Breaking Point of the French Army: The Nivelle Offensive of 1917
By (Author) David Murphy
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
Pen & Sword Military
12th October 2015
1st October 2015
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
Military institutions
Battles and campaigns
European history
940.40944
Hardback
256
Width 156mm, Height 234mm
In December 1916 General Robert Nivelle was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the French armies fighting the Germans on the Western Front. He had enjoyed a meteoric rise to high command and public acclaim since the beginning of the war - he was a national hero. In return, he proclaimed he 'had the formula' that would ensure victory and end the conflict in 1917. But his offensive was a bloody and humiliating failure for France, one that could have opened the way for French defeat. This is the subject of David Murphy's penetrating, in-depth study of one of the key events in the history of the Great War. He describes how Nivelle, a highly intelligent and articulate officer, used his charm to win the support of French and British politicians, but also how he was vain and boastful and displayed no sense of operational security. By the opening of the campaign, his plan was an open secret and he had lost the ability to critically assess the operation as it developed. The result was disaster.
DAVID MURPHY lectures in military history and strategic studies at Maynooth University, Ireland. He was a major contributor to the Royal Irish Academy's Dictionary of Irish Biography, and has taught at University College, Dublin and Trinity College, Dublin. He became the first Irish scholar to be awarded a fellowship to the West Point Summer Seminar in Military History. He has lectured at West Point, at the US Army Command and Staff College. His publications include Lawrence of Arabia, The Arab Revol, The Irish Brigades, 1685-2006: A Gazetteer of Irish Military Service Past and Present, Irish Regiments in the World Wars, Condottiere, 1300-1500: Infamous Medieval Mercenaries, The Arctic Fox: The Life of Admiral Sir Francis Leopold McClintock, and Ireland and the Crimean War.