• Verdun

  • The Lost History of the Most Important Battle of World War I, 1914-1918
  • By: John Mosier
  • Narrated by: Wes Talbot
  • Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (96 ratings)

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Verdun  By  cover art

Verdun

By: John Mosier
Narrated by: Wes Talbot
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Publisher's summary

Alongside Waterloo and Gettysburg, the Battle of Verdun during World War I stands as one of history’s greatest clashes. Yet it is also one of the most complex and misunderstood. Conventional wisdom holds that the battle began in February 1916 and lasted until December, when the victorious French wrested all the territory they had lost back from the Germans. In fact, says historian John Mosier, from the very beginning of the war until the armistice in 1918, no fewer than eight distinct battles were waged for the possession of Verdun. These conflicts are largely unknown, even in France, owing to the obsessive secrecy of the French high command and its energetic propaganda campaign to fool the world into thinking that the war on the Western Front was a steady series of German checks and defeats.

Although British historians have always seen Verdun as a one-year battle designed by the German chief of staff to bleed France white, Mosier’s careful analysis of the German plans reveals a much more abstract and theoretical approach.Our understanding of Verdun has long been mired in myths, false assumptions, propaganda, and distortions. Now, using numerous accounts of military analysts, serving officers, and eyewitnesses, including French sources that have never been translated, Mosier offers a compelling reassessment of the Great War’s most important battle.

©2013 John Mosier (P)2013 Gildan Media LLC
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

“Mr. Mosier [is] one of the more entertainingly contrarian military historians writing today...An important and groundbreaking audiobook about the Eastern front.” ( The Washington Times on Hitler vs. Stalin)
“The author knows his military history, strategy, and tactics…packed with evidence, much of it ingeniously obtained and argued.” ( The Washington Post on The Myth of the Great War)

What listeners say about Verdun

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A good book ruined by its reader

You have a worthy book about one of the most important (and, thanks to misreporting and cover-ups, least understood) battles of World War I. It was fought in France, between French and German armies, and the book recounts the action primarily from the French side. Given this, one might suppose that one of the first requirements for an audio version would be a reader who could pronounce French--or who would at least take the trouble, before tackling each passage, to learn how to say the French words in it. The producers of this audible execration took a different approach. By selecting a reader who pronounces almost every French name or term in his own uniquely wrong way, they rendered Mosier's interesting if somewhat verbose book all but unlistenable. After a valiant struggle to ignore Puh-TAYN, DJOFF-ree, the MOOZE, and countless other cringe-inducing errors, I was forced to concede defeat and turn the ghastly thing off.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Hunt for the truth

This book might be a good preparatory reading for World War One. Dr. Mosier covers a number of topics, geography of France, German and French history prior to WWI, railroads and their usefulness and limitations as well as military preparedness. He explains in pain-staking detail why the French artillery was terribly inaccurate and inadequate. French politics are reviewed along with their divisive role in military preparedness.

The author claims the lost history is actually buried history. The French army controlled all information or disinformation of the war. The author delved into this mass of suppressed information finding that each layer of command lied to the one above it as to the results of the latest offensive effort. One of the main points the author makes is that Verdun was not one battle but a series of battles fought from late 1914 to 1918.

One need to carefully review the source of the information provided in the index and keep a skeptical viewpoint to decide for yourself, is the book a fresh viewpoint and a struggle with official “truth” or a powerful revisionist account. Mosier also points out that WWI had no hero General to catch the public attention. Whereas, WWII had many Hero Generals that has kept the public interested in WWII for years. For those interested in World War One history the book is well worth the read. The book was narrated by Wes Talbot.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Most Thought-provoking

Many of the Great War "battle" books provide excellent detail, first hand accounts, just like Mosier's Verdun. Some, like Peter Hart's books give better detail in that respect. However, Out of all the WW1 books I've listened to, Verdun is the one where I felt like I got the most perspective and context...More "why" less how.

The narration is abysmal. The pronunciation of French names is especially bad. But it is still worth listening to, if you can get over the countless "Joffreys".

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good military history of Verdun thru the war

Narrator was not as bad as other reviewers were complaining about, although it was amusing to here "Joffre" pronounced like "Jeffery" the whole time.

This book describes Verdun the eye of a hurricane of violence all through the war years. It is very heavy with the military side of things and there isn't much accounts of soldiers experiences on the ground, but that doesnt make it totally unlistenable like Okinawa: the Last Battle.

Overall this is a good book that dispels many legends and myths about what happened at Verdun, and paints a clearer picture of a otherwise murky battle, but I might need to relisten a couple times to fully appreciate.

Need more soldiers accounts for sure

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Very statistical but not riveting

The overall thesis of the book is that the French military altered their number of casualties and that of the Germans to help with their propaganda efforts to keep up moral, especially over the fight for Verdun. In several places he seems to deviate from this thesis, speaking in detail on artillery, and the fact that there were multiple battles for Verdun besides 1916. Not a very riveting read, but did learn some. I’d prefer a firsthand account on the battle.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic dive into symmetric propaganda

A well written account of not only the battle but foremostly the events surrounding it and the bumbling of many people responsible - as most such histories of the great War relate. However, the performance has cringe worthy pronunciation of both French and German words, and sometimes almost comedically bad. Coup with a hard p was a good one. In you can bear Argonne being pronounced wrong over and over again, you will love this book.

Other reviews seem to be critical of there not being a specific overview of the battle, but that was the entire point of the first few chapters- there was no true battle of Verdun. It was much more than that. Other reviews are ironic reflections of the exact propaganda talked of in those same chapters- if you go in expecting the central powers to be villains, you do not understand the Grear War or history itself.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Very interesting, but very opinionated

This book is extremely interesting. I strongly recommend it to anyone with an interest WW1 western front. The author clearly put in a vast amount of research and has an excellent understanding of both the French and German languages.

He unravels the deliberately obstructed history of this multi-year regional battle. He also ties in a great deal that lead to the battle all the way from post Franco-Prussian war thinking, to geography, and a host of intricate and sometimes obscure details of how the French and German armies operated. I certainly learned much.

The reason I say its opinionated to the point of taking 2 stars off the 'story' points is once he builds his case for how obtrusive the French high command was were and how 'relatively' progressive -some- German field commanders were he doesn't let it go. And by that I mean he's constantly on the GQG (French high command) being bad, which they were, and German being smart, which some of them were. The amount he harps on this seriously detracts from an otherwise well researched and insightful book.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Learned so much

Interesting to learn so much more of the war than was covered in high school. I'm glad I picked this.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

great

awesome for long road trips and very informative and also great to listen to in parts

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Dry

I usually don't write reviews but for this work I must. This book is perfect if all you care about is the extreme minute details of the battle or as the author authors describes battles of Verdun. the author spent about 2 hours of this book describing IN EXTREME DETAIL every facet of french artillery. I go to a military college and consider myself a history buff but this book was too much for me. I finished all 11 hours but I can't say I learned all that much simply because the dry material and the monotone voice actor made me glaze over most of the time. I would only recommend this book to the most extreme history buff or someone writing a paper on the battle. Your 11 hours could be spent better elsewhere.

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