If trench warfare was an inevitability during the war, it is only because the events leading up to the First Battle of the Marne were quite different. The armies at the beginning of the war moved quickly through the land, but the First Battle of the Marne devolved into a bloody pitched battle that led to the construction of trenches after the Germans retreated, blocked in their pursuit of Paris. When the aftermath disintegrated into a war between trenches, some Germans thought they had the upper hand since they were occupying French territory, but with fewer soldiers than the combined Allied nations and fewer resources and supplies, it was possibly only a matter of time before they were ultimately defeated. The commander of the German armies, General Helmuth von Moltke, allegedly said to Kaiser Wilhelm II immediately after the First Battle of the Marne, “Your Majesty, we have lost the war.” Winston Churchill himself would later reference that anecdote, writing, “Whether General von Moltke actually said to the Emperor, ‘Majesty, we have lost the war,’ we do not know. We know anyhow that with a prescience greater in political than in military affairs, he wrote to his wife on the night of the 9th, ‘Things have not gone well. The fighting east of Paris has not gone in our favour, and we shall have to pay for the damage we have done.’”

One of the most famous people in the world came to tour the city of Paris for the first time on June 28, 1940. Over the next three hours, he rode through the city’s streets, stopping to tour L’Opéra Paris. He rode down the Champs-Élysées toward the Trocadero and the Eiffel Tower, where he had his picture taken. After passing through the Arc de Triomphe, he toured the Pantheon and old medieval churches, though he did not manage to see the Louvre or the Palace of Justice. Heading back to the airport, he told his staff, “It was the dream of my life to be permitted to see Paris. I cannot say how happy I am to have that dream fulfilled today.” Four years after his tour, Adolf Hitler would order the city’s garrison commander, General Dietrich von Choltitz, to destroy Paris, warning his subordinate that the city “must not fall into the enemy’s hand except lying in complete debris.”

Of course, Paris was not destroyed before the Allies liberated it, but it would take more than four years for them to wrest control of France from Nazi Germany after they took the country by storm in about a month in 1940. That said, it’s widely overlooked today given how history played out that as the power of Nazi Germany grew alarmingly during the 1930s, the French sought means to defend their territory against the rising menace of the Thousand-Year Reich. As architects of the most punitive measures in the Treaty of Versailles following World War I, France was a natural target for Teutonic retribution, so the Maginot Line, a series of interconnected strongpoints and fortifications running along much of France’s eastern border.

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The Napoleonic Wars (1805 – 1815) were an epoch of unprecedented upheaval and destruction that reshaped the landscape of the history of ancient France and the broader European continent. In this comprehensive book, we embark on a captivating journey through this tumultuous decade, offering a detailed exploration of the triumphs and tragedies that marked Napoleon Bonaparte’s reign as the self-crowned Emperor of the French.

From the brilliance of Napoleon’s early victories, including his masterpiece at Austerlitz in 1805 and the smashing of Prussia at Jena in 1806, to the catastrophic invasion of Russia in 1812 and the bloodiest day at Borodino, we traverse the peaks and valleys of his fortunes. This narrative takes us through the horrors of the French occupation of Spain and Portugal, the great struggles of 1813, and Napoleon’s doomed defense of Paris in 1814. Along this historical voyage, we encounter moments of military genius and fatal blunders that left an indelible mark on the history of ancient France.

The climax of this narrative occurs in 1815, where we bear witness to history’s most renowned generals meeting on the battlefield for the first and only time: Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, and the Duke of Wellington. The epic and brutal Battle of Waterloo unfolds, ultimately determining the fate of Europe.

This book provides a comprehensive chronicle of the entire span of the Napoleonic Wars, from the zenith of Napoleon’s power in 1805 to his final defeat at Waterloo in 1815. It is a compelling journey through one of the most captivating and tumultuous periods in history, interwoven with the grand campaigns, dramatic battles, and the rise and fall of an extraordinary leader, all set against the backdrop of the history of ancient France.

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