The Life and Times of Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart: Soldier and Diplomat

Description

In this ground-breaking new book, Alan Ogden brings to life Lt Gen sir Adrian Carton de Wiart, soldier, statesman and an often-overlooked figure in British Military and Diplomatic History. Framed through the life of Carton de Wiart this book also offers an exploration of important topics and developments in the first half of the 20th-century, including the Boer War, World War I, World War II and Anglo-Sino relations. This biography ranges from de Wiart’s early life, his wartime experiences and role as Churchill’s personal representative to Chiang Kai-shek. Ogden draws from an extensive array of primary sources including previously unseen private family papers to examine, in exquisite detail, the life and times of a man who experienced the horrors of war to rise up the ranks and become a personal representative of Winston Churchill and then Clement Attlee. This book will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as scholars studying British Military and Diplomatic history in the first half of the twentieth century. Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Contents Illustrations Acknowledgements Maps Introduction Part I: Early life 1880–1913 Chapter 1: Who was Adrian Carton de Wiart? Chapter 2: Peacetime soldiering and marriage Chapter 3: A-hunting we will go Part II: Somaliland 1914 Chapter 4: To war with the Mad Mullah Part III: The First World War 1915–18 Chapter 5: In Flanders fields Chapter 6: A lucky and not so lucky brigadier Part IV: Poland 1919–23 Chapter 7: A tall order: The Polish brief Chapter 8: A finger on the Polish pulse Chapter 9: Game, set and match to Piłsudski Part V: Polesie 1923–39 Chapter 10: The missing years: Self-exile to the Pripet marshes Part VI: Poland 1939 Chapter 11: Prelude to the Second World War: Blitzkreig in Poland Part VII: Norway 1940 Chapter 12: A gallant fiasco Part VIII: Italy 1941–3 Chapter 13: A reluctant guest of Mussolini Part XI: China 1943–6 Chapter 14: A dragon’s pool and a tiger’s den: The China brief Chapter 15: 1944: The year of the monkey Chapter 16: Special operations and ‘secret society men’ Chapter 17: The Generalissimo wins the war but loses the peace Part X: Retirement Chapter 18: A contented old age Notes Bibliography and Other Sources Index