The Donkeys [Paperback]

Alan Clark (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 27, 1992

A study of the Western Front in 1915, this book is a stinging indictment of incompetent generalship. The author explores the truth of the observation that British troops were "lions led by donkeys" and shows how appalling losses almost completely destroyed the old professional army.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alan Clark was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. He served in the Household Cavalry before qualifying for the Bar in 1955. In 1974 he became Conservative MP for Plymouth Sutton and went on to hold a number of ministerial posts. He wrote several works of military history: The Fall of Crete, Barbarossa: The Russo-German Conflict 1941-45 and Aces High: The War in the Air over the Western Front. He also published his Diaries. Alan Clark died in 1999.

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Random House UK (October 27, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0712650350
• ISBN-13: 978-0712650359
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #896,032 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for the military historian, June 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Donkeys (Paperback)

The title comes from the German view of the English soldiers who charged into their machine guns and barbed wire: "Lions led by donkeys." The donkeys were the professional officers of the British army that was destroyed in those battles, officers who were unable to adapt to the awful technology that changed the face of war forever. When I was studying under Michael (now Sir Michael) Howard at All Souls in 1972-4, he insisted that this book should be read by anyone who wanted to understand the early phase of the Great War. It is a classic and must be read by anyone trying to understand the impact of the War on the English people, and the shock of the early battles on the perception of the British military of what needed to be done. It is judgmental to be sure, and would not be the only source one would need to understand this critical transition, but it is nonetheless an essential text.

Bob Rizzi Bethesda, MD

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Too short.", February 21, 2010

By 

Stephen M. St Onge "Stephen M. St. Onge" (Mpls, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Donkeys (Paperback)

The only thing really wrong with this book is that it only covers 1915. Otherwise, it gives a dismal, heartbreaking account of the way the British commanders on the Western Front destroyed what was left of their pre-war army, and failed to learn anything during the process. I wish Clark had covered the entire war.

Highly recommended.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hitting a Nerve, December 28, 2008

By 

Mr. Rodney G. Beecham "WWI Freak" (Monbulk, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Donkeys (Paperback)

I would be interested to have a written list of the "errors and lies" with which Clark's book is allegedly riddled. It is immensely readable and, if it is distorted and unhistorical, so is Sir James Edmonds' Official History, which Clark follows closely. The First World War is a terrible unhealed wound on the British psyche, and both the denigrators (Clark, Denis Winter, Leon Wolff) and the apologists (Terraine, Bond, Sheffield) are dangerous guides because they cannot overcome their own emotional interference (Terraine's biography of Haig contains more preposterous falsifications than are to be found in The Donkeys). I wouldn't take Clark alone as my guide to the British campaigns on the Western Front in 1915, but students would be better served by calm and factual analysis of the case he presents than by abusive phrases which tell us nothing except that he has hit a nerve in the abuser.