Passchendaele – The Untold Story (Yale Nota Bene) - Softcover

Robin Prior; Trevor Wilson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300093071 ISBN 13: 9780300093070

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2002

Synopsis

No conflict of the Great War excites stronger emotions than the war in Flanders in the autumn of 1917, and no name better encapsulates the horror and apparent futility of the Western Front than Passchendaele. By its end there had been 275,000 Allied and 200,000 German casualties. Yet the territorial gains made by the Allies in four desperate months were won back by Germany in only three days the following March. The devastation at Passchendaele, the authors argue, was neither inevitable nor inescapable; perhaps it was not necessary at all. Using a substantial archive of official and private records, much of which has never been previously consulted, Trevor Wilson and Robin Prior provide the fullest account of the campaign ever published. The book examines the political dimension at a level which has hitherto been absent from accounts of "Third Ypres." It establishes what did occur, the options for alternative action, and the fundamental responsibility for the carnage. Prior and Wilson consider the shifting ambitions and stratagems of the high command, examine the logistics of war, and assess what the available manpower, weaponry, technology, and intelligence could realistically have hoped to achieve. And, most powerfully of all, they explore the experience of the soldiers in the light-whether they knew it or not-of what would never be accomplished.

About this title

Review:

"An excellent, carefully researched, and dispassionate history of the Passchendaele campaign ... It must now become the standard scholarly work on the grim battle of Passchendaele, integrating as it does both politics and war." -- Tim Travers, Journal of Military History

"Lucid and persuasive." -- E.S. Turner, London Review of Books

"The authors excell in their thorough use of original sources to provide a masterly account ... clearly related and supported by admirable maps." -- Brian Bond, Times Literary Supplement

"The clearest and most balanced picture yet of a battle whose very name evokes the horror and supposed futility of World War I." -- John Grigg, The Spectator

"The most wide-ranging and perceptive account of Passchendaele yet written" -- Robert Cowley, Military History Quarterly

"This book will appeal to both the scholar and the general public and belongs in every World War I collection." -- Agnes F. Peterson, History

Synopsis:

The carnage on the Western Front at Passchendaele, where 275,000 Allied and 200,000 German soldiers fell, was neither inevitable nor inescapable, the authors of this volume insist. Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson offer a complete account of the campaign, establishing what actually occurred, what options were available, and who was responsible for the devastation. This edition includes corrections and a new preface indicating the results of research completed since first publication.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0300093071
• ISBN 13: 9780300093070
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 272