Generalship: Its Diseases and Their Cure. A Study of The Personal Factor in Command

Major-General J. F. C. Fuller

• Publisher: Tannenberg Publishing
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781786252784
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

The seminal treatise on Generalship, by Major-General Fuller, reputed to have been the most formative book in General Patton's military training which he kept with him at all times.
"IN the summer of 1921 I was lunching at the Restaurant la Rue with the Deputy Chief of the French General staff when he told me the following story:
At the battle of Waterloo, Colonel Clement, an infantry commander, fought with the most conspicuous bravery; but unfortunately was shot through the head. Napoleon, hearing of his gallantry and misfortune, gave instructions for him to be carried into a farm where Larrey the surgeon-general was operating.
One glance convinced Larrey that his case was desperate, so taking up a saw he removed the top of his skull and placed his brains on the table.
Just as he had finished, in rushed an aide-de-camp, shouting: 'Is General Clement here?'
Clement, hearing him, sat up and exclaimed: 'No! but Colonel Clement is.'
'Oh, mon général,' cried the aide-de-camp, embracing him, 'the Emperor was overwhelmed when we heard of your gallantry, and has promoted you on the field of battle to the rank of General,'
Clement rubbed his eyes, got off the table, clapped the top of his skull on his head and was about to leave the farm, when Larrey shouted after him: 'Mon général—your brains!' To which the gallant Frenchman, increasing his speed, shouted back: 'Now that I am a general I shall no longer require them!'
In this modest study, my object is to prove that, though Clement was wrong about brains, without his courage there can be no true generalship."-Foreword.

APPENDIX — THE AGES OF 100 GENERALS

THE following list is unprejudiced by any idea of proving youth to be in itself a military virtue, The names and events mentioned in it were jotted down from memory, the ages and dates being afterwards looked up. In several cases I had to change my original selection as the date of birth was unknown. I have not included names of generals after 1866, because from that date onwards generalship becomes senile. The interesting points to note are: that according to this list the average age? or zenith, of generalship is 40.36 years; that 74 per cent of the generals mentioned are forty-five years old or under, and that 4 per cent only are sixty or over.

If we now make a graph of the above showing the number of generals according to their ages (see Graph No. 1), we find that the ,period of most efficient generalship lies between the years thirty and forty-nine, and that the peak is reached between the years thirty-five and forty-five. Compare these figures with Graph No. 2, which shows the average age, year by year, between January 1914 and January 1932, of all Field-Marshals, holding appointments, Generals and Lieutenant-Generals in the British Army (excluding India and ‘Ghosts’) on the active list. From this second graph the average age throughout this period works out at 59.9 years; that is approximately ten years outside the period of ‘most efficient generalship’. As far as generalship is concerned this shows clearly the reason why throughout history great generals have been few in number—peace conditions do not fit war requirements. Finally, Graph No. 3 is a composite diagram of the period 1919-1932 taken as a whole, showing the numbers of Generals according to age. From this graph it will be seen that the period of ‘greatest employment’, ranges between the years fifty-five and sixty-five and that the peak is reached between the years fifty-eight and sixty-two, which, I think, compares favourably with most foreign armies except the Russian, in which, I am told, the higher commanders average between forty and forty-five years of age. As to these figures I have no proof.

Concerning the influence of youth on generalship, the following letter written by Bonaparte on January 20th, 1797, and addressed to the Directory is of interest:

‘...As to generals of divisions, unless they are officers of distinction, I beg you not to send any to me; for our way of waging war is so different from others that I do, not wish to entrust a division to a general until I have tested him out in two or three operations.... It is essential for the Army and the Republic to send to me here young people (des jeunes gens) who are learning how to carry out a war of movement and manœuvres; it is wars o...

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• GENERALSHIP
• PREFACE
• GENERALSHIP IN THE WORLD WAR
• THE ESSENTIALS IN GENERALSHIP
• EXAMPLES OF THE PERSONAL FACTOR
• THE DISEASES DIAGNOSED
• THE REMEDIES SUGGESTED
• CONCLUSION
• APPENDIX - THE AGES OF 100 GENERALS