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Strange Defeat: A Statement of Evidence Written in 1940, by Marc Bloch
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Marc Bloch wrote Strange Defeat during the three months following the fall of France, after he returned home from military service. In the midst of his anguish, he nevertheless "brought to his study of the crisis all the critical faculty and all the penetrating analysis of a first-rate historian" (Christian Science Monitor). Bloch takes a close look at the military failures he witnessed, examining why France was unable to respond to attack quickly and effectively. He gives a personal account of the battle of France, followed by a biting analysis of the generation between the wars. His harsh conclusion is that the immediate cause of the disaster was the utter incompetence of the High Command, but his analysis ranges broadly, appraising all the factors, social as well as military, which since 1870 had undermined French national solidarity. "Much has been, and will be, written in explanation of the defeat of France in 1940, but it seems unlikely that the truth of the matter will ever be more accurately and more vividly presented than in this statement of evidence." — P. J. Philip, New York Times Book Review "The most wisdom-packed commentary on the problem set [before] all intelligent and patriotic Frenchmen by the events of 1940." — D. W. Brogan, Spectator
- Sales Rank: #12977499 in Books
- Published on: 1967-12
- Original language: English
- Binding: Hardcover
Review
Much has been, and will be, written in explanation of the defeat of France in 1940, but it seems unlikely that the truth of the matter will ever be more accurately and more vividly presented than in this statement of evidence. -- P. J. Philip, New York Times Book Review
The most wisdom-packed commentary on the problem set [before] all intelligent and patriotic Frenchmen by the events of 1940. -- D. W. Brogan, Spectator
About the Author
Marc Bloch was a French historian who cofounded the Annales School of French social history. He was captured and shot by the Gestapo in 1944 for his work with the French Resistance.
Most helpful customer reviews
33 of 34 people found the following review helpful.
Indispensible for Understanding 20th Century France
By I. Martinez-Ybor
This slim, unpretentious volume, written at the time events took place, and validated by the author's subsequent death at German's hands, is the best witness account we have of the disintegration of what at the time was regarded the most powerful army in the Allied camp. There is a dry-eyed innocence in the reporting that makes the shattering news it conveys more momentous than anything I have read in more scholarly, more documented, chronicles of the period which overwhelm citizen experience with broader perspectives. This is not to minimize others' works, nor to regard M. Bloch as a "minimalist": au contraire. He was a world-renowned medieval scholar, so his mind was nuanced and perceptive, his approach unsentimental and objective; he brings the full intellectual rigor of his training and experience to extract all possible social, historical, and moral truth from the seemingly mundane. He was in his late forties when the war started but nonetheless, served with honor, very much with his eyes-opened, did his duty in the army and kept his brain functioning throughout rather than putting it on hold in blind patriotism (such a treacherous, over-rated popular paliative). He kept at his craft but rather than delving in ancient manuscripts he reported on what he observed around him of an army, indeed a state, in rapid collapse. The macro waves drowning the country are inferred from his micro observations. Indeed the many treasures come in seemingly casual descriptions of mundane events like millions of naked, flickering, low-wattage light-bulbs adumbrating the tragedy of national collapse. Bloch comes to a melancholic but inherently optimistic conclusion: the future of France will be built not by men of his generation, but by a new breed. How ironic this observation in the midst of the overwhelming propaganda for Petain's phony reactionary, bullying National Revolution and its relatively widespread support (at least in its early stages) in Occupied and Vichy France. This book was written after the defeat and before he joined the Resistance (in whose service he was captured, tortured and killed by the Gestapo). Even in the most abject moments of defeat, I don't think Bloch ever wavered in the belief that the Germans would eventually have to go. Indeed, without regret or melancholy, there seems to have been an absolute faith in the eventual disappearance of the old, pre-popular front, pre-war French order, as much as of French political and military men, as of pre-war French bourgeoisie. The book could have been written by a character in Renoir's 1939 masterpiece "Regle du Jeu." This is real though, and our author a genuine hero. Perhaps it would have been ironically interesting, had he lived, to learn what he would have made of Indochine, Algerie, Gaullism and the heady days of 1968.
For anyone interested in the second world war and French history, this little book is indispensible.
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful.
Classic Account of a Shocking Defeat
By Rastignac
The simple-minded are apt to chalk up the shocking defeat of France in the summer of 1940 to French weakness. If you'd rather think a bit more deeply, read this classic account by the pioneering medieval historian. Bloch, who lived through the defeat and died fighting with the French resistance, lays out a penetrating analysis of the French defeat. It is vivid, perceptive, beautifully written, and unsparing in its examination of the failures of the generals, the politicians, and the people. It is a thought-provoking cultural critique of a society in a moment of crisis. A classic.
34 of 69 people found the following review helpful.
Good title, strange analysis
By J. Adams
While Bloch most assuredly was a patriot and served his country the best he could in both wars, his view of France and the French seems to be at odds with subsequent historical analysis. Bloch seems to blame the generals for the problems dealing with French impotence in the face of the Germans, but he doesn't seem to dig deep enough to examine alternative explanations, such as the fact that the French had not won a war since Napoleon and were fundamentally inept compared to other war machines. But since war is much more of a "natural" human state than peace, a society which does not educate and prepare for it is doomed to lose any battle where the enemy is better trained, disciplined, and focused. In many ways, Bloch's analysis ignores the political consequences of the lack of public understanding of the stakes at hand and instead looks at one aspect of examining the military humiliation of the "Phoney War". France was too divided politically and socially to win any battle verses the Nazi war machine. In many ways his analysis is more appropriate to why the French lost Vietnam than why it lost France to the Germans. But of course that happened long after he had been executed by the Nazis.
While this book has some good insights, it is not really anywhere near as good as Paxton's "Vichy France", but Paxton had the benefit of historical records unavailable to Bloch; however Bloch had the benefit of living the history that Paxton reveals.
But unlike the cowards like Sartre who sat out the war and watched the Germans rape his native land while the Vichy politicians acted as their cuckolds, he fought for his country and had an opinion that France was to blame for its own ignominy, instead of modern revisionists who sit back and attack those who stood up to evil.
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