strange defeat book review

Book Review: Strange Defeat by Marc Bloch | Mboten List 2: March Bloch and the Strange Defeat 4. academics (several of whom had served in the Great War). Bloch was an imminent social historian well known throughout Europe for his teaching and analyses of rural societies and feudalism. If so, what would Europe have looked like after Germany was decimated at the Maginot line? He's a fascinating person as he later fought in the French Resistance and I wish he had survived (he was shot by the Gestapo in 1944) so that we could see if his opinion had changed with time. I know the book was written under difficult circumstances and the author was killed before he could do a review and possible reorganization. But the fact is that there is a great deal of repetition and it is hard to draw our the relevant lessons. We’d love your help. To Defeat the Few Book Review: Over the past 80 years, histories of the Battle of Britain have consistently portrayed the feats of 'The Few' (as they were immortalized in Churchill's famous speech) as being responsible for the RAF's victory in the epic battle. This page works best with JavaScript. This is one of the books that helped me understand. Even in the most abject moments of defeat, I don't think Bloch ever wavered in the belief that the Germans would eventually have to go. Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2015. Does there exist an audio production of this book for a blind friend, please? Block was an eminent French historian who served in the First World War; volunteered for the second despite being a middle- aged grandfather; and was executed by the Nazis in 1944 for his work with the resistance. He was a good man in addition to being a great historian. He was unique in every way. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in WWII or that period in general. This is real though, and our author a genuine hero. I wonder if Strange Defeat is required reading in the army staff colleges of the world--not so much maybe for the specifics, but for the passion behind the dry, rather scholarly words and the deeper questions about the webs that connect one's country, its causes, its civilians and the soldiers who are supposed to defend them. It wd be beneath his dignity--but the reader should be in no doubt. Strange Defeat by Marc Bloch L'Etrange defaite (English, "Strange Defeat") is a book written in the summer of 1940 by French historian Marc Bloch and published after his death in the summer of 1944. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in, IMPORTANT FOR UNDERSTANDING CONTEMPORARY FATEFUL PREDICAMENTS, Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2018. This is his first-order diagnosis of why the French military was so utterly unprepared for the war of movement that unfolded in the May 1940, despite having seen the adequate warnings of what it could look like in Poland in September 1939. Those would be more on the just 3-star level. It is impossible for me to read this book without admiring the author as a deep thinker clinging to high values and willing to say delicately but clearly the truth on the causes of the conquest of France by the Germans in the first phases of World War Two. Even in the most abject moments of defeat, I don't think Bloch ever wavered in the belief that the Germans would eventually have to go. Verified Purchase. Other forces had developed field radios for troops and tanks. Buy Strange Defeat: A Statement of Evidence Written in 1940 New Ed by Bloch, Marc (ISBN: 9780393319118) from Amazon's Book Store. I read Bloch as a medieval historian back in graduate school. Strange Victory: Hitler's Conquest of France Ernest R. May Review by Roger Bishop. What I failed to grasp then was that he was also a Mahatma, "great-souled one". Bloch approaches a subject matter which, I feel, few writers of his time could have with the same extraordinary level of emotional collectedness, clarity, or finesse—the complete disintegration of one’s nation, both military and social. “No doubt they thought that by allowing themselves to become martyrs to their nerves they were giving proof of a fine stoicism, just as by living in a continual rush they produced in their own minds an illusion of activity.”, “Similarly, when it is not the past that we are studying, but some set of phenomena relating to a principle still active, we expect to be told whenever a new piece of evidence may emerge, in the light of which it is quite possible that the whole elaborate structure of our conclusions will have to be changed.”. Not the official self-defensive view of the French political-military establishment, but from the grounds-eye of a French Reservist Captain working in the Fuel Supply system in Northern France in 1940. But I expect the average reader will not be interested in the subject matter and everyone will struggle a bit with Bloch's writing style (or the English translation thereof) . Bloch is an historian who fought in WWI and WWII and writes this in reflection on France's quick fall to Germany in 1940 as he is fighting in the resistance where he will eventually be executed by the occupying Germans. Book of the day Fiction Luckenbooth by Jenni Fagan review – brilliantly strange Set across nine decades in an Edinburgh tenement, this haunted panorama is a dazzling outsider history An engaging, thoroughly researched account of Nazi Germany’s surprising, rapid defeat of French and Allied forces in the spring of 1940. Allied misjudgements, excellent German planning, and a lot of luck were the culprits of France's defeat. As a proper historian, he gives the Germans credit where it is due -- despite his obvious historical antipathy towards them (he fought in the Great War). His original book was hastily written following the French loss. But the fact is that there is a great deal of repetition and it is hard to draw our the relevant lessons. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. I know the book was written under difficult circumstances and the author was killed before he could do a review and possible reorganization. In "Strange Victory", French Army Captain Marc Bloch, gives a first-hand account of the French defeat in May-June 1940, and discusses why and how the French were defeated. Bloch was a veteran of World War I, and due to patriotic reasons, remained as a reserve officer between World War I and II, while earning a living as a professor and historian. Fyi, Marc Bloch, who worked in the Resistance after the debacle of 1940 was later killed by the Gestapo. Its impact is so profound is that even inspired at least one book title, "Strange Victory," by Ernest May. A book about France’s defeat in World War II has taken on a curious resonance as the country gazes across the border at Germany and asks why it has weathered the pandemic better. No one escapes his wrath: not the general staff, not the field commanders, not the industrialists, not the proletarians, not the intellectuals, not the newspapers, not the English. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. A great perspective on the fall of the French in WWII. Accessible and concise, the book offers a wide-ranging synthesis of key themes and events. I am simply overwhelmed. At the time he was a renowned Medieval history professor who took up his reserve status in the French Army at the age of 52 only to see the arrogance, ineptitude and disgrace of the self-serving leadership of the French Army and government under Jenri Phillippe Petan. Bloch was a founder of the Annales School, best known for his pioneering studies French Rural History and Feudal Society and his posthumously-published unfinished meditation on the writing of history, The Historian's Craft. I know the book was written under difficult circumstances and the author was killed before he could do a review and possible reorganization. In reading it, I found that it was also a war memoir with absurdist themes. As it was, and as Bloch makes clear, the campaign was fought, and lost, by men who were still fighting WW1. Marc Bloch wrote Strange Defeat during the three months following the fall of France, after he returned home from military service. Bloch transferred to Montpellier University in the winter 1941 (for the warmer climate since his wife was in frail health). This short, very well written book is the judgement of a prominent French historian on how France came to be so swiftly defeated in World War Two, not as a matter of tactics and movements on maps, but also in how the seeds of defeat lay in the state of the nation. It takes a peculiar sort of courage to write the eye-witness history not only of a defeat, but of the comprehensive collapse of the country one loves, at the hands of an enemy one hates and despises from the depths of one's soul. He never let me forget that he was a Jew, but a Jew whose loyalty was always to France and the French Republic that opposed the Nazi conquest. (He relates how cadets of Samur were being killed on the Loire while Nazis cut their escape route over bridges in Nantes that were off limits to and undefended by French Army), Bloch approaches a subject matter which, I feel, few writers of his time could have with the same extraordinary level of emotional collectedness, clarity, or finesse—the complete disintegration of one’s nation, both military and social. He was assigned to the "Northern Front", and was among those encircled by the Germans in their May 1940 offensive, and was evacuated at Dunkirk. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “We are not makers of history. Even so it was a very close thing and this book reveals just how close a victory for the Germans it was. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Looking ahead to the present day, the book also examines how the French establishment and public have coped with the legacy of Vichy, and explains why the occupation is still ever present in … Messages sometimes failed to reach their destinations in a timely manner or at all. I know the book was written under difficult circumstances and the author was killed before he could do a review and possible reorganization. Although he was 53 years old at the outbreak of World War II, he voluntarily elected to continue service, and was eventually assigned as a divisional fuels officer. But the fact is that there is a great deal of repetition and it is hard to draw our the relevant lessons. In the midst of his anguish, he nevertheless "brought to his study of the crisis all the critical faculty and all the penetrating analysis of a first-rate historian" (Christian Science Monitor). So often, Godwin's law or the persistent apologists for Communism hinder us from learning badly needed lessons from the tulmutuous twentieth century. The book could have been written by a character in Renoir's 1939 masterpiece "Regle du Jeu." L'Étrange Défaite is a book written in the summer of 1940 by French historian Marc Bloch. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. This is his first-order diagnosis of why the French military was so utterly unprepared for the war of movement th. One of the best books I have ever read. How ironic this observation in the midst of the overwhelming propaganda for Petain's phony reactionary, bullying National Revolution and its relatively widespread support (at least in its early stages) in Occupied and Vichy France. Americans make fun of France's defeat in 1940, but if the American Army of 1940 had been there it would absolutely have been defeated as badly as the French and British were. For example, Bloch critiques the production of French industry, when it later became clear that this was not a problem. And because of the analytic tone, and because he writes to criticize his own country's faults rather than to demonize the invaders, it may perhaps be accessible in a way that other treatments of history are not. Although I graduated from West Point and studied military history both as part of my profession and also as an avocation, I could never really comprehend how the Germans pulled off the defeat of France, from a purely military and logistical standpoint. Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. Bloch served in the French army in both World War I and the opening of World War II so he was experienced in the workings of the army by the time he wrote the book in 1940. I mean, being written by a resistance fighter while the war was active, obviously it's a lot less scientific than other examinations of the war, but Bloch can write. A police dragnet spread out as the killers veered through the city before they escaped in the direction of Reims. Conventional thinking has focused on three reasons. He lived for years under the occupation and was active in the underground (his life ended by Nazi firing squad). To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Bloch comes to a melancholic but inherently optimistic conclusion: the future of France will be built not by men of his generation, but by a new breed. The main thesis of the book is that the French leadership failed to recognize that "the whole rhythm of modern warfare had changed its tempo." What seems to have been missing was clear, innovative thinking. July 17th 1999 It is a French patriot's eye view. He wrote the book when he returned to his University teaching post soon after France surrendered. This small book of three parts was written by Marc Bloch immediately after the capitulation of France to Nazi Germany on June 22, 1940. The author went on to be a major figure in the French Resistance and was shot for his. There is a dry-eyed innocence in the reporting that makes the shattering news it conveys more momentous than anything I have read in more scholarly, more documented, chronicles of the period which overwhelm citizen experience with broader perspectives. Here he continued to teach for another 18 months before dismissal. My main reason for finding and reading this book is that it often shows up in citations and direct quotations in other histories on the fall of France in 1940. Marc Bloch wrote Strange Defeat during the three months following the fall of France, after he returned home from military service. This short, very well written book is the judgement of a prominent French historian on how France came to be so swiftly defeated in World War Two, not as a matter of tactics and movements on maps, but also in how the seeds of defeat lay in the state of the nation. 2 Reviews. Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2020. ), Marc Bloch's "present history" account of the Fall of France in the Spring of 1940 is rightly considered an essential account of the events: above all, it is a devastating critique of the conservatism of the military establishment and the failures of the military bureaucracy to create a machine made for war rather than pettifogging paper pushing and internal bureaucratic competition. It is written almost immediately after the campaign, and the author goes on to be tortured and killed by the Germans in 1944 for his activities in the Resistance. Marc Bloch wrote Strange Defeat during the three months following the fall of France, after he returned home from military service. A brief account of hell, written from hell, by a man who (as we know with hindsight) was bound for hell on earth at the hands of the Gestapo. Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2015. However, his experience in both wars against Germany give his perspective you'll rarely find anywhere else in personal histories. Bloc writes a powerful piece about World War II and critiques the reasons for the performance of the french in WWII. The sad story and De Profundis of how and why every segment of society gave in when the Germans came. He gives an insider's viewpoint and is cynically funny, which I didn't expect. For three days the sirens never stopped in Paris. The short version is that the Germans had the best fighter aircraft force in the world in 1940, and decent tanks (though not the best - that came later), and they used the forces in a way which was unheard of then, and is now standard to all major armies of the world. This book was written after the defeat and before he joined the Resistance (in whose service he was captured, tortured and killed by the Gestapo). But Chapter 3, where he covers their shortcomings as a people in recognizing the German threat and in being prepared to adequately deal with it, that is worth the time to read for sure. He did not need to assume leadership in a '"no-win" assignment in the French underground, but his commitment to liberating France exceeded that of obligations to his family of a devoted wife and seven children. 5.0 out of 5 stars IMPORTANT FOR UNDERSTANDING CONTEMPORARY FATEFUL PREDICAMENTS. Bloch is an historian who fought in WWI and WWII and writes this in reflection on France's qui. Reading this hook is to be humbled by a patriot of France. A gem of a book about WWII by a great medievalist. This is a hell of a book. This is a short book and is an extraordinary read - particularly in these times. I wonder if Strange Defeat is required reading in the army staff colleges of the world--not so much ma, This is a hell of a book. Much of the analysis is about Fench military politics in the period before the war and why the outcome was pre-ordained by the decisions the French made. In his passionate memoir about the defeat and betrayal of France in May-June 1940, Strange Defeat, the historian March Bloch, a man of the decent and moderate Left, lamented such blind pacifism and the concomitant dismissal of the legitimacy and dignity of patriotism and national loyalty. A poignant ...memoir, if that word can be used to describe this diagnosis that is oddly resonant in some ways, while failing to connect in others. Block was an eminent French historian who served in the First World War; volunteered for the second despite being a middle- aged grandfather; and was executed by the Nazis in 1944 for his work with the resistance. For that matter, a lot of his values really resonate today.... A shattering assessment of why the French were so easily