Jean-Jacques Becker (1928–2023)

'The Great War and the French People' is a well written and apparently thoroughly researched work. Becker discusses how the Great War affected the French people; how they managed to hold out for the four years of the war even though a short war was expected by both sides. Conversely, he also looks into how the French people affected the Great War. Becker does not deal in generalities. He presents very specific topics with detailed research leading to sound conclusions. The book is not too dry, nor is it particularly a 'page turner'. At times I had to force myself to continue, believing the dry patches were worth plowing through to get to the conclusion; which was true for me. There were also brief sections of the book where I was not sure what the author was saying. Perhaps this was due to translation from French to English.

Becker looks into the impact of such topics as 'the dissemination of news; the activities of the Socialist party and revolutionaries; how teachers, writers and the press; among many other facets of France on the people's attitudes and morale during the conflict. This is the only book I have read which studied the population of a belligerent nation during the war.

5 stars! Worth reading. My next read is 'The Spirit of 1914' by J. Verhey. The work looks to be a similiar study, only dealing with Germany. Review to come.....… (meer)