As the driving force behind the Allied effort in World War I, France willingly shouldered the heaviest burden. In this masterful book, Robert Doughty explains how and why France assumed this role and offers new insights into French strategy and operational methods.
French leaders, favoring a multi-front strategy, believed the Allies could maintain pressure on several fronts around the periphery of the German, Austrian, and Ottoman empires and eventually break the enemy's defenses. But France did not have sufficient resources to push the Germans back from the Western Front and attack elsewhere. The offensives they launched proved costly, and their tactical and operational methods ranged from remarkably effective to disastrously ineffective.
Using extensive archival research, Doughty explains why France pursued a multi-front strategy and why it launched numerous operations as part of that strategy. He also casts new light on France's efforts to develop successful weapons and methods and the attempts to use them in operations.
An unparalleled work in French or English literature on the war, Pyrrhic Victory is destined to become the standard account of the French army in the Great War.
Brigadier General (Ret.) Robert A. Doughty served as Professor and Head of the Department of History at the United States Military Academy from 1985 to 2005.
Table of Contents
Contents
List of Maps
Preface
Introduction
1. The Transformation of the French Army
2. The War of Movement, 1914
3. Siege Warfare, 1914-1915
4. An Offensive Strategy, May-October 1915
5. The Search for Strategic Alternatives, 1915-1916
6. A Strategy of Attrition, 1916
7. A Strategy of Decisive Battle, Early 1917
8. A Strategy of "Healing" and Defense, Late 1917
9. Responding to a German Offensive, Spring 1918
10. A Strategy of Opportunism
Conclusion: The "Misery" of Victory
Abbreviations
Notes
Essay on Sources
Index
What People are Saying About This
Robert Doughty has at last brought the French Army to its proper place in the historiography of the First World War: at the heart of the military operations on the Western Front. This represents one of the most important contributions to the history of the war in the last fifty years.
Dennis Showalter
Pyrrhic Victory is the first work to address comprehensively the strategic planning and the operational execution that shaped World War I. Doughty makes an eloquent case for the strength and flexibility of the French Third Republic as it confronted a mortal challenge. He brings an intellectual force and clarity of expression, as well as a gifted professional soldier's understanding of French aims and intentions. This long-awaited work will stand as the definitive account of French strategy in the Great War. --(Dennis Showalter author of Patton and Rommel)
Hew Strachan
Doughty fills a glaring gap in the literature on World War I with a magisterial book. He is very good on the French army's commanders, balanced but incisive in his judgments, and particularly revealing on the tensions between Petain and Foch. --(Hew Strachan, author of The First World War)
Dennis Showalter author of Patton and Rommel
Pyrrhic Victory is the first work to address comprehensively the strategic planning and the operational execution that shaped World War I. Doughty makes an eloquent case for the strength and flexibility of the French Third Republic as it confronted a mortal challenge. He brings an intellectual force and clarity of expression, as well as a gifted professional soldier's understanding of French aims and intentions. This long-awaited work will stand as the definitive account of French strategy in the Great War.
Williamson Murray
Robert Doughty has at last brought the French Army to its proper place in the historiography of the First World War: at the heart of the military operations on the Western Front. This represents one of the most important contributions to the history of the war in the last fifty years. --(Williamson Murray, co-author of A War to Be Won)
