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The Little Field Marshal: A Life of Sir John French
Sir John French is a figure who has always aroused controversy. Douglas Haig despised him, while Churchill thought his leadership qualities unsurpassed. Despite being the most capable cavalry leader of his generation, posterity has judged him an unfeeling butcher, responsible for more deaths in the first two hours of the battle of Loos than all the casualties on both sides in the 1944 D-Day landings. But there was another side to French, which is only revealed in his private papers. If his public life was controversial, his private life was positively he courted dismissal after an affair with a fellow officer's wife, and had a string of beautiful and well-connected mistresses. And far from being the unfeeling butcher of popular myth, he was personally tormented by what he termed 'glory and her twin sister murder'. The lengthening casualty lists on the Western Front filled him with despair, as he envisaged his room at GHQ filled with the 'silent army' of the dead.
456 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
30 people want to read
About the author
Richard Holmes
116 books92 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
See this thread for more information.
Edward Richard Holmes was Professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield University and the Royal Military College of Science. He was educated at Cambridge, Northern Illinois, and Reading Universities, and carried out his doctoral research on the French army of the Second Empire. For many years he taught military history at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.
A celebrated military historian, Holmes is the author of the best-selling and widely acclaimed Tommy and Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket. His dozen other books include Dusty Warriors, Sahib, The Western Front, The Little Field Marshal: Sir John French, The Road to Sedan, Firing Line, The Second World War in Photographs and Fatal Avenue: A Traveller’s History of Northern France and Flanders (also published by Pimlico).
He was general editor of The Oxford Companion to Military History and has presented eight BBC TV series, including ‘War Walks’, ‘The Western Front’ and ‘Battlefields’, and is famous for his hugely successful series ‘Wellington: The Iron Duke’ and ‘Rebels and Redcoats’.
See this thread for more information.
Edward Richard Holmes was Professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield University and the Royal Military College of Science. He was educated at Cambridge, Northern Illinois, and Reading Universities, and carried out his doctoral research on the French army of the Second Empire. For many years he taught military history at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.
A celebrated military historian, Holmes is the author of the best-selling and widely acclaimed Tommy and Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket. His dozen other books include Dusty Warriors, Sahib, The Western Front, The Little Field Marshal: Sir John French, The Road to Sedan, Firing Line, The Second World War in Photographs and Fatal Avenue: A Traveller’s History of Northern France and Flanders (also published by Pimlico).
He was general editor of The Oxford Companion to Military History and has presented eight BBC TV series, including ‘War Walks’, ‘The Western Front’ and ‘Battlefields’, and is famous for his hugely successful series ‘Wellington: The Iron Duke’ and ‘Rebels and Redcoats’.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 14, 2022
A well-written, thoughtful and rounded biography of French.
Holmes doesn’t try anything revisionist, and argues that French was not up to the task he had been given as commander of the BEF, which was completely different from any of his previous experiences. French comes off here as a good leader of men, but somewhat naive and not particularly adept at high command or at staff work. In a different historical era, he might have had a more successful military career. Holmes notes French’s lack of political acumen and his struggles to control his own emotions, and does a good job describing the haunting effect the horrors of the Great War and the scale of the casualties had on him. He also goes into some detail on French’s many infamous affairs and how stoically his poor wife put up with them.
There could have been some more analysis of French as a military leader and tactician, but the narrative is broad and informative, and Holmes does a good job bringing French’s era to life. He does a good job showing how French’s experiences influenced his thinking.
An insightful and well-researched work.
Holmes doesn’t try anything revisionist, and argues that French was not up to the task he had been given as commander of the BEF, which was completely different from any of his previous experiences. French comes off here as a good leader of men, but somewhat naive and not particularly adept at high command or at staff work. In a different historical era, he might have had a more successful military career. Holmes notes French’s lack of political acumen and his struggles to control his own emotions, and does a good job describing the haunting effect the horrors of the Great War and the scale of the casualties had on him. He also goes into some detail on French’s many infamous affairs and how stoically his poor wife put up with them.
There could have been some more analysis of French as a military leader and tactician, but the narrative is broad and informative, and Holmes does a good job bringing French’s era to life. He does a good job showing how French’s experiences influenced his thinking.
An insightful and well-researched work.
April 18, 2017
From the quarter of the book that deals with the BEF operations - ok, a third if you add the 1906-14 planning period- there is little to redeem "donkey" French or his 1914 memoir. Evenness is an admirable quality in any biography, but really Richard Holmes, all we want to hear about is the war.
He drew some accurate lessons from his Boer War cavalry service, such as the enlarged possibilities of mounted infantry with proper firepower. The dismal differences between French cuirassiers, Lee Enfield-equipped British cavalry and the horse artillery of the German Jäger in support of their lance-wielding Uhlanen would demonstrate this. He also appreciated the importance of instant artillery dominance in support of infantry attacks, as Joffre would grasp before the Battle of the Frontiers was over. Unfortunately, both conceptions were drowned out by the inaccurate ones, where like many cavalrymen of his generation he twisted prognosis to suit theories that validated the existence of the arme blanche 's shock value in the age of the machine-gun.
