Editing Paths of Glory (section)

===Background===
The title of Cobb's novel came from the ninth stanza of [[Thomas Gray]]'s poem "[[Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard]]" (1751).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.filmsite.org/path.html|title=Paths of Glory (1957)|last=Dirks|first=Tim|website=AMC Filmsite|access-date=16 February 2019|archive-date=February 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190217030108/https://www.filmsite.org/path.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

<blockquote><poem>The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike th'inevitable hour.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.</poem></blockquote>

The book was a minor success when published in 1935, retelling the true-life affair of four French soldiers who were executed to set an example to the rest of the troops. The novel was adapted to the stage the same year by [[Sidney Howard]], World War I veteran and scriptwriter of ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]''.<ref name=mcardle/> The play was a flop on Broadway because of its harsh anti-war scenes that alienated the audience. Nonetheless, Howard continued to believe in the relevance of the subject matter and thought it should be made into a film, writing, "It seems to me that our motion picture industry must feel something of a sacred obligation to make the picture."<ref name=mcardle>Phil McArdle. [http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2007-12-18/article/28760 "Sidney Howard: From Berkeley to Broadway and Hollywood"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220211351/http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2007-12-18/article/28760 |date=December 20, 2014 }}, ''The Berkeley Daily Planet'', December 18, 2007</ref> Fulfilling Howard's "sacred obligation", [[Stanley Kubrick]] decided to adapt it to the screen after he remembered reading the book when he was younger. Kubrick and his partners purchased the film rights from Cobb's widow for $10,000.<ref>{{cite web |title='Paths of Glory': Stanley Kubrick's First Step Towards Cinema Immortality |url=https://cinephiliabeyond.org/paths-glory-stanley-kubricks-first-step-towards-cinema-immortality/ |website=cinephiliabeyond |access-date=15 February 2019 |archive-date=February 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190216035130/https://cinephiliabeyond.org/paths-glory-stanley-kubricks-first-step-towards-cinema-immortality/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Gray's stanza reflects Kubrick's feelings about war as well, and that becomes clear in the narrative of the film – a long battle for something with such an unimportant name as the "Ant Hill". Some of Kubrick's unrealized projects contained themes of war as well. Kubrick once told a ''New York Times'' journalist;
<blockquote>Man isn't a noble savage, he's an ignoble savage. He is irrational, brutal, weak, silly, unable to be objective about anything where his own interests are involved – that about sums it up. I'm interested in the brutal and violent nature of man because it's a true picture of him. And any attempt to create social institutions on a false view of the nature of man is probably doomed to failure.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/013072kubrick-profile.html|title=Nice Boy From the Bronx?|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-02-17|archive-date=August 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825110333/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/013072kubrick-profile.html|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>

''Paths of Glory'' is based loosely on the true story of the [[Souain corporals affair]] when four French soldiers were executed in 1915 during [[World War I]] under General [[Géraud Réveilhac]] for failure to follow orders. The soldiers were exonerated posthumously in 1934.<ref name=kufr>{{Cite web
 | first = Philippe
 | last = Huneman
 | title = Les Sentiers de la gloire
 | website = kubrick.fr
 | date = November 2003
 | url = http://www2.cndp.fr/TICE/teledoc/dossiers/dossier_sentiers.htm
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071203014203/http://www.kubrick.fr/sentiers5.htm
 | archive-date = 2007-12-03
}}</ref> The novel is about the French execution of innocent men to strengthen others' resolve to fight. The French Army did carry out military executions for cowardice, as did most of the other major participants, excluding the United States of America and Australia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/desertion|title=Desertion and the death penalty|date=23 October 2017|website=Australian War Memorial|access-date=16 February 2019|archive-date=February 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190217031727/https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/desertion|url-status=live}}</ref> The United States sentenced 24 soldiers to death for cowardice, but the sentences were never carried out.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web |author=Rob Ruggenberg |url=http://www.greatwar.nl/frames/default-shotatdawn.html |title=The Heritage of the Great War / First World War 1914 - 1918 |publisher=Greatwar.nl |access-date=2014-03-17 |archive-date=September 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120905105830/http://www.greatwar.nl/frames/default-shotatdawn.html |url-status=live }}</ref> However, a significant point in the film is the practice of selecting individuals at random and executing them as a punishment for the sins of the whole group. This is similar to the Roman practice of [[Decimation (Roman Army)|decimation]], which was rarely used by the French Army in [[World War I]].