The Continental Commitment. The Dilemma of British Defence Policy in the Era of Two World Wars

by Michael Eliot Howard

Book by Howard, Michael Eliot

Genres: History

173 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Sir Michael Eliot Howard was an English military historian, formerly Chichele Professor of the History of War, Honorary Fellow of All Souls College, Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford, Robert A. Lovett Professor of Military and Naval History at Yale University, and founder of the Department of War Studies, King's College London.

In 1958, he co-founded the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

In 2013, Howard was described in the Financial Times as "Britain's greatest living historian". The Guardian described him as "Britain's foremost expert on conflict".

Reviews

[Balazs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somewhat dated, but still one of the classics, written by one of Britain's foremost military historians.

[Peter Latham · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice overview of British defence policy between c.1900 to c.1942. An historical non-fiction book that does not get distracted by meaningless dates or irrelevancies - very succinct and is readable without having a notebook or turning back every few pages!

Provides an interesting account of the various strategical positions that have been considered imperative to Britain's defence, be that home or imperial. This allows one to construct a view of the situation the British Empire found itself in, and the mentions of the Far East are particularly relevant with the geopolitics of today - the USA's power under threat from the might of Asian industrialised powers and a resurgent Russia causing unwanted problems, all the more threatened by an increasing British reluctance to get involved in America's problems.

Overall, it puts Britain's power into perspective and essentially shows what hindered it, and, why, understandably, Britain began to have had enough of world power.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is really about the challenges the British faced in the period of the world wars between securing the Empire and committing to war on the continent. It is short and too the point and makes assumptions that you already know the basic history at the time. As an American, I found myself having to Goggle some of the names, because the book is very "inside baseball." I knew the PMs and some of the major figures, but of the many ministers mentioned, I was ignorant.