Fatal Avenue: Traveller's History of the Battlefields of Northern France and Flanders, 1346-1945

Fatal Avenue: Traveller's History of the Battlefields of Northern France and Flanders, 1346-1945

by RichardHolmes (Author)

Synopsis

Charles de Gaulle called it a 'fatal avenue'. He was refering to that broad sweep of low-lying country stretching from the Channel coast of Normandy in the west to the valley of the Moselle on the eastern flank, and from Paris northwards to Flanders. Over the centuries invading armies have swept back and forth over this bloody terrain, and the names of the bitter battles fought here read like a dictionary of military history: Agincourt and Arras, Bethune and Bapaume, Calais and Crecy...through to Verdun, Vimy and Ypres. The English invaded in 1337, initiating the Hundred Years War, Marlboroguh fought Marechal Villars here in 1711, Wellington and the Allies came in 1814-15, the Prussians in 1870, the Germans in 1914 and again in 1940...Evidence of a martial past is never far away. It is a landscape speckled with military adventure from every epoch: medieval walls, Vauban's forts, ravelins and lunettes, to the concrete and cupolas of the twentieth century. Richard Holmes is a leading authority on the battlefields of the 'fatal avenue', and here he provides not only a military history of these regions from 1346 to 1945, but also a compelling guide to the battles and campaigns, the geography of the terrain that was fought over, the tactics that were employed by the respective armies, and the weoponry they used.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 384
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd
Published: 11 Nov 1992

ISBN 10: 0224036009
ISBN 13: 9780224036009

Media Reviews
Enthralling information on everything from archery to fortification, and from strategy to ecology . . . Holmes presents each battle plan, its weapons, its fighting techniques, its architecture in the shape of forts, redoubts, trenches, its management, its results, and then takes the reader through the terrain as it exists today.
-Ronald Blythe
Exceedingly well written . . . Richard Holmes is equally sure-footed when dealing with the human element, writing with equal conviction about Joan of Arc, Marlborough, Napoleon, Haig, Foch, Ludendorff, Montgomery, Eisenhower and many others.
-Martin Fagge

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Author Bio
Richard Holmes taught at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst from 1969 to 1985. He is now Director of the Cranfield Security Studies Institute and consultant historian at the Army Staff College. His books include The Little Field Marshall, Firing Line and Nuclear Warriors.