we have a text message about barbara tuchman and it says in the guns of august barbara tuchman describes general staff in nord the threat from the german army marching into france. what is your viewpoint on how this happened right here in washington d.c.. >> i'm a huge admirer of barbara tuchman. a lot of scholarly historians say -- but she had a huge influence on me because i was young when her book was published in 1962 and a lot of the stuff she says is right. the french general started planning for the war, a it was fantastically inept and misread everything the germans were likely to do. the french were accessed with the attack and the french were committed themselves to the major offensive. further south. i think barbara tuchman was absolutely right in my judgment about the french general staff had no idea what they were doing in the planning before the war. >> host: we have about 30 minutes left with their guest sir max hastings military historian writing for the daily telegraph. >> guest: my contribution to writing for the newspapers and books one should never think either that i