The Little Field Marshal: A Life of Sir John French (Cassell Military Paperbacks) [Paperback]

Richard Holmes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2007 | Series: Cassell Military Paperbacks

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 scandalous: 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.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Richard Holmes is Professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield University and the Royal Military College of Science. For many years he taught military history at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst before leaving for a spell of full-time military service. He has presented several BBC TV series, including War Walks and The Western Front, and wrote the accompanying books.

Product Details

• Paperback: 427 pages
• Publisher: Cassell (May 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0304367028
• ISBN-13: 978-0304367023
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,698,128 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars reevaluation of reputation of high British officer, July 5, 2005

By 

Henry Berry "Henry Berry" (Southport, CT) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: THE LITTLE FIELD MARSHAL: A LIFE OF SIR JOHN FRENCH (Hardcover)

Field Marshall John French got a poor reputation in his own day when British troops he commanded were slaughtered in the first two hours of the World WAr I battle of Loos. His controversial term as Viceroy in Ireland during the time of the "Troubles" there did nothing to improve his reputation. Scandals in his personal life involving a series of mistresses, including the wife of a fellow officer, only further tarnished his name. Holmes does not find any grounds for elevating French's reputation. What he does is add a new dimension to this historical character by relating French's torments over the large number of deaths resulting from his leadership in the First World War along with the general carnage of the War. These concerns that dogged French are found mostly in his private papers, creating discordance between his public image as an unfeeling military leader and his private reflections. Holmes concludes that "in many respects, [French] never transcended the nineteenth century." By temperament, training, class, and expectations of himself and his peers, French was unable to effectively come to grips with either military or political problems of the early 20th century.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Colorful Life of a Forgotten General, November 6, 2006

By 

D. S. Thurlow (Alaska) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: THE LITTLE FIELD MARSHAL: A LIFE OF SIR JOHN FRENCH (Hardcover)

Richard Holmes' well-written and often fascinating biography, "The Little Field Marshal", is the life of Sir John French, once one of Britain's foremost soldiers but now largely forgotten. French had the misfortune to be the first commander of the British Expeditionary Force in the difficult opening year of the First World War, a role that Holmes makes clear he was poorly suited for.

French entered the British Army in 1852. His service in uniform would span the half century that marked the apogee of the British Empire and the beginning of its decline, and Holmes's biography is to some degree a portrait of the times as well as of his subject. French was a hardworking young officer who earned a battlefield reputation as a courageous and dashing cavalry commander in Sudan and South Africa. The honors he earned in the Boer War, and the favor of various patrons, would propell French to the very top of the British military establishment. He would be the obvious first choice to command Britain's Army on the continent in 1914.

As Holmes makes clear, French, a superb leader of men and a loyal officer of the crown, was poorly suited to the challenges of high command. He never mastered staff work, was often politically naive, undisciplined in his personal life, and too emotional for his own good. He made many friends and many enemies, and adapted indifferently to the demands of coalition generalship under the stalemated conditions of 1914-1915. Holmes successfully redeems him from the "General Blimp" stereotype of history but reveals him as a good officer of the Empire who outlived his times.

"The Little Field Marshal" provides some fascinating insights into the politics of the British Army in the first years of the 20th Century, and into the handling of the "Irish problem" and the struggle over home rule.

This book is highly recommended to students of the First World War and of the history of the British Army

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fair portrayal of a much maligned General, September 12, 2004

By 

Devl's Advocate "RSHA" (Hölle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: THE LITTLE FIELD MARSHAL: A LIFE OF SIR JOHN FRENCH (Hardcover)

This book is plainly baised toward its subject, Sir John French, and is very much like an official biography. However, it does has its merits in showing that French was not the bloodthirsty, uncaring, blundering stereotype as exemplified by his more infamous contemprorary, Douglas Haig. In the book French was seen to be much depressed by the casaulties of war, and unfairly intrigued against by a whole bunch of unsavoury characters behind his back, like Kitchener, Ian Hamilton,. Haig, Robertson and other assorted incompetents who tried, only too successfully, to blame French for all that was wrong with the BEF.

We are also told of the semi mutiny of the British Army in Ireland as a result of Home Rule,though French's scamdalous private life and his many flirtings outside of marriage are not touched on.

Definitely a much better and balanced biography than the ridiculous one on Haig by John Terraine.