Table Of ContentCharles E. Callwell and the British Way in Warfare
Daniel Whittingham presents the first full-length study of one of
Britain’smostimportantmilitarythinkers, Major-GeneralSirCharles
E. Callwell (1859–1928). It tells the story of his life, which included
service in military intelligence, the South African War, and on the
GeneralStaff beforeand duringthe FirstWorld War.It also presents
the first comprehensive analysis of his writing: from his well-known
books Small Wars (1896) and Military Operations and Maritime
Preponderance (1905), to a host of other books and articles that are
presentedhereforthefirsttime.ThroughastudyofCallwell’slifeand
works, this book offers a new perspective on the nature and study of
military history, the character of British strategy, and on the army to
whichhebelonged.
DanielWhittinghamisLecturerintheHistoryofWarfareandConflictat
theUniversityofBirmingham.HeisaCouncilloroftheArmyRecords
Society and International Secretary of the British Commission for
MilitaryHistory.
CambridgeMilitaryHistories
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Charles E. Callwell and
the British Way in Warfare
Daniel Whittingham
UniversityofBirmingham
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DOI:10.1017/9781108628846
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Whittingham,Daniel,1984–author.
Title:CharlesE.CallwellandtheBritishwayinwarfare/DanielWhittingham.
Othertitles:MilitarythoughtofCharlesE.Callwell
Description: Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge
University Press, 2020. | Series: Cambridge military histories | Revision of
author's thesis (doctoral) – King’s College London, 2013, titled The military
thoughtofCharlesE.Callwell.|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2019028792(print)|LCCN2019028793(ebook)|ISBN
9781108480079(hardback)|ISBN9781108628846(epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Callwell, C. E. (Charles Edward), Sir, 1859–1928. | Great
Britain.Army–Biography.|Generals–GreatBritain–Biography.|Militaryart
andscience–GreatBritain–History.|Militaryartandscience–Philosophy.|
GreatBritain–History,Military.
Classification: LCC DA68.32.C15 W47 2020 (print) | LCC DA68.32.C15
(ebook)|DDC355.4/2092–dc23
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Contents
Acknowledgements pagevi
Introduction:CharlesE.CallwellandBritishStrategy 1
1 Callwell’sEarlyCareer 20
2 ‘AnArtbyItself’:CharlesCallwellandSmallWars 37
3 ‘AnotherPageintheHistoryofTactics’:Charles
CallwellandtheSouthAfricanWar 81
4 Khaki-CladMaritimeTheorist:CharlesCallwelland
AmphibiousWarfare 113
5 ‘IDidMyBesttoThrowColdWaterontheScheme
asaWhole’:CharlesCallwellandtheDardanelles 159
6 Not‘OneofThatBandofDug-OutsWhoBecame
Dug-Ins’:CharlesCallwell,theWarandRetirement,
1914–28 206
Conclusion 240
Bibliography 249
Index 271
v
Acknowledgements
This book began life as a PhD thesis, ‘The Military Thought and
Professional Career of Charles E. Callwell (1859–1928)’, which
I submitted in 2013. I was very lucky to join the Department of War
StudiesatKing’sCollege,London,fortheMAHistoryofWarfarecohort
of2006–7,andtostudyformyPhDtherefrom2008to2013.Imustfirst
pay tribute to my first and second supervisors, Alan James and William
Philpottrespectively.ThroughoutmytimeatKing’sIbenefitedimmen-
selyfromtheirteachingandguidance,andtheyhavebeenatremendous
supporttomesince.Icannotthankthemenough.Indeed,Iwouldliketo
giveAlanJamesthecreditforcomingupwiththeideatowriteathesison
Callwellinthefirstplace,whenIwasdesperatelysearchingforanappro-
priatePhDtopic.Manyoftheacademicandprofessionalservicesstaffat
King’sofferedmetheirtimeandwisdom,andIwouldliketothankallof
them.IshouldsingleoutAndrewLambertforhissupportfortheproject,
whichhelpedmetorefinetheideasthatwentintothethesis,andsubse-
quentlythebook.MyPhDexaminers,DavidFrenchandHewStrachan,
gave me plenty to think about in my viva, and I hope they can see the
improvementsthatresultedinthisbook.IshouldalsoliketothankHew
for encouraging me to submit the book to Cambridge University Press,
andforofferinghisthoughtsalongtheway.Iwouldalsoliketothankmy
friendsfromtheMAHistoryofWarfareclassof2006–7,whohavebeen
the source of much inspiration for which I am very grateful, and the
veterans of ‘the PhD room’ 2008–13, who were the best possible com-
panyduringthelongdaysandlongernightsthatIspentworkingonthe
originalthesis.
ImovedtotheUniversityofBirminghamin2013totakeupalectureship
intheDepartmentofHistory,whereIhavespentaveryhappysixyears.
HereIshouldespeciallyliketothanksuccessiveheadsofschoolCoreyRoss
and Sabine Lee, and heads of department Nick Crowson, Elaine Fulton
andMatt Houlbrook, for their support. I would like to thankmy friends
andcolleaguesfromthedepartment,andtheregularsattheWarStudies
researchseminars.AdamDightonsharedhisviewsonmilitarythoughtin
vi
Acknowledgements vii
thelatenineteenthandearlytwentiethcenturies,andhisknowledgeofthe
BlackwoodPapers.JonathanBoff,JonathanGumz,MatthewHughesand
Klaus Richter kindly read some, or all, of the book manuscript. Andrew
Duncanprovidedmewithsomelast-minutehelpwhenIrealisedsomeof
my notes were missing. I would also like to thankthe many people from
across the historical community who have given me their friendship and
expertiseoverthelasttenyears:Iamveryluckythattherearetoomanyto
mentionbyname.IwouldalsoliketothankCambridgeUniversityPress.
Thesuggestionsoftheanonymousreviewersofthemanuscriptundoubt-
edlymadethisbookbetter.MichaelWatsonhasbeenasupportive–and
aboveallpatient–editor.Ihopealloftheabovecanseehowtheyhelpedto
makethisbookbetter;butallerrorsthatareleftareentirelymyown.
I have received valuable assistance, sometimes above and beyond the
call of duty, from the staff at the various archives and libraries in which
Ihaveworked.WhileatKing’sImadeextensiveuseoftheLiddellHart
Centre for Military Archives. Students at King’s are extremely lucky to
haveafacilityliketheLiddellHartCentreoncampus.Iwouldalsoliketo
thank the staff at the Berkshire Record Office, British Library, Imperial
War Museum, Joint Services Command and Staff College Library,
National Archives, National Library of Scotland, University of
Durham,WestSussexRecordOffice,andthePrinceConsort’sLibrary,
Aldershot, for all their help. I would like to thank the Trustees of the
Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives and the family of FM Sir
WilliamRobertsonforallowingmetoquotefromtheRobertsonpapers,
and the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives for
allowing me to quote from the Edmonds and Hamilton papers. The
National Library of Scotland kindly gave me permission to quote from
the Blackwood papers. The Berkshire Record Office kindly gave me
permission to cite the Glyn papers. I would like to thank Mr Tony
MaxseforhispermissiontoquotefromtheLeoMaxsepapers.
Athome,Iwouldliketothankmyfriendsandfamilywhohavealways
supportedmethroughthickandthin.Iwouldespeciallyliketothankmy
brotherMike, Mum and Dad.It is only becausemy parents have sacri-
ficedsomuchthatIamwhereIamnow.MyPhDthesiswasdedicatedto
them. I would also like to thank my Turkish family, especially Orhan
amca,Cananteyze,Ays¸eteyzeandEce.Iwouldliketodedicatethisbook
tomybeautifulGönenç:seniçokseviyorumsevgilim.
