The Wars is a 1977 novel by Timothy Findley that follows Robert Ross, a nineteen-year-old Canadian who enlists in World War I after the death of his beloved older sister in an attempt to escape both his grief and the social norms of oppressive Edwardian society. Drawn into the madness of war, Ross commits "a last desperate act to declare his commitment to life in the midst of death." Years later, a historian tries to piece together how he came to commit this act, interviewing the various people Ross interacted with.
154-397: The Wars utilizes first- , second- , and third-person narrative points of view, which is very rare in literature. The narrative moves between voices, each telling part of Robert's story. The novel is also an example of historiographic metafiction . A young man named Robert Ross is introduced as squatting in a tattered Canadian military uniform, with a pistol in hand. A nearby building
308-462: A first-person perspective , voice , point of view , etc.) is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from that storyteller's own personal point of view , using first-person grammar such as "I", "me", "my", and "myself" (also, in plural form, "we", "us", etc.). It must be narrated by a first-person character, such as a protagonist (or other focal character ), re-teller, witness, or peripheral character. Alternatively, in
462-466: A story within a story , wherein a narrator or character observing the telling of a story by another is reproduced in full, temporarily, and without interruption shifting narration to the speaker. The first-person narrator can also be the focal character. With a first-person narrative it is important to consider how the story is being told, i.e., is the character writing it down, telling it out loud, thinking it to themselves? And if they are writing it down,
616-529: A stream of consciousness and interior monologue , as in Marcel Proust 's In Search of Lost Time . The whole of the narrative can itself be presented as a false document , such as a diary, in which the narrator makes explicit reference to the fact that he is writing or telling a story. This is the case in Bram Stoker 's Dracula . As a story unfolds, narrators may be aware that they are telling
770-475: A 2 mi (3.2 km) front. Preceded by a hurricane bombardment lasting only 35 minutes, the village was captured within four hours. The advance then slowed because of supply and communication difficulties. The Germans brought up reserves and counterattacked , forestalling the attempt to capture the ridge. Since the British had used about a third of their artillery ammunition , General Sir John French blamed
924-567: A Grove (the source for the movie Rashomon ) and Faulkner's novel The Sound and the Fury . Each of these sources provides different accounts of the same event, from the point of view of various first-person narrators. There can also be multiple co-principal characters as narrator, such as in Robert A. Heinlein 's The Number of the Beast . The first chapter introduces four characters, including
1078-476: A breakthrough from a counter-offensive. He also kept tight control of the main reserve, feeding in just enough troops to keep the battle going. In preparation for their attack, the Germans had amassed a concentration of aircraft near the fortress. In the opening phase, they swept the air space of French aircraft, which allowed German artillery-observation aircraft and bombers to operate without interference. In May,
1232-492: A breakthrough might no longer be possible and instead focused on forcing a French defeat by inflicting massive casualties. His new goal was to "bleed France white." As such, he adopted two new strategies. The first was the use of unrestricted submarine warfare to cut off entente supplies arriving from overseas. The second would be attacks against the French army intended to inflict maximum casualties; Falkenhayn planned to attack
1386-590: A brief engagement first on 7 August, and then again on 23 August, but German reserve forces engaged them in the Battle of Mulhouse and forced the French to retreat twice. The German Army swept through Belgium, executing civilians and razing villages. The application of "collective responsibility" against a civilian population further galvanised the entente. Newspapers condemned the German invasion, violence against civilians and destruction of property, which became known as
1540-437: A brothel named Wet Goods . He goes into a room with the prostitute Ella; when she realizes that he has accidentally ejaculated in his pants and therefore will not be having sex, she decides to pass the time by showing him a peephole into the next room. Here Robert sees Taffler having sadomasochistic sex with another man. Out of anger, Robert throws his boots at a mirror and a water jug, scaring Ella. While sailing to England on
1694-404: A change in French command at Verdun from the defensive-minded Philippe Pétain to the offensive-minded Robert Nivelle , the French attempted to re-capture Fort Douaumont on 22 May but were easily repulsed. The Germans captured Fort Vaux on 7 June and with the aid of diphosgene gas, came within 1 kilometre (1,100 yd) of the last ridge before Verdun before being contained on 23 June. Over
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#17327719918651848-417: A collage of arresting images and brief, telling scenes that not only cohere in a compelling narrative but whose form mimics the fractured lives of soldiers and civilians shattered by war." Throughout his introduction, Vanderhaeghe also argues that " The Wars is the finest historical novel ever written by a Canadian," ending with the personal confession that " The Wars has always been, and shall remain for me,
2002-429: A combination of stories, experiences, and servants' gossip. As such, his character is an unintentionally very unreliable narrator and serves mainly to mystify, confuse, and ultimately leave the events of Wuthering Heights open to a great range of interpretations. A rare form of the first person is the first-person omniscient, in which the narrator is a character in the story, but also knows the thoughts and feelings of all
2156-582: A discarded machine gun, creatin ? the men start descending the side of crater, there is a sudden gas attack. The bottom of the crater is full of freezing water, and many begin jumping into it. Robert takes control with his pistol and instructs the men to urinate on strips of clothing and hold them over their faces. One man is too scared to urinate, and Robert must do it for him. The men then lie down, feigning death. Hours later, Robert finally sits up and surveys their surroundings. He immediately realizes that they are being watched by an enemy German soldier sitting at
2310-640: A dramatic effect on the conflict as 33 divisions were released from the Eastern Front for deployment to the west. The Germans occupied almost as much Russian territory under the provisions of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk as they did in the Second World War but this considerably restricted their troop redeployment. The Germans achieved an advantage of 192 divisions in the west to the 178 entente divisions, which allowed Germany to pull veteran units from
2464-471: A fighter training school was opened at Valenciennes and better aircraft with twin guns were introduced. The result was higher losses of Allied aircraft, particularly for the British, Portuguese, Belgians and Australians who were struggling with outmoded aircraft, poor training and tactics. The Allied air successes over the Somme were not repeated. During their attack at Arras, the British lost 316 air crews and
2618-488: A film would be the narration given by the character Greg Heffley in the film adaptation of the popular book series Diary of a Wimpy Kid . A autobiography is youshaly in the first person Western Front (World War I) Military dead: 1,495,000 1915 1916 1917 1918 Associated articles The Western Front was one of the main theatres of war during the First World War . Following
2772-418: A hospital, Harris talks at great length of his love of the sea. Robert describes Harris as someone he loved deeply. In Penguin's Modern Classic edition, published 2005, Canadian author Guy Vanderhaeghe wrote the “Introduction” for The Wars . Vanderhaeghe describes his first experience reading the novel on the “last leg of a long bus trip.” Vanderhaeghe states that he could not stop reading and, upon finishing
