LEADERSHIP IN WAR
LESSONS FROM THOSE WHO MADE HISTORY
ANDREW ROBERTS
Allen Lane, 239pp, £20
This book is condensed from a series of lectures Andrew Roberts gave a few years ago in New York. His subjects are Napoleon – ‘against whom all the others must be judged’ – Nelson, Churchill, Hitler – ‘a banal, soulless little weirdo’ – Stalin, Marshall, de Gaulle, Eisenhower and Margaret Thatcher – ‘who knew by early middle age that she could lead in a way that the men around her seemed incapable of doing’. Among the desiderata Roberts identifies are a sense of mission, an appreciation of history, boundless energy, the power of concentration, and a belief in the superiority of one’s nation and way of life.
‘But what about chance and luck?’ asked Lawrence James in the Times. Without these, said Napoleon, a General was lost. And surely it was a mistake to overlook such ‘humdrum’ activities as Intelligence and Logistics, which played such a vital part in the success of D-day. Overseeing that stupendously risky operation and staying sane required ‘a sense of humour and a great faith, or a complete lack of imagination’, thought Eisenhower, who steadied himself with 80 cigarettes a day.
James concluded that these lectures ‘have not translated easily into print’. But in the Wall Street Journal Jonathan Jordan applauded Roberts, saying ‘his pithy insights reflect decades of diligent, patient study’. An equally appreciative verdict was reached by Julian Lewis MP, Chair of the Defence Committee. Writing in House, he described Roberts as ‘a master of his material’, to whom ‘future generations of military leaders will have cause to be grateful’.