Publisher’s 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.’
Centenary News Review
‘Bear in mind that Alistair Horne’s graphic account of the Battle of Verdun first appeared in 1962, and therefore some of the references may appear dated. Nevertheless, it’s a highly readable introduction to the events that became seared in French memory. Particularly interesting is Horne’s lively profile of Philippe Pétain, whose defence of Verdun became overshadowed by his leadership of Vichy France during the Second World War.’
What do you think about this book? Please add a comment below.