2926-645: A long period of success before Britain resorted to the convoy system, bringing a large reduction in shipping losses. By 1917, the size of the British Army on the Western Front had grown to two-thirds of the size of the French force. In April 1917 the BEF began the Battle of Arras . The Canadian Corps and the 5th Division of the First Army, fought the Battle of Vimy Ridge , completing the capture of
3080-411: A machine-gun that shot forward through the propeller blades. This was achieved by crudely reinforcing the blades to deflect bullets. Several weeks later Garros force-landed behind German lines. His aeroplane was captured and sent to Dutch engineer Anthony Fokker , who soon produced a significant improvement, the interrupter gear , in which the machine gun is synchronised with the propeller so it fires in
3234-423: A major push. The final phase of the battle of the Somme saw the first use of the tank on the battlefield. The entente prepared an attack that would involve 13 British and Imperial divisions and four French corps. The attack made early progress, advancing 3,200–4,100 metres (3,500–4,500 yd) in places but the tanks had little effect due to their lack of numbers and mechanical unreliability. The final phase of
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#17327719918653388-435: A multi-level narrative structure is Joseph Conrad 's novella Heart of Darkness , which has a double framework: an unidentified "I" (first person singular) narrator relates a boating trip during which another character, Marlow, uses the first person to tell a story that comprises the majority of the work. Within this nested story , it is mentioned that another character, Kurtz, told Marlow a lengthy story; however, its content
3542-407: A new system of defence. Rather than relying on a heavily fortified front line, the defence was to be arranged in a series of echelons. The front line would be a thinly manned series of outposts, reinforced by a series of strongpoints and a sheltered reserve. If a slope was available, troops were deployed along the rear side for protection. The defence became fully integrated with command of artillery at
3696-441: A position from which the French could not retreat, for reasons of strategy and national pride and thus trap the French. The town of Verdun was chosen for this because it was an important stronghold, surrounded by a ring of forts, that lay near the German lines and because it guarded the direct route to Paris. Falkenhayn limited the size of the front to 5–6 kilometres (3–4 mi) to concentrate artillery firepower and to prevent
3850-631: A result. Robert took it as his duty to protect her, but Robert was in his room masturbating when she fell out of her chair. Thus, he feels guilty throughout the novel for inadvertently causing her death. She remains in Robert's heart and mind throughout the novel and is constantly referenced. Rowena had ten rabbits that she looked after and kept as pets while she was alive, but Mrs. Ross insisted that they be killed, against Robert's wishes, shortly after Rowena's death. Robert's desperate attempts to save animals throughout his war experiences reflects his love for
4004-449: A shelling of the dugout, his fellow soldier Levitt loses his mind, and Robert finds himself close to the brink. Ordered to place guns in a location sure to be a deathtrap, Robert and his men find themselves on the wrong end of a gas attack in the middle of a freezing cold winter. Robert is instructed to place the guns in a crater that is formed by the shelling attacks. As he descends the side of crater, Robert slips and smashes his knees on
4158-441: A single day in the history of the British Army, about 57,000. The Verdun lesson learnt, the entente tactical aim became the achievement of air superiority and until September, German aircraft were swept from the skies over the Somme. The success of the entente air offensive caused a reorganisation of the German air arm and both sides began using large formations of aircraft rather than relying on individual combat. After regrouping,
4312-507: A six-day bombardment and advanced 5 kilometres (3 mi) to capture Vimy Ridge. German reinforcements counter-attacked and pushed the French back towards their starting points because French reserves had been held back and the success of the attack had come as a surprise. By 15 May the advance had been stopped, although the fighting continued until 18 June. In May the German Army captured a French document at La Ville-aux-Bois describing
4466-541: A story and of their reasons for telling it. The audience that they believe they are addressing can vary. In some cases, a frame story presents the narrator as a character in an outside story who begins to tell their own story, as in Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein . First-person narrators are often unreliable narrators since a narrator might be impaired (such as both Quentin and Benjy in Faulkner's The Sound and
4620-409: A story in the grammatical first person, i.e. from the perspective of "I", is Herman Melville 's Moby-Dick , which begins with "Call me Ishmael." First-person narration may sometimes include an embedded or implied audience of one or more people. The story may be told by a person directly undergoing the events in the story without being aware of conveying that experience to readers; alternatively,
4774-419: A story is told will also affect how it is written. Why is this narrator telling the story in this way, why now, and are they to be trusted? Unstable or malevolent narrators can also lie to the reader. Unreliable narrators are not uncommon. In the first-person-plural point of view , narrators tell the story using "we". That is, no individual speaker is identified; the narrator is a member of a group that acts as
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4928-569: A tree with his gun. A feature film version of The Wars was released in 1983. The film was directed by Robin Phillips from a screenplay written by Findley, and starred Brent Carver as Robert Ross. It was produced by Neilsen-Ferns International. The novel has also been adapted for the stage by Dennis Garnhum . It premiered at Theatre Calgary in September 2007. First-person narrative A first-person narrative (also known as
5082-736: A unit. The first-person-plural point of view occurs rarely but can be used effectively, sometimes as a means to increase the concentration on the character or characters the story is about. Examples include: Other examples include Twenty-Six Men and a Girl by Maxim Gorky , The Treatment of Bibi Haldar by Jhumpa Lahiri , During the Reign of the Queen of Persia by Joan Chase , Our Kind by Kate Walbert , I, Robot by Isaac Asimov , and We Didn't by Stuart Dybek . First-person narrators can also be multiple, as in Ryūnosuke Akutagawa 's In
5236-586: A very high degree of defense. According to two prominent historians: Between the coast and the Vosges was a westward bulge in the trench line, named the Noyon salient after the French town at the maximum point of the German advance near Compiègne . Joffre's plan for 1915 was to attack the salient on both flanks to cut it off. The Fourth Army had attacked in Champagne from 20 December 1914 – 17 March 1915 but
5390-402: A visual storytelling medium (such as video, television, or film), the first-person perspective is a graphical perspective rendered through a character's visual field, so the camera is "seeing" out of a character's eyes. A classic example of a first-person protagonist narrator is Charlotte Brontë 's Jane Eyre (1847), in which the title character is telling the story in which she herself
5544-500: A week-long artillery bombardment and accompanied by tanks. The offensive proceeded poorly as the French troops, with the help of two Russian brigades , had to negotiate rough, upward-sloping terrain in extremely bad weather. Planning had been dislocated by the voluntary German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line. Secrecy had been compromised and German aircraft gained air superiority, making reconnaissance difficult and in places,
5698-426: Is Juliet's older sister, who became Robert's lover at a point in the novel. She was uncaring and moved easily from one man to another. She admired athletes and heroes. She constantly frustrated the delicate homoerotic relationships around her without understanding her own destructiveness. This man was a war hero who was often accompanied by a dog and a horse. From the very beginning when he is first introduced, he plays
