1915

With 1915, Jean-Yves Le Naour continues his ambition: to chart this first total war in all its facets, alternating perspectives — views from above and below, political, social, military, diplomatic and cultural lenses. On one side, the perceptions of the soldiers; on the other, the doctrine of the high command, which concealed its disarray behind a strategy of attrition while multiplying — particularly deadly — experiments in an attempt to draw lessons that might achieve the "breakthrough". But the strategy of attrition was denounced not only by the soldiers who suffered under it, but also by a number of senior officers. For his part, Joffre retreated into an ivory tower to avoid criticism and eliminated anyone who might overshadow him. The historian revisits political life through the archives of the RG (intelligence services), which had never previously been examined. Police officers recorded the mood of parliamentarians in the corridors of the Palais-Bourbon, producing a very different picture from what was being reported in the press. In a state of permanent agitation, parliamentarians attempted to reclaim authority over the Grand Quartier Général, with not the slightest confidence in Joffre and facing a government that dared not challenge him. For the Union sacrée never truly existed — or only as a façade. Finally, in 1915, the war entered a particularly deadly phase with the introduction of poison gas, the Armenian Genocide, the Zeppelin bombardment of London and Paris, the war launched by the Turks against the Allies in the name of Pan-Islamism, and more.