Apologie pour l'histoire ou Métier d'historien by Marc Bloch

After the war, he was awarded his doctorate and became a lecturer at the University of Strasbourg, where he taught from 1919 to 1936. Bloch served bravely with the French Army in World War I, rising from sergeant to captain, winning four decorations including the Croix de Guerre, and was made Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur. He was deeply influenced by the manipulation of popular hysteria and anti-Semitism during the Dreyfus Affair. He acquired an exceptional proficiency in languages, literature, and the social and natural sciences along with a zest for critical inquiry and de-mythologization.

He was raised in Paris and educated at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, then graduated from the École Normale Supérieure. 'The most wisdom-packed commentary on the problem set all intelligent and patriotic Frenchmen by the events of 1940.' - Spectator.Marc Bloch was born to a French Jewish family in Lyon, the son of Gustave Bloch, professor of ancient history. '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.' - New York Times Book Review. 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.

He gives a personal account of the battle of France, followed by a biting analysis of the generation between the wars. 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).īloch takes a close look at the military failures he witnessed, examining why France was unable to respond to attack quickly and effectively. Marc Bloch wrote Strange Defeat during the three months following the fall of France, after he returned home from military service. A renowned historian and Resistance fighter - later executed by the Nazis - analyzes at first hand why France fell in 1940.

Apologie pour l'histoire ou Métier d'historien by Marc Bloch