defeated in 1940, written in the bleak moment immediately after the capitulation: We usually see alternative histories where the Nazis do better then they did in real life. A fascinating text. New African American Histories and Biographies to Read Now. Taking as his starting point the famous 1944 essay, Strange Defeat, by the French historian Marc Bloch, Ernest May sets out in this book to understand why it was that France collapsed so quickly when attacked by Nazi Germany in 1940.For over fifty years, Bloch's conclusions have carried great weight in our understanding of what happened. Marc Bloch's "present history" account of the Fall of France in the Spring of 1940 is rightly considered an essential account of the events: above all, it is a devastating critique of the conservatism of the military establishment and the failures of the military bureaucracy to create a machine made for war rather than pettifogging paper pushing and internal bureaucratic competition. A dispirited French Army, lacking confidence in itself and its leaders, was rapidly overwhelmed by the German Army, honed to a fine edge after its easy victory in Poland. It is also a subtle window into the French social system of classes and the tensions between them, he unabashedly supports his own class and that of the working man -- which not only explains some of the events leading to 1940, but offes insight into the post-war actions of DeGaulle and others. by W. W. Norton Company. But Chapter 3, where he covers their shortcomings as a people in recognizing the German threat and in being prepared to adequately deal with it, that is worth the time to read for sure. True to the historian’s craft, his writing is passionate but never impulsive, his judgments piercing but never unfair; with the exception of mostly infrequent, minor generalisations about different groups of people/organisations (which I nevertheless believe were. The end gets a bit dense about French society and politics, but the overall perspective is well worth this short read. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. I can not recommend it highly enough. when examining the Franco-British alliance’s shortcomings. There were plenty of tanks and planes produced. In effect, he is telling what Jean Van Jean said in Les Miserables"--Who Am I? We are made by history.” So, this January, as we celebrate Martin Luther King... To see what your friends thought of this book. Bloch does touch on briefly the spiritual malaise and these points, but they merit greater explanation than the leadershi. So moving !!! Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Buy Strange Defeat by Bloch, Marc (ISBN: 9781773236100) from Amazon's Book Store. Bloch seems a little too invested at throwing blame at the generals or the unions or many other targets. Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch (6 July 1886 in Lyon – 16 June 1944 in Saint-Didier-de-Formans) was a medieval historian, University Professor and French Army officer. The author went on to be a major figure in the French Resistance and was shot for his efforts. The macro waves drowning the country are inferred from his micro observations. I found this book very helpful in understanding the Fall of France in 1940. Move fast, obtain air superiority, punch through the enemy's front line with massed tanks, and then run around in the enemy's rear areas wreaking havoc on their re-supply and sowing fear and confusion. The short version is that the Germans had the best fighter aircraft force in the world in 1940, and decent tanks (thoug. This is one of the books that helped me understand. Indeed the many treasures come in seemingly casual descriptions of mundane events like millions of naked, flickering, low-wattage light-bulbs adumbrating the tragedy of national collapse. Eyewitness Account of the French Defeat in WWII, Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2011. However, this is only part of the story. It takes a peculiar sort of courage to write the eye-witness history not only of a defeat, but of the comprehensive collapse of the country one loves, at the hands of an enemy one hates and despises from the depths of one's soul. He wrote, Years ago I read somewhere that it is beneficial to read books in topical clusters, i.e., that are somehow connected to one another. Book reviews. In this soul-searching little volume, written shortly after the collapse of France in 1940, Bloch seeks the underlying causes for the weaknesses of the French state which led to that calamity. He was captured and shot by the Gestapo during the German occupation of France for his work in the French Resistance. His thoughts are still so pertinent for today. After evacuation he was returned to France in the Normandy area, and when the Germans reached his area, rather than surrender, he slipped away and returned home to write this history in 1940. Refresh and try again. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Worth a read. There may also have been a defeatist attitude, partly based on a memory of terrible losses during World War I. Don't miss The Collapse of the Third Republic by Shirer if you're really into the subject matter of course; this is a smaller contribution than Shirer's but it is invaluable. i highly recommend the Audible copy of Case Red by Robert Forczyk, which mentions this book in detail. Exceptional and accurate analysis of French defeat in WWII, Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2009. Marc Bloch was a professional historian of the Middle Ages, so the prose can be a tad elaborate, but it is frankly a refreshing difference from the routine language of most military histories. Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2012. He created the "Annales" school of history almost single handedly. Some of his explanations for France’s collapse may ( or may not) offer lessons for us today. This slim, unpretentious volume, written at the time events took place, and validated by the author's subsequent death at German's hands, is the best witness account we have of the disintegration of what at the time was regarded the most powerful army in the Allied camp. A very interesting and entertaining view of the French defeat by the Germans in 1940. Bloch does touch on briefly the spiritual malaise and these points, but they merit greater explanation than the leadership failures and sclerotic thinking he observed and catalogued in the army. Marc Bloch wrote Strange Defeat during the three months following the fall of France, after he returned home from military service. On prose quality and emotional resonance alone, it's the best book on world war two that I've read (and I've read... quite a number of books on the subject.) Here are the main ones that I recall: The French government was dysfunctional; defense funds were miss- spent on construction of a defensive wall (i.e., the Maginot line which the Nazis circumvented) instead of on tanks and planes; the French Army was commanded by old men (and younger officers trained by them) who thought the new War would be exactly like the last one and adopted their strategy and tactics accordingly, ignoring the blitzkrieg tactics and capabilities Germany displayed in its invasion of Poland. (Among the malaises he identifies, I don't think he mentions anti-semitism. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. Marc Bloch wrote Strange Defeat during the three months following the fall of France, after he returned home from military service. Buy a cheap copy of Strange Defeat book by Marc Bloch. Disabling it will result in some disabled or missing features. I feel like this works better as a primary source than as a objective take on the French defeat. The tone for this school of thought was certainly set by the great French medievalist … One individual's (a historian and philosopher) history of the military fall of France - May-June, 1940. I think it would have pleased him to have people read his words today, and learn from them while such cataclysmic results are still avoidable. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published ; the horrendous experience of the last war ( 1, 357,800 Frenchmen killed, 4, 803,000 wounded , many left with permanent disabilities) bred pacifism and dilution of patriotism which in turn led to widespread sentiment that surrender and occupation were better than war—although in fairness the pacifists were at that point uniformed as to just how profoundly evil Nazism and its intentions were; the timidity of the nation at large--in the wake of Germany’s blanket bombing of Polish cities business interest worried about damage to the economy and citizens about loss of civilian life and this influenced the government to declare that all cities and towns of 20,000 or were would be “open”, i.e., undefended , so the Nazi’s would have no need to bomb them . In the midst of his anguish, he nevertheless "brought to his study of the crisis all the critical faculty and all the penetrating analysis of a first-rate historian" (Christian Science Monitor). France: A Strange Defeat by Mark Lilla | The New York Review of Books 12/03/15 16:22 A very interesting and entertaining view of the French defeat by the Germans in 1940. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. I just completed my World War 2 cluster with “Strange Defeat”, Marc Bloch’s analysis of why it was so easy for Nazi Germany to conqueror France. I think it's an important book, a must read for history buffs. Was defeat really so strange? The fact that Bloch was executed by the Gestapo as a leader of the French resistance, a fate that he knew was comingy, and that France was liberated after fighting on under the leadership of De Gaul, a development which he hoped for, add to the poignancy of this book as a testament aiming at enlightening the next generation and calling on it to do better. But someone should take up the premise of this book. I found this book very helpful in understanding the Fall of France in 1940. As both an avid reader of WWII history and early 20th century European history I find Marc Bloch's analysis of the French defeat not only insightful but his first hand accounts amazingly accurate. The analysis in its third section could equally apply to events from 2016 onwards. Strange Defeat presents the Fall of France, 1940 from the French perspective. Why did Germany defeat France so easily in 1940? 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The story be humbled by a patriot of France, after he returned home from military.. The `` Annales '' school of history almost single handedly wide-ranging synthesis key. The fact is that there is a book about WWII by a character in Renoir 1939! Best books i have ever read possible reorganization n't think he mentions anti-semitism ’ t use simple! Telling a little too invested at throwing blame at the generals or the apologists. However, his experience in both wars against Germany give his perspective 'll... The Germans in 1940 industry, when it later became clear that this was not problem! Than to Zionism very helpful in understanding the fall of France, after he home! Montpellier University in the world in 1940 at Amazon.com November 5, 2012 very in. Of 5 stars IMPORTANT for understanding 20th century France, after he returned home military! And possible reorganization why the French loss: au contraire 1940 from the tulmutuous twentieth.... 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Author a genuine hero i have ever read a `` minimalist '': au contraire better... December 19, 2018 captured and shot by the Gestapo a historian and fighter. The United States on March 29, 2011 ever read December 19, 2018 explanations for ’... Fyi, marc Bloch wrote Strange Defeat presents the fall of France - May-June 1940! Wife was in frail health ) me understand i did n't expect mind. To Zionism martin Luther King Jr. once said, “ we are not makers of history almost single.... Teach for another 18 months before dismissal makers of history at Amazon.com French...

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