French and Germans, Germans and French: A Personal Interpretation of France under Two Occupations, 19141918/19401944

(Paperback)

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A magnificent account of Occupied France in both the First and Second World Wars The most difficult and often savage relationship in 20th century western Europe was between the French and the Germans. Twice, cataclysmic wars were fought out on their borders, successfully by the French in 1914-18 and unsuccessfully in 1940. Both wars led to military occupation--for the large block of northern France behind the German trenches in the First World War and ultimately the whole country in the Second. Richard Cobb's extraordinary book is a meditation on the whole idea of occupation. How do you survive When do you collaborate What moral compromises are necessary Above all, it is a book about the way that history gives a shape and rationality to events which for those living through them are completely mysterious, and terrifying. For those trapped under German rule--frightened, confused, malnourished--what is the right course of action French and Germans, Germans and French recreates, with a brilliant mix of wit and sympathy, the story of one of the modern era's great dramas.

Reviews

Richard Cobb is a visionary. His books will take you on an extraordinary intellectual and emotional journey. * The New York Review of Books *
His France - urban, northern, provincial, pedestrian, noisy, unpuritanical, festive - was in contrast to, and predicated upon, another France: bureaucratic, official, suburban, safe, rule - crazy, scared. -- Julian Barnes
Cobb was a true historian of life 'from below', using archival evidence to bring alive the reality - and the suffering - of ordinary people's existence. -- Geoffrey Wheatcroft * New Statesman *

Author Bio

Richard Cobb (1919-96) CBE was a British historian and essayist, and professor at the University of Oxford. He was the author of numerous influential works about the history of France, particularly the French Revolution.