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The passage of time is chipping
away many of the illusions from which we have suffered
over a good deal of British military history. Thomas
Pakenham's The Boer War, which is the byproduct of eight
years of diligent research and is based upon information
sources not previously available, sets out to do just this. It
was disappointing to find that, due to his apparent determination
to give The Establishment a sound hammering, the
book is sadly out of balance. When you consider this
tragically ill-managed campaign, it is easy to see that anyone
wishing to denigrate the commanders and politicians invol ved
would have little difficulty in doing so. The story is well
written but it is clear that the author has little real knowledge
of tactics and strategy and that all too often, in the interests
of reinforcing a particular point or prejudice, he tends to
draw conclusions from his data which are not entirely logical
or consistent. Most readers with a feeling for military history
will become irritated by the book because they will find it
difficult to live with its lack of objectivity. However, one must be fair and record that it contains a great deal of fascinating
material and stimulating argument which deserves serious
consideration. Certainly it made this reviewer realise what
dramatic advances were to be made in the conduct of war
even by 1914 and how totally different are the professional
standards of the British Army today to those reflected by the
Commanders and staffs fighting this remarkable campaign
in South Africa at the turn of the 20th century - although many finer traditions remain essentially unchanged.
One particular facet of the growing realism of modern
history which strikes one forcibly is the cold-blooded and
ruthless analysis which historians now make of the personalities
of names which have long been revered by the
British public. Thus, not only the unfortunate Buller, but the
great "Bobs" and Baden Powell, not to mention lan Hamilton,
all receive pretty savage treatment from Thomas
Pakenham. (Whilst no one would wish to sustain a false
image of any national figure, one is driven to feel that, in the
search for truth, historians do not always look at things
through eyes atuned to the age about which they are
writing.)
Pakenham rightly shows us how bitter were the personal
animosities which existed within the Army between various
factions and of the lengths to which men were prepared to
go to score over those for whom they felt deep personal
antipathy. Perhaps the most drastic of all these was Roberts'
action to have Buller dismissed from the Army for indiscipline
on the grounds of a breach of security after the war was
over. The sad thing about the Buller-Roberts conflict was
that there were many occasions during the war when Buller
might justifiably have been sacked. Mainly on account of his
great popularity with the troops and, one suspects, because
of the generally poor quality of the higher commanders
available from which a replacement might have been sought,
he was allowed to soldier on and, as Pakenham shows,
actually finished the war on a very high note. The author's
other principal indictment of Roberts centres around his
incompetence as a logistician. Looking at the author's case
through modern eyes, it is certainly pretty damning. There
can be little doubt that the progress of the war was very
adversley affected by the extraordinarily low standard of
logistical awareness which existed amongst Roberts and his
senior staff officers. It is, perhaps, difficult for us to
appreciate how little attention was given to logistics by the
General Staff in those days. Yet, if you look back to the more
recent past, you can find that the legendary Erwin Rommel,
suffered from virtually the same shortcomings and paid
much the same price. (This reviewer once wrote to Rommel's
former Chief of Operations asking him some questions
about the logistical support of the Afrika Corps and received
the reply:
"I cannot answer your questions about logistics, I was
responsible for Plans and Operations. We had specialists to
deal with administrative matters.")
Like so many controversial books, Thomas Pakenham's
bulky volume is not one for the tyro. However, if you have
some knowledge of The Boer War and are prepared to take
your time, the book certainly provides one with an interesting
intellectual exercise.
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