Jankowski. He specializes in modern european and french history, including the histories of modern warfare. In 2014 he won the world war i Historical Association tomlinson book award. Dr. Jankowski will discuss today. Paul will consider how this devastating battle has continued to survive in the publics collective memory. On the Centennial Anniversary of the battle in december, dr. Jankowskis talk is particularly timely. We are delighted that at the beginning of this symposium we would be introducing to you and invite you to warmly welcome Paul Jankowski to the museum and memorial. Thank you. Good morning, thank you very much. To comeeal pleasure , one ofthis fine museum the truly great world war i museums in the world. Its nice to see such an impressive during. Im not used to such gatherings, and the classes i teach on the subject. But so be it. About let me take this off for a minute. I want to talk about the various ofs in which the battle verdun has been rendered. It has generated a rich crop of myths, or perhaps in any other battle of the great war. Most of those myths began during the battle of itself while it ws still going on and then flourished for a number of decades before beginning to expire in our own day. Meanings thate contemporaries and posterity attributed to this battle, and they superficially distort the realities, but justice surely, they reveal truths of a they callorder, and on the historian to give each we have to restore the facts, but we also have to respect the legends and understand them and know why they are there. That holds that again in mortality. Usually do so by the way they end. Verdun is the beginning that dominates the retellings, the unprecedented deluge of shells by concentrated within eight hours, followed by a rather strange, almost tentative assault, and then by the french reaction in extremis. Here is a document, and its its a neutral document. Its a report written by the military attach a of a neutral power. Frankly, telling this government what is going on in this battle, the 31st of may, several months into the battle. That neutral power is the united states. The american attach a, military trying in switzerland is do his an accountant government of all that is happening. And hes having a difficult time doing so. I dont know that you can read very well first for example in the second paragraph, whatever may be the cause is urging them on they here refers to the germans. He says in the first graph howagraph, the assailants s no sign of letting up and seem as determined as ever to attain the goalie have set themselves, exactly what this is has been the subject of much discussion. It actually continues. With this speculative account. Report, that surprisingly inaccurate in many of the details about casualties. Cant quite understand why the whole thing is taking place at all. The discussion has gone on ever since. War, and this is the first legend i want to talk about, the myth established itself and took hold. Hebrew or demon from theabout bible to whom the canaanites were supposed to have sacrificed their children. The chief of the german general launched the legend after the war, not using that term, but thats how the legend became known. Hebrewin his own memoirs publie following year he claimed to not to have wanted to take verdun at all, the ancient fortress town in eastern france. He attended to the city believed the french army, an army he believed wrongly but he believed to be on the verge of exhaustion. He thought it would rush to defense of a town, only to lose under thethe ravines shell fire of his heavy, longrange guns, which the germans had clear superiority which they maintained throughout the war. As evidence for this in his memoirs, he gave the text of a memorandum he claimed to have written and sent to the kaiser on christmas eve, 1915, so a few. Onths before the battle began in that memo he is supposed to have set forth just such thinking. Nobody in germany talked about the myth of moloch, but from a satirical german weekly here is something that comes close to it. See, this is from july 1916, and its preclose to the monster consuming the French Forces pouring in, into the hilly and cratered terrain. By the time he issued his version of what had happened or what he intended to do, another legend had grown up. This one was drawn not from scripture, but classical antiquity. The narrow field, narrow plane in ancient greece between the mountains on one side and the where the other archetypal defensive battle of history is supposed to have taken place in 480 b. C. E. This legend, the french seized on very eagerly to depict their own battle, with themselves as the spartans and the germans as the invader. Its a very powerful and tenacious story or legend of the outnumbered french, rushing to defend the access to the heartland against the powerful imperial host. Fact, this wasnt the first time that this region, this area around verdun, had gone slightly to the north and west, even lyon to the east, it wasnt the first time this region had found itself renamed in this way. General had called as thermopylae of france suppression invader was inside the rawls walls of verdun. Is what he was talking about. And, the idea here is the prussian invader threatening the young public in 1792. The thermopylae of france was an image that was wasnt restricted to this site. Some of the neighborhoods and revolutionary french towns began renaming themselves. Here, this is a district in ,renoble which renamed itself in honor of this event in ancient greece, the defense against the imperial invader. In february 1916, when the germans returned to this region thettack verdun, nationalist french novelist took up the image again in the newspaper, and in the general who was the french general sent him to command the french second army. He then started to repeat it a couple of months later. And that image stuck. And 1920, the general put out his patrician the frenchof moloch, happily added to that their own heroic legend of thermopylae. During the battle itself, the french thought no such thing about falcon nines cersin ve rsion. They were happy to accept it later on as a vision of a monstrous invader with such cynical design, but during the war they bought no such thing. He told the american newsman, frank simons, that in his eyes, verdun andl between gettysburg was