Description - Lloyd George and the Generals by David R. Woodward
World War I conjures up visions of barbed wire, trenches, mud and massive and futile offensives with horrendous casualties. The frustrating stalemate on the western front with its unprecedented casualties provoked a furious debate in London between the civil and military authorities over the best way to defeat Germany. The passions aroused continued to the present day. The mercurial and dynamic David Lloyd George stood at the centre of this controversy throughout the war. His intervention in military questions and determination to redirect strategy put him at odds with the leading soldiers and admirals of his day. Professor Woodward, a student of the Great War for some four decades, explores the at times Byzantine atmosphere at Whitehall by exhaustive archival research in official and private papers. The focus is on Lloyd George and his adversaries such as Lord Kitchener, General Sir William Robertson, and Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig. But the result is a fresh, compelling and detailed account of the interaction between civil and military authorities in total war.
The author begins with Lloyd George's differences with the Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener, first over munitions, compulsion, and military intervention in the Balkans, and then with Robertson and Haig when their so-called 'western' strategy became ascendant with the launching of the Somme offensive in 1916. Lloyd George's efforts to redirect British strategy contributed to his becoming prime minister in 1916, and the later chapters of the book deal with his struggle to retain his political position, yet influence the direction of the war. Manpower controversies, which included the charge that Lloyd George was intentionally starving the BEF of reinforcements, Lloyd George's Palestine obsession and his role in creating the Supreme War Council, and Robertson's fall from power are some of the topics explored in this new edition of the highly acclaimed Lloyd George and the Generals . This edition contains a new preface by the author.
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