Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson
Price:
$85.00 (06)Description
Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, an Irishman who in June 1922 was assassinated on his doorstep in London by Irish republicans, was one of the most controversial British soldiers of the modern age. Before 1914 he did much to secure the Anglo-French alliance and was responsible for the planning which saw the British Expeditionary Force successfully despatched to France after the outbreak of war with Germany. A passionate Irish unionist, he gained a reputation as an intensely 'political' soldier, especially during the 'Curragh crisis' of 1914 when some officers resigned their commisssions rather than coerce Ulster unionists into a Home Rule Ireland. During the war he played a major role in Anglo-French liaison, and ended up as Chief of the Imperial General Staff, professional head of the army, a post he held until February 1922.After Wilson retired from the army, he became an MP and was chief security adviser to the new Northern Ireland government. As such, he became a target for nationalist Irish militants, being identified with the security policies of the Belfast regime, though wrongly with Protestant sectarian attacks on Catholics. He is remembered today in unionist Northern Ireland as a kind of founding martyr for the state.
Wilson's reputation was ruined in 1927 with the publication of an official biography, which quoted extensively and injudiciously from his entertaining, indiscreet, and wildly opinionated diaries, giving the impression that he was some sort of Machiavellian monster. In this first modern biography, using a wide variety of official and private sources for the first time, Keith Jeffery reassesses Wilson's life and career and places him clearly in his social, national, and political context.
Features
- Lively biography of the ebullient Henry Wilson, at the centre of Edwardian military affairs
- First modern study of one of Britain's most influential soldiers in the years before and during the First World War
- Reassesses the controversial career and reputation of the man regarded as one of the earliest martyrs for the Irish Unionist cause
Reviews
"Jeffery's biography is a superb book. It contributes not only to our knowledge of Wilson, but also to our understanding of the intricacies of the pre-war British army and decision-making in the First World War. For anyone interested in these matters, Jeffery's book is essential reading."--Keith Neilson, The International History Review
Product Details
344 pages; 4 maps, frontispiece, 8pp plates; ISBN13: 978-0-19-820358-2ISBN10: 0-19-820358-6About the Author(s)
Keith Jeffery is Professor of British History at Queen's University, Belfast, having previously been Professor of Modern History at the University of Ulster. He has been Parnell Fellow in Irish Studies at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and a Visiting Scholar at the Australian National University and the Australian Defence Force Academy.
