Passchendaele: The Lost Victory of World War I

by Nick Lloyd

Overview

The definitive account of Passchendaele, the months-long battle that epitomizes the immense tragedy of the First World War

Passchendaele. The name of a small, seemingly insignificant Flemish village echoes across the twentieth century as the ultimate expression of meaningless, industrialized slaughter. In the summer of 1917, upwards of 500,000 men were killed or wounded, maimed, gassed, drowned, or buried in this small corner of Belgium.

On the centennial of the battle, military historian Nick Lloyd brings to vivid life this epic encounter along the Western Front. Drawing on both British and German sources, he is the first historian to reveal the astonishing fact that, for the British, Passchendaele was an eminently winnable battle. Yet the advance of British troops was undermined by their own high command, which, blinded by hubris, clung to failed tactics. The result was a familiar one: stalemate. Lloyd forces us to consider that trench warfare was not necessarily a futile endeavor, and that had the British won at Passchendaele, they might have ended the war early, saving hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives. A captivating narrative of heroism and folly, Passchendaele is an essential addition to the literature on the Great War.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465094776
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	05/23/2017
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	205,452
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Nick Lloyd is a senior lecturer in defense studies at King's College London and the author of Hundred Days. He lives in Cheltenham, UK.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations xi

List of Maps xv

Glossary xvii

Abbreviations xix

Introduction 1

Prologue: The Nivelle Offensive 11

1 Manoeuvres of War 19

2 Haig and the 'Northern Operation' 36

3 'A Great Sea of Flames' 54

4 'Have We Time to Accomplish?' 73

5 'Under Constant Fire' 90

6 'A Perfect Bloody Curse' 105

7 'Like the Black Hole of Calcutta' 123

8 'A Question of Concentration' 141

9 'An Introduction to Hard Work' 159

10 'A Stunning Pandemonium' 174

11 'War with a Big W' 191

12 'An Overwhelming Blow' 208

13 'The Weakness of Haste' 226

14 'Not Worth a Drop of Blood' 246

15 'Against the Iron Wall' 266

Epilogue 287

Acknowledgements 305

References 307

Bibliography 375

Index 391

Editorial Reviews

03/27/2017
Lloyd (Hundred Days), reader in military and imperial history at King’s College London, confirms his position among the best young scholars of WWI in this comprehensively researched, convincingly presented analysis of the still-controversial 1917 battle of Passchendaele. Lloyd asserts that Passchendaele was less an ill-fated farrago of total incompetence than “in some respects, one of the ‘lost victories’ of the war.” He demonstrates that British civilian-military relations were confused and that the result was a British failure to develop, even at this late date, a “detailed and considered appreciation of how the war was to be won.” Had an approach of measured, limited advances—based on timing and firepower, and well within British capacities—been pursued systematically from the beginning instead of on an ad hoc basis, Lloyd suggests, “a major victory could have been won in the late summer and autumn of 1917.” He supports this position with a careful analysis of Passchendaele’s deleterious effect on the German defenders. Instead, a knockout blow was sought amid the grind of attrition. Britain and the Dominions paid the price for high-level strategic dissonance and the culpable amateurism that sustained it. Lloyd’s thesis is controversial, but his scholarship makes it impossible to dismiss. Maps. Agent: Peter Robinson, Rogers, Coleridge, and White (U.K.). (May)

Publishers Weekly

"Red Cross files across western Europe. The German army's terrible suffering is duly explored, as well as that of Canadian and Anzac infantrymen. Published on the eve of Passchendaele's 100th anniversary, the book is harrowing but necessary."—Observer

"Extensively researched... demonstrate[s] the war's sheer and utter waste of life and resources even as the old mainland Europe monarchical order brought about its own demise."—New York Journal of Books

"[Lloyd] confirms his position among the best young scholars of WWI in this comprehensively researched, convincingly presented analysis of the still-controversial 1917 battle of Passchendaele. [His] thesis is controversial, but his scholarship makes it impossible to dismiss."—Publishers Weekly

"Detailed and compelling... There will be other books about Third Ypres this year, but it's unlikely that any of them will be better-researched, more intelligent or fairer than this one. Without in any way minimising the awfulness of the battle, Lloyd makes its inception and course comprehensible. Both as narrative and analysis, this book is masterly."—The Scotsman

"[Lloyd] retells the story of this infamous conflict with fresh knowledge and newly available materials, including letters, diaries, memoirs, and official reports from both British and German perspectives."—Library Journal

."[Lloyd's] narrative of the campaign is superb and written with clarity and dispassion... [he] has done his research thoroughly."—The Times

"Lloyd's research is superb; the book is well-illustrated with photographs and maps; he brings the battle and its political context vividly to life... this is in almost every respect a model of what a work of military history should be, and is now perhaps the definitive account of this phase of the war on the Western Front."—Daily Telegraph

"An eloquent re-telling of one of the First World War's most mismanaged battles. Lloyd movingly recounts the ordeal of German and British infantry in the mud and blood of Passchendaele."—Alexander Watson, author of Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary in World War I

From the Publisher

04/15/2017
The French hamlet of Passchendaele became the location of one of the defining battles of World War I. A combination of poor weather and poor coordination with the British High Command caused a failed effort. Lloyd, reader of military and Imperial history at King's College London, retells the story of this infamous conflict with fresh knowledge and newly available materials, including letters, diaries, memoirs, and official reports from both British and German perspectives. The German side of the story, also explored in Richard Rubin's Back Over There, is largely omitted from previous accounts of the events at Passchendaele. While Rubin offers a softer version, with personal travels in the Alsace region, Lloyd fully fleshes out the details of combat during the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele was the last battle of this campaign). With a few breaks favoring the British, this series of battles in 1917 could have pushed German forces back into Belgium; it was the lost victory. VERDICT Lloyd succeeds in recasting the Third Battle of Ypres, from a struggle that should not have occurred to a lost victory. Recommended for World War I historians and serious students of 20th-century history.—Harry Willems, Great Bend P.L., KS

Library Journal