GAULLE (Charles de). Vers l'armée de métier. Paris, Éditions - Lot 102

GAULLE (Charles de). Vers l'armée de métier. Paris, Éditions Berger-Levrault, 1934. In-16, 211-(5 of which with white versos)pp. half-brown basane, ribbed spine, top cover preserved; spine faded, traces of glue in margins of first and last leaves. First edition, of which only 25 first copies were printed on large paper. Signed by General de Gaulle. The most important of all his pre-war writings. At the time, Charles de Gaulle was the Secretary of National Defense, and had both observed Adolph Hitler's massive rearmament initiatives and noted the deterioration of the French military. Here, he criticized the exclusive system of the nation at arms, and argued that a professional army should be set up on land, as already existed at sea and in the air: 100,000-strong, this professional army should be served by a tracked, partly armored, motorized force. Charles de Gaulle emphasized the effectiveness of this elite troop, united behind a leader, and the deterrent effect it would have. When it was published, the book was well received by politicians on the right and in the center, but met with reticence on the left, and above all was strongly criticized by the military command, which did not accept that a mere lieutenant-colonel should go against the prevailing doctrine - Marshal Pétain, then Minister of War, did not react but let the author write against him, and his successor at the Ministry, General Maurin, openly condemned him. The accelerated militarization of Germany and the Spanish war did nothing to change the opinion of the political and military elite. Enclosed, a visiting card from Max Brun with his autograph note: "Signature given to me by de Gaulle when he came to Metz in 1961 - I had a bad green pencil that he broke while writing."