This talk is based upon a book I have been commissioned to write by Yale University Press on the military history of Britain in two world wars. The book will have two main themes: the conduct of military operations, and the role of the civilian and military leadership in the inception and control of those operations.

A vital aspect of the book is to reappraise issues of contention in the scholarly literature by returning to and making new use of original documentation. By examining the manner in which popular debate has, on occasion, diverged away from the primary documents in this manner, I will shed new light on issues such as the Asquith’s War Council’s role in the conduct of military operations, Lloyd George’s relations with the military, Plumer’s conduct of operations at Third Ypres, the Admiralty and Convoy (FWW), and Churchill and the bomber offensive (SWW).

Another theme for discussion will be the difficulty of the task. There is a mountain of secondary literature to survey and many mountain chains of primary source material. I want to talk about how I am approaching this task and to utter a general plea for help about other approaches that I might adopt. I will conclude with some general remarks about fighting a war in a modern democracy.

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Professor Robin Prior is a renowned Military Historian, currently working as a Visiting Research Fellow in the History Department of The University of Adelaide, Australia. He has written/co-written several distinct works, including The Somme, Gallipoli: The End of the Myth, Passchendaele: The Untold Story and When Britain Saved the West: The Story of 1940.