57 pages • 1 hour read
Barbara W. TuchmanThe Guns of August
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1962A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 19-21Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 19 Summary: “Retreat”
After the Battle of the Frontiers, the right and center wings of the German army sweep into France. The French retreat in a rearguard action, trying their best to slow the German advance so the French can regroup. Meanwhile, the defenses of Paris have not been completed, and Joffre orders two defensive divisions to reinforce the front. The French government, like the army, is in shambles, replacing ministers and commanders every few days. While the French fall back, the civilian government attempts to protect Paris. The Germans follow the French retreat too quickly. The British army is fighting a rearguard action as well, gaining time for the general retreat, though British leaders are also considering how to save their armies. In a battle near the French town of Le Cateau, the British, fighting against superior German numbers and supported on their right flank by the French, are able to gain that time, though the British losses reinforce the thought that their armies should be taken home.
As the French attempt to regroup, German forces continue to move forward lest they let the French form a new battle line. However, German forces have been thinned out—some have been left behind to hold conquered territory, some have been sent to the Eastern Front and Tannenberg, and many have died—so there are gaps in their lines as they move forward, hoping to reach Paris and end the war.
In Lorraine, the only place the French are not falling back, the French and German armies remain fighting. Joffre continues to restructure the French army to set up a counterattack as it falls back. Though the British army is not in terrible shape, its leaders have lost their nerve and are attempting to disengage from battle. All the Allied forces are in full, devastating retreat.
Chapter 20 Summary: “The Front Is Paris”
While Paris, under Military Governor Joseph Gallieni, prepares to defend itself, Joffre tries to fortify his lines to meet the continuing German attack. Sir John French, commander of British forces, afraid of losing his army and reputation, prepares to abandon the front altogether. Though General Lanrezac of the French Fifth Army checks the Germans near St. Quentin, he is left alone by the retreating British and must fall back. As the army retreats, the government argues over whether to leave Paris. In England, a newspaper report of the Battle of Mons, which the BEF ultimately loses, causes an outcry, the English so far having been under the impression that the war was going well. The BEF commander still wants to retreat, and his allies have lost all faith in him. The result of the newspaper report and the flagging faith in Sir John French is that Kitchener, French’s superior, sails to Paris to keep French and the British Expeditionary Force in line with France’s armies. At this time, the Germans are engaging French and British troops 30 miles from Paris. They have already manufactured medals signifying their entry into Paris and the defeat of the French.
Chapter 21 Summary: “Von Kluck’s Turn”
As most of the French army falls back, Von Kluck, on the German right wing, decides to turn inward toward Paris. He believes the French army defeated, the British army of no consequence, and the chance for ultimate victory at hand. Meanwhile, Moltke does not draw troops from the German left to support the middle and right. Von Kluck’s first surprise occurs when he catches up to the British. Though he believes them to be running, they turn and fight, inflicting casualties upon the Germans and then slipping away.
Joffre gives an order for the French armies to continue falling back. He places one army under Gallieni for the defense of Paris, envisioning a final battle that will determine the war. All his efforts point toward that battle. In Paris, the government leaves the next day with a short announcement that the people of Paris are to resist. Gallieni says he feels that he is remaining only to be killed, while Joffre issues orders to fall back and regroup for a battle “upon which the salvation of the country depends” (411). As Von Kluck’s turn finally becomes apparent for what it is—a movement away from Paris to envelope the French army—the French see an opportunity to attack their flank.
Chapters 19-21 Analysis
As the German army advances, Tuchman continues to critique those in positions of political and military power, developing the theme of The Courage of Ordinary Soldiers Versus the Military Machine. Although the French and British armies win some small victories in their retreat after the Battle of the Frontiers, they both come close to utter annihilation and an end to the war on the Western Front. The French government, having little faith in its war ministers, disbands and reforms. British army leaders, in fits of despair at the possibility of being destroyed, abandon all hope, ordering their troops to discard ammunition. While their actions show the strength of the German juggernaut, rolling through into France almost exactly as planned, it also constitutes a failure of leadership that verges on a betrayal of the French and British troops, at least in Tuchman’s telling.
This fallout—the general retreat of the French army, the panicked attempt to protect Paris, the British attempt to get out of France completely so its army might be protected—also sets up the next stage of the war, in which Germany will push the front to Paris and the face of war will change dramatically, signaling the final death of the decisive victory and the beginning of the long, slow war of attrition.
The following chapters render the problems with leadership even more apparent. General Joffre considers Paris expendable; he believes the war will be won by the army in the field, not by defending Paris. The government simultaneously tries to ready Paris’s defense and debates whether to abandon the city and the effect fleeing will have on the residents. On the English side, military leader French interprets orders as he sees fit, and the way he sees fit is to help the French only nominally while protecting his reputation and army. These actions contrast starkly with those of the troops themselves. The French army is exhausted but refuses to give up, and despite John French’s desire to keep his army and reputation intact, his men want to continue fighting.
One other seemingly small occurrence helps change the outlook of the war: An English newspaper reports on the great losses at Mons. Until that moment, the English had seen the war almost as a holiday, Tuchman writes. Afterward, they begin to believe rumors everywhere: that the Russians are coming, that the enemy is winning, and that the BEF saved France and will save the world. The report’s impact on the British public is another example of The Ripple of Effect of Individual Actions.
Chapter 21 is titled “Von Kluck’s Turn,” for, seeing a chance to envelop the French—envelopment being the ultimate military maneuver that the Germans have been attempting—Von Kluck turns away from Paris in pursuit. The French have been desperately retreating since the Battle of the Frontiers, and Joffre has been moving men and brigades and whole divisions in an attempt to stem the backward tide so that Paris itself is now threatened. Finally, reconnaissance officers and airplanes see Von Kluck’s turn and recognize it for the opportunity it provides. Since he is not marching for Paris, the city will not be under siege. Since he has turned away from pursuing the British and French wings, they get a short reprieve. Since he has turned to his flanks, the French have an opening to counterattack and stall, or stop, the German offensive. Von Kluck’s hubris is his Achilles’s heel.
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