Grandeur And Misery
eBook - PDF

Grandeur And Misery

France's Bid for Power in Europe, 1914-1940

  1. 296 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Grandeur And Misery

France's Bid for Power in Europe, 1914-1940

About this book

A central question in European history is how did a great power pre-eminent in 1918 lie defeated by the same enemy less than 20 years later. Until recently the explanation has been sought in fundamental weaknesses that could only leave the French of 1940 hamstrung and demoralized. Recent studies have challenged that view and now, for the first time, the revisionist approach is displayed in a single volume, both summarizing the research of others and drawing on the author's own work in the archives. The book is about as far from 'dry as dust' diplomatic history as it's possible to get. Its very readable and the author manages to show with the telling anecdote that even a serious subject has its comic side: that, for instance, the French High Command kept forces stationed in the Alps for seven years because no one in the foreign service had thought to pass on news about a secret treaty between Italy and France in 1902; or that after a particularly stressful meeting Andrew Bonar Law, the British prime minister, mouth to Poincaré, the French president, through the closed carriage window of his train 'and you go to hell', all the while smiling and exuding affability. Such episodes are not the substance of the book, but they oil its progress.

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Yes, you can access Grandeur And Misery by Anthony Adamthwaite in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & 20th Century History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Year
2014
Print ISBN
9780713165760
eBook ISBN
9781472578013
Edition
1
Topic
History
Index
History

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Contents
  3. Illustrations, maps and tables
  4. Preface
  5. Acknowledgements
  6. Chronology
  7. Presidents and ministers of France, (1914-1940)
  8. 1 France and the World
  9. 2 Armageddon
  10. 3 Peace-making, 1919
  11. 4 The Price of Victory
  12. 5 A flawed response
  13. 6 Predominance, 1919-1924
  14. 7 Locarno, 1925
  15. 8 Indian summer, 1926-1931
  16. 9 Economics, armaments, decision-making
  17. 10 Ideology, opinion and foreign policy
  18. 11 Challenges, 1932-1936
  19. 12 War again, 1936-1939
  20. Epilogue
  21. Notes
  22. Guide to further reading
  23. Index