The March to the Marne: The French Army 1871-1914The relationship between the French army and the regime provides one of the central themes in the history of the Third Republic. From its foundation in 1870, the republic sought to integrate the army of Louis-Napoleon into a left-leaning, democratic political system. This experiment failed, historians have argued, because the social origins, political attitudes and professional values of the officer corps sabotaged cooperation with the republic. The nation paid a bloody price for this failure on the battlefields of the Great War. Dr Porch's book challenges many standard assumptions about the place of the army in French political life between 1871 and 1914. The events of the 'Dreyfus years' are examined from the army's standpoint. Dr Porch examines the impact of the Dreyfus affair on the crucial tactical and armaments debates of the immediate pre-war years, tracing the origins of the costly 'spirit of the offensive' while providing the answer to the French army's near disastrous failure to the development of the colonial army and its place within the military structure is also assessed for the first time. |
Contents
The army and the republic | 1 |
The army and the nation | 23 |
The high command | 45 |
The Dreyfus affair | 54 |
The Radical solution | 73 |
The affaire des fiches | 92 |
Antimilitarism and indiscipline | 105 |
The colonial army | 134 |
The spirit of the offensive | 213 |
The heavy artillery | 232 |
Conclusion | 246 |
War Ministers 18711914 | 255 |
Army corps areas | 256 |
Notes | 257 |
| 281 | |
| 291 | |
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Common terms and phrases
administration affaire des fiches Algeria André anti-militarism anti-militarist argued army's artillery Avenir militaire Barail barracks Béziers Boulanger Bourses du travail cadres Captain career cent chief civilian Civrieux claimed Clemenceau Colonel colonial army colonial officers colonial soldiers committee complained conscripts conseil supérieur d'Arbeaux defence deputies discipline doctrine Dreyfus affair Ecole de guerre favour forces France militaire France's French army Freycinet Galliéni Galliffet Gambetta garrisons German Girardet heavy artillery high command Humbert Ibid indiscipline infantry January Jaurès Joffre Kanya-Forstner l'armée lack Langlois Left lieutenants Lyautey manoeuvres Mayer Mémoires Messimy Millerand minister ministry Monteilhet moral Nationalist Revival NCOs offensive officer corps officers and NCOs organization Paris parliamentary patriotic Pédoya political politicians Porte-Voix prestige professional army promotion Radical ranks recruitment regiments republican reserve reservists rue Saint-Dominique Saint-Cyr Saint-Dominique social spirit Sudan tactical Third Republic three-year told troops Waldeck-Rousseau war minister Western Sudan wrote