Too Important for the Generals

Nov 18, 2024 12:29 AM

Author:Allan Mallinson

‘War is too important to be left to the generals’ snapped future French prime minister Georges Clemenceau on learning of yet another bloody and futile offensive on the Western Front.

One of the great questions in the ongoing discussions and debate about the First World War is why did winning take so long and exact so appalling a human cost? After all this was a fight that, we were told, would be over by Christmas.

Now, in his major new history, Allan Mallinson, former professional soldier and author of the acclaimed 1914: Fight the Good Fight, provides answers that are disturbing as well as controversial, and have a contemporary resonance. He disputes the growing consensus among historians that British generals were not to blame for the losses and setbacks in the ‘war to end all wars’ – that, given the magnitude of their task, they did as well anyone could have. He takes issue with the popular view that the ‘amateur’ opinions on strategy of politicians such as Lloyd George and, especially, Winston Churchill, prolonged the war and increased the death toll. On the contrary, he argues, even before the war began Churchill had a far more realistic, intelligent and humane grasp of strategy than any of the admirals or generals, while very few senior officers – including Sir Douglas Haig – were up to the intellectual challenge of waging war on this scale. And he repudiates the received notion that Churchill’s stature as a wartime prime minister after 1940 owes much to the lessons he learned from his First World War ‘mistakes’ – notably the Dardanelles campaign – maintaining that in fact Churchill’s achievement in the Second World War owes much to the thwarting of his better strategic judgement by the ‘professionals’ in the First – and his determination that this would not be repeated.

Mallinson argues that from day one of the war Britain was wrong-footed by absurdly faulty French military doctrine and paid, as a result, an unnecessarily high price in casualties. He shows that Lloyd George understood only too well the catastrophically dysfunctional condition of military policy-making and struggled against the weight of military opposition to fix it. And he asserts that both the British and the French failed to appreciate what the Americans’ contribution to victory could be – and, after the war, to acknowledge fully what it had actually been.

Reviews

Allan Mallinson puts his case compellingly in a stimulating overview of the war. He combines the authority of a soldier-turned-military historian with the imaginative touch of the historical novelist.

—— Lawrence James , The Times

Very readable . . . excellently researched . . .a must for anyone interested in military history and the interface of political and military power; the fact that, 100 years on, historians are still in such disagreement demonstrates just how important and absorbing the debate remains.

—— COUNTRY LIFE

Provocative . . . succinctly summarises the big battles of the conflict, before discussing the commanders' shortcomings, which is his theme.'

—— Max Hastings , SUNDAY TIMES

Mallinson . . . argues persuasively that those charged with sending men into battle should have given a better account of themselves. As the nation commemorates one of the darkest chapters in British Army history, it is hard to disagree.

—— SOLDIER magazine

Refreshingly clear . . . this is a well-written, at times provocative, and concise overview of why the war was conducted as it was, and why it probably was too important to be left to the generals.

—— Simon Heffer , NEW STATESMAN

His bracing polemic . . . vivid, concise . . . he has a keen eye for telling statistics . . . he also sprinkles his grim narrative with colourful eye-witness accounts . . . among the glut of books published to mark the Great War's centenary, this deserves high marks for passion and clarity.

—— Andrew Lynch , SUNDAY BUSINESS POST

Engaging writing and excellent presentation . . . a tricky yet well-crafted analysis, which adds to the revisionist school of thought with some edgy arguments, this is sure to get you thinking.

—— BRITAIN AT WAR magazine

An insightful study of generalship on both sides.

—— DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Books of the Year'

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—— Booklist

A colorful, suspenseful, and well-documented narrative

—— Publishers Weekly

[This] remarkable account recaptures the idealism that filled this ragtag band of revolutionaries with the desperate belief that their leader would bring a "springtime of hope" to their divided and brutalised country. This is a revealing portrait of Lenin and his fellow travellers at a crucial turning point in world history.