5852-421: Is a compassionate, handsome fellow. He is also an idealist, hindered by youth and inexperience. Robert's personality is serious, practical, determined, and observant of things that other people cannot see. His observations also allow him to react quickly to the situations he encounters in this novel. Robert suffers great guilt over the accidental death of his sister, Rowena, who died from a fall onto cement ground in
6006-415: Is also the protagonist: "I could not unlove him now, merely because I found that he had ceased to notice me". Srikanta by Bengali writer Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay is another first-person perspective novel which is often called a " masterpiece ". Srikanta , the title character and protagonist of the novel, tells his own story: "What memories and thoughts crowd into my mind, as, at the threshold of
6160-456: Is burning around Robert; even the horses are slowly burning alive. Robert finds Captain Leather and shoots him dead. Robert runs away, as he knows he will be court-martialed for disobeying orders. He finds a black horse with a black dog beside an abandoned train. Before riding the horse down the track, he realizes that there are horses in the train. He frees 130 horses from the train and flees
6314-536: Is even more horrified to see that the German had had a sniper rifle, meaning that he could have killed Robert and his men if he had wanted to. Robert hears a bird chirping above him and, from then on, is haunted by the sound. In an interview, Juliet d'Orsey explains that the d'Orsey home was converted into a hospital for soldiers during the war. It is here that Robert recovers from his own injuries sustained in Part Three. Once again he meets Taffler, another patient at
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6468-702: Is for the main detective principal assistant, the "Watson", to be the narrator: this derives from the character of Dr. Watson in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. First-person narratives can appear in several forms; interior monologue, as in Fyodor Dostoevsky 's Notes from Underground ; dramatic monologue, also in Albert Camus ' The Fall ; or explicitly, as Mark Twain 's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . Other forms include temporary first-person narration as
6622-421: Is hurting Barbara. Although they do not see who opens the door, Juliet begins to feel guilty. When Robert eventually leaves the home, Juliet slips him a candle and a box of matches in an effort to explain herself and apologize. Robert heads back to battle on a small train. He gets hopelessly lost on the way and loses his pack. After many weeks of travelling in circles, he arrives at Désolé, a mental institution. In
6776-400: Is it something meant to be read by the public, a private diary, or a story meant for one other person? The way the first-person narrator is relating the story will affect the language used, the length of sentences, the tone of voice, and many other things. A story presented as a secret diary could be interpreted much differently than a public statement. First-person narratives can tend towards
6930-524: Is just a burial at sea. May we take off our caps?" On February 28, 1916, the Germans set off a string of land mines, strategically placed along the St. Eloi Salient. The whole countryside goes up in flames. This is the second half of a battle that the Canadians thought was already over. "30,000 men would die and not an inch of land would be won." Robert is now experiencing trench warfare at its worst. Following
7084-419: Is not revealed to readers. Thus, there is an "I" narrator introducing a storyteller as "he" (Marlow), who talks about himself as "I" and introduces another storyteller as "he" (Kurtz), who in turn presumably told his story from the perspective of "I". First-person narration is more difficult to achieve in film; however, voice-over narration can create the same structure. An example of first-person narration in
7238-403: Is on fire, and a train is stopped. There is evidence of war, and Ross is shown to be in the company of a black horse and a dog. Robert, the horse, and the dog seem to have been together for a while, as they understand each other. He decides to free a herd of horses from the train, and the prologue ends with the horses, rider, and dog all running as a herd. Robert Ross enlists in the army to escape
7392-459: Is saved but badly burned, and all the horses and possibly the dog are killed. Robert turns down an offer of euthanasia from a nurse from Bois de Madeleine hospital before being sent to England and tried in absentia . Since he could not be kept in prison, he was given leave to stay in St Aubyn's for longterm treatment. Juliet d'Orsey remains by Robert's side until his death in 1922. Mr. Ross
7546-403: Is saved. Juliet tells Robert that his assigned room is haunted by the ghost Lady Sorrel, who comes into the room every night and lights the candles. One night, Juliet thinks it would be a neat prank to dress up as Lady Sorrel, walk into Robert's room, and light the candles. When Juliet opens the door, she sees Barbara and Robert Ross having sex, so violently that Juliet at first thinks that Robert
7700-485: Is the only member of his family to come see Robert buried. The character of protagonist Robert Ross was inspired by T. E. Lawrence and the author's uncle, Thomas Irving Findley, to whom the author dedicated the novel. Findley named the character after Canadian literary figure Robbie Ross . Robert Ross enlisted when he was eighteen and served as a second lieutenant in the Canadian field artillery from 1916-1917. He
7854-612: The Battle of Mons . In the former battle the French Fifth Army was almost destroyed by the German 2nd and 3rd Armies and the latter delayed the German advance by a day. A general entente retreat followed, resulting in more clashes at the Battle of Le Cateau , the Siege of Maubeuge and the Battle of St. Quentin (also called the First Battle of Guise). The German Army came within 70 km (43 mi) of Paris but at
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#17327719918658008-577: The First Battle of the Marne (6–12 September), French and British troops were able to force a German retreat by exploiting a gap which appeared between the 1st and 2nd Armies, ending the German advance into France. The German Army retreated north of the Aisne and dug in there, establishing the beginnings of a static western front that was to last for the next three years. Following this German retirement,
8162-598: The French Army and trap it on the German border. Belgian neutrality had been guaranteed by Britain under the Treaty of London, 1839 ; this caused Britain to join the war at the expiration of its ultimatum at midnight on 4 August. Armies under German generals Alexander von Kluck and Karl von Bülow attacked Belgium on 4 August 1914. Luxembourg had been occupied without opposition on 2 August. The first battle in Belgium
8316-559: The II ANZAC Corps and took the village of Passchendaele on 6 November, despite rain, mud and many casualties. The offensive was costly in manpower for both sides for relatively little gain of ground against determined German resistance but the ground captured was of great tactical importance. In the drier periods, the British advance was inexorable and during the unusually wet August and in the Autumn rains that began in early October,
8470-547: The Ieperlee from Nieuwpoort to Boezinge . Meanwhile, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) occupied a position on the flank, having occupied a more central position. From 19 October until 22 November, the German forces made their final breakthrough attempt of 1914 during the First Battle of Ypres , which ended in a mutually-costly stalemate. After the battle, Erich von Falkenhayn judged that it
8624-503: The S.S. Massanabie , Robert must kill a horse that broke its leg. While struggling to kill the horse, he fires and misses many times before landing his shots. Robert is now in France and in charge of a convoy. While scouting ahead in the fog, he falls into a muddy sinkhole and nearly drowns. After saving himself, he is met by Poole and Levitt, two of his men. They eventually reach the dugout that will be their temporary home. There, they meet
8778-698: The Treaty of Versailles in 1919. The Western Front was the place where the most powerful military forces in Europe, the German and French armies, met and where the First World War was decided. At the outbreak of the war, the German Army, with seven field armies in the west and one in the east, executed a modified version of the Schlieffen Plan , bypassing French defenses along the common border by moving quickly through neutral Belgium, and then turning southwards to attack France and attempt to encircle