His personal recollections, gospel in his own mind from the moment he was dismissed as C-in-C, could by the end of the war no longer escape scrutiny from a public b. Add to this his ability to carry a grudge and the influence of the political games between Lord Roberts, Kitchener and Henry Wilson upon his tactical recommendations. Holmes' little life has been widely used since 1981, with the result that the most interesting parts have become well-engrained into BEF litterature.
He drew some accurate lessons from his Boer War cavalry service, such as the enlarged possibilities of mounted infantry with proper firepower. The dismal differences between French cuirassiers, Lee Enfield-equipped British cavalry and the horse artillery of the German Jäger in support of their lance-wielding Uhlanen would demonstrate this. He also appreciated the importance of instant artillery dominance in support of infantry attacks, as Joffre would grasp before the Battle of the Frontiers was over. Unfortunately, both conceptions were drowned out by the inaccurate ones, where like many cavalrymen of his generation he twisted prognosis to suit theories that validated the existence of the arme blanche 's shock value in the age of the machine-gun.
His personal recollections, gospel in his own mind from the moment he was dismissed as C-in-C, could by the end of the war no longer escape scrutiny from a public b. Add to this his ability to carry a grudge and the influence of the political games between Lord Roberts, Kitchener and Henry Wilson upon his tactical recommendations. Holmes' little life has been widely used since 1981, with the result that the most interesting parts have become well-engrained into BEF litterature.
August 9, 2021
Field Marshall Sir John French fought in the Second Boer War and was he overall commander of British forces for the first year or two in World War One before being moved aside following criticism of his actions and results. He was one of the ‘donkeys leading heroes’ from the often used phrase describing the carnage and huge casualties of the First World War,
This book in no way tries to excuse or cover up the mistakes of French but does try to redress the balance by also high lightening some of the good things he did which have often been forgotten in the last hundred years.
This is very much a biography and not a history of the war itself and does little to show the suffering of individual soldiers. It does however offer a very well researched chronological journey of the war and French’s part in it and will be of great interest to any researcher of the war itself and in particular, the wider strategies and political decision making involved leading to the huge causalities caused by the war.
At one stage the author writes about the British success in moving forward about a hundred yards on a 3,000 yard wide front. This was apparently regarded as a success by the generals and politicians, but also by the writer himself, but my school-boy ‘in-the-head’ calculations shows that this success was gained at the cost of four British casualties for every square yard! Sombre stuff. But overall the book gives a good and detailed description of not only of French’s actions and thinking, but of some of the wider issues behind big decisions that had such a huge impact on the lives of millions.
Recommended for any serious scholars of the period, amateur or professional.
This book in no way tries to excuse or cover up the mistakes of French but does try to redress the balance by also high lightening some of the good things he did which have often been forgotten in the last hundred years.
This is very much a biography and not a history of the war itself and does little to show the suffering of individual soldiers. It does however offer a very well researched chronological journey of the war and French’s part in it and will be of great interest to any researcher of the war itself and in particular, the wider strategies and political decision making involved leading to the huge causalities caused by the war.
At one stage the author writes about the British success in moving forward about a hundred yards on a 3,000 yard wide front. This was apparently regarded as a success by the generals and politicians, but also by the writer himself, but my school-boy ‘in-the-head’ calculations shows that this success was gained at the cost of four British casualties for every square yard! Sombre stuff. But overall the book gives a good and detailed description of not only of French’s actions and thinking, but of some of the wider issues behind big decisions that had such a huge impact on the lives of millions.
Recommended for any serious scholars of the period, amateur or professional.
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September 5, 2021I find Holmes an excellent writer, in that while I do not agree with everything he says Holmes does attempt to give a balanced account on the subject of his book; and Holmes has this approach with his biography on French, but mixes biography with with wider contextual material as needed (though thankfully we are spared too much detail at times! As a man, there is often little sympathy I find for him in that French was riddled with paranoia and seemingly overcame more 'resistance' in the bedroom than in any war; but as much as he can be criticised for his comfortable life (though often broke) and his cavalry rather than infantry background, he did face the initial call to arms where and had to adjust to working with allies, his own politicians and the shortage of supplies. French, like Haig, is a complex individual - French being more emotional - and we do need to stop the current vogue of blindly hating or liking without really facing the difficult questions that other views put forward.
May 25, 2023
I was overawed by the depth and breadth of detail in this excellent study of Sir John French. It changed my perception of the man, whose abilities as a cavalry general were magnificent. But he was not a brilliant Army commander and I was sad to read of his tendency to practise petty rivalry with other commanders (notably Kitchener and Smith-Dorrien). The more I read about senior military men, the less attractive many of them are (witness Montgomery and his inability to rub along with people who didn't instantly agree with him)
February 15, 2010
Field Marshall Sir John French was Commander-in-Chief of the BEF from 1914-15. Sir John was a very good cavalry commander in the Boer War and in the period before WW1 played a major part in reforming the Army. However his time as C-in-C of the BEF was not a happy one, he was faced with many challenges, a totally new form of warfare, inadequate supplies and working with allies who could be difficult. French was not the man for the job and inevitably was replaced by Douglas Haig.
This biography by Richard Holmes is not a quick read, but it gives you real insight into the life of a soldier whose private life was as colourful and at times as risky as his military career.
This biography by Richard Holmes is not a quick read, but it gives you real insight into the life of a soldier whose private life was as colourful and at times as risky as his military career.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews