Keith Jeffery
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199239672
- eISBN:
- 9780191719493
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199239672.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Military History
Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, an Irishman who in June 1922 was assassinated on his doorstep in London by Irish republicans, was one of the most controversial British soldiers of that age. Before ...
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Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, an Irishman who in June 1922 was assassinated on his doorstep in London by Irish republicans, was one of the most controversial British soldiers of that age. Before 1914 he did much to secure the Anglo-French alliance and was responsible for the planning which saw the British Expeditionary Force successfully despatched to France after the outbreak of war with Germany. A passionate Irish unionist, he gained a reputation as an intensely ‘political’ soldier, especially during the ‘Curragh crisis’ of 1914 when some officers resigned their commissions rather than coerce Ulster unionists into a Home Rule Ireland. During the war he played a major role in Anglo-French liaison, and ended up as Chief of the Imperial General Staff, professional head of the army, a post he held until February 1922. After Wilson retired from the army, he became an MP and was chief security adviser to the new Northern Ireland government. As such, he became a target for nationalist Irish militants, being identified with the security policies of the Belfast regime, though wrongly with Protestant sectarian attacks on Catholics. He is remembered today in unionist Northern Ireland as a kind of founding martyr for the state. Wilson's reputation was ruined in 1927 with the publication of an official biography, which quoted extensively and injudiciously from his entertaining, indiscreet, and wildly opinionated diaries, giving the impression that he was some sort of Machiavellian monster.Less
Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, an Irishman who in June 1922 was assassinated on his doorstep in London by Irish republicans, was one of the most controversial British soldiers of that age. Before 1914 he did much to secure the Anglo-French alliance and was responsible for the planning which saw the British Expeditionary Force successfully despatched to France after the outbreak of war with Germany. A passionate Irish unionist, he gained a reputation as an intensely ‘political’ soldier, especially during the ‘Curragh crisis’ of 1914 when some officers resigned their commissions rather than coerce Ulster unionists into a Home Rule Ireland. During the war he played a major role in Anglo-French liaison, and ended up as Chief of the Imperial General Staff, professional head of the army, a post he held until February 1922. After Wilson retired from the army, he became an MP and was chief security adviser to the new Northern Ireland government. As such, he became a target for nationalist Irish militants, being identified with the security policies of the Belfast regime, though wrongly with Protestant sectarian attacks on Catholics. He is remembered today in unionist Northern Ireland as a kind of founding martyr for the state. Wilson's reputation was ruined in 1927 with the publication of an official biography, which quoted extensively and injudiciously from his entertaining, indiscreet, and wildly opinionated diaries, giving the impression that he was some sort of Machiavellian monster.
Glenn Richardson
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780300148862
- eISBN:
- 9780300160390
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300148862.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter first describes the accession and monarchy of King Henry VIII and King Francis I. It then details the events leading up to the 1518 Treaty of London and the subsequent Anglo-French ...
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This chapter first describes the accession and monarchy of King Henry VIII and King Francis I. It then details the events leading up to the 1518 Treaty of London and the subsequent Anglo-French alliance. The spectacular embassies and receptions of late 1518 can be seen as the conscious preludes to the Field of Cloth of Gold itself.Less
This chapter first describes the accession and monarchy of King Henry VIII and King Francis I. It then details the events leading up to the 1518 Treaty of London and the subsequent Anglo-French alliance. The spectacular embassies and receptions of late 1518 can be seen as the conscious preludes to the Field of Cloth of Gold itself.
Jacques M. Gres-Gayer
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198205968
- eISBN:
- 9780191676871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205968.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, History of Religion
This chapter focuses on cleric Dr Patrick Piers de Girardin's life and contributions to the interpretation of Christianity. Piers's system was quite extraordinary, since it envisioned no less than a ...
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This chapter focuses on cleric Dr Patrick Piers de Girardin's life and contributions to the interpretation of Christianity. Piers's system was quite extraordinary, since it envisioned no less than a complete reorganization of Christendom. This he saw possible through the establishment of an ecclesiastical axis between Paris and Canterbury that would mirror and complete the diplomatic Anglo-French alliance. The way in which the Franco-Irish divine was able to initiate the project shows his industry. Having managed to meet William Beauvoir, the chaplain to Lord Stair, the British envoy in France, Piers induced him to pass on to the archbishop of Canterbury, William Wake, a few notes relating to French life. Mentioning the volatile religious situation in the country, he hinted that French Catholics were not averse to a union with the English Church.Less
This chapter focuses on cleric Dr Patrick Piers de Girardin's life and contributions to the interpretation of Christianity. Piers's system was quite extraordinary, since it envisioned no less than a complete reorganization of Christendom. This he saw possible through the establishment of an ecclesiastical axis between Paris and Canterbury that would mirror and complete the diplomatic Anglo-French alliance. The way in which the Franco-Irish divine was able to initiate the project shows his industry. Having managed to meet William Beauvoir, the chaplain to Lord Stair, the British envoy in France, Piers induced him to pass on to the archbishop of Canterbury, William Wake, a few notes relating to French life. Mentioning the volatile religious situation in the country, he hinted that French Catholics were not averse to a union with the English Church.
Gavin J. Bailey
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780748647477
- eISBN:
- 9780748693801
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748647477.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Through a series of case studies, this book reveals new details of how Britain used American aircraft and integrates this with broader British statecraft and strategy. It challenges conceptions that ...
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Through a series of case studies, this book reveals new details of how Britain used American aircraft and integrates this with broader British statecraft and strategy. It challenges conceptions that Britain was strategically reliant on the United States and reveals a complicated, asymmetrical dependency between the wartime allies. Aircraft were at the heart of British supply diplomacy with the United States in the Second World War and were at the forefront of the Roosevelt administration's policy of aiding the Anglo-French alliance against Germany. They were the largest item in British purchasing in the United States in 1940, a key consideration in the Lend-Lease of 1941 and a major component of several wartime conferences between Churchill and Roosevelt.Less
Through a series of case studies, this book reveals new details of how Britain used American aircraft and integrates this with broader British statecraft and strategy. It challenges conceptions that Britain was strategically reliant on the United States and reveals a complicated, asymmetrical dependency between the wartime allies. Aircraft were at the heart of British supply diplomacy with the United States in the Second World War and were at the forefront of the Roosevelt administration's policy of aiding the Anglo-French alliance against Germany. They were the largest item in British purchasing in the United States in 1940, a key consideration in the Lend-Lease of 1941 and a major component of several wartime conferences between Churchill and Roosevelt.
