# The Gathering Storm, 1948

## Metadata
- Author: [[Winston S. Churchill]]
- Full Title: The Gathering Storm, 1948
- Category: #books
## Highlights
- France, by right alike of her efforts and her losses, held the leading place. Nearly a million and a half Frenchmen had perished defending the soil of France on which they stood against the invader. Five times in a hundred years, in 1814, 1815, 1870, 1914, and 1918, had the towers of Nôtre Dame seen the flash of Prussian guns and heard the thunder of their cannonade. Now for four horrible years thirteen provinces of France had lain in the rigorous grip of Prussian military rule. Wide regions had been systematically devastated by the enemy or pulverised in the encounter of the armies. There was hardly a cottage or a family from Verdun to Toulon that did not mourn its dead or shelter its cripples. ([Location 176](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07XF7W19K&location=176))