The Battle of the Marne

IN MEMORIAM N. F. P. + E. L. P.
General Map showing POSITION of the ARMIES on the Eve of the Battle, and the central German lines of approach.
German Armies. I–Von Kluck. II–Von Bülow. III–Von Hausen. IV–Duke of Würtemberg. V–Imperial Crown Prince. VI–C. Prince of Bavaria (& troops from Metz). VII–Von Heeringen. French & British Armies: 6–Marmoury. B.E.F. British. 5–F. d’Espérey. 9–Foch. 4–DeLangle de Cary. 3–Sarrail. 2–DeCastelnau. 1–Dubail.
THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE
BY GEORGE HERBERT PERRIS
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF “THE DAILY CHRONICLE” WITH THE FRENCH ARMIES, 1914–18
WITH TWELVE MAPS
JOHN W. LUCE & CO. BOSTON MCMXX

The great war has entered into history. The restraints, direct and indirect, which it imposed being gone with it, we return to sounder tests of what should be public knowledge—uncomfortable truths may be told, secret places explored. At the same time, the first squall of controversy in France over the opening of the land campaign in the West has subsided; this lull is the student’s opportunity. No complete history of the events culminating in the victory of the Marne is yet possible, or soon to be expected. On the German side, evidence is scanty and of low value; on that of the Allies, there is yet a preliminary work of sifting and measuring to undertake ere definitive judgments can be set down. Any narrative conceived in a scientific, not an apologetic or romantic, spirit may claim to further this end.
The difficulty lies less in following the actual movements of that great encounter—the most important of which, and their part in the result, can now be traced pretty accurately—than in estimating the factors that produced and moulded it. Yet, if we are right in holding the battle of the Marne to be essentially the completion of a chapter, the resultant of certain designs and certain misadventures, a vast strategical reversal and correction, such an estimate is necessary to the subject. How did the two chief antagonists envisage the process of modern warfare? Why was the action which was to close the first phase of the war, and largely to shape its after-course, fought not near the northern or eastern frontiers, but between Paris and Verdun? Why and how were the original plans of campaign modified to reach this result? What conditions of victory existed on the Marne that had been lacking on the Sambre? In a word, the key to the meaning of the battle must be sought in the character of the forces in play, their comparative numbers, organisation, and training, armament and equipment, leadership and inspiration.