About this book
The Riddle of the Rhine by Victor Lefebure is a searing, firsthand investigation into the chemical arms that reshaped modern warfare and international policy. Drawing on service with a gas unit on the Western Front, liaison work among the Allies, and post‑war surveys of the great Rhine chemical factories, Lefebure combines reportage, technical insight, and strategic analysis to expose the industrial forces behind chemical warfare.
Part history, part war stories and policy study, the book examines the struggle for decisive initiative between nations, the rise of the chemical industry as a military power, and the fraught questions of disarmament after World War I. Lefebure’s account—framed by a preface from Marshal Foch and an introduction by Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson—traces how peacetime chemistry and munitions production complicated treaties and the prospects for lasting peace, while probing the ethical and political stakes of future conflict.
Ideal for listeners of military history, World War I scholarship, and analyses of arms control, this audiobook illuminates the origins of modern chemical strategy and offers urgent lessons on industry, policy, and the fragile promise of disarmament.
