Charles E. Callwell and the British Way in Warfare PDF
Preview Charles E. Callwell and the British Way in Warfare
Charles E. Callwell and the British Way in Warfare Daniel Whittingham presents the first full-length study of one of Britain’smostimportantmilitarythinkers, Major-GeneralSirCharles E. Callwell (1859–1928). It tells the story of his life, which included service in military intelligence, the South African War, and on the GeneralStaff beforeand duringthe FirstWorld War.It also presents the first comprehensive analysis of his writing: from his well-known books Small Wars (1896) and Military Operations and Maritime Preponderance (1905), to a host of other books and articles that are presentedhereforthefirsttime.ThroughastudyofCallwell’slifeand works, this book offers a new perspective on the nature and study of military history, the character of British strategy, and on the army to whichhebelonged. DanielWhittinghamisLecturerintheHistoryofWarfareandConflictat theUniversityofBirmingham.HeisaCouncilloroftheArmyRecords Society and International Secretary of the British Commission for MilitaryHistory. CambridgeMilitaryHistories Editedby HEWSTRACHAN,ProfessorofInternationalRelations,Universityof StAndrewsandEmeritusFellowofAllSoulsCollege,Oxford GEOFFREYWAWRO,ProfessorofMilitaryHistory,andDirectorof theMilitaryHistoryCenter,UniversityofNorthTexas The aim of this series is to publish outstanding works of research on warfare throughouttheagesandthroughouttheworld.Booksintheseriestakeabroad approachtomilitaryhistory,examiningwarinallitsmilitary,strategic,political andeconomicaspects.TheseriescomplementsStudiesintheSocialandCultural History of Modern Warfare by focusing on the ‘hard’ military history of armies, tactics,strategyandwarfare.Booksintheseriesconsistmainlyofsingle-author works–academicallyrigorousandgroundbreaking–whichareaccessibletoboth academicsandtheinterestedgeneralreader. Afulllistoftitlesintheseriescanbefoundat: www.cambridge.org/militaryhistories Charles E. Callwell and the British Way in Warfare Daniel Whittingham UniversityofBirmingham UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom OneLibertyPlaza,20thFloor,NewYork,NY10006,USA 477WilliamstownRoad,PortMelbourne,VIC3207,Australia 314–321,3rdFloor,Plot3,SplendorForum,JasolaDistrictCentre, NewDelhi–110025,India 79AnsonRoad,#06–04/06,Singapore079906 CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108480079 DOI:10.1017/9781108628846 ©DanielWhittingham2020 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2020 PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyTJInternationalLtd,PadstowCornwall AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Names:Whittingham,Daniel,1984–author. Title:CharlesE.CallwellandtheBritishwayinwarfare/DanielWhittingham. Othertitles:MilitarythoughtofCharlesE.Callwell Description: Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2020. | Series: Cambridge military histories | Revision of author's thesis (doctoral) – King’s College London, 2013, titled The military thoughtofCharlesE.Callwell.|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. Identifiers:LCCN2019028792(print)|LCCN2019028793(ebook)|ISBN 9781108480079(hardback)|ISBN9781108628846(epub) Subjects: LCSH: Callwell, C. E. (Charles Edward), Sir, 1859–1928. | Great Britain.Army–Biography.|Generals–GreatBritain–Biography.|Militaryart andscience–GreatBritain–History.|Militaryartandscience–Philosophy.| GreatBritain–History,Military. Classification: LCC DA68.32.C15 W47 2020 (print) | LCC DA68.32.C15 (ebook)|DDC355.4/2092–dc23 LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2019028792 LCebookrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2019028793 ISBN978-1-108-48007-9Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. Contents Acknowledgements pagevi Introduction:CharlesE.CallwellandBritishStrategy 1 1 Callwell’sEarlyCareer 20 2 ‘AnArtbyItself’:CharlesCallwellandSmallWars 37 3 ‘AnotherPageintheHistoryofTactics’:Charles CallwellandtheSouthAfricanWar 81 4 Khaki-CladMaritimeTheorist:CharlesCallwelland AmphibiousWarfare 113 5 ‘IDidMyBesttoThrowColdWaterontheScheme asaWhole’:CharlesCallwellandtheDardanelles 159 6 Not‘OneofThatBandofDug-OutsWhoBecame Dug-Ins’:CharlesCallwell,theWarandRetirement, 1914–28 206 Conclusion 240 Bibliography 249 Index 271 v Acknowledgements This book began life as a PhD thesis, ‘The