Studies in British Military Thought: Debates With Fuller and Liddell Hart - Tapa dura

Reviewed in LRB 10 June, 1999 ... this volume conveys a sense of unity and coherence which exceeds the sum of its parts. This is partly explained by the subtitle. Brian Holden Reid has engaged in debates on these matters that exercised the imaginations of Major-General J. F. C. Fuller and Sir Basil Liddell Hart, and has attempted to relate their writings to the development of military thought and doctrine throughout this century. The sense of continuity is enhanced by the preface to each essay explaining its origins, limitations and ideas for revision. These introductions are elegant and even poetic ... The great merit of Studies in British Military Thought is that there are provocative points on virtually every page which will stimulate civilian and military students alike. --TLS, 12 March, 1999. "These essays are well written, combative, and instructive."--English Historical Review, June 2000

John Frederick Charles Fuller (1878-1966), British soldier, military analyst, and war historian, is considered the father of modern armored (tank) warfare - first as planner of the attack at Cambrai in November 1917, and then as author of a number of works that challenged traditional British military thought. His ideas were resisted in his own country but had a major impact on German and Soviet military doctrine. Sir Basil Liddell Hart (1895-1970) was also a British military historian and analyst of note and authored influential military histories covering figures from Scipio Africanus to Field Marshal Rommel. In the twelve analytical essays in "Studies in British Military Thought", Brian Holden Reid examines these two figures whose ideas have influenced the interpretation of events in military history from antiquity to the Cold War. He compares and contrasts their views on tactics, operational art and strategy, and war as a social phenomenon. Additionally, he discusses the radically different temperaments of the two and shows how their differences shaped their work in important ways. In so doing, he continues to bring their ideas to students and practitioners of modern warfare and raises fundamental issues concerning the nature of war. Brian Holden Reid, acknowledged on both sides of the Atlantic as the leading expositor of the ideas of General Fuller, is Senior Lecturer in War Studies at King's College, University of London. He is the author of "J. F. C. Fuller: Military Thinker".