8932-712: The War Office claimed, with some justification, that this withdrawal resulted from the casualties the Germans received during the Battles of the Somme and Verdun, despite the entente suffering greater losses. On 6 April the United States declared war on Germany. In early 1915, following the sinking of the Lusitania , Germany had stopped unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic because of concerns of drawing
9086-444: The front . The Germans begin firing shells. Robert asks Captain Leather to let the horses out of the barn, as they will die if the barn is hit, but Captain Leather refuses. Robert returns to the barn and asks his friend Devlin to help him release the horses. As Devlin runs out to open the gate, Captain Leather comes out of hiding and shoots Devlin dead. He then fires at Robert but misses. At that moment, three shells land. Soon everything
9240-668: The " Rape of Belgium ." After marching through Belgium, Luxembourg and the Ardennes , the Germans advanced into northern France in late August, where they met the French Army, under Joseph Joffre , and the divisions of the British Expeditionary Force under Field Marshal Sir John French . A series of engagements known as the Battle of the Frontiers ensued, which included the Battle of Charleroi and
9394-467: The 13-foot-wide (4 m) German tank traps. Special "grapnel tanks" towed hooks to pull away the German barbed wire. The attack was a great success for the British, who penetrated further in six hours than at the Third Ypres in four months, at a cost of only 4,000 British casualties. The advance produced an awkward salient and a surprise German counter-offensive began on 30 November, which drove back
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#17327719918659548-508: The Battle of the Somme with the Battle of Albert , supported by five French divisions on their right flank. The attack had been preceded by seven days of heavy artillery bombardment. The experienced French forces were successful in advancing but the British artillery cover had neither blasted away barbed wire, nor destroyed German trenches as effectively as was planned. They suffered the greatest number of casualties (killed, wounded and missing) in
9702-574: The British in the south and failed in the north. Despite the reversal, the attack was seen as a success by the entente, proving that tanks could overcome trench defences. The Germans realised that the use of tanks by the entente posed a new threat to any defensive strategy they might mount. The battle had also seen the first mass use of German Stosstruppen on the Western front in the attack, who used infantry infiltration tactics to penetrate British defences, bypassing resistance and quickly advancing into
9856-734: The British launched an offensive in Flanders, in part to take the pressure off the French armies on the Aisne, after the French part of the Nivelle Offensive failed to achieve the strategic victory that had been planned and French troops began to mutiny . The offensive began on 7 June, with a British attack on Messines Ridge , south of Ypres, to retake the ground lost in the First and Second battles in 1914. Since 1915 specialist Royal Engineer tunnelling companies had been digging tunnels under
10010-419: The British rear. Following the successful entente attack and penetration of the German defences at Cambrai, Ludendorff and Hindenburg determined that the only opportunity for German victory lay in a decisive attack along the Western front during the spring, before American manpower became overwhelming. On 3 March 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed and Russia withdrew from the war. This would now have
10164-734: The Canadians lost 114 compared to 44 lost by the Germans. This became known to the Royal Flying Corps as Bloody April . The same month, the French Commander-in-chief , General Robert Nivelle, ordered a new offensive against the German trenches, promising that it would end the war within 48 hours. The 16 April attack, dubbed the Nivelle Offensive (also known as the Second Battle of the Aisne ), would be 1.2 million men strong, preceded by
10318-638: The Dead , From Here to Eternity , For Whom the Bell Tolls , and A Farewell to Arms is the compressed size of The Wars , usually being under two hundred pages (depending on the edition). Vanderhaeghe points towards Erich Maria Remarque 's All Quiet on the Western Front as being perhaps the only other work to "so efficiently compress and crystallize the horrors of combat in so few pages." Vanderhaeghe continues, however, that "But unlike Remarque, Findley achieves this impressive economy by piecing together
10472-457: The French countered by deploying escadrilles de chasse with superior Nieuport fighters and the air over Verdun turned into a battlefield as both sides fought for air superiority . The Battle of Verdun began on 21 February 1916 after a nine-day delay due to snow and blizzards. After a massive eight-hour artillery bombardment, the Germans did not expect much resistance as they slowly advanced on Verdun and its forts. Sporadic French resistance
10626-400: The French trenches. The green-yellow cloud started killing some defenders and those in the rear fled in panic , creating an undefended 3.7-mile (6 km) gap in the entente line. The Germans were unprepared for the level of their success and lacked sufficient reserves to exploit the opening. Canadian troops on the right drew back their left flank and halted the German advance. The gas attack
10780-578: The French were not able to attack in Artois at the same time. The Tenth Army formed the northern attack force and was to attack eastwards into the Douai plain on a 16 km (9.9 mi) front between Loos and Arras. On 10 March, as part of the larger offensive in the Artois region, the British Army fought the Battle of Neuve Chapelle to capture Aubers Ridge. The assault was made by four divisions on
10934-822: The Fury ), lie (as in The Quiet American by Graham Greene , or The Book of the New Sun series by Gene Wolfe ), or manipulate their own memories intentionally or not (as in The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro , or in Ken Kesey 's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest ). Henry James discusses his concerns about "the romantic privilege of the 'first person ' " in his preface to The Ambassadors , calling it "the darkest abyss of romance ." One example of
11088-741: The German alliance), the final lines were occupied with the armies of each nation defending a part of the front. From the coast in the north, the primary forces were from Belgium, the British Empire and then France. Following the Battle of the Yser in October, the Belgian army controlled a 35 km (22 mi) length of West Flanders along the coast, known as the Yser Front , along the Yser and
11242-404: The German front line. On 25 February the German armies west of the line began Operation Alberich a withdrawal to the line and completed the retirement on 5 April, leaving a supply desert of scorched earth to be occupied by the entente. This withdrawal negated the French strategy of attacking both flanks of the Noyon salient, as it no longer existed. The British continued offensive operations as
11396-404: The Germans achieved only costly defensive successes, which led the German commanders in early October to begin preparations for a general retreat. Both sides lost a combined total of over a half million men during this offensive. The battle has become a byword among some British revisionist historians for bloody and futile slaughter, whilst the Germans called Passchendaele "the greatest martyrdom of
11550-537: The Germans adopted a new defence-in-depth scheme that consisted of a series of defensive zones and positions with a depth of up to 8.0 km (5 mi). On 25 September, the British began the Battle of Loos , part of the Third Battle of Artois, which was meant to supplement the larger Champagne attack. The attack was preceded by a four-day artillery bombardment of 250,000 shells and a release of 5,100 cylinders of chlorine gas. The attack involved two corps in
11704-462: The Germans on 20 August. Although the German army bypassed Antwerp, it remained a threat to their flank. Another siege followed at Namur, lasting from about 20–23 August. The French deployed five armies on the frontier. The French Plan XVII was intended to bring about the capture of Alsace–Lorraine . On 7 August, the VII Corps attacked Alsace to capture Mulhouse and Colmar. The main offensive
