This is CBSi and the world. I'm John Bachelor with Nick Lloyd. A reader in military and

Imperial History at Kings College. His magnificent news storytelling is the

history of the Great War 14 to 18, 1914 to 1918, on the Western Front, Belgium

and France. You think of this as trench warfare. That was not the intention, however it was the result of the opening stages of the war.

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

forces as the war opens. His name is Jafra. He is a man whom Nick describes as he does not panic he did not panic what do we need to know about

Jafra how his vision of the war took place Nick

yes I mean he's one of the great heroes of the Western Front, one of the great heroes of the French Army.

I know he's memorably described in Bobra Tuckman's Guns of August that you may have read.

He's quite a, you know, he's a figure that in some ways is quite unimpressive, he's an engineer,

he is not, he's not taught at the staff college or he's not produced works of great military merit.

But he has a kind of earthiness and a connection to the army that I think is really important in 1914,

as well as under the shock of war Bethman

so not Bethman Halva von Malta German commander collapses essentially just can't take the

pressure Joffre can and he is able to do what he can to defeat the Schlefin

plan and the German invasion and counter-attack at the Mon River in September 1914.

And Joffra'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 he's able to react quickly.

And I think that's what marks him out for greatness,

certainly in 1914, is this ability not to lose his head,

not to become too discouraged, to keep playing the game, keep moving his units, try to outflight the enemy,

and ultimately that ability to just have that sort of gravitat is really important.

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