ABSTRACT

On 7 January 1917 the British prime minister, David Lloyd George, had a brief meeting with the new French commander-in-chief, Robert Nivelle. He was told of a plan to break through on the Western Front and achieve victory in forty-eight hours. John Buchan described the meeting at the Gare du Nord as decisive:

Mr Lloyd George heard of Nivelle’s plan – limitless objectives, the end of trench ghting, victory within two days – and naturally fell in love with it. 1

Lloyd George had backed the wrong horse. e Nivelle o ensive failed, and that summer half of the French army would be wracked by mutiny.