The Second Battle of the Marne: The Turning Point of 1918 

This was a good lecture. My late grandpa was a veteran of this battle, being wounded by machine gunfire and shrapnel on 15 July, 1918. He was a Private in the 42nd Rainbow Division, 84th brigade, 2nd battalion, 167th Infantry, Company G. Prior to his time in France, he was with the South Dakota National Guard, 4th Infantry, company K and was with Pershing during the Mexican Punitive Expedition in pursuit of Pancho Villa down to San Benito, Texas. His life was shortened to age 55 from complications of his wounds. I have the utmost respect for what they all went through and what they all gave. God bless all of our veterans.

Excellent. Historic, Personal and Illustrative. Kudos to Professor Nieberg.

Petain hero of Verdun. Already getting in some practice at being a defeatist at the 2nd Battle of the Marne. 8 min 27 sec

I am a history buff, and my prime interest is the first world war, and I have never heard a better walktrough of the second Marne... This was really good!

The truest lecture on the First World War there is

Very good lecture

My great uncle served in the 4th (IVY) division, company F, 47th infantry and died of wounds on August 7, 1918. How can I find information regarding his unit and what specifically may have happened. I believe he was involved in this battle.

Yes, a very good lecture. But there is a point I'd like to raise regarding the status of the countries represented at the meetings of the Entente in 1917/18 and it relates to the start of the lecture. Moreover, [I think] that the ontology of this specific lecture has been altered to fit its (live) audience. The French were dominant and the British acknowledged this whatever the grumblings back home. Our teacher here presents the US as an equal player at a military level. It is hard for us to understand today, after another (!) world war and post-war period in which the US has been so militarily potent, that in the first half of last of last century the US was a welcome but secondary friend. Much has been said about the return of German soldiers from the Eastern Front and how fortunate it was that US troops started to arrive in quantity, but the representatives did not recognise this at the time, and all the more so because it was apparent that Britain had blockaded Germany so thoroughly that it could not maintain its own populous, let alone a war. In short, here Neiburg delivers a wonderfully informative lecture whilst simultaneously allowing himself to be hamstrung by the audience he delivers to.

I thought Philippe Pétain was an excellent logistician, he didn't reorganize that Foch had a point about the railways?

"Right here" ?????????????????????????

Good old 240p...

Would anyone have any explanation of why the image of the french was positive in the 20's and not in the 30's. Where does this shift come from?

The presentation was indeed interesting. I liked the description of the battle and the explanation of defense in depth, and explaining the mechanics of switching from defense to offense. The presenter is a bit of a Francophile. I appreciate his saying that the French had no business getting into the war, but it was French foreign policy from the 1870's on that built the house of cards that collapsed into war in the summer of 1914.

Kursk comes to mind.

one question I have is why does ludendorf get so much respect and credit for accomplishments. He seems to be maybe the most overrated general to have ever lived. Big deal he knocked on a door in Belgium. What did he really achieve, he wasn't the here of tannenberg and in 1918 he seems to have no grasp of battle on a large scale especially dealing with strategy.

Doughboys held the marne down 3div 76th FA b-bat.

:-)

The turning point for non-Europeans (incl Americans) and the start of all these mess plaguing the West now.

This guy can tell the story anyway he wants. We, veterans of the Rock of the Marne, know all units, on our left and right, lost ground and folded except us. If not for the 3rd ID the Germans would have driven all the way to Paris.

I found this movie to be very depressing. I do not support war and murder.

Great presentation. I wish he would have discussed the importance of new weapons in deciding the outcome of this battle, most notably the introduction of the first modern tank, the Renault Ft 17, for which the Germans had no answer. Historians now believe that Germany decided to surrender because that tank was unstoppable and Germany could not counter it. In fact Germany signed the armistice mere days before the Allies were to launch a massive tank assault against German lines.

Petain was loved by the French army. In fact, he was one of the reasons why the French army kept fighting after the mutinies of 1917. It was the French senior officers of the French army that didn't like him.

Terrific talk on a part of WW1 about which I was woefully ignorant. Thanks you, Dr Neiberg, I will read your book on the second battle of the Marne shortly

Great lecture. For the first time I realised: This was the Waterloo of WWI

The turning point of 1918?? Operation Michael was the main German attack, intended to break through the Allied lines, outflank the British forces which held the front from the Somme River to the English Channel and defeat the British Army. Germany's spring offensive failed to defeat the Allies before the American armies could arrive on mass and the vast majority of all Allied divisions who took part in stopping the spring offensive were either French or British along with the casualties. All German operations failed 4/4

50:39 - Isn't that from the Charge of the Light Brigade? Regardless, great lecture!

In the name of my great grandfather, NCO Bruge, MIA in the battle of the Matz, thank you professor. He had endured 4 years of carnage and died in the German offensive. One other great grandfather served under Mangin, was gazed and survived the war in a miserable physical condition. Thanks for reviving their sacrifices.

One of the best talks about WW1 I have ever seen ...

fantastic lecture, wasn't dry and kept me captivated the whole time, very well done

Excellent conference. There is a lot of talk in the Anglo-Saxon world about mutinies in the French army, but what I don't understand is why didn't they take place sooner? After the longest battle in the history of war, the Battle of Verdun 300 days and with the Chemin des dames, how these French soldiers already fallen by the hundreds of thousands did, we found the courage to continue... This remains for me a mystery.

American and French factories were still turning out heavy guns-typical Yank bias.

Fantastic subject !Great lecture

"right there" "here" Where?

The Battle of Amiens actually broke the German army - that's why it's the 'black day' of the German army.

The second battle of the Marne was fought by the 3rd infantry division and I was in the 3rd division from '12 to '14. This division is legendary

I enjoyed this lecture very much, and appreciate Professor Neiberg’s focus on the 2ndBattle, however I think he’s completely undermining the significance of the American troops in turning the tides of the war, specifically the brute force of our Marines, and the Army Field Artillery (including my great-grandfather who was part of this Battle, among the others). It’s easy now to say the Americans didn’t have the best training, and their tactics were unconventional, but by this time the French had been fighting for over three years. Of course the French were experts by now, after losing a million and a half men. They grew accustomed to the war. They knew their own landscape. They got better at predicting the enemy’s tactics, but just look at how the French handled the 1st Battle of Verdun in comparison to Marne. Like night and day. Another thing to remember, and important to point out, the Americans didn’t have a large Federalized military at the onset of WW1, and it wasn’t until months before our brave men were shipped off that they finally Federalized local state National Guards. My grandfather’s town had to raise money for their own National Guard. Horses had to be donated from local citizens. They trained with wooden rifles! And at 16 1/2 years old, he finally boarded the ship -Christmas Eve, 1917. Our boys/men increased morale among the allies, and even in this battle German troops have been cited to say “the Americans fought like they were drunk. Totally unafraid.”

This was a very good informational video. I even liked the guy giving the lecture... Until he said Haig was a good general. Haig, IMO should have been shot, after the failure at the Somme. Stopped watching at the 53 minute mark. Have a good day