inescapable. After the war, in 1920, the french quickly picked up Falcon Heights version. The french historian who wrote an account of the battlefields of the western front, including verdun, he picked it up, established it, took it as the gospel truth, and ever since, school in history books and on,ls, films, songs, and so recently asing as the televised documentary in france and germany a few years ago. When you think of it, however, of moloch sits badly with the legend of thermopylae. The moloch legend sees the defenders decimated as they throw themselves in waves against the wall of the invaders. The legend of thermopylae sees the invaders decimated if they throw themselves against the wall of the defenders. In factare of incompatible. That case, nobody worried about that very much. Muchecades, no one worried either about the authenticity of christmass memorandum, the text of which he purported to give in his memoirs. That memoir has never been found for the very good reason that he never wrote it. The archivists after the war in the 1920s couldnt find it. War,g the second world almost all of the archives of the Imperial German Army were destroyed by bombing raid in early 1945. That,at took care of whatever hopes there was of finding it. That bombing raid spared me an awful lot of work, actually. It appears that falkenhayn did not even begin talking about attrition until several weeks after his attack. When he grasped the failure to achieve his original design what were those original designs . Alwaysans still are not in agreement about this. He was indeed, as he claimed, trying to provoke a response, but it was not just a fresh response and it was not that he wanted this to happen. Move away from that argument, that can go on for a long time. Nothing in any case allows one andhink that this astute rather skeptical general the believed he could and the war, or,inventing a town, with min if any strategic significance, with such a modest infantry force, in the Late Afternoon on the 21st of february, when his longrange guns ceased firing, force, he committed only eight divisions to the attack. If this is to be a warending battle, theres really very few. Nothing allows one to discern either, and the response of his french counterparts, the general, he committed only eight the sacrifice through the immortal xerxes on the shores of ancient greece, he intended to win, but not at verdun. He wanted the decision there, together with the sense that the other allies would mount elsewhere, the russians in the east and the italians on the alpine fronts. He only agreed to defend verdun to weaken the adversary, and also importantly, to avoid the dangers of a national humiliation. So he committed as little as he possibly could there, to hold off an adversary who himself declined to commit all he had, the bulk of his divisions, declined to risk his all, and with that, the inevitable happened. Nobody could prevail, nobody could win. Verdun has perpetuated itself, becoming the longest battle of the war and one of the bloodiest in history. No matter, right . Such messy realities did nothing either to undermine the central myth of verdun, and that is the myth of willpower. Poster, themous getage courage, well them. Words used at the end of a famous communique on the 10th of april, 1916. They are also the words of a 1915, whichal of was reproduced on this equally famous poster promoting the sale of war bonds. The historical illusion here is unmistakable. Its to the volunteers of 1792. Rushing to defend the endangered young republic. For for decades sorry, thats not what i meant to do. And manyes, novelists others,n novelists and novelsa d forth, and films and so on both sides of the rhine, stubbornly elevated the camaraderie and when and willpower and resolve above the din of the heavy guns. That is ailm, vision of history. Filmmaker who made this movie in 1929, and then released a spoken version in , visions of verdun history, and he dwells on the very first day of the battle. What i want to do is show a brief clip of how he dwells on it, and then show another brief clip from the german filmmaker the same year portraying exactly the same moment. Short inve to cut this the interest of time, just show 90 seconds or so of this. Be if ask that it i can start it myself. This is the opening of the attack. Dr. Jankowski thanks. If you notice, the whole theme technology against french rest his city. The first thing we see is the shell falling through the roof of the peasant cottage. And stink of reaction is to pick up his hunting rifle and rush out to the defense, to avenge this insult. Even in the scene where i just cut it off, there is the restive city, the animals. Rusticity, the animals. German shells against french bodies. The emphasis on the Human Element of french resolve. The germant ilm, how hen his f showed that day, or rather, that morning. And maybe we should just show itilm, how he we canagain, show it, if start this one. It begins with the german soldiers in their dugouts. Here i need to translate this. A nine hour artillery preparation neutralized the french artillery for the most part. For 5 00k was ordered p. M. Dr. Jankowski ok, i think we can stop that here. Thanks very much. Here, almost completely ignores the eight hour german artillery deluge, the one on which the french maker insists, he deals with it in an obligatory, cursory manner, the way you just saw. He insists instead on the result, the Human Element of the german soldiers as it were bit to beginhe their attack. Words, he insists on the Human Element in a different way from his french counterparts. Order talk about the german side for a minute, words, he insists on the Human Element this german tt appearing in the german retellings. Once they began to appear in the 1920s. And then into the 1930s. There was nothing specifically nazi about this, but the knot sees nazis when they came along would seize on this theme to extol the arian blood coursing through the veins of the ordinary german soldier, and to by extension the corruption and rods of the home front and their superiors. 