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To Lose a Battle: France 1940
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To Lose a Battle: France 1940 Paperback - 2007

by Alistair Horne

During six weeks in 1940, Hitler's blitzkrieg shattered the redoubtable Maginot Line and, shortly thereafter, the French army. No historian has written a more definitive chronicle of that disaster than Alistair Horne, or one so emotionally gripping. Moving with cinematic swiftness from the battlefield to the Reichstag and the Palais de l'...lysée, To Lose a Battle overspills the confines of traditional military history to become a portrait of the French national soul in its darkest night.


Summary

During six weeks in 1940, Hitler's blitzkrieg shattered the redoubtable Maginot Line and, shortly thereafter, the French army. No historian has written a more definitive chronicle of that disaster than Alistair Horne, or one so emotionally gripping. Moving with cinematic swiftness from the battlefield to the Reichstag and the Palais de l'...lysée, To Lose a Battle overspills the confines of traditional military history to become a portrait of the French national soul in its darkest night.

From the publisher

To Lose a Battle: France 1940 is the final book of Alistair Horne's trilogy, which includes The Fall of Paris and The Price of Glory and tells the story of the great crises of the rivalry between France and Germany. In 1940 Hitler sent his troops to execute the Fall of France. A six-week battle with lightning 'blitzkrieg' warfare and combined operations techniques, the offensive ended the Phony War and sent the French forces reeling as their government fled from occupied Paris. For the Axis, it was a dramatic victory. But how was this spectacular result possible? In To Lose a Battle Alistair Horne tells the day-by-day, moment-by-moment story of the battle, sifted from the vast Nazi archives and the fragmentary records of the beaten Allies. Using eye-witness accounts of battle operations and personal memoirs of leading figures on both sides, this book steps far beyond the confines of military accounts to form a major contribution to our understanding of this important period in European history. 'Alistair Horne really brings home the pathos and human folly of war, and he writes brilliantly'
The Times 'Horne follows his line unfalteringly. All the details are there: the small, fleeting triumphs, the greater disasters, the bravery, the cowardice, the stupidity and the intelligence ... that make war so fascinating and so terrible'
Economist 'Horne completes his masterly trilogy ... the definitive account of one of the most efficient and astonishing campaigns of all time'
The Times Literary Supplement One of Britain's greatest historians, Sir Alistair Horne, CBE, is the author of a trilogy on the rivalry between France and Germany, The Price of Glory, The Fall of Paris and To Lose a Battle, as well as a two-volume life of Harold Macmillan.

Details

  • Title To Lose a Battle: France 1940
  • Author Alistair Horne
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 736
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Books, E Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S.A.
  • Date November 27, 2007
  • Illustrated Yes
  • ISBN 9780141030654 / 0141030658
  • Weight 1.12 lbs (0.51 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.1 x 5.5 x 1.24 in (18.03 x 13.97 x 3.15 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 1940's
    • Chronological Period: 20th Century
    • Cultural Region: French
  • Library of Congress subjects World War, 1939-1945 - France, France - History - German occupation,
  • Dewey Decimal Code 940.534

Media reviews

Citations

  • Library Journal, 12/15/2007, Page 171

About the author

One of Britain's greatest historians, Sir Alistair Horne, CBE, is the author of several famous books on French history as well as a two-volume life of Harold Macmillan.
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