Overview

The first unofficial biography of Sir Basil Liddell Hart (1895-1970). Nobody had more influence on Anglophone military thought over the last 100 years. He was born in the reign of Victoria, came of age in the year before the Great War, and wrote doctrine from the year after. In 1925 (when he was still 29 years of age), the rising Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), desperate for good press, encouraged The Daily Telegraph to hire him as military correspondent. From that year, he published journalistic reports every few days, magazine articles every few months, and about one book per year, for a total of at least 35 books. He claimed to have been published in 42 countries and 31 languages. He was yet more prolific as a letter-writer. His own archive contains almost 1,000 correspondents. He garnered inside information, which raised the value of his journalism and thence the books based on his journalism. By the 1930s, he directly advised ministers and flag officers. Most of his policies, prescriptions, and predictions seemed discredited by the Second World War. However, during the 1950s, he popularized himself as prodigy, family man, intellectual, war hero, exposer of hard truths about the Great War, rigorous historian, author of British doctrine, strategist, fearless journalist, Army insider and outside critic, political sage, opponent of appeasement, secret guru to Britain's government during the Second World War, misunderstood proponent of negotiated peace, maligned proponent of a low-cost war, inventor of Blitzkrieg, America's adopted hero, Israel's inspiration, academic, writer, and mentor to a new generation of historians. In 1965, his memoirs cemented the narrative. In 1966, he was knighted by the Queen and photographed for the National Portrait Gallery. Previous memorialists and biographers relied on what Liddell Hart said or wrote late in life - about what he had said or written early in life. Since then, new archives of correspondence have been opened. This biography is the first to cite those archives. It gives a fresh and objective insight into Liddell Hart's life, thought, and legacy.

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9781951171230

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Reviews

""My sincere and enthusiastic compliments to you on dissecting the man from myth and presenting an accurate, scholarly, and extremely insightful examination of BLH's life, thought, and legacy. Honestly, I had no idea his historical record was so complex!"" Major-General William J. Bowers, United States Marine Corps ""Bruce Newsome's meticulously researched and thoughtfully argued new biography brings fresh perspective to our understanding of Liddell-Hart's life and work...Newsome presents a judicious yet unsparing account, pulling no punches in his critique-not only of Liddell-Hart himself but also of the well-connected admirers who, rather than fostering a balanced appraisal of his legacy, largely served to enshrine his preferred version of events. Reading this book promises a clearer grasp of Liddell-Hart's intellectual contributions, skillfully disentangling his flashes of genius from his more questionable musings."" - Professor Michael Rainsborough, Academic Principal, Australian War College ""A new biography strips away the myth of Sir Basil Liddell Hart, revealing a man whose brilliance as a strategist was matched by insecurity, opportunism, and contradictions...Bruce Newsome's Sir Basil Liddell Hart: Life, Thought, Legacy, is the first biography not commissioned, authorised, or written by a Hart mentee. Previous biographers have mostly shielded Hart's legacy from discredit. Newsome, however, reveals the nuances of a man with flaws and a human need to cloak or contradict them...Newsome's art is in the portrayal of a complex man and legacy without judging either."" - Jack Jarmon, Ph.D., political scientist An ""extremely thorough and nuanced reexamination...Newsome's study is a needed corrective to earlier biographies...Newsome has done a superb job of teasing out the intellectual and psychological complexities of a man whose main impulse in the last decades of his life was 'reinventing himself as the unsung inventor of Blitzkrieg'."" - Kevin McAleer, Ph.D., historian and novelist ""I read it with great interest. Sir Basil is not quite as courageous or brilliant as his reputation!"" - Walter A. McDougall, Professor of History and Alloy-Ansin Professor of International Relations, University of Pennsylvania

""Newsome's art is in the portrayal of a complex man and legacy without judging either...Basil Liddell Hart meets today's standards of polymath. He considered himself at various times a soldier, a scholar, a journalist, a genius, and a prophet. He craved adoration in public but in private dreaded attachments. His contributions live on, however, and thanks to Newsome's telling of his story we can appreciate those contributions with the understanding he was a flawed man."" Jack Jarmon, Ph.D., political scientist An ""extremely thorough and nuanced reexamination...Newsome's study is a needed corrective to earlier biographies...Newsome has done a superb job of teasing out the intellectual and psychological complexities of a man whose main impulse in the last decades of his life was 'reinventing himself as the unsung inventor of Blitzkrieg'."" Kevin McAleer, Ph.D., historian and novelist

Author Information

Bruce Oliver Newsome, Ph.D., is a historian, political scientist, and defence, risk, and security consultant. He held standing faculty positions at University of Texas, University of San Diego, University of California Berkeley, University of Pennsylvania, and the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom. Before teaching, he spent five years at the RAND Corporation, advising national governments on defence and security. He served in the British Army reserves, US Army National Guard, and Texas State Guard.

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