The French Army and the First World War

Description

This is a comprehensive new history of the French army's critical contribution to the Great War. Ranging across all fronts, Elizabeth Greenhalgh examines the French army's achievements and failures and sets these in the context of the difficulties of coalition warfare and the relative strengths and weaknesses of the enemy forces it faced. Drawing from new archival sources, she reveals the challenges of dealing with and replenishing a mass conscript army in the face of slaughter on an unprecedented scale, and shows how, through trials and defeats, French generals and their troops learned to adapt and develop techniques which eventually led to victory. In a unique account of the largest Allied army on the Western Front, she revises our understanding not only of wartime strategy and combat, but also of other crucial aspects of France's war, from mutinies and mail censorship to medical services, railways and weapons development. Cover Half-title Series information Title page Copyright information Table of contents List of figures List of maps List of tables Preface List of abbreviations Introduction 1 The pre-war Army The political background, 1870-1911 The new Republican Army prepares for war The prospective enemy Russia and Britain as allies August 1914: The mobilised army 2 1914: From the frontiers to Flanders The opening battles: from the frontiers to the river Marne To the North Sea Military medicine and military justice 3 1915: On the offensive Secondary offensives, December 1914 to summer and autumn 1915 Principal operations: Champagne and Artois The politicians intervene, at home and abroad The Champagne and Artois double offensive Africa The end of 1915 4 1916: Verdun and the Somme Verdun The role of General Pétain Somme Exterior theatres Results of the 1916 campaign 5 General Nivelle and his 1917 offensive Nivelle's planning The offensive begins Renewing the offensive Mutinies Autopsy of a disaster 6 Restoring the Army Doctrine, training, weapons The 'batailles de redressement' Flanders Verdun La Malmaison Cambrai The results of Pétain's offensives, and lessons learned Other fronts intrude Italy and Caporetto Planning the 1918 campaign 7 1918: German offensives Two offensives against the British front The repercussions on the French Army Three offensives against the French front 8 The path to victory The 18 July counter-attack The 24 July memorandum and plans The general offensive: 'tout le monde à la bataille' 9 Armistices and demobilisation The Central Powers disintegrate Western Front An offensive in Lorraine Crossing the Meuse The position on 11 November 1918 and the march to the Rhine Demobilisation 10 From 1914 to 1919: Aux armes, citoyens France's Army through the years of war The French Army and France, its Allies and Germany Arc de triomphe Notes Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Bibliographic essay General works The French Army as an institution Military operations Tactics and doctrine: pre-war and developments Industrial mobilisation and new materiel: artillery, aviation and tanks Intelligence Military justice and military medicine Allies and the enemy Index