Adrian Gregory On France and the First World War

Adrian Gregory, The Last Great War

(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2011), p. 2.

ʻIn human terms the First World War was a disaster for France that dwarfed the British experience.

In absolute numbers, French losses were almost double the British, while in proportion to the population they were more than double.

The fighting of the war on French soil led to unprecedented material destruction.

Yet the long-term cultural trauma of the First World War has not been as great in France [as it has been in Britain].

There is something worse than bloody and expensive victory, and that is defeat. In French memories, the First World War is bracketed between the debacle of 1870 and the debacle of 1940.

The almost unimaginable human suffering of Verdun is modified and mollified by the fact that, in 1918, ʻFranceʼ had survived. No such compensation was offered in 1870, or 1940. . . .ʼ

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