—— PD Smith , Guardian

Shows how a lethal blend of politics and personalities led to the American Revolution

—— Choice Magazine

Bunker has done a wonderful job describing the tragedy of errors that led to a bitter and costly war

—— Good Book Guide

A distinguished and refreshing contribution to the secondary literature on the American Revolution

—— Andrew J O’Shaughnessy , Literary Review

[It is] brilliantly written and meticulously researched.

—— Simon Shaw , Mail on Sunday

A vigorous book, full of energy as well as insight

—— Jeremy Black

Utterly wonderful… It reads like a thriller

—— Peter Frankopan

A superb work of history. Shakespeare has assumed nothing and allowed himself to be guided only by what a patient re-examination of the evidence-some of it new, much of it still surprisingly ill-digested until now- actually reveals. That is being an historian. The fact that he is also a novelist just means that it is very well written too, a thriller, in fact.

—— Simon Green, Professor of Modern History, Leeds University

Shakespeare is better known as a novelist than as a historian. This may change after his superb account of the under-examined Norwegian campaign, for which alone his book deserves to be read… Shakespeare is excellent in tracing the intricate manoeuvres ahead of the debate between groups of parliamentarians… Enthralling

—— David Lough , Daily Telegraph

One of the very best history books I have ever read.

—— Duff and Nonsense

An eloquent study in how quickly the political landscape can change—and history with it.

—— The Economist

An absorbing account of how events 1,300 miles away across the North Sea let to the most drastic cabinet reshuffle in modern British history... Shakespeare's book grips the attention from beginning to end. He conjures the characters and personalities of the senior commanders in the Norwegian campaign with a novelist's flair and eye for detail.

—— Ian Thomson , Observer

The most prescient book of the year

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Ocean Vuong’s Night Sky With Exit Wounds... is beguiling and sublime.

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Vuong's voice is unique and inspires empathy.

—— Eva Waite-Taylor , Independent

Beautiful... [Night Sky With Exit Wounds] is pretty special.

—— Francesca Hayward , Observer

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A wonderful, haunting and beautifully written memoir... I found myself laughing out loud at times and, at others, unable to hold back the tears... An absolutely stunning book

—— James Holland

Dadland has the weight of family love but fizzes along in accessible and dynamic prose, highly recommended

—— Andrew McMillan

A mesmerising performance by a natural storyteller gifted with the most seductive material possible, in the wild and wonderful life of her exasperating Irish father. Pain and annoyance is transmuted into pure narrative gold, as Keggie Carew interrogates the legend of this wartime adventurer and the bitter comedy of his domestic relationships and his late decline. A brave, risk-taking tale that alarms, delights and moves. As soon as you come to the end, you want to start again, to see if those things really happened

—— Iain Sinclair

You love these people from the first page ... As Tom's life falls apart memory by memory, Keggie is picking it up again and her storytelling is spell-binding. Effortlessly readable, this is a delight combining laughter - and tears, yes, quite a few of those.

—— Connexion

Compelling

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A moving memoir-cum-biography.

—— Molly McCloskey , Irish Times

By some margin my Book of the Month... A detective story, a family history, a thrilling tale of derring-do, and the most distinctive and affecting memoir I’ve read since H is for Hawk.

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Utterly remarkable, and beautifully evoked… Dadland is a completely riveting, deeply poignant “manhunt” for which I predict great things.

—— Bookseller

Dadland, by Keggie Carew, is being tipped for award-winning breakout success in the vein of H is for Hawk

—— Jon Coates , Sunday Express

It’s an exorcism, ghost-hunt and swim through the archipelago of her father’s shattered self… The author’s descriptions have an easy lyricism.

—— Ed Cripps , Times Literary Supplement

The old question 'what did you do in the war, Dad?' has never had a more surprising or moving answer.

—— David Hepworth

Warm and funny, sometimes regretful and sad, but overall a read like a rollercoaster. Wonderful.

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A brilliant, bittersweet biography.

—— Cornelia Parker , Observer

Keggie’s writing is immersive… She writes with a warmth and generosity about her father, a man who was a genuine character and hero.

—— Paul Cheney , Nudge

Dadland is deeply personal. But it is also the story of our generations: people touched by war and by Alzheimer’s

—— Charlotte Heathcote , Daily Express

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