Rating: 
Summary: Original piece of history
Review: French novelist and critic, the founder of naturalist movement in literature. As a political journalist Zola did not hide his antipathy toward the French Emperor Napoleon II and his Second Empire, his works in which Zola scandalised the drawing rooms of the day with detailed exposures of the vast exploitation underpinning the glitter of France. Zola Make John a 25 years old, brilliant, smooth talking investment banker discovers that his life is not as wonderful as it seemed. He is framed into an illegal enterprise by his vicious ex-girlfriend. Problems begin to appear very quickly and friends turn away almost instantly. John finds that his paradise turned into a debacle. Yet, there is a happy end to this crazy adventure. Zola keeps the reader in suspense, every next page hides some surprise, and there is a lot of great humor too! For the action-lovers it is a MUST!!!
Rating:
Summary: Paris on fire
Review: Image after image of war and terror, Image after image of love and friendship combine the two and you have Les Debaccle. It bolts along to its firey finish of death and longing in Paris in 1871 with a gritty realism that seems to thrive in the factual acount of this most stupid of wars. Zola's characters are secondary to the suffering and pointlessness of war and the brutality inflicted on a people when politics corruption and stupidity lead to war. This unlike War and Peace leaves you feeling deeply saddened maybe becasue when you feel the losers pain it means more than the divided feelings of a winner. If you want to know what war is then read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Profound and moving
Review: Published in 1892, La Debacle (sometimes translated as The Downfall), is the penultimate novel in Zola's great twenty-novel Rougon-Macquart cycle. As each volume is independent, there is no particular merit in reading them in order. Together, they present a comprehensive vista of nineteenth-century France in very much the same way that Sinclair Lewis was to portray American society, a generation later. If you are new to Zola, I recommend you start with Germinal, the most accessible book in the series and widely acknowledged to be Zola's greatest work. The Debacle ranks as one of the great war stories of all time. Set in the Franco-Prussian War and its aftermath, the days of the Paris Commune, it is also that rarest of things, a successful political novel. (For the record, I nominate Under Fire by Henri Barbusse as the greatest war story I have read). In this book, Zola demonstrates his characteristic understanding of human nature. In particular, he gives a compelling depiction of the profound closeness that can develop between comrades-in-arms on active service. Although it is marred by Zola's tendency to repeat himself - in all his books, he tends to light on a word or phrase which he flogs to death through the course of the story - and some episodes are slow-paced, it is nonetheless a fine piece of writing. Full of humane wisdom and keen insight, it is a moving and memorable masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Profound and moving
Review: Published in 1892, La Debacle (sometimes translated as The Downfall), is the penultimate novel in Zola's great twenty-novel Rougon-Macquart cycle. As each volume is independent, there is no particular merit in reading them in order. Together, they present a comprehensive vista of nineteenth-century France in very much the same way that Sinclair Lewis was to portray American society, a generation later. If you are new to Zola, I recommend you start with Germinal, the most accessible book in the series and widely acknowledged to be Zola's greatest work. The Debacle ranks as one of the great war stories of all time. Set in the Franco-Prussian War and its aftermath, the days of the Paris Commune, it is also that rarest of things, a successful political novel. (For the record, I nominate Under Fire by Henri Barbusse as the greatest war story I have read). In this book, Zola demonstrates his characteristic understanding of human nature. In particular, he gives a compelling depiction of the profound closeness that can develop between comrades-in-arms on active service. Although it is marred by Zola's tendency to repeat himself - in all his books, he tends to light on a word or phrase which he flogs to death through the course of the story - and some episodes are slow-paced, it is nonetheless a fine piece of writing. Full of humane wisdom and keen insight, it is a moving and memorable masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: A War Classic
Review: The Franko-Prussian War of 1870-71 was one of the most important wars of the XIXth century. It brought the downfall of the Second Empire in France and the unification of all German lands (excluding Austria) under the hegemony of Prussia. The inevitability of the war resulted in strengthening of Prussia after its victory against Austria in the Austro-Prussian war of 1866, which gave Prussia some new territories and put it in the head of Northern German Alliance. Prussia became a military power, which threatened the continental hegemony of France and the political prestige of Napoleon III, undermined by failures and setbacks in both foreign and internal policies. France entered the war totally unprepared both diplomatically and militarily. In several weeks her army was crushingly defeated and the emperor himself, with a portion of his army, was taken prisoner. On September 4 in Paris the Monarchy was overthrown and the Republic was proclaimed.
