Strategy and command : the Anglo-French coalition on the Western Front, 1914 / Roy A. Prete.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Prete, Roy A. (Roy Arnold), 1943-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1914-1918--Campaigns--Western Front.

World War, 1914-1918.

World War, 1914-1918--France.

World War, 1914-1918--Great Britain.

France--Military policy--20th century.

France.

France--Military relations--Great Britain.

Great Britain--Military policy--20th century.

Great Britain.

Great Britain--Military relations--France.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (318 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Anglo-French coalition on the Western Front, 1914

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Ithaca : McGill-Queen's University Press, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Histories of the First World War are often written from a British perspective, ignoring the coalition element of the conflict and the French point of view. In Strategy and Command, Roy Prete offers a major new interpretation supported by in-depth research in French archival sources. In the first of three projected volumes, Prete crafts a behind-the-scenes look at Anglo-French command relations during World War I, from the start of the conflict until 1915, when trench warfare drastically altered the situation. Drawing on extensive archival research, Prete argues that the British government's primary interest lay in the defence of the empire; the small expeditionary force sent to France was progressively enlarged because the French, especially Commander-in-Chief Joseph Joffre, dragged their British ally into a progressively greater involvement. Several crises in Anglo-French command relations derived from these competing strategic objectives. New information gleaned from French public and private archives - including private diaries - enlarge our understanding of key players in the allied relationship. Prete shows that suspicion and distrust on the part of both sides of the alliance continued to inform relations well after the circumstances creating them had changed. Strategy and Command clearly establishes the fundamental strategic differences between the allies at the start of the war, setting the stage for the next two volumes.

Contents:

French and British prewar defence policies

Entente strategic planning after 1911

War : power relationships and the deployment of the BEF in France

Collapse and renewal : from the Battle of the Frontiers to the Battle of the Marne

The move north, defence of Antwerp, and competition over Belgium

The march on Lille, the Battle of Ypres, and the second command crisis

End of an era

Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612867392

9781282867390

1282867393

9780773576957

0773576959

OCLC:

759157095