11858-580: The Lodz offensive in Poland (11–25 November), Falkenhayn hoped that the Russians would be made amenable to peace overtures. In his discussions with Bethmann Hollweg, Falkenhayn viewed Germany and Russia as having no insoluble conflict and that the real enemies of Germany were France and Britain. A peace with only a few annexations of territory also seemed possible with France and that with Russia and France out of
12012-587: The Swede, Robert's homophobia causes him to cease regarding Taffler as a role model. Nevertheless, Taffler goes on to have a seemingly heterosexual relationship with Barbara d'Orsey. It is also noteworthy that Robert himself may have been struggling with his own homosexual tendencies. Robert meets Harris in the ship's infirmary. Harris's condition grows progressively worse while in England and he eventually dies before being sent off to France. While under Robert's care at
12166-499: The United States into the conflict. With the growing discontent of the German public due to the food shortages, the government resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in February 1917. They calculated that a successful submarine and warship siege of Britain would force that country out of the war within six months, while American forces would take a year to become a serious factor on the Western Front. The submarine and surface ships had
12320-503: The Western Front was against the French near the Belgian town of Ypres . The Germans had already deployed gas against the Russians in the east at the Battle of Humin-Bolimów . Despite the German plans to maintain the stalemate with the French and British, Albrecht, Duke of Württemberg , commander of the 4th Army planned an offensive at Ypres, site of the First Battle of Ypres in November 1914. The Second Battle of Ypres , April 1915,
12474-502: The accusations surrounding Rowena's death. His relationship with his wife became helpless after Rowena's death and Robert's enlisting in the army. He has a strong relationship with his son Robert, and he is the only member of the family to attend Robert's funeral. Marian Turner is a young nurse during the war. She cares for Robert when he is injured late in the novel, but the reader is introduced to her earlier. Via transcripts of interviews, an 80-year-old Marian gives accounts of what Robert
12628-406: The actual writer of that book and playing the part of James Kirk (Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek ) as he wrote the novel. Since the narrator is within the story, he or she may not have knowledge of all the events. For this reason, the first-person narrative is often used for detective fiction , so that the reader and narrator uncover the case together. One traditional approach in this form of fiction
12782-406: The afternoon of my wandering life, I sit down to write the story of its morning hours!" This device allows the audience to see the narrator's mind's eye view of the fictional universe , but it is limited to the narrator's experiences and awareness of the true state of affairs. In some stories, first-person narrators may relay dialogue with other characters or refer to information they heard from
12936-409: The area with them. As Robert is riding with all the horses, a soldier stops him and tries to force him to return the horses; Robert shoots him dead. Robert is finally caught in a barn with the horses. The soldiers surrounding Robert set the barn on fire in an attempt to smoke him out. However, the doors of the barn are locked. Before Robert can open them, the roof collapses on him and the horses. Robert
13090-559: The author). In some cases, the narrator is writing a book—"the book in your hands"—and therefore he has most of the powers and knowledge of the author. Examples include The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco , and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon . Another example is a fictional "Autobiography of James T. Kirk" which was "Edited" by David A. Goodman who was
13244-413: The barn. After Rowena's death, Robert became distant from his mother and much closer to his father, who continued to support and encourage him throughout his experience in the war. Rowena's death also leaves him with violent streaks and leads an internal war with himself while also trying to cope with the war going on in the world. Even though Robert is determined, he was not a natural killer; this weakness
13398-413: The bath house, he is brutally raped by four men. Although he assumes that they are patients of the institution, he is horrified to learn that they are fellow soldiers. When he returns to his room, he finally receives his lost pack. He burns his only picture of Rowena, as an act of charity, reasoning that it would be horrible for something so innocent to exist in such a perverse world. Robert then returns to
13552-401: The battle continued throughout July and August, with some success for the British despite the reinforcement of the German lines. By August, General Haig had concluded that a breakthrough was unlikely and instead, switched tactics to a series of small unit actions. The effect was to straighten out the front line, which was thought necessary in preparation for a massive artillery bombardment with
13706-499: The battle took place in October and early November, again producing limited gains with heavy loss of life. All told, the Somme battle had made penetrations of only 8 kilometres (5 mi) and failed to reach the original objectives. The British had suffered about 420,000 casualties and the French around 200,000. It is estimated that the Germans lost 465,000, although this figure is controversial. The Somme led directly to major new developments in infantry organisation and tactics; despite
13860-449: The book's impact on readers. Animals appear throughout the story. Among the most common or meaningful: The four classical elements of earth, air, fire, and water are all featured in the novel. They each represent a trial that Robert Ross must overcome on his journey: Robert's pistol is a powerful symbol of authority and security. It is also a tool with which Robert vents his violent feelings, such as when Juliet witnesses him destroying
14014-411: The book, he was "strangely exalted and disturbed by an encounter with a novel harrowing and uplifting, a novel that was both a marvelous work of art and a passionate indictment of the first cruel idiocy of the twentieth century." Vanderhaeghe also sets The Wars in the context of other works of historical war fiction. His main distinction between The Wars and works like War and Peace , The Naked and
14168-413: The creeping barrage moved too fast for the French troops. Within a week the French suffered 120,000 casualties. Despite the casualties and his promise to halt the offensive if it did not produce a breakthrough, Nivelle ordered the attack to continue into May. On 3 May the weary French 2nd Colonial Division, veterans of the Battle of Verdun, refused orders, arriving drunk and without their weapons. Lacking
14322-537: The cumulative weakening of the armies in the west led to the return of mobility in 1918. The German spring offensive of 1918 was made possible by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that ended the war of the Central Powers against Russia and Romania on the Eastern Front . Using short, intense "hurricane" bombardments and infiltration tactics , the German armies moved nearly 100 kilometres (60 miles) to
14476-415: The d'Orsey home; Robert is devastated to find that Taffler has lost both of his arms in the war. While Taffler seems to be in good spirits, he ends up attempting suicide; one day, as Juliet comes into Taffler's room to give him some flowers, she finds him trying to rub his raw arm stumps against the walls and subsequently bleed to death. Various people, including Robert, respond to Juliet's screams, and Taffler
14630-426: The dead animal-loving sister. The character of Rowena was inspired by Mary Macdonald, daughter of Prime Minister John A. Macdonald , who was similarly afflicted with hydrocephalus . Commonly referred to as Mr. Ross in the novel, he is the wealthy father of protagonist Robert Ross. He was the more lenient parent in the family and loved every member enough to encourage Robert to go for what he wants while withstanding
