:
0140022155
ISBN-13:
9780140022155
History
Military
Military History
Germany
World War
European History
France