BRITAIN’S PRE-WAR MILITARY POLICY

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 66, 10 December 1938, Page 2 (Supplement)

BRITAIN’S PRE-WAR MILITARY POLICY

Study Of Relationship With France

“Th“ British Annv and the Continent, 1904-1911,” by J. E. Tyler (London: Arnold).

This book cannot be ignored by any student of history concerned with the pre-war relationship that existed between England and France. Mr. Tyler is Lecturer in Modern History in .Sheffield University, and has had access to all relevant documents to enable him to write this very informative book. In some respects it is the author’s deductions from Sir Henry Wilsons own book, taken in conjunction with the liberal foreign policy of the times.

The entente cordiale, which was a friendly association and without any definite bargain for mutual armed assistance, was the beginning of that markedly changed attitude which Britain adopted as her foreign or European policy. Formerly Britain’s defence policy was based on defence and protection of her colonies without any thought of an expeditionary force to aid France. The most interesting part of the book is to see the working of Sir Henry Wilson when he was appointed Director of Military Operations in August. 1010. Haldane had, as his predecessors had not, a definite war plaji to develop, and Wilson, who was a strong Francophile translated, so far as he could, the entente into a definite alliance. That he succeeded in imposing his practical strong will on the slower-moving, mid perhaps vacillating, political chiefs, seems certain. He planned for an expeditionary force of six divisions, but he made some bad blunders. He differed from Kitchener and Haig in assuming that the war would be a matter only of months and not years. The agreement made in 11)11 with France, involving the expeditionary force, is well-known, and Wilson worked hard to carry out the politicians’ bargain. Mr. Tyler deals in an interesting way with the considerations concerning Belgium that both countries had to take into account. It was by no means certain that Belgium would be friendly towards the Allies, and file information seemed rather to show that her inclinations were to favour Germany. It was agreed that Germany would attack France through Belgium, and the most careful plans were taken to meet this contingency. On one occasion there was an army manoeuvre on the ground facing the Belgian border.

The French politicians and army officers seem logically to have, carried out their plans to secure the most complete co-operation from Britain. They had not to deal with a Liberal party that had inherited a Conservative defence plan, and were compelled to carry it out and, indeed, add to it. Air. Tyler sums up the result of the Liberal iiolicy and Wilson’s actions impartially enough. He reveals the weaknesses of the latter, due partly to his temperament and possibly his inability to understand politicians and their ways. It is somewhat difficult to follow the author in some of his more dimly-expressed deductions He rather suggests that the inevitable consequence of the entente was a dreadful war, -but he leaves that deduction rather uncertain, and he does not mention what legitimate deduction could have been drawn if France had remained weak as she was in 1904, and Britain had pursued her isolation policy and had overlooked the consequences of a mighty armed enemy occupying the channel ports opposite and bent on further conquests.

It all happened for the best, and today we know our friends and our enemies, and we feel some sense of security in knowing how to prepare ourselves for our future defence. More than that, though it is perhaps not generally conceded, democracy has triumphed, and the life of tyranny in governments must inevitably be short. AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES “The Australian Aborigines. How to Understand Thein,” by A. P. Elkin (Sydney: Angus and Robertson). Professor Elkin’s position as the foremost authority on the Australian black is undisputed, and in this wellillustrated book he imparts his knowledge in a manner which enables the layman to follow him with ease and gain a broad understanding of Australian anthropological lore. His book, he writes, “is intended for three types of readers: those of the general public who would like to know more of this interesting but unfortunate people; administrative officials and missionaries who have to work among the aborigines or to deal with matters concerning them; and university students and scientists.”

Professor Elkin goes deeply into his subject, discussing in turn the aborigine himself and his manner of life, his relationship to the land, his family system and social groups, kinship and marriage customs, totemism and the secret life, philosophy, rites and beliefs, sorcery and death —“the most significant and important social event.” He writes with a sympathetic understanding of the aborigines and their present unfortunate plight, and if his book is read and its contents marked by those responsible for their welfare, much good should be done toward an improvement in their lot. SIR HENRY CUNYNGHAME “The Unconventional Civil Servant-r-Sir Henry H. Cunyngiianie.” by C. IL Dudley Ward and U. B. Speneer (London: Joseph).

Sir Henry Cunyngbame played many parts in life besides that of civil servant, though it was in this capacity, as an Assistant Under-Secretary at. the Home Office, and as secretary to a Royal Commission on food supplies during the war, that lie came mostly into the public view. Before that lie was soldier, barrister and publicist, always as one of the English hereditary ruling class, dogmatic in opinion and wielding all the strength of bis convictions, a dabbler in many things, science, art and polities in particular, with men such as Holman final and Herbert Spencer as his masters. His biographers have compiled an attractive, very readable account of his life.