14784-464: The divisional level. Members of the German high command viewed this new scheme with some favour and it later became the basis of an elastic defence in depth doctrine against entente attacks. During the autumn of 1915, the " Fokker Scourge " began to have an effect on the battlefront as entente reconnaissance aircraft were nearly driven from the skies. These reconnaissance aircraft were used to direct gunnery and photograph enemy fortifications but now
14938-457: The end of the war. It also inaugurated the cult of the ace , the most famous being Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron). Contrary to the myth, anti-aircraft fire claimed more kills than fighters. The final entente offensive of the spring was the Second Battle of Artois , an offensive to capture Vimy Ridge and advance into the Douai plain. The French Tenth Army attacked on 9 May after
15092-503: The entente were nearly blinded by German fighters. However, the impact of German air superiority was diminished by their primarily defensive doctrine in which they tended to remain over their own lines, rather than fighting over entente held territory. In September 1915 the entente launched another offensive, with the French Third Battle of Artois , Second Battle of Champagne and the British at Loos. The French had spent
15246-436: The events of the story and when they decided to tell them. If only a few days have passed, the story could be related very differently than if the character was reflecting on events of the distant past. The character's motivation is also relevant. Are they just trying to clear up events for their own peace of mind? Make a confession about a wrong they did? Or tell a good adventure tale to their beer-guzzling friends? The reason why
15400-567: The failure on the Shell Crisis of 1915 , despite the early success. All sides had signed the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 , which prohibited the use of chemical weapons in warfare. In 1914, there had been small-scale attempts by both the French and Germans to use various tear gases , which were not strictly prohibited by the early treaties but which were also ineffective. The first use of more lethal chemical weapons on
15554-533: The first-person narrator is the character of the author (with varying degrees of historical accuracy). The narrator is still distinct from the author and must behave like any other character and any other first-person narrator. Examples of this kind of narrator include Jim Carroll in The Basketball Diaries and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. in Timequake (in this case, the first-person narrator is also
15708-446: The game of hitting bottles off of posts with stones, displaying strength and perfect accuracy. This reflects Taffler's reputation in the war as a soldier who kills as though it were some kind of game. He later loses his arms. When Taffler loses his arms he no longer wants to live because his arms were so much a part of him and his identity that without them he doesn't have the will to live. He attempts suicide, by rubbing his stubs against
15862-431: The guilt he feels after the recent death of his sister, Rowena, who died from falling out of her wheelchair while playing with her beloved rabbits in the barn. Robert feels guilty because he was unable to save her since he was making love to his pillows in his bedroom when he should have been watching her. His mother orders Robert to kill the rabbits after Rowena's death; when he refuses, his father hires Teddy Budge to kill
16016-438: The initial narrator, who is named at the beginning of the chapter. The narrative continues in subsequent chapters with a different character explicitly identified as the narrator for that chapter. Other characters later introduced in the book also have their "own" chapters where they narrate the story for that chapter. The story proceeds in a linear fashion, and no event occurs more than once, i.e. no two narrators speak "live" about
16170-497: The intervals when the blades of the propeller are out of the line of fire. This advance was quickly ushered into service, in the Fokker E.I ( Eindecker , or monoplane, Mark 1), the first single seat fighter aircraft to combine a reasonable maximum speed with an effective armament. Max Immelmann scored the first confirmed kill in an Eindecker on 1 August. Both sides developed improved weapons, engines, airframes and materials, until
16324-412: The lip of the crater. Rather than shooting the soldiers, the German allows all of Robert's men to escape the crater. Just as Robert is leaving, however, the German makes a quick motion, and Robert shoots the German. Thinking that the German had been reaching for his rifle, Robert is shocked when he realizes that the German was only reaching for a pair of binoculars to look at the bird flying overhead; Robert
16478-505: The loveliest, the most moving of novels." The plural "Wars" in the title implies that there are multiple conflicts within the novel. Robert's time in the army and his personal conflicts are among them, creating both external and internal struggles. Guy Vanderhaeghe, in his introduction to The Wars in Penguiern Classics 2005 edition, states that "Like the frieze of horse and dog, or the occasional glimpse of Harris's blue scarf,
16632-402: The main assault and two corps performing diversionary attacks at Ypres. The British suffered heavy losses, especially due to machine gun fire during the attack and made only limited gains before they ran out of shells. A renewal of the attack on 13 October fared little better. In December, French was replaced by General Douglas Haig as commander of the British forces. Falkenhayn believed that
16786-454: The means to punish an entire division, its officers did not immediately implement harsh measures against the mutineers. Mutinies occurred in 54 French divisions and 20,000 men deserted. Other entente forces attacked but suffered massive casualties. Appeals to patriotism and duty followed, as did mass arrests and trials. The French soldiers returned to defend their trenches but refused to participate in further offensive action. On 15 May Nivelle
16940-422: The more deadly phosgene gas in 1915, then the infamous mustard gas in 1917, which could linger for days and could kill slowly and painfully. Countermeasures also improved and the stalemate continued. Specialised aeroplanes for aerial combat were introduced in 1915. Aircraft were already in use for scouting and on 1 April, the French pilot Roland Garros became the first to shoot down an enemy aircraft by using
17094-452: The most costly of these offensives were the Battle of Verdun , in 1916, with a combined 700,000 casualties, the Battle of the Somme , also in 1916, with more than a million casualties, and the Battle of Passchendaele , in 1917, with 487,000 casualties. To break the deadlock of the trench warfare on the Western Front, both sides tried new military technology , including poison gas , aircraft, and tanks . The adoption of better tactics and
17248-427: The narrative through the perspective of a particular character. The reader or audience sees the story through the narrator's views and knowledge only. The narrator is an imperfect witness by definition, because they do not have a complete overview of events. Furthermore, they may be pursuing some hidden agenda (an " unreliable narrator "). Character weaknesses and faults, such as tardiness, cowardice, or vice, may leave
17402-524: The narrator in Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë ; and the unnamed narrator in Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad . Skilled writers choose to skew narratives, in keeping with the narrator's character, to an arbitrary degree, from ever so slight to extreme. For example, the aforementioned Mr. Lockwood is quite naive, of which fact he appears unaware, simultaneously rather pompous, and recounting
17556-399: The narrator may be conscious of telling the story to a given audience, perhaps at a given place and time, for a given reason. A story written in the first person is most often told by the main character, but may also be told from the perspective of a less important character as they witness events, or a person retelling a story they were told by someone else. First-person narration presents
17710-424: The narrator unintentionally absent or unreliable for certain key events. Specific events may further be colored or obscured by a narrator's background since non-omniscient characters must by definition be laypersons and foreigners to some circles, and limitations such as poor eyesight and illiteracy may also leave important blanks. Another consideration is how much time has elapsed between when the character experienced