Military Thought and Professional Career of Charles E. Callwell (1859–1928)’, which I submitted in 2013. I was very lucky to join the Department of War StudiesatKing’sCollege,London,fortheMAHistoryofWarfarecohort of2006–7,andtostudyformyPhDtherefrom2008to2013.Imustfirst pay tribute to my first and second supervisors, Alan James and William Philpottrespectively.ThroughoutmytimeatKing’sIbenefitedimmen- selyfromtheirteachingandguidance,andtheyhavebeenatremendous supporttomesince.Icannotthankthemenough.Indeed,Iwouldliketo giveAlanJamesthecreditforcomingupwiththeideatowriteathesison Callwellinthefirstplace,whenIwasdesperatelysearchingforanappro- priatePhDtopic.Manyoftheacademicandprofessionalservicesstaffat King’sofferedmetheirtimeandwisdom,andIwouldliketothankallof them.IshouldsingleoutAndrewLambertforhissupportfortheproject, whichhelpedmetorefinetheideasthatwentintothethesis,andsubse- quentlythebook.MyPhDexaminers,DavidFrenchandHewStrachan, gave me plenty to think about in my viva, and I hope they can see the improvementsthatresultedinthisbook.IshouldalsoliketothankHew for encouraging me to submit the book to Cambridge University Press, andforofferinghisthoughtsalongtheway.Iwouldalsoliketothankmy friendsfromtheMAHistoryofWarfareclassof2006–7,whohavebeen the source of much inspiration for which I am very grateful, and the veterans of ‘the PhD room’ 2008–13, who were the best possible com- panyduringthelongdaysandlongernightsthatIspentworkingonthe originalthesis. ImovedtotheUniversityofBirminghamin2013totakeupalectureship intheDepartmentofHistory,whereIhavespentaveryhappysixyears. HereIshouldespeciallyliketothanksuccessiveheadsofschoolCoreyRoss and Sabine Lee, and heads of department Nick Crowson, Elaine Fulton andMatt Houlbrook, for their support. I would like to thankmy friends andcolleaguesfromthedepartment,andtheregularsattheWarStudies researchseminars.AdamDightonsharedhisviewsonmilitarythoughtin vi Acknowledgements vii thelatenineteenthandearlytwentiethcenturies,andhisknowledgeofthe BlackwoodPapers.JonathanBoff,JonathanGumz,MatthewHughesand Klaus Richter kindly read some, or all, of the book manuscript. Andrew Duncanprovidedmewithsomelast-minutehelpwhenIrealisedsomeof my notes were missing. I would also like to thankthe many people from across the historical community who have given me their friendship and expertiseoverthelasttenyears:Iamveryluckythattherearetoomanyto mentionbyname.IwouldalsoliketothankCambridgeUniversityPress. Thesuggestionsoftheanonymousreviewersofthemanuscriptundoubt- edlymadethisbookbetter.MichaelWatsonhasbeenasupportive–and aboveallpatient–editor.Ihopealloftheabovecanseehowtheyhelpedto makethisbookbetter;butallerrorsthatareleftareentirelymyown. I have received valuable assistance, sometimes above and beyond the call of duty, from the staff at the various archives and libraries in which Ihaveworked.WhileatKing’sImadeextensiveuseoftheLiddellHart Centre for Military Archives. Students at King’s are extremely lucky to haveafacilityliketheLiddellHartCentreoncampus.Iwouldalsoliketo thank the staff at the Berkshire Record Office, British Library, Imperial War Museum, Joint Services Command and Staff College Library, National Archives, National Library of Scotland, University of Durham,WestSussexRecordOffice,andthePrinceConsort’sLibrary, Aldershot, for all their help. I would like to thank the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives and the family of FM Sir WilliamRobertsonforallowingmetoquotefromtheRobertsonpapers, and the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives for allowing me to quote from the Edmonds and Hamilton papers. The National Library of Scotland kindly gave me permission to quote from the Blackwood papers. The Berkshire Record Office kindly gave me permission to cite the Glyn papers. I would like to thank Mr Tony MaxseforhispermissiontoquotefromtheLeoMaxsepapers. Athome,Iwouldliketothankmyfriendsandfamilywhohavealways supportedmethroughthickandthin.Iwouldespeciallyliketothankmy brotherMike, Mum and Dad.It is only becausemy parents have sacri- ficedsomuchthatIamwhereIamnow.MyPhDthesiswasdedicatedto them. I would also like to thank my Turkish family, especially Orhan amca,Cananteyze,Ays¸eteyzeandEce.Iwouldliketodedicatethisbook tomybeautifulGönenç:seniçokseviyorumsevgilim.
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