"Fall of Giants" is proving to be a great source of facts, today I read how France fared during Word War I (WWI). I had heard the joke many years ago about a antique French rifle being for sale, it was in mint condition, it had never been fired, but it had been dropped twice! This was in reference to the fact that France fell so easily during both World Wars. Until I had read "Fall of Giants" I had no real reference to where the war took place in Europe mainly because I am not that great with geography in general. I knew the countries involved but as their borders had changed so much over the part 100 years, and early in the 20th century they differed greatly from today's borders, it was hard to keep track.
Today by reading "Fall of Giants" and a quick Google search, I learnt that most of France, including Paris, had not been occupied during WWI, when I had always believed that the majority of the country had been occupied! This has redefined my view of French participation in WWI. I had never really taken the joke about the dropped rifle seriously because I have read about the French resistance during World War II (WWII) and knew that they fought hard, but I believed that even in WWI that they had fought as more of a resistance movement as they had in WWII, rather than as an army in the trenches. The book however has shown me otherwise!
I highly recommend reading "Fall of Giants", or alternatively you can check out Wikipedia.
Learning something new still!
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