17864-642: The opposing forces made reciprocal outflanking manoeuvres, known as the Race to the Sea and quickly extended their trench systems from the Swiss frontier to the North Sea . The territory occupied by Germany held 64 percent of French pig-iron production , 24 percent of its steel manufacturing and 40 percent of the coal industry – dealing a serious blow to French industry. On the entente side (those countries opposing
18018-459: The original aim of capturing the ridges east of Ypres then advancing to Roulers and Thourout to close the main rail line supplying the German garrisons on the Western front north of Ypres. If successful the northern armies were then to capture the German submarine bases on the Belgian coast. It was later restricted to advancing the British Army onto the ridges around Ypres, as the unusually wet weather slowed British progress. The Canadian Corps relieved
18172-400: The other characters, in order to try to deliver a larger point of view. Other stories may switch the narrator to different characters to introduce a broader perspective. An unreliable narrator is one that has completely lost credibility due to ignorance, poor insight, personal biases, mistakes, dishonesty, etc., which challenges the reader's initial assumptions. An example of the telling of
18326-464: The other characters. It can seem like third-person omniscient at times. A reasonable explanation fitting the mechanics of the story's world is generally provided or inferred unless its glaring absence is a major plot point. Three notable examples are The Book Thief by Markus Zusak , where the narrator is Death , From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler , where the narrator is
18480-638: The outbreak of war in August 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by invading Luxembourg and Belgium , then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France . The German advance was halted with the Battle of the Marne . Following the Race to the Sea , both sides dug in along a meandering line of fortified trenches , stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France,
18634-429: The position of which changed little except during early 1917 and again in 1918. Between 1915 and 1917 there were several offensives along this front . The attacks employed massive artillery bombardments and massed infantry advances. Entrenchments, machine gun emplacements, barbed wire , and artillery repeatedly inflicted severe casualties during attacks and counter-attacks and no significant advances were made. Among
18788-536: The rabbits. In an attempt to stop Teddy, Robert is beaten up. Later, while he soaks the resulting bruises in the bathtub, Robert's mother comes in to talk to him. Drunk and visibly upset, she says that she knows Robert wants to go to war, and she accepts that she cannot stop him. Robert goes to army training. There, he meets Eugene Taffler, a lauded war hero. Taffler shows him how to break bottles with stones, prompting Robert to think of him as David throwing stones at Goliath. Robert then goes with his soldiers-in-training to
18942-509: The ridge and the Third Army to the south achieved the deepest advance since trench warfare began. Later attacks were confronted by German reinforcements defending the area using the lessons learned on the Somme in 1916. British attacks were contained and, according to Gary Sheffield, a greater rate of daily loss was inflicted on the British than in "any other major battle". During the winter of 1916–1917, German air tactics had been improved,
19096-457: The ridge, and about 500 t (490 long tons) of explosives had been planted in 21 mines under the German defences. Following several weeks of bombardment, the explosives in 19 of these mines were detonated, killing up to 7,000 German troops. The infantry advance that followed relied on three creeping barrages which the British infantry followed to capture the plateau and the east side of the ridge in one day. German counter-attacks were defeated and
19250-738: The same event. The first-person narrator may be the principal character (e.g., Gulliver in Gulliver's Travels ), someone very close to them who is privy to their thoughts and actions ( Dr. Watson in Sherlock Holmes stories) or one who closely observes the principal character (such as Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby ). These can be distinguished as "first-person major" or "first-person minor" points of view. Narrators can report others' narratives at one or more removes. These are called "frame narrators": examples are Mr. Lockwood,
19404-405: The south of Ypres, where the 16th (Irish) Division withstood several German gas attacks. The British retaliated, developing their own chlorine gas and using it at the Battle of Loos in September 1915. Fickle winds and inexperience led to more British casualties from the gas than German. French, British and German forces all escalated the use of gas attacks through the rest of the war, developing
19558-481: The southern flank of the Gheluvelt plateau was protected from German observation. On 11 July 1917, during Unternehmen Strandfest (Operation Beachparty) at Nieuport on the coast, the Germans introduced a new weapon into the war when they fired a powerful blistering agent Sulfur mustard (Yellow Cross) gas. The artillery deployment allowed heavy concentrations of the gas to be used on selected targets. Mustard gas
19712-544: The spring, entente commanders had been concerned about the ability of the French Army to withstand the enormous losses at Verdun. The original plans for an attack around the River Somme were modified to let the British make the main effort. This would serve to relieve pressure on the French, as well as the Russians who had also suffered great losses. On 1 July, after a week of heavy rain, British divisions in Picardy began
19866-417: The summer preparing for this action, with the British assuming control of more of the front to release French troops for the attack. The bombardment, which had been carefully targeted by means of aerial photography , began on 22 September. The main French assault was launched on 25 September and, at first, made good progress in spite of surviving wire entanglements and machine gun posts. Rather than retreating,
20020-441: The summer, the French slowly advanced. With the development of the rolling barrage , the French recaptured Fort Vaux in November and by December 1916 they had pushed the Germans back 2.1 kilometres (1.3 mi) from Fort Douaumont, in the process rotating 42 divisions through the battle. The Battle of Verdun—also known as the 'Mincing Machine of Verdun' or 'Meuse Mill' —became a symbol of French determination and self-sacrifice. In
20174-419: The terrible losses of 1 July, some divisions had managed to achieve their objectives with minimal casualties. In examining the reasons behind losses and achievements, once the British war economy produced sufficient equipment and weapons, the army made the platoon the basic tactical unit, similar to the French and German armies. At the time of the Somme, British senior commanders insisted that the company (120 men)
20328-466: The three other men that live in the dugout: Devlin, Bonnycastle, and Rodwell. Rodwell cares for injured animals he finds: birds, rabbits, toads, and hedgehogs. The rabbits painfully remind Robert of Rowena. However, Robert manages to build a bond with Rodwell, the only other civil soldier who cares and respects animals. Robert remembers Harris, another soldier whom he had befriended on the ship when both fell ill. On land, Harris died two days before Robert
20482-425: The titular character but is describing the story of the main characters, and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold , where a young girl, having been killed, observes, from some post-mortem, extracorporeal viewpoint, her family's struggle to cope with her disappearance. Typically, however, the narrator restricts the events relayed in the narrative to those that could reasonably be known. In autobiographical fiction ,
20636-414: The trenches in divisional strength until October. The incoming troops required training and equipment before they could join in the effort, and for several months American units were relegated to support efforts. Despite this, however, their presence provided a much-needed boost to entente morale, with the promise of further reinforcements that could tip the manpower balance towards the entente. In June,
