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And the French determined a deal of what was to happen in their defensive Paris. We begin

with the commander of the French forces as the war opens. His name is Jaffa. He is a man

whom Nick describes as he does not panic. He did not panic. What do we need to know about

Jaffa? How his vision of the war took place, Nick?

Yeah, I mean, he's one of the great heroes of the Western Front, one of the great heroes

of the French army. He's memorably described in Barbara Tuckman's Guns of August that

you may have read. He's quite a... He's a figure that in some ways is quite unimpressive.

He's an engineer. He's not taught at the Staff College or he's not produced works of great

military merits. But he has a kind of earthiness and a connection to the army that I think

is really important in 1914, as whereas under the shock of war, Bethman, sorry, not Bethman

Harvey, Helmuth von Maltte, the German commander collapses, essentially just can't take the

pressure. Jaffa can. And he is able to do what he can to defeat the Schleefheim plan and

the German invasion and counterattack at the Maan River in September 1914. And Jaffa's

ability to essentially absorb punishment but to keep an eye through all the chaos of

war, he just understands what is going on and is able to react quickly. And I think that's

what Marx and Mark for greatness, certainly in 1914, is this ability not to lose his head,

...