The Salient: Ypres, 1914-18

by Alan Warwick Palmer

Ypres today is an international Town of Peace . But in 1914 the town, and the Salient, the 35-mile bulge in the Western Front, of which it is part, saw a 1500-day military campaign of mud and blood at the heart of the First World War that turned it into the devil's nursery. Distinguished biographer and historian of modern Europe Alan Palmer tells the story of the war in Flanders as a conflict that has left a deep social and political mark on the history of Europe. Denying Germany possession of the historic town of Ypres and access to the Channel coast was crucial to Britain's victory in 1918. But though Flanders battlefields are the closest on the continent to English shores, this was always much more than a narrowly British conflict. Passchendaele, the Menin Road, Hill 60 and the Messines Ridge remain names etched in folk memory. Militarily and tactically the four-year long campaign was innovative and a grim testing ground with constantly changing ideas of strategy and disputes between politicians and generals. Alan Palmer details all its aspects in an illuminating history of the place as much as the fighting man's experience.

Genres: History, World War I, Nonfiction, War, France

270 pages, Hardcover

First published August 15, 2013

About the author

Author also writes under Alan Palmer

Alan Palmer was Head of the History Department at Highgate School from 1953 to 1969, when he gave up his post to concentrate on historical writing and research.

Reviews

[Jos dujardin · Rating 3 out of 5]

a very good sized book: it has the essential details to stay interesting and it also keeps the oversight to allow the reader to track the main stages of the great war. it provides at the end an interesting sequel of the war with the discussion of "fall gelb" and the von mansteinnplan of 1940. it also provides an outsiders view on belgian language issue, and for. once, this perspective is not influenced by the french perspective which is so often to be found by outsiders who can only read/understand the belgian french newspapers.

[Dantheman68 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book cover and blurb sets out that it describes the British conflict around the Ypres salient for the duration of WWI 1914-18. However it encompasses the whole of the British conflict on the Weatern Front , taking in the Battle of the Somme and the final offensive in 1918.
As such it is a really excellent account of the Western Front experience, its setbacks and horrendous casualties and well worth a read.

[Chris Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book detailing WW1 in the areas around Ypres on the western front. That war was a horrifying mass slaughter.
I’ve travelled in the region and seen the memorials and cemeteries so this book was a poignant reminder of that trip.

[Russ Spence · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a lot of books on the First World War but found this an interesting addition, concentrating the Ypres Salient between 1914 and 1918. This does concentrate on the experiences of the British troops fighting there, but does go into more detail on the Belgian experience than just about any other book I've read. Some other books, you get the impression the entire population of Belgium just went on a 4 year holiday, only returning in 1918 when the fighting was over, while this goes into detail concerning how a country part (well, mainly) occupied by an enemy could not only fight, but try to stay united.