"There were lots of poets, song-writers and letter writers who supported the war and the war effort. Particularly the writers of the "letters home" - I have been in the position of actually writing letters home while on active service and in the position of receiving letters from one of my children who was on active service - Okay then Steve, what would write and tell your mother or father? - What would you wish to hear as a mother or father? Any selfish totally egotistical bastard who wrote home increasing the naturally heavy load and burden of worries felt by any parent for their child under such circumstances really does deserve shooting." - Teribus

Tell me Greg F, as someone who has obviously never been in either position, why you automatically assume that if someone posted on active service in writing home to his/her loved ones focuses the subject matter of his letter on the mundane, the social and the positive aspects of his situation - He or she must be lying?

Raggytash - 03 Dec 14 - 10:50 AM

So do Churchill, Fuller, Liddell Hart etc not count as Historians.

In the strictest definition of the term no they weren't as none formally studied history as a subject beyond secondary education level and none held a formal degree in history.

All three had varying interests in history but their works were academically viewed as being more commentaries/memoires rather than histories. All three had different axes to grind:

Churchill - A strong supporter of the "indirect approach" to break the stalemate of the "western front", which led to the Gallipoli Campaigns (Sea & Land) - Although, unknown at the time, they came close to success and would have knocked Turkey out of the war, the losses as it ultimately transpired were huge for zero gain and the ensuing scandal was so great Churchill had to resign, the lives of those lost in Gallipoli haunted Churchill for the rest of his life. He deflected criticism of Gallipoli by painting the "western front" and its commanders as black as he could. But in doing so he ignored the signal truth that Haig had realised early in 1915 - That to win the war you had to defeat Germany in Europe on the western front.

Major-General J.F.C. Fuller - Planned the tank attack at Cambrai in November 1917 and also the tank operations linked to the 100 Days offensive in 1918 that ended the war. He was also the author of what was called Plan 1919 which if it had ever had to have been implemented in 1919 then the world would have seen "Blitzkrieg" demonstrated twenty years earlier in the history of modern warfare - Last time the concept of Fuller's Plan 1919 was demonstrated to the world was in Iraq in 2003. Fuller was critical of the direction the British Army took after the end of the First World War, and his criticism centred around arguments that promoted his own ideas that was his agenda.

Basil Liddell Hart - Wrote an infantry training manual mostly at second hand from the actual experiences of his mentor Maxse. He co-authored training manuals with Fuller and his agenda linked to painting the First World War as black as he possibly could was similar in nature to Fuller's

Worst of all as pointed out by Professor Brian Bond were the memoires of Lloyd George - the man who all too readily signed over command of British Armies to French Generals whose own troops from the 1917 Nivelle offensive onwards refused to attack the enemy. This little "slant" most certainly contributed greatly to British & Commonwealth losses as it tied the hands of British Commanders in the field with French Generals demands and insistences taking precedence over common sense.   Lloyd George waited until after Haig's death then unscrupulously used Haig as an extremely convenient scapegoat.

All wrote late 1920s - none of them wrote objectively.

Ahh Christmas trust you to grab hold of the wrong end of the stick as usual:

"Nobody has yet commented on the morality of the commissioning of 800,000 ceramic poppies (estimated at £25 per poppy) to be spread around The Tower of London.
I calculate that to have cost £20m (correct my lousy maths)."

You complete and utter PRAT the ceramic poppies are ON SALE FOR £25 EACH so if all 888,246 are sold they will RAISE £22,206,150 which will be split between six service charities.