Books:
Clayton Donnell's Fortifications of Verdun 1874-1917
This is a fantastic source for my project and has provided almost all the information I will use for my Forts CSV. The book in itself is not very impressive in terms of size when compared to the other books I am using. However, it is jammed packed with diagrams, charts, maps, pictures, and incredibly interesting information about life and function of Verdun's fortification. I knew this was going to be a great resource immediately when I saw a timeline in the beginning of the book from the end of the Franco-Prussian War to the end of WWII, which is then followed by a map of all the forts with their relative construction period, which is then followed by a table listing every fort along with its construction date, modernization date, total cost, men, machine-gun turrets, 75mm turrets, 155mm turrets, and armored observations. Not only will this be useful for my project but also is of great interest to me on a personal note by learning more about the building and defense strategies of the forts.
Christina Holstein's Walking Verdun
Each of Christina Holstein's books I own are chock-full of pictures, maps, and vivid yet concise stories of the Battle of Verdun. In Walking Verdun, each chapter is broken into two sections, The Events and The Walk. The Events section is a general overview of what took place during different key events in the Battle of Verdun chosen by Christian Holstein. The Walk section then details how the reader can walk from site to site and explains what the importance of what they see. I will use select information from the events sections of multiple chapters in my WWI CSV.
Christina Holstein's Fort Douaumont
Christina Holstein's Fort Vaux
These books are similar to Walking Verdun, though they cover events surround one specific fort rather then the battle as a whole. With an outrageous number of pictures, maps, and interesting side stories, these books will make my WWI CSV quite robust in regards to events surrounding the Verdun fortifications. I am glad I have these books not only as a useful resource for my project but as a reminder of my favorite part of our trip (the forts) and of the amazing opportunity my class had in walking these forts with Christina Holstein in person.
Alistair Horne's The Price of Glory
This book is somewhat different from the others I have read for my project. Instead of taking an third person view on the material and giving broad overviews, Alistair Horne takes you right into the action with an almost first person feel of the accounts of the Battle of Verdun. This book is specifically about the Battle of Verdun 1916 and as such will be a main source for my fortification project. I liked how it felt like reading a novel more then a history textbook and I feel like this book is perfect for anyone interested in learning more about WWI or looking for an exciting wartime narrative.
John Mosier's The Myth of the Great War
This was the first book I read for this class. It covers the entirety of WWI along the Western Front providing pictures and quite a few maps along the way. Dividing the book into fourths, the middle two are of the most interest to me for my project since they cover the battles leading up to and including the Battle of Verdun 1916. This book gave me a good background on WWI which I could then expand upon by reading another of John Mosier's books specifically about Verdun.
John Mosier's Verdun: The Lost History of the Most Important Battle in World War I, 1914-1918
Using a similar writing and format style as his book The Myth of the Great War, John Mosier expands on his knowledge of the Battle of Verdun 1916. He explores the shortcomings of both the Germans and the French, discusses issues in political geography, and details the troubles faced by soldiers taking part in what he refers to as the 'most important battle of WWI.' This book is another excellent source for my project as the entire book, as well as my project, focuses on Verdun.
Websites:
The Great War Fortifications in France...
This is a website with pictures of 10 or so forts with their location and some general information. It has quite a bit of information yet I am unsure who is updating the site and where they are getting their information. There is a nice Google earth image with different forts and ouvrages mapped out which I will use to create a similar Google earth project to lock down the positions of all the forts.
Le site web de la fortification Sere de Rivieres
This is a website that has about half the forts and the same number of ouvrages mapped out with pictures and a lot of information on each. All the text is in french however. I like the amount of pictures and information available for the places it has and will be a useful addition to the data I get from Clayton Donnell's Fortifications of Verdun 1874-1917.
The Battle of Verdun 1916 - the greatest battle ever
This website has an extensive timeline of the Battle of Verdun in 1916. Using an almost day by day approach, the events of the battle are spelled out in a clear manner. The battle is sectioned off into six different phases with meaningful subtitles, making finding specific dates and information easy to accomplish. I will use this site for finding specific dates and little bits of information that would take to long to find in a full length book.
Picture Sources:
ESRI Story Maps
I am going to make two story maps for my final project, using these templates:
Storytelling Shortlist Template
Storytelling Map Tour Template
Here is a tour I made with Google Tour Builder, an alternative to ESRI's story maps.
My Test of Tour Builder
Tools:
textpad 7
Lat/Long Converter
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