Orion's Reviews > Strange Defeat

Author Marc Bloch, born in 1895, served in the French army during the Great War, then established himself as a pre-eminent historian. He returned to army service shortly before Germany's 1940 invasion of France, which inspired him to write this book. He joined the Resistance, for which he was imprisoned, beaten, and executed in 1944.

Bloch analyzes the reasons why France was "strangely" defeated by Germany in spring 1940. He has an insider's perspective given his military service, which, coupled with his historian training, gives plausibility to his arguments. His style is raw and unpolished, even somewhat rambling at times; this is understandable given that he wrote the book within a few months of the German invasion and had dim hopes of anyone ever reading it. The first chapter describes his military service, the second the reasons why the military forces were defeated, and the third why France as a whole was responsible for the defeat. He makes the point that the French military strategy was disorganized, as well as outdated and unimaginative, unable to think beyond the trench warfare of the previous conflict and unable to exploit the usefulness of tanks and airplanes. He faults both the military and society as a whole for wasting time and effort on infighting instead of addressing the enemy, promoting largely on the basis of years of service and conformity rather than ability, and harboring defeatist, uninterested attitudes despite having opportunities to succeed against the invasion.