August 1914

France, the Great War, and a Month that Changed the World Forever

Bruno Cabanes, Stephanie O'Hara

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780300208276
• eBook ISBN: 9780300224948
• Topic: Histoire
• Subtopic: Histoire de la France

A renowned military historian closely examines the first month of World War I in France.

On August 1, 1914, war erupted into the lives of millions of families across France. Most people thought the conflict would last just a few weeks . . .

Yet before the month was out, twenty-seven thousand French soldiers died on the single day of August 22 alone—the worst catastrophe in French military history. Refugees streamed into France as the German army advanced, spreading rumors that amplified still more the ordeal of war. Citizens of enemy countries who were living in France were viciously scapegoated. Drawing from diaries, personal correspondence, police reports, and government archives, Bruno Cabanes renders an intimate, narrative-driven study of the first weeks of World War I in France. Told from the perspective of ordinary women and men caught in the flood of mobilization, this revealing book deepens our understanding of the traumatic impact of war on soldiers and civilians alike.  

"An exceptional book, a brilliant, moving, and insightful analysis of national mobilization." —Martha Hanna, author of Your Death Would Be Mine: Paul and Marie Pireaud in the Great War

"This book deserves a wide readership from historians, critics and anyone interested in the catastrophe of war." —Mary Louise Roberts, Distinguished Lucie Aubrac and Plaenert-Bascom Professor of History, University of Wisconsin, Madison

"The sounds, sights and emotions of August, 1914 are all evoked with exceptional skill." —David A. Bell, author of The First Total War: Napoleon's Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It

Index

Action française (newspaper), (i), (ii), (iii)

Action Française (right-wing movement), (i)

aerial reconnaissance and warfare, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v)

Agadir Crisis (1911), (i), (ii), (iii)

Ain, (i), (ii)

Aix-en-Provence, (i)

Alain-Fournier, (i)

Albi, (i), (ii)

Albin, Pierre, (i)

Albrecht, duke of Württemberg, (i)

Alexandre (colonel), (i)

Algeria, (i), (ii)

Algerian War of Independence (1954–62), (i)

Alien Restriction Act, (i)

Allain, Marcel, (i)

Allemagne et la France en Europe (1885–1894), L’ (Albin), (i)

Alsace-Lorraine, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi), (vii), (viii), (ix)

Âme de Paris, (i), (ii)

Amiens, (i), (ii), (iii)

Angell, Norman, (i), (ii)

Anloy, (i)

Annappes, (i)

Antibes, (i)

anti-Semitism, (i)

Antwerp, (i)

Apollinaire, Guillaume, (i)

Aragon, Louis, (i)

Ardennes, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi)

Arlon, (i), (ii)

Armed Peace (Desruelles), (i)

Arras, (i), (ii)

Arsimont, (i)

attaque brusquée, (i)

Aube, (i)

Auch, (i)

Aude, (i)

Augé-Laribé, Michel, (i)

Austria-Hungary, (i); civilians of, (i); German alliance with, (i); mobilization by, (i)...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Translator’s Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Map of the Western Front, August 1914
• One. War Breaks Out
• Two. Visions of War, Dreams of Peace
• Three. Farewell Ceremonies
• Four. Trial by Fire
• Five. The Shadow of Defeat
• Six. The Enemy Within
• Seven. Fears and Rumors
• Eight. The Sounds of War
• Epilogue: Beyond August 1914
• Timeline
• Notes
• Index