These events are described in this classic war novel. The emphasis is laid on the plight of solders and ordinary people. Few other war novels succeed at capturing so well the burden that the ordinary people carry at the time of war. Thus, in WAR AND PEACE war scenes are watered down with peace scenes and many subsequent war novels, such as ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, are just not as multidimensional. LE DEBACLE/THE DOWNFALL is a real melting pot of heroes and cowards, devotees and traitors, destitutes and looters. All that is seen not only in the conflict of the French against the Prussians, but also during the Paris Commune, to which the last chapters of the novel are devoted.
Rating:
Summary: Superb war novel
Review: This is a brilliant, and vivid examination of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 through the eyes of lower class Jean (Cpl) and lower middle class Maurice. I must place it as one of the best novels on war I have ever read, up with WAR AND PEACE and FROM HERE TO ETERNITY.
Rating:
Summary: The Reality of War
Review: This is the most descriptive book on what war really all about that I've read, fiction or non-fiction. All Quiet on the Western Front comes close but this book looks at the civilian hardships also. It does not in my opinion however have a pacifist slant. The message I got was that wars should not be entered into lightly and with full awareness of what the results can be. Military strength and diplomacy should both be effected to avoid war. Should be required reading for all wanna be hawks and their counterparts the doves.
Rating:
Summary: Entirely underappreciated
Review: War has served as the back drop of many literary masterpieces: The Illiad, War and Peace, The Red Badge of Courage, All Quiet on the Western Front, Catch-22. Zola's "La Debacle," set during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, is every bit as good as these classics. Yet, somehow, this piece seems to have been dropped from the list of war novel classics. Zola spent 20 years researching the conflict in great detail and his novel is as faithful to historical fact as any ever written. Few military defeats have been as sudden, unanticipated, complete and humiliating as the French collapse in 1870. Zola captures the demoralizing effect that the vertiginous orders and counter-orders had on the French troops in the early phases of the war. A complete lack of planning and mobilization plans, along with inefficient communications and intelligence services, led to scattered units marching aimlessly in search of the enemy without food or shelter and without any general plan of operations. The French were truly defeated before ever making contact with the Prussians. La Debacle is as a good an illustration of the "fog of war" as any I've read.
Rating:
Summary: Entirely underappreciated
Review: War has served as the back drop of many literary masterpieces: The Illiad, War and Peace, The Red Badge of Courage, All Quiet on the Western Front, Catch-22. Zola's "La Debacle," set during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, is every bit as good as these classics. Yet, somehow, this piece seems to have been dropped from the list of war novel classics. Zola spent 20 years researching the conflict in great detail and his novel is as faithful to historical fact as any ever written. Few military defeats have been as sudden, unanticipated, complete and humiliating as the French collapse in 1870. Zola captures the demoralizing effect that the vertiginous orders and counter-orders had on the French troops in the early phases of the war. A complete lack of planning and mobilization plans, along with inefficient communications and intelligence services, led to scattered units marching aimlessly in search of the enemy without food or shelter and without any general plan of operations. The French were truly defeated before ever making contact with the Prussians. La Debacle is as a good an illustration of the "fog of war" as any I've read.
Rating:
Summary: Victory is just around the corner?
