Lee, John
ISBN: 0 333 73444 0 Hardback 267 pp
Published by McMillan.
Popular opinion it seemed to me has always given Ian Hamilton a bad press,
mainly because of the disaster of Gallipoli. It must be said that as far as I
was concerned this was justified, a General tainted by incompetence. Like many
people I suspect that my view has been influenced by Australian films and
publications as the book suggests which showed the campaign in its worst possible
light. These views have been challenged by the publication of this book which
paints a more sympathetic view of Hamilton;
a person unfairly treated by history. John Lee challenges the popular viewpoint
by dint of a great deal of research and plain hard work and paints a very
different picture of Hamilton to that held by Alan Moorehead. The author shows that before the Great War
Hamilton was considered as one of more enlightened and successful generals
whose proposals on modernising the army and training methods were forward
thinking. He was born in Corfu in 1853 into a military family and went to
Sandhurst, was commissioned into the Cameron Highlanders and sent to serve in India. His time
there helped sow the seeds of his enlightened thinking in the Victorian Army.
He even paid for cartridges out of his own pocket to improve his men’s musketry
so convinced was he that a modern rifle would play a significant part in future
wars . He then served in a variety of countries, Africa.
India again. Burma and England between
1884-1899. He saw active service in the Boer War having been recommended for
the Victoria Cross. He didn’t get it because of his seniority of all things.
Lord Roberts considered him one of the most brilliant commanders that he had
serving with him.
Further success followed when he was promoted to Quartermaster General and then
COC Southern Command. Then Adjutant General followed by GOC Mediterranean from
1909-1914. So he was hugely experienced and seemingly destined for greatness.
He was given command of the Gallipoli campaign and its outcome seemingly sealed
his reputation. The commission set up in 1915 to examine the reason for the
failure makes fascinating reading and many of its finding were quite
surprising. Lord Kitchener’s failure to impart to Hamilton vital information for one the commission contained pro and anti Hamilton participants and
he also had Murdoch to contend with. I think it is fair to say that Hamilton fought his
corner well. The lack of sufficient troops, ammunition, supplies. The terrain,
the lack of training of troops for an amphibious landing was all mentioned. The
campaign is well documented in other books but the authors’ research throws new
light on many of the reasons for its failure. The arguments are well studied and
most certainly made me take a fresh look at Gallipoli and its aftermath. John
Lee with his painstaking and detailed research makes this a very interesting
read. See what you think.
Reviewer - Maurice Johnson
