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The Battle of Verdun
Called "the worst battle in history" by military historian Sir Alistair Horne, the Battle of Verdun took place from February 21 through December 18, 1916, making 2016 the 100th anniversary of this major battle in the war to end all wars. Approximately 700,000 men fell in this one battle. The book offers an exciting popular narrative, with emphasis on key personalities involved and on its strategic and political significance. The battle is set in the context of the history of modern warfare, technologically, culturally, and politically. Although the battle took place in Europe, the American perspective is featured prominently
320 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 2016
About the author
Alan Axelrod
177 books54 followersAlan Axelrod, Ph.D., is a prolific author of history, business and management books. As of October 2018, he had written more than 150 books, as noted in an online introduction by Lynn Ware Peek before an interview with Axelrod on the National Public Radio station KPCW. Axelrod resides in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 4, 2016
Since there are other, longer, reviews of this work, I will strive to keep mine brief.
WWI is a conflict that is still, largely, a gap in my knowledge queue. The centennial in 2014 peaked my interest, and Max Hastings sold me on studying the war with his marvelous Catastrophe: 1914. Verdun was a battle that, until now, I had read little on beyond the chapters in general histories and articles in military history journals and magazines. As such, I wished to find a decent book on the battle to begin my study of it. Axelrod is a prolific writer, meaning he has decent enough sales that publishers will contract his work, and so I figured his would be the perfect introductory volume to the study of this pivotal battle.
Well, yes and no.
This book does have some selling points. It is well written, and the narrative flows well. And, as a basic introduction to Verdun, it is fairly well done. But not perfectly. Tis book does have some serious flaws.
First of all Axelrod spends an inordinate amount of page space on events a bit off the field of the campaign for Verdun. Again, an introductory work should include some of this, but easily half of the narrative is spent in going over events in other fronts, the lives of the commanders, and his own theorizing about the planning as well as the bankrupt nature of the French doctrine of warfighting. All of this is valid, and any volume should contain elements of it. However, Axelrod tends to digress far too often and gets way too long winded in his expositions of topics not directly related to the Battle of Verdun. He also has a habit of reminding readers (granted, this is a book meant for an American audience) that the US was involved in the war and spent most of our, very brief, time in combat in the Verdun region. This seems woefully out of place in a book memorializing the sacrifices of the French, their Moroccan, Algerian and Senegalese Colonial troops, and the Germans. And, finally, he dithers far too long, nearly forty to fifty pages, on whether or not Erich von Falkenhayn actually wrote the Christmas memorandum to the Kaiser where he laid out the plan for Operation Gericht. Again, important discussion, but needlessly long and was brought up far too often.
The narrative of the battle itself is, likewise, woefully imbalanced. AN inordinate amount of page space is spent on the first three days of the German offensive, everything else is literally rushed through. This left me with a very empty feeling when trying to learn how the French were able to absorb the lessons of their drubbings, and reform themselves, in the midst of a huge crisis, and eventually win the battle and come out stronger on the other side. That is, perhaps, the most interesting aspect of the Battle of Verdun, and is covered in a single, ending chapter. Easily, that should have been three or four chapters.
Having said all of that, this is a good book for beginners, especially if you're new to the study of military history. However if, like me, you're a seasoned and even academically trained military historian, this book can be highly irritating reading.
I give it, officially, two and a half stars, but since Goodreads does not allow half star ratings, I rounded up in fairness to three. Not a great book, or even an overly good one, but not a disastrously poor one either.
Recommended only to those who know nothing of the battle prior.
WWI is a conflict that is still, largely, a gap in my knowledge queue. The centennial in 2014 peaked my interest, and Max Hastings sold me on studying the war with his marvelous Catastrophe: 1914. Verdun was a battle that, until now, I had read little on beyond the chapters in general histories and articles in military history journals and magazines. As such, I wished to find a decent book on the battle to begin my study of it. Axelrod is a prolific writer, meaning he has decent enough sales that publishers will contract his work, and so I figured his would be the perfect introductory volume to the study of this pivotal battle.
Well, yes and no.
This book does have some selling points. It is well written, and the narrative flows well. And, as a basic introduction to Verdun, it is fairly well done. But not perfectly. Tis book does have some serious flaws.
