The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916

"I included this because I was hugely influenced both by the book and by actually visiting Verdun, which I did at the beginning of my work on my recent book . The point about Verdun is that it was the most unbelievably destructive battle ever fought on the European continent, west of the old Soviet Union. It had an enormous symbolic significance for me and also for a whole generation of French people. The coming together of France and Germany, which was the very beginning of the European project, is to me one of the most remarkable things that has ever happened in world history. Verdun was the most horrific example, where at least 700,000 men were wounded or killed in a front of 15 miles. By a stroke of genius, the elites of battered post-war Germany and equally battered post-war France realised that they couldn’t go on like this, and that is what Verdun symbolises for me. It is also a very good book."

"My second favourite is Alistair Horn, The Price of Glory . It’s about the battle of Verdun in 1916 and covers the entire history. Out of the three Alistair Horne books I’ve read, it’s definitely the one I rank the highest. It’s incredibly interesting, almost taking Verdun, the battle, day by day. It’s very detailed and feels really human. It has stories about people delivering food while the fighting happens, about the air war, the political messages, generals being changed, and how little things cause massive outcomes in the end. For example, a Thuringian peasant was responsible for the taking of Fort Douaumont , the biggest fort in the entirety of the Verdun complex. The French were not defending it and he just crawled through a window. Later, two German companies turned up and took Fort Douaumont without a shot. The book also shows how incredibly close things were. If it had not been snowing three days before, and weather conditions had permitted an attack on the day originally planned, Verdun would have almost certainly fallen. It was only due to the bravery of certain French soldiers in the face of a huge overwhelming force that Verdun managed to be held until sufficient reinforcements could bolster the defences. Yes, for the British it was the Somme and Passchendaele, but for the French and the Germans, Verdun is definitely portrayed in national history as the singular most bloody meat grinder in the entire war. They share this collective memory of World War I. It bled Germany dry. The German army never again had the same fighting capabilities. The French just view it as a matter of national pride, how they defended France till the end, how every bit of soil was sacred. The Germans lost about 350,000; France also had similar numbers, maybe a bit more."