George Henderson (military historian)

George Francis Robert Henderson (* 1854 in Jersey ; † March 5, 1903 in Aswan ) was a British officer and military historian , best known for his biography of Thomas Jonathan Jackson .

Life

Henderson studied history on a scholarship at Oxford University after attending Leeds Grammar School, where his father was principal. Soon after, he moved to Sandhurst Military College and entered the military. In 1878 he served for a few months in India, where he was promoted to lieutenant, and went with his regiment (65th / 84th York and Lancaster) to Egypt in 1882, where he was actively involved in the fight against the Urabi uprising and received several awards for bravery (participation in Tell-el-Mahuta and Kassassin, at Tell-el-Kebir he was the first of his regiment to storm the enemy walls). In 1883 he was transferred to the Bermuda garrison and in 1884 to Halifax, Nova Scotia , where he visited many battlefields of the Virginia Civil War . He applied to the “Ordnance Office” in London in order to continue his military history studies, especially of the civil war.

In 1886 published anonymously ("From a Line Officer") his first military-scientific study of the Battle of Fredericksburg in the American Civil War, in which the Union General Burnside caused a complete fiasco with his senseless frontal attack on the superiorly positioned Confederates. This study caught the attention of Sandhurst Professor Maurice and that of his old Commander in Chief in Egypt, Lord Wolseley , who knew Jackson and Lee from the Civil War. In 1886 he was - promoted to captain - thanks to the recommendation of Wolseley teachers in Sandhurst , first at the cadet college, then 1892-1899 he was professor of military history and strategy ("military arts") at the " Staff College " (school for staff officers ) Successor to Colonel Frederick Maurice and in this capacity shaped many years of officers. He wrote books about the Battle of Spichern in the 1870s War (the book brought him the successor to Maurice) and in 1898, after 8 years of preparation, published his "magnum opus", the study of the US Confederate General "Stonewall" Jackson ("Stonewall Jackson and the american civil war ", 2 vols.), a detailed tactical analysis of Jackson's campaigns, in which Henderson incorporated his studies of the Napoleonic Wars and the 1870s. The work about his "professor colleague" Jackson also deals with controversial points in his biography, but mainly focuses on military aspects. He interviewed numerous contemporary witnesses. Given that little is known of Jackson himself, Henderson's biography is still considered the source for Jackson's military judgment. In addition, it is written in a very lively style.

During the Second Boer War , Henderson served on Field Marshal Roberts' staff as head of the reconnaissance, most recently as a colonel. Overwork and malaria forced him to return to England, where he was commissioned to write the official history of that war. He tried to restore his health by staying in Egypt, where he died in Aswan in 1903.

He left the story of the Boer War unfinished. The official bodies released the first finished volume, which ends with the opening of hostilities, but did not and re-commissioned the work (it was then written by Maurice). Various lectures and works by Henderson were published in 1905 as "The science of war", there is also a biography of Henderson by Field Marshal Roberts. Henderson also worked on a history of the American Civil War, excerpts of which were edited posthumously by Jay Luvaas: "The civil war - a soldiers view," Chicago 1958.

His students at Staff College include military historian James Edward Edmonds , editor of the official British military history of World War I and also author of a book on the American Civil War.

Quotes

Yet the plain truth is that strategy is not only the determining factor in civilized warfare, but that, in order to apply its principles, the soundest common-sense must be most carefully trained. Of all the sciences connected with war it is the most difficult.

(Eng .: But the bare truth is that strategy is not only the determining factor in the warfare of regular armies, but that common sense must be carefully trained in applying its principles. Of all war sciences, it is the most difficult .)

(Henderson "Stonewall Jackson", preface, on the often abbreviated quotation from Moltke, that strategy is nothing more than common sense)

But strategy, unfortunately, is an unpopular science, even among soldiers, requiring both in practice and in demonstration constant and careful study of the map, the closest computation of time and space, a grasp of many factors, and the strictest attention to the various steps in the problems it presents. At the same time, it is a science which repays the student, although he may have no direct concern with military affairs; for not only will a comprehension of its immutable principles add a new interest to the records of stirring times and great achievements, but it will make him a more useful citizen.

(Henderson "Stonewall Jackson", foreword)

(Eng .: But strategy is unfortunately an unpopular science, even among soldiers, because in practice as in teaching it requires constant careful study of the maps, the most precise calculation of time and place, the mastery of many factors and the most careful care about the various ones Intermediate stages of the problem posed. At the same time, it is a science that gives much back to its student, even if he has no direct contact with military matters. For the understanding of its unchanging principles not only adds new points of view to the consideration of the records of turbulent times and great achievements, but will also make him a more useful citizen. )

Works

• The battle of Spicheren, August 6th 1870, and the events that preceded it - a study in practical tactics . 1891 (Gale and Poldens military series)
• The campaign of Fredericksburg, Nov-Dec 1862, a tactical study for officers . 3.ed. 1891 (Gale and Poldens military series)
• The civil war - a soldiers view. A collection of civil war writings . Jay Luvaas ed. Univ. Of Chicago press 1958
  • new edition The Civil War / in the writings of Col. GFR Henderson . Da Capo 1996
• The science of war - a collection of essays and lectures 1891–1903 . Longmans 1906, 1908 (with an obituary by Field Marshal Roberts)
• Stonewall Jackson and the american civil . 2 volumes. New York / London 1898, several reprints, most recently Harper-Collins 1988, 737 pages
• Introduction to the translation of Graf Adalbert Sternberg My experiences of the boer war . London 1901

literature

• Lloyd:  Henderson, George Francis Robert . In: Sidney Lee (Ed.): Dictionary of National Biography . Suppl. 2, Volume 1:  Abbey - Eyre. , MacMillan & Co, Smith, Elder & Co., New York City / London 1912, pp. 240 - 241 (English).
• The Times , March 7, 1903; obituary
• R. Holden: Lt. Colonel Henderson - in memoriam . In: Journal of the Royal United Service Institution , Volume 47, April 1903, pp. 375-382
• Jay Luvaas : GFR Henderson and the american civil war . In: Military Affairs , Volume 20, Number 3, 1956, pp. 139-153
• Henderson, George Francis Robert . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 13 : Harmony - Hurstmonceaux . London 1910, p. 267 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).

Web links

• Henderson Stonewall Jackson and the american civil was available as a txt file, in htm version also maps