Review: Written in 1891, Émile Zola's classic The Debacle, provides a ground level interpretation of what it is like see one's homeland suffer military defeat, foreign occupation and internal revolution. The Debacle covers the disastrous Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 from the French viewpoint. Indeed, Zola's novel is strikingly divergent from most late-19th Century European views of warfare, which saw conflict through the prism of personal glory and national aggrandizement. This is an exceedingly grim novel, without the slightest glimmer of hope for any of the characters. Zola depicts war in all its brutal fury, including battle, arson, murder, looting, children abandoned, treachery, and starvation. Indeed, the four horsemen of the apocalypse always seem close at hand in The Debacle, and usually preceded by large doses of despair and anguish. The Debacle consists of three sections: "the trap," which covers the frontier battles between 6-30 August 1879; "the disaster," which covers the Battle of Sedan on 1-2 September 1870; and "the aftermath," which covers the period September 1870 - May 1871. Only inadequate maps and a tendency to overuse British colloquial expressions mar the Penguin edition of Zola's classic. The main military characters in the novel are part of a company in the 106th Infantry Regiment/2nd Division/7th Corps in Alsace. Jean represents "the reasonable, solid, peasant part" of France, while Maurice represents "the silly, crazy part which had been spoilt by the Empire, unhinged by dreams and debauches." Most of the enlisted troops are presented as mercurial - brave, hard working and stoic one moment, or lazy, undisciplined and complaining the next. Certainly Zola sees the poor discipline of French troops, who discard weapons and equipment on marches, as evidence that the French Army had declined in quality from the legendary Grande Armée. The reputation of the French army of 1870 was based on a legend that it could no longer live up to, and this army marched to Sedan, "like a herd of cattle lashed by the whip of fate." French officers, particularly at the company level were actually quite good, most of whom had risen through the ranks. Zola depicts Lieutenant Rochas, a stalwart veteran of 27 years, as typical of "the legendary French trooper going through the world between his girl on one side and a bottle of good wine on the other, conquering the world singing ribald choruses." French officers are depicted as ignorant but brave, fed on the legends of Napoleonic military invincibility. As the Battle of Sedan enters its final moments, Rochas stands, "flabbergasted and wild-eyed, having understood nothing so far about the campaign, he felt himself being enveloped and carried away by some superior force he could not resist anymore, even though he went on with his obstinate cry - Courage lads, victory is just around the corner." Even Captain Beaudoin, a bit of a fop, is able to display stoic bravery as his leg is amputated. Colonel de Vineuil, the regimental commander, is brave and imperturbable but little else. Higher level commanders are portrayed as more interested in their own comfort and careers than the welfare of the troops or the nation. There is certainly no glory in Zola's depiction of war. The battle for Bazeilles is particularly grim, and Zola has a knack for phrases like, "destruction was now completing its work, and nothing was left but a charnel house of scattered limbs and smoking ruins." It was also unusual for a 19th Century war novel to depict what happened to casualties and Major Bouroche's aid station in Sedan is painted in the starkest, bloodstained terms. Most conventional histories of the war shift to the Siege of Paris after the surrender at Sedan, failing to note what happened to the 80,000 French prisoners of war. Zola gives the reader a vivid depiction of the suffering of these troops who were crammed into a small, disease-infested area, with no food for over a week. Zola sees the debacle as a crime - "the murder of a nation." - with Emperor Napoleon III merely awaiting fate. Who was responsible for the crime? Through the civilian Delaherche, the capitalist, Zola points to opposition politicians in the legislature for failing to provide enough funds for military preparedness. At the grunt level, the troops blame their division and corps commanders - "the whole absence of any plan or energetic leadership were precipitating the disaster." Zola also points to the collapse of the French logistic system early in the war, which left troops unfed and short of ammunition, as attributable to shoddy staff work and a spastic command and control system. After the first defeats on the frontier, pessimism rapidly replaces blind optimism in the French ranks and a sense of the inevitability of defeat develops. Maurice concludes that, "we were bound to be beaten on account of causes the inevitable results of which were plain for all to see, the collision of unintelligent bravery with superior numbers and cool method." Are there lessons for modern readers in Zola's 112-year old novel? Certainly an obvious point that Zola hammers home through his characters is that national security should be based on realistic assessments of one's own strengths and weaknesses, and not based merely on past reputations. While the French military was given the physical tools for modern war - the chassepot rifle and the mitrailleuse - the upper leadership did not possess the intellectual or emotional stamina for modern warfare. Zola also makes points about the nuts and bolts of foreign military occupation and military government that are just as relevant today in Baghdad as they were in Sedan. Finally, while Zola waffles on whether or not war is a "necessary evil," he certainly makes the point that given its inherently high cost in human suffering that it should only be embarked upon for reasons of national survival, and not merely to satisfy the whims of an opportunistic politician.
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