Paperback. White cover with gilt title and shelling image.

We provide an in-depth photographic presentation of this item to stimulate your feeling and touch. More traditional book descriptions are immediately available. 

•  Note: This book carries a £5.00 discount to those that subscribe to the F.B.A. mailing list

Please view our photographs and read the rubric on the inside of the dust jacket. The Historical Core: The Road to Verdun focuses heavily on the longest and most devastating Franco-German battle of the First World War. Rather than providing a dry, strictly technical military timeline, Ian Ousby explores the deeply rooted cultural mythologies and the intense psychological burden of French nationalism that turned Verdun into a “sacred” struggle defended at any cost. 

Key Themes: The book tracks how the horrors of trench warfare and the tactical obsession with defending the fortress line ultimately shaped the modern identity of France. It also illustrates how the presence of future leaders on that single battlefield—such as Philippe Pétain and Charles de Gaulle—laid a venomous groundwork that directly influenced the political fractures of World War II. 

Physical & Publication Specifications:

• Page Count: 304 pages.
• Features: Includes maps and black-and-white photographic plates detailing the campaign.
• Classification: Categorised under 20th-century European military history.