J.F.C. Fuller's assessment of Winston Churchill as grand strategist, 1939-1945

Searle, DA ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3311-4090 2015, 'J.F.C. Fuller's assessment of Winston Churchill as grand strategist, 1939-1945' , Global War Studies, 12 (3) , pp. 46-81.

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Abstract

It is generally well known that Major-General J.F.C. Fuller was a strong critic of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's grand strategy and strategic decision-making during the Second World War. Historian's of Fuller's life, military theories and historical writing have offered, however, few explanations as to the nature of this critique, when it first emerged and what the motivations were which underpinned it. There has been little attempt to investigate just how well Fuller knew Churchill, either, or the extent to which this knowledge informed his historical writing. This article seeks to correct one or two of the general explanations which have been given, arguing that Fuller's questioning of Churchill's wartime leadership was based on a number of interlocking points of criticism, his personal knowledge of the Prime Minister and that it represented the first sustained literary attack on his performance as a strategist during six years of total war.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Winston Churchill, J.F.C. Fuller, grand strategy, total war, strategic bombing, unconditional surrender, Franklin D Roosevelt, Carl von Clausewitz
Themes:	Memory, Text and Place
Schools:	Schools > School of Humanities, Languages & Social Sciences
Journal or Publication Title:	Global War Studies
Publisher:	Brecourt Academic
Refereed:	Yes
ISSN:	1949-8489
Related URLs:	Publication
Funders:	Non funded research
Depositing User:	Professor DA Searle
Date Deposited:	10 Jun 2015 18:00
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2019 12:15
URI:	http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/34866

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