Editing Marc Bloch (section)

==First World War==
{{main|First World War}}Both Marc and Louis Bloch volunteered for service in the French Army.{{Sfn|Fink|1989|p=11}} Although the [[Dreyfus Affair]] had soured Bloch's views of the French Army, he later wrote that his criticisms were only of the officers; he "had respect only for the men".{{sfn|Bloch|1980|p=52}} Bloch was one of over 800 ÉNS students who enlisted; 239 were to be [[killed in action]].{{Sfn|Fink|1989|p=26}} On 2 August 1914{{Sfn|Weber|1991|p=245}} he was assigned to the 272nd Reserve Regiment.{{Sfn|Hughes-Warrington|2015|p=12}} Within eight days he was stationed on the Belgian border where he fought in the [[Battle of the Meuse]] later that month. His regiment took part in the general retreat on the 25th, and the following day they were in [[Barricourt]], in the [[Forest of Argonne|Argonne]]. The march westward continued towards the river [[Marne (river)|Marne]]—with a temporary [[rest and recuperation|recuperative halt]] in [[Termes, Ardennes|Termes]]—which they reached in early September. During the [[First Battle of the Marne]], Bloch's troop was responsible for the assault and capture of [[Florent]] before advancing on La Gruerie.{{sfn|Hochedez|2012|p=62}} Bloch led his troop with shouts of "Forward the 18th!" They suffered heavy casualties: 89 men were either missing or known to be dead.{{sfn|Hochedez|2012|p=62}} Bloch enjoyed the early days of the war;{{Sfn|Weber|1991|p=245}} like most of his generation, he had expected a short but glorious conflict.{{Sfn|Weber|1991|p=245}} Gustave Bloch remained in France, wishing to be close to his sons at the front.{{Sfn|Fink|1989|p=11}}
[[File:Marc_Bloch,_made_a_knight_of_the_Legion_of_Honour.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|The Department of War's official bestowing of the [[Legion of Honour|Chevalier de Légion d'honneur]] on Marc Bloch, 8 November 1920|alt=Blch's appointment to the Legion of honour]]
Except for two months in hospital followed by another three recuperating, he spent the war in the infantry;{{Sfn|Weber|1991|p=245}} he joined as a [[sergeant]] and rose to become the [[Section (military unit)#French Army|head of his section]].{{sfn|Hochedez|2012|p=61}} Bloch kept a [[war diary]] from his enlistment. Very detailed in the first few months, it rapidly became more general in its observations. However, says the historian [[Daniel Hochedez]], Bloch was aware of his role as both a "witness and narrator" to events and wanted as detailed a basis for his historiographical understanding as possible.{{sfn|Hochedez|2012|p=61}} The historian Rees Davies notes that although Bloch served in the war with "considerable distinction",{{Sfn|Davies|1967|p=267}} it had come at the worst possible time both for his intellectual development and his study of medieval society.{{Sfn|Davies|1967|p=267}}

For the first time in his life, Bloch later wrote, he worked and lived alongside people he had never had close contact with before, such as shop workers and labourers,{{Sfn|Lyon|1987|p=198}} with whom he developed a great [[camaraderie]].{{Sfn|Lyon|1987|p=199}} It was a completely different world to the one he was used to, being "a world where differences were settled not by words but by bullets".{{Sfn|Lyon|1987|p=198}} His experiences made him rethink his views on history,{{Sfn|Lyon|1987|p=200}} and influenced his subsequent approach to the world in general.{{Sfn|Burguière|2009|p=38}} He was particularly moved by the collective psychology he witnessed in the [[WWI trenches|trenches]].{{Sfn|Stirling|2007|p=528}} He later declared he knew of no better men than "the men of the Nord and the Pas de Calais"{{Sfn|Lyon|1985|p=184}} with whom he had spent four years in close quarters.{{Sfn|Lyon|1985|p=184}}{{Refn|Bloch later recalled that he had seen only one exception to this collective spirit, and that that was a by "'scab', by which I mean a non-unionist employed as a strike-breaker".{{sfn|Lyon|1985|p=184}}|group=note}} His few references to the French generals were sparse and sardonic.{{Sfn|Lyon|1985|p=185}}

Apart from the Marne, Bloch fought at the battles of [[Battle of the Somme|the Somme]], the [[Meuse-Argonne Offensive|Argonne]], and the [[Paris in World War I#Paris again on the front lines|final German assault on Paris]]. He survived the war,{{Sfn|Fink|1998|p=40}} which he later described as having been an "honour" to have served through.{{sfn|Hochedez|2012|p=61}} He had, however, lost many friends and colleagues.{{Sfn|Epstein|1993|p=277}} Among the closest of them, all killed in action, were: [[Maxime David]] (died 1914), [[Antoine-Jules Bianconi]] (died 1915) and [[Ernest Babut]] (died 1916).{{Sfn|Fink|1989|p=26}} Bloch himself was wounded twice{{Sfn|Hughes-Warrington|2015|p=12}} and decorated for courage,{{Sfn|Lyon|1987|p=199}} receiving the [[Croix de Guerre]]{{Sfn|Sreedharan|2004|p=259}} and the [[Légion d'Honneur]].{{sfn|Hochedez|2012|p=61}} He had joined as a [[non-commissioned officer]], received an [[officer's commission]] after the Marne,{{Sfn|Loyn|1999|p=162}} and had been promoted to [[warrant officer]]{{sfn|Hochedez|2012|p=64}} and finally a captain in the [[Military Fuel Service (France)|fuel service]], (''Service des essences)'' before the war ended.{{Sfn|Schöttler|2010|p=415}} He was clearly, says Loyn, both a good and a brave soldier;{{Sfn|Loyn|1999|p=164}} he later wrote, "I know only one way to persuade a troop to brave danger: brave it yourself".{{sfn|Hochedez|2012|p=63}}

While on front-line service, Bloch contracted severe [[arthritis]] which required him to retire regularly to the [[thermal bath]]s of [[Aix-les-Bains]] for treatment.{{Sfn|Fink|1998|p=40}} He later remembered very little of the historical events he found himself in, writing only that his memories were{{Sfn|Bloch|1980|p=14}}{{Sfn|Stirling|2007|p=528}} "a discontinuous series of images, vivid in themselves, but badly arranged, like a reel of motion picture film containing some large gaps and some reversals of certain scenes".{{sfn|Bloch|1980|p=14}} Bloch later described the war, in a detached style, as having been a "gigantic social experience, of unbelievable richness".{{Sfn|Epstein|1993|pp=276–277}} For example, he had a habit of noting the different coloured smoke that different shells made — [[Shell (projectile)#Percussion fuze|percussion bombs]] had black smoke, [[Artillery fuze#Time fuzes|timed bombs]] were brown.{{Sfn|Weber|1991|p=245}} He also remembered both the "friends killed at our side ... of the intoxication which had taken hold of us when we saw the enemy in flight".{{Sfn|Lyon|1985|p=184}} He also considered it to have been "four years of fighting idleness".{{Sfn|Weber|1991|p=245}} Following the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|Armistice in November 1918]], Bloch was [[demobilised]] on 13 March 1919.{{Sfn|Weber|1991|p=245}}{{Sfn|Friedman|1996|p=10}}