His first and all abiding predilection was for all things French, for which he nurtured an unusual and fervent attachment, even at the cost of his loyalty to British interests. Almost alone among the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) commanders he was fluent in French (and also German). This knowledge of the French language, customs and attitudes gave him an unparalleled and favoured entrée to both the French military and political elites.
He was an inveterate gossip and ceaseless intriguer to the extent that his machinations brought despair to, and condemnation by, his superior commanders, friends and comrades alike.
He was also a fervent Irish Protestant in times when religious beliefs in Ireland had become the genesis of outright civil disorder and murder.
All, in all, he was a highly complex character with what proved to be somewhat of a self-destructive bent.
Early days
Henry Wilson was born in 1864 in what is now Northern Ireland.
Taking up soldiering as his profession - he attempted the entrance examination to the British Military College at Sandhurst three times before he was accepted - he was inducted into the Rifle Brigade in 1882. He served in Burma where he was seriously injured and acquired a permanent limp and an ever present walking stick. A posting to the Intelligence Unit at the British War Office first brought his aptitude in French to the fore in the French Section.
During the Boer War he served with the 4th Light Brigade being promoted to the post of assistant military secretary to the Commander-in-Chief, Field Marshal Earl Frederick Sleigh Roberts. When he returned to Staff duties at the War Office in London, he played a large part in the study of cavalry tactics and was involved with the definitive training manual that was subsequently developed.
In 1907, he was appointed to the post of Commander of the British Staff College. There he met his confidant, friend and eventual military nemesis, the French army officer Ferdinand Foch. Wilson and Foch worked on the development of a joint Anglo-French military strategy should the long anticipated European War - with Germany as the main aggressor - take place. Wilson foresaw that the role of the British Army was to be deployed on the left flank of the French. It is said his persistence and tenacity in establishing the detailed procedures for the rapid mobilisation and despatch of an expeditionary force to Europe played a major part in its eventual expeditious movement when the call came in August 1914.
He encouraged close contact with the French Army and was considered to be a strong Francophile, taking every opportunity to visit France to better learn the military situation on the ground and to meet the more prominent military personalities. Of course, his unusual fluency in the French language helped enormously as his understanding of French culture.
He became Director of Military Operations at the War Office in 1910. Whilst assiduously preparing himself - and establishing the Britain military stance in Europe - for the expected German strategy of war, he became unexpectedly involved with what became to be known as the Curragh Incident in Ireland.
The Curragh Incident
In 1914 the Protestants in the north of Ireland launched a fast growing campaign against (The Irish) Home Rule Bill. In Britain there was general disbelief that it would ever come to using the British Army to enforce the will of the British Parliament on the dissenting Protestants. But it soon became clear that this was certainly on the agenda of certain prominent politicians. Certain elements of the British Army in Ireland, with Wilson's surreptitious support, refused to take part in such an action and some serving officers resigned. The British government backed down, and the crisis was eventually resolved, but the supporters such as Wilson were 'noted' as being anti-establishment and placed in the dubious category of the 'to-be-kept-an-eye-on'.
With the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front
Nevertheless, when war did break out in 1914, Wilson was well placed in terms of both seniority and battle experience to take on the role of the Deputy Commander - under General Sir John French - of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to Belgium and France. Indeed, it had been Wilson, in his role of Director of Military Operations, who had suggested this course of action.
However, his view of the new recruits pouring into Kitchener's volunteer New Army was not very flattering. He claimed they were 'a ridiculous and preposterous army' and said they would be 'the laughing stock of Europe'. He considered that 'It will take us an eternity to do the same [as the German's conscription system] by voluntary effort'. To those who had to wait until the victorious 100 Days Campaign of 1918 for any sign of a real collapse in the German Army, perhaps it did seem an eternity.
Because of his ability to deal with his French counterparts, he became very influential with the BEF commander General French.
Wilson was also involved in a generally lacklustre performance during the Retreat from Mons when he took over from an incapacitated Chief of Staff General Sir Archibald Murray.
In December 1914, he commented that the alleged awful waterlogged conditions in the British Sector, where 20,000 men were invalided out by Trench Foot, were 'only a quagmire'. He also and wrote about the British troops saying ' We took five trenches last night but have been put out of four of them, chiefly by bombs, and we lost some 1,500 [troops] I'm afraid. The movement was good, but the expense was great'. Hardly the words of an inspired, or inspiring, General.
Put into the rather unmilitary sounding post of Sub-Chief of the General Staff, Wilson was soon at loggerheads with the Minister of War, Field Marshal Lord Kitchener of Khartoum (a.k.a. K of K), over the deployment of the available troops. Kitchener wanted to keep a strong reserve in the UK as an anti-invasion force. Wilson's demurring on this score, did not go down at all well and combined with the 'to-be-kept-an eye-on' legacy, brought a hiatus in Wilson's career prospects when, to all intents and purposes, the sky was the limit. In December 1914 a proposal to install Wilson as Chief-of-the-General Staff (CGS) was vetoed by both the Prime Minister (Asquith) and the Minister for War (Kitchener).