1930, in a novel with a revealing title, theres the title page, he did adjust that, and he depicted the horrors of verdun, the physical torments of it, but he also depicted another subtle, that if a soldiers at the front and the rot at the home front. This theme of the awakening of the nation is one that the far right end nazis did pick up on. Hitler. The medals from you can see this theme. Im sorry, this is march 1933. This is the day of potsdam. Theme again. Year not 1933, but in 1930. Wrote erman novelist and there is the title page of that he did something similar, but he deliberately instructs the reader in the moral of the story, beginning, quoting, the struggle. Inexhaustible struggle against the enemy and against the spirit of the old, spirit of decay and corruption. That, he spares the reader the need to read through this interminable novel. Its almost as long as the battle itself. Novel as a this report to his compatriots, all quiet on the western front. It was in fact received that way. Naziweather filled with delirium or not, such works all come back to this, ill deny the reality of industrial all deny the reality of the industrial warfare. This is the suppression of the central figure of indoeuropean warrior mythology for millennia. We have a problem. Verdun gave rise to very few heroes. , norer willpower determination could prevail over the daily daily of steel and poison gas. The french command acknowledged as much in its infantry regulations of january 1916, built just before the beginning of the battle of verdun, the month before, this is what it says. One does not fight material with man. With those words, the french high command laid to rest the primary cult of 1914, and that of the allout infantry own, 1914, atits a time when artillery was merely auxiliary and poison gas to not exist. Admittedn implicitly as much when he relied on artillery and economized on infantry at verdun from the very beginning, economized to the utmost, instructing the infantry even not to push on as they encounter too much resistance. German author, his novel 1931 theres the page of that. This was partly set in verdun. Hes saying the spirit he of the german spirit, over the new war of material. Ofcalled it the unequal myth the german soldier. This is really to know avail. The myth of siegfried, like that of napoleonic a long, is over. Its finished. They found a few heroes. They found a way to make the most of them. These heroes incarnated on both sides, two different kinds of willpower. Defensive among the french, offensive among the german. Side ide, the french officer officer who died valiantly with his men in the woods northeast of verdun. The german advance the day after the german attack began on the 22nd of february. That became the french bureau. The idea of defensive sacrifice. On the other, the german counterpart of that would be the two german attendants, a name who ignored orders with two companies of brandenbergers, troops, andrman sees the mightiest fort in seized it with simply a couple of companies of men on their own initiative. Before the end of the war, musical songs had transformed him and his men on the french side into the most interesting when i found was they transformed him into the hero roland. The german side, he and his fort,hose who took the were often cast as the reincarnated teutonic knights. Even in a serious gym or newspaper, german newspaper, which wrote about how they had pulled off the greatest feat of arms. So willpower among the french consisted above all in stopping the invader. Its an active refusal, really. That also has very little to with napoleon, the very different kind of myth, very different kind of story. And that is the words that have been given appropriately to this entire symposium. Pass, which turns up in various other forms. No passage. And so on. And these words appear in the ink of soldiers letters,no pas. And so as often as they do on the list of who is credited with this. Credited with very little else in this war. Wrong. Fact, this is the phrase was not his. Those words appear often and often. Its the essential French Division of the battle of verdun. Heres the medal struck by the city. On ne passe pas. Its the words on the monument on top of the hills north of the city. One is called the dead mans hill. The scene of some of the most savage fighting of the First World War anywhere, they did not pass. Interestingly, thats grammatically incorrect. I really cannot resist my , evensorial instincts when confronted with someone who cannot answer. Probably the best kind of situation to be in. Here it is again, and countless 1960, a collection of accounts. One cannot pass. There is no passage. Appears fairly quickly. Words, as i say, express the central french vision of this battle, and that is a defensive battle. Happened almost immediately. February, the 25th of newspaper wrote of the quote , living wall of french defenders. And some months later, while the battle was still raging, so in august, a member of the french newspaper wrote of the quote , living wall of frenchacademy d parallels. 1214, these were not very convincing, but it is the idea of french chest against foreign invaders. In 1916, as in 1792, as in 1214. You can find this over and over again during the battle itself. The author published a satirical novel called memoirs of a rat. In it the pond hero, a heroic rat, complains he doesnt get his due. And he says, and i quote, i too was at verdun. I too made of my chest a living rampart. Hats could perhaps continue. I want to make the point that that idea, that sense of ideal lived on. Later on there are many examples of this, in 1938, at the time of munich, a french journalist said that france was diplomatic that it should not, it could not see anything more to the germans cede anything more to the germans that munich. The metaphor, that this version continued after the war and found new ways of applying ofelf, its th emyte myth thermopylae again. Its the myth of the defensive will. Trench ofyth of the the ans. This is where the french soldiers at the 137th infantry regiment were supposed to have stood in passively in their trench as they cased in around them, leaving only the tips of the bayonets showing. This is one of the famous sites. And, thanks to an american philanthropist in large part, the trench was moved. This monument was made. Again, an image of stoicism. Side, its the legend of initiative, almost of rage, of depression traditions prussian traditions. He wrote in his own account of 1934, the old spirit of attack, leaving no obstacle standing, that frederick the great taught. Attack, always attack. A