First of all Axelrod spends an inordinate amount of page space on events a bit off the field of the campaign for Verdun. Again, an introductory work should include some of this, but easily half of the narrative is spent in going over events in other fronts, the lives of the commanders, and his own theorizing about the planning as well as the bankrupt nature of the French doctrine of warfighting. All of this is valid, and any volume should contain elements of it. However, Axelrod tends to digress far too often and gets way too long winded in his expositions of topics not directly related to the Battle of Verdun. He also has a habit of reminding readers (granted, this is a book meant for an American audience) that the US was involved in the war and spent most of our, very brief, time in combat in the Verdun region. This seems woefully out of place in a book memorializing the sacrifices of the French, their Moroccan, Algerian and Senegalese Colonial troops, and the Germans. And, finally, he dithers far too long, nearly forty to fifty pages, on whether or not Erich von Falkenhayn actually wrote the Christmas memorandum to the Kaiser where he laid out the plan for Operation Gericht. Again, important discussion, but needlessly long and was brought up far too often.
The narrative of the battle itself is, likewise, woefully imbalanced. AN inordinate amount of page space is spent on the first three days of the German offensive, everything else is literally rushed through. This left me with a very empty feeling when trying to learn how the French were able to absorb the lessons of their drubbings, and reform themselves, in the midst of a huge crisis, and eventually win the battle and come out stronger on the other side. That is, perhaps, the most interesting aspect of the Battle of Verdun, and is covered in a single, ending chapter. Easily, that should have been three or four chapters.
Having said all of that, this is a good book for beginners, especially if you're new to the study of military history. However if, like me, you're a seasoned and even academically trained military historian, this book can be highly irritating reading.
I give it, officially, two and a half stars, but since Goodreads does not allow half star ratings, I rounded up in fairness to three. Not a great book, or even an overly good one, but not a disastrously poor one either.
Recommended only to those who know nothing of the battle prior.
July 22, 2021
Axelrod provides a good easy flowing narrative of the battle of Verdun. However, there is very little insight in his study. It is a similar rehashing of the battle which follows along similar lines of Alastair Horne's 'Price of Glory's and Malcolm Browns '1916 Verdun'. As a narrative it does not hold up to the standard of the other two mentioned however.
My second issue with this book is the authors "frame of reference". All historical narratives are ultimately influenced by the composer's experience and areas of expertise. However, it is difficult to read a book about a franco-german battle in which the common examples used for comparison are later American battles such as the battle of the bulge. To understand Verdun and the development of attrition, irrelevant of whether the Christmas memorandum was a post fabrication, I believe it is important to understand the development of strategy and tactics both within Prussia and Germany as a whole. For this, the go to literature is that of Robert T. Foley or even primary sources if one is sufficiently critical of them. But, the comparisons used with in this book are far from useful or representative, unfortunately.
So in summary a good place to start as a narrative is perhaps Horne or Brown. Further, if one wishes to find a scholarly introduction to this subject I would strongly recommend Robert T. Foley's 'German strategy and the path to Verdun'
My second issue with this book is the authors "frame of reference". All historical narratives are ultimately influenced by the composer's experience and areas of expertise. However, it is difficult to read a book about a franco-german battle in which the common examples used for comparison are later American battles such as the battle of the bulge. To understand Verdun and the development of attrition, irrelevant of whether the Christmas memorandum was a post fabrication, I believe it is important to understand the development of strategy and tactics both within Prussia and Germany as a whole. For this, the go to literature is that of Robert T. Foley or even primary sources if one is sufficiently critical of them. But, the comparisons used with in this book are far from useful or representative, unfortunately.
So in summary a good place to start as a narrative is perhaps Horne or Brown. Further, if one wishes to find a scholarly introduction to this subject I would strongly recommend Robert T. Foley's 'German strategy and the path to Verdun'
August 4, 2019
The greatest fault of this book is the fuzzy printing of the pictures and maps. The pictures are very gray and most of the maps are illegible. The description of the battle and the leaders of both the French and Germans is excellent. Alan Axelrod has done an excellent job in researching the strategic and tactical elements of Verdun. According to the historians as reported by the author, between 1.14 million French and 1.25 million German soldiers fought from 21 February 1916 and 20 December 1916. Casualty figures are atrocious like many of the WWI battles! The figures range from 315,000 to 540,000 French casualties and 280,000 to 434,000 casualties for the Germans. Some 300,000 are still reported as missing! The Germans used Phosgene gas and flamethrowers during this battle. The greatest casualties though were caused by artillery. Some two million acres around Verdun are still cordoned off because of unexploded artillery rounds in the area. The conundrum of the battle is that neither the French nor the Germans considered the area as vital when the war began then the German Army Chief, General Falkenhayn, believed that the French would "bleed themselves white" defending the area. Thus began the battle of attrition which in the end exhausted the Germans. It is an interesting book especially the author's analysis of the motivations for the strategy and tactics of both opponents. My fault is the quality of pictures and maps.
November 29, 2016
I got about halfway through.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews