Lord Methuen and the British Army: Failure and Redemption in South AfricaThis study analyzes the readiness of the British military establishment for war in 1899 and its performance in the South African War (1899-1902). It focuses on the career of Field Marshal Paul Sanford, 3rd Baron Methuen, whose traditional military training, used so effectively in Queen Victoria's small wars, was put to the test by the modern challenges of the South African War. A subsidiary aim of this work is to correct and refine the historical consensus that Methuen's campaing in the South African War was plagued by practical errors and poor judgement. The South African War was a crucial transitional episode in the history of the British army. Unlike Great Britain's other expeditions, it required the concentrated resources of the entire empire. It was a modern war in the sense that it employed the technology, the weaponry, the communications, and the transportation of the second industrial revolution. |
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Lord Methuen and the British Army: Failure and Redemption in South Africa Stephen M. Miller No preview available - 1999 |
Common terms and phrases
1st Division 9th Brigade advance Afiica artillery Ashanti attack Battalion Battery Battle of Magersfontein Battle of Modder battlefield Bechuanaland Belfield Belmont Bloemfontein Boer force Boer position British army British soldiers Cape Colony casualties cavalry Colonel column Colvile command decision enemy expedition F. H. P. Methuen failure field fight fire first flank garrison Gatacre Guards Brigade guns Highland Brigade History horses Ibid Imperial Yeomanry Kimberley Kitchener Kitchener’s kopjes Ladysmith Leo Amery Lieutenant-Colonel London Lord Methuen Mafeking Major-General Maurice and Grant Methuen believed Methuen Papers Methuen to GOC Methuen to M. E. Methuen wrote Milner Modder River mounted infantry mounted troops Natal National Army Museum night march Northumberland Fusiliers Office Orange Free ordered P. S. Methuen Pole-Carew Public Records Office railway reconnaissance regiment reinforcements relieve Kimberley retreat Rhodes South Africa South African War tactics Transvaal trenches volunteers Wauchope Western Transvaal Wiltshire Records Office Wolseley Wolseley's Zeerust