20790-414: The wall, but is thwarted by Lady Juliet d'Orsey. Taffler's reputation and self-image are linked closely with his arms. First as he's introduced using them to hit bottles with stones, and even later when he helps Robert toss Harris's ashes into the river. Taffler is a complex character because although when introduced, Robert makes Taffler his model of masculinity. Later, upon discovering him having sex with
20944-416: The war by negotiated settlements, Germany could concentrate on Britain and fight a long war with the resources of Europe at its disposal. Hindenburg and Ludendorff continued to believe that Russia could be defeated by a series of battles which cumulatively would have a decisive effect, after which Germany could finish off France and Britain. Trench warfare in 1914, while not new, quickly improved and provided
21098-441: The war ends. Rowena is Robert's older sister, with whom Robert felt a connection from a very early age. She was hydrocephalic , meaning she was born with water in the brain. This caused her to have an adult-sized head but a body of a ten-year-old, and made her unable to walk. Robert acted as her guardian for most of his life. She was 25 years old when she fell out of her wheelchair onto the concrete floor of their barn and died as
21252-457: The war." On 20 November the British launched the first massed tank attack and the first attack using predicted artillery-fire (aiming artillery without firing the guns to obtain target data) at the Battle of Cambrai . The entente attacked with 324 tanks (with one-third held in reserve) and twelve divisions, advancing behind a hurricane bombardment, against two German divisions. The machines carried fascines on their fronts to bridge trenches and
21406-420: The wars [emphasis in original] hovers in the reader's consciousness, heard as the faintest of dire whispers. It is as impossible to boil simple meaning from these two words as it is to impute clear and unambiguous motives' for Ross's actions, or to determine how many angels can dance on the head of a pin." The bald third-person summaries of casualties, contrasted with Robert's idealized view of war, also heighten
21560-534: The west would go over to the strategic defensive for most of 1917, while the Central Powers would attack elsewhere. During the Somme battle and through the winter months, the Germans created a fortification behind the Noyon Salient that would be called the Hindenburg Line, using the defensive principles elaborated since the defensive battles of 1915, including the use of Eingreif divisions . This
21714-536: The west, the deepest advance by either side since 1914, but the success was short-lived. The unstoppable advance of the entente armies during the Hundred Days Offensive of 1918 caused a sudden collapse of the German armies and persuaded the German commanders that defeat was inevitable. The German government surrendered in the Armistice of 11 November 1918 , and the terms of peace were settled by
21868-465: Was encountered. The Germans took Fort Douaumont and then reinforcements halted the German advance by 28 February. The Germans turned their focus to Le Mort Homme on the west bank of the Meuse which blocked the route to French artillery emplacements, from which the French fired across the river. After some of the most intense fighting of the campaign, the hill was taken by the Germans in late May. After
22022-423: Was intended to divert attention from offensives in the Eastern Front and disrupt Franco-British planning. After a two-day bombardment, the Germans released a lethal cloud of 168 long tons (171 t) of chlorine onto the battlefield. Though primarily a powerful irritant, it can asphyxiate in high concentrations or prolonged exposure. Being heavier than air, the gas crept across no man's land and drifted into
22176-426: Was intended to shorten the German front, freeing 10 divisions for other duties. This line of fortifications ran from Arras south to St Quentin and shortened the front by about 50 kilometres (30 mi). British long-range reconnaissance aircraft first spotted the construction of the Hindenburg Line in November 1916. The Hindenburg Line was built between 2 mi (3.2 km) and 30 mi (48 km) behind
22330-587: Was launched on 14 August with the First and Second Armies attacking toward Sarrebourg-Morhange in Lorraine. In keeping with the Schlieffen Plan, the Germans withdrew slowly while inflicting severe losses upon the French. The French Third and Fourth Armies advanced toward the Saar and attempted to capture Saarburg, attacking Briey and Neufchateau but were repulsed. The French VII Corps captured Mulhouse after
22484-429: Was like as a young man, and of life during the war. Juliet d'Orsey gives an account of Robert, whom she knew at the age of twelve and for whom she had romantic feelings. She is Barbara d'Orsey's younger sister, who saw too much and acted too maturely for her age. She seems to be the only character who understands the delicate homoerotic undertones in male friendships without being confused or disturbed by them. This lady
22638-402: Was no longer possible for Germany to win the war by purely military means and on 18 November 1914 he called for a diplomatic solution. The Chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg ; Generalfeldmarschall Paul von Hindenburg , commanding Ober Ost (Eastern Front high command); and his deputy, Erich Ludendorff , continued to believe that victory was achievable through decisive battles. During
22792-496: Was persistent and could contaminate an area for days, denying it to the British, an additional demoralising factor. The entente powers increased production of gas for chemical warfare but took until late 1918 to copy the Germans and begin using mustard gas. From 31 July to 10 November the Third Battle of Ypres included the First Battle of Passchendaele and culminated in the Second Battle of Passchendaele . The battle had
22946-631: Was removed from command, replaced by Pétain who immediately stopped the offensive. The French would go on the defensive for the following months to avoid high casualties and to restore confidence in the French High Command, while the British assumed greater responsibility. On 25 June the first US troops began to arrive in France, forming the American Expeditionary Force . However, the American units did not enter
23100-515: Was repeated two days later and caused a 3.1 mi (5 km) withdrawal of the Franco-British line but the opportunity had been lost. The success of this attack would not be repeated, as the entente countered by introducing gas masks and other countermeasures . An example of the success of these measures came a year later, on 27 April in the Gas attacks at Hulluch 40 km (25 mi) to
23254-399: Was scheduled to leave for France. It is during their time in the infirmary together that Robert and Harris meet Taffler again. After Harris dies, Robert asks Taffler to help him in burying his friend. However, Robert learns that Harris has already been cremated. Disappointed by this turn of events, Robert and Taffler dump the ashes into the sea. Robert says, "This is not a military funeral. This
23408-410: Was seen in his inability to kill the injured horse or Rowena's rabbits. Robert strove to learn from Eugene Taffler, whom Robert hoped could help teach him to kill by example. After all the terrible things Robert witnesses, he gradually descends into madness, and goes AWOL . He kills two fellow officers in an attempt to save hundreds of horses from slaughter. He dies of his war wounds several years after
23562-417: Was the Battle of Liège , a siege that lasted from 5–16 August. Liège was well fortified and surprised the German Army under Bülow with its level of resistance. German heavy artillery was able to demolish the main forts within a few days. Following the fall of Liège, most of the Belgian field army retreated to Antwerp , leaving the garrison of Namur isolated, with the Belgian capital, Brussels , falling to
23716-411: Was the smallest unit of manoeuvre; less than a year later, the section of ten men would be so. In August 1916 the German leadership along the Western Front had changed as Falkenhayn resigned and was replaced by Hindenburg and Ludendorff. The new leaders soon recognised that the battles of Verdun and the Somme had depleted the offensive capabilities of the German Army. They decided that the German Army in
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