The battle of Verdun lasted ten months. It was a battle in which at least 700,000 men fell, along a front of fifteen miles. This book shows that Verdun is a key to understanding the First World War to the minds of those who waged it, the traditions that bound them and the world that gave them the opportunity.
Alistair Horne Books
Alistair Horne was an English journalist, biographer, and historian of Europe, with a particular focus on 19th and 20th century France. His writings explored a wide range of subjects, including travel, history, and biography, often delving into complex historical events and their human impact. Horne was known for his ability to weave detailed historical research with compelling narrative, giving his books a distinctive voice. His work offers profound insights into pivotal moments of European history, examining the political and social forces that shaped the continent and frequently focusing on conflict and its repercussions.







Small Earthquake in Chile
New, Revised and Expanded Edition of the Classic Account of Allende's Chile
- 390 pages
- 14 hours of reading
Part history and current affairs, part travelogue, this is the story of a journey made by Alistair Horne and American politician/journalist, Bill Buckley through Colombia, Peru, Chile and Bolivia. They set off in September 1970, just after a Marxist government had come to power in a free election in Chile. The author's account has been updated with a further 10,000 words to include the only interview ever given to a Western journalist by Pinochet.
Essays by historians such as Norman Davies, John Grigg and Redmond O'Hanlan tell the lives of subjects such as Isaiah Berlin, W.B. Yeats, Kim Philby, Margaret Thatcher and Bruce Chatwin.
To Lose a Battle: France 1940
- 736 pages
- 26 hours of reading
In 1940, the German army fought and won an extraordinary battle with France in six weeks of lightning warfare. With the subtlety and compulsion of a novel, Horne�s narrative shifts from minor battlefield incidents to high military and political decisions, stepping far beyond the confines of military history to form a major contribution to our understanding of the crises of the Franco-German rivalry. To Lose a Battle is the third part of the trilogy beginning with The Fall of Paris and continuing with The Price of Glory (already available in Penguin).
A portrayal of the most significant events in 19th-century France. It begins with the military operations from the beginning of the Siege, in September 1870, to the last resistance of the Commune during May Week 1871.
Uses diaries, interviews, and letters to trace the life of the British Prime Minister
Uses diaries, interviews, and letters to trace the life of the British Prime Minister
Austerlitz was Napoleon's greatest victory, but it was also the beginning of the end. The success blurred his tactical vision and although there were victories after it, the apogee had been reached and the process has begun which resulted in the 1812 Russian campaign and Waterloo, his last battle.
Seven Ages of Paris
- 400 pages
- 14 hours of reading
This volume divides the history of Paris into seven distinct ages, with a foreword taking in Julius Caesar to Philip-Augustus, the great rival of Richard the Lionheart, to an epilogue taking in France since 1968. Historical narrative is interwoven with revealing detail, social and cultural history.



