"The good news for Liddell Hart was that his work was hugely influential. The bad news was that it was hugely influential not in Britain but in Germany. With the notable exception of Major-General J. F. C. Fuller, senior British commanders like Field Marshal Earl Haig simply refused to accept that 'the aeroplane, the tank [and] the motor car [would] supersede the horse in future wars', dismissing motorized weapons as mere 'accessories to the man and horse'. Haig's brother concurred: the cavalry would 'never be scrapped to make room for the tanks'. By contrast, younger German officers immediately grasped the significance of Liddell Hart's work. Among his most avid fans was Heinz Guderian, commander of the 19th German Army Corps in the invasion of Poland. As Guderian recalled, it was from Liddell Hart and other British pioneers of 'a new type of warfare on the largest scale' that he learned the importance of 'the concentration of armour'."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
People from ParisSoldiersNon-fiction authors from the United KingdomHistorians from the United Kingdom
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Niall Ferguson, The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West (2006), pp. 386-387
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/B._H._Liddell_Hart
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
B. H. Liddell Hart
Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart (31 October 1895 – 29 January 1970), commonly known throughout most of his career as Captain B. H. Liddell Hart, was a British soldier, military historian and military theorist. He wrote a series of military histories that proved influential among strategists. He argued that frontal assault was a strategy that was bound to fail at great cost in lives as happened in the First World War. He instead recommended the "indirect approach" and reliance on fast-moving armoure
13 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by B. H. Liddell Hart →
Related Quotes
"I have been reading Europe in Arms by Liddell Hart. If you have not already done so, you might find it interesting to…"
"If one weighs his [Carl von Clausewitz] influence and his emphasis, one might describe him historically as the Mahdi …"
"Clausewitz's principle of force without limit and without calculation of cost fits, and is only fit for, a hate-madde…"
"At present one clear factor in the problem is that the offensive is as much at an advantage in the air as it is at a …"
"Unless our field force could arrive on the scene during this opening phase—and it is difficult to see how it could, s…"
"The new risks to such a force under modern military conditions have also to be weighed. The risks that were incurred …"
"Blitzkrieg is, of course, a German word meaning 'lightning war'. The ironic thing is that it was in many ways a Briti…"
"It was principally the books and articles of the Englishmen, Fuller, Liddell Hart and Martel, that excited my interes…"
"I immediately read the "Role of the British Army" in Liddell Hart's book. I am impressed by his general theories."
"It would be doing Liddell Hart an injustice, both as a historian and as a controversialist, to suggest that this anal…"