What has not already been written and said about the Battle of the
Marne, a conflict which will remain legendary in history? What will
not be said and written on that subject in the future?... Some writers
will see in it a miracle, others a strategic action engineered by a
genius, others a chance stroke of destiny. The truth of the matter is
more simple and appealing than any of these explanations and, although
the whole truth is not yet known about the fight at the Marne, enough
is known to make clear the two or three chief reasons why victory came
to France and defeat to Germany, safety to civilization and a repulse
to barbarism.

To be sure there was a great deal of strategy in it; and the stroke
that was conceived in the master brain of Joffre and carried out by
Generals Gallieni and Maunoury--a stroke which consisted in forming a
new army on the extreme right of the German hordes to come and hurl
itself sharply against these hordes--was a brave and bold maneuver
which prepared the way for victory.

But this maneuver would not in itself have sufficed to win the victory
if Maunoury had not attacked with an irresistible élan on the extreme
left, upsetting the German plan of battle; if Franchet d'Esperey had
not supported Maunoury's attack vigorously and succeeded in breaking
the German left; if, especially, Foch, at the center, had not
performed unheard of miracles in breaking down the enemy's resistance
and not allowing his own lines to be broken; if, farther on, de Langle
de Cary and Sarrail had not held off the Princes of Bavaria and
Prussia before Vitry; if, on the right, de Castelnau had not held
until the end the Grand Couronné at Nancy. The first truth is that
they were all--Joffre, Gallieni, Maunoury, Franchet d'Esperey, Foch,