Nevertheless, in his usual imperturbable and innovative way, Wilson played a very useful role of liaison with the French and became the Principal Liaison Officer with a subsequent (January 1915) promotion to Lieutenant-General (Temporary) and a Knighthood. One of his more notorious achievements was being able to influence the replacement of General French, Commander-in-Chief of the BEF, by General Sir Douglas Haig.
In between times Wilson resigned from his staff job and the newly appointed BEF commander - General Sir Douglas Haig - gave him command of IV Corps. He was now at the forefront of a fighting command. Unfortunately, misfortune struck at Vimy Ridge in May 1916,when his Corps was instrumental in losing a vital position to the Germans.
Left out of the 1916 Somme battle he saw his career floundering. In December 1916 he left IV Corps having got on the wrong side of Marshal Henri-Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain, Commander-in-Chief of the French Army who had developed a deep dislike, even hatred, of Wilson and his ways.
Return to influence
Lloyd George's appointment as Prime Minister once again restored Wilson to favour. With it came Lloyd George's support of the high-flyer French General Georges Nivelle and, in turn, Wilson's appointment as Lloyd George's Liaison Office with Nivelle.
The subsequent disaster of Nivelle's Offensive at Chemin des Dames, and the British Army's reverses associated with it, brought the house of cards down again and, foreseeing an unpromising future, Wilson once again resigned in June 1917: but this time with no obvious future post in view.
After kicking his heels for some months, Wilson was given his next command back in England - Eastern Command - that was conveniently near to his home in London. This, at first sight, rather retrograde move away from the cockpit of the war had the singular advantage of allowing him to participate in what we would now call 'net working' The close proximity of Whitehall, Parliament and the War Office gave him every opportunity to undertake his favoured activities of gossip and intrigue.
Wilson was also given the exceptional opportunity of accompanying Lloyd George to the Rapallo Conference in an unofficial capacity. Notwithstanding this obvious disadvantage, Wilson used his wiles on Lloyds George's anti-Haig sentiments, and wangled himself the position of British Military Representative to the newly created (largely at Wilson's initiative) Allied Supreme War Council. This was contrary to all expectations that the former CGS - General Sir William Robertson - would get this job. This ultimately led to Wilson himself taking over the job of Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) in February 1918; just before the crucial German Offensive (The Kaiserschlacht - Emperor's Battle) in March 1918. Wilson was also influential, with the support of Haig, at the pivotal Doullens Conference on the 21st March 1918, in getting his friend General Ferdinand Foch appointed as the Allied Supreme Commander.
The German juggernaut that struck the British and the French armies in northern France threw them back over the hard-won ground of the battlefields of the First Battle of the Somme of 1916. It put the Channel Ports in dire peril and engendered General Sir Douglas Haig's famous 'Back to the Wall' speech entreating the Allied Armies to hold on.
The German offensive duly stanched, though with enormous losses in manpower and material, thoughts turned to the creation of a Supreme Command of all the Allies on the Western Front. It aimed a forging a unified command structure. Wilson demurred.
At this point, Wilson finally parted company with Foch, who became Supreme Commander. Although still CIGS, Wilson largely disappeared into the background with little or any influence on the actual conduct of the remainder of the war other than in the field of politics.
The alliance of Foch and Haig prospered, and with a triumphant Allies' 'Campaign of 100 Days' the war was brought to a close with the German asking for, and signing, an Armistice in November 1914.
The Final Years
Wilson retained his CIGS post after the war, being promoted to Field Marshal, already having gained a baronetcy. He resigned in February 1922.
Wilson quickly became involved in Irish politics, was elected an Irish Member of Parliament (North Down) and was a fervent supporter of Protestantism. He was an adviser to the Government on the new putative border for what was eventually to become Northern Ireland.
On the 22nd June 1922, Wilson had unveiled the war memorial plaque at the London's Liverpool Street Station and, in full military dress uniform, had taken a taxi to his home. As he dismounted he was fatally shot by two members of the Sinn Fein/Irish Republican Army. Nine shots were fired and it is said he fell reaching for his sword. Both assassins - Irish catholics - were subsequently hanged.
Post scriptum
Due to General Wilson's death at a relatively early age - 58 - and his recent retirement, there were no outpourings of memoirs to record his own views of his military career and events in the Great War. Self-serving though these memoirs tend to be, they often reveal some of the more genuine thoughts about the author's achievements and disappointments. Sadly, in this case there were no such memories.
It would be most interesting to know whether Wilson, having reached the heady pinnacle of military advancement - Field Marshal - and a baronetcy, felt some tinge of chagrin about his generally lacklustre military exploits on the fields of battle of the Great War.
