Gary D. Sheffield is an
English academic
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
and
military historian
Military history is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships.
Professional historians ...
.
He publishes on the conduct of British Army operations in
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, and contributes to print and broadcast media on the subject.
Career
Sheffield is a proponent of the "revisionist school" of thought with regard to the conduct of military operations on the
Western Front by the British Army during the First World War.
In 2001 he published a First World War revisionist book, ''Forgotten Victory: The First World War, Myths & Realities''. The British literary academic
Frank McLynn, in a book review in ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', said Sheffield was a " single-minded
Right-wing
Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...
ideologist" who had "tied himself in illogical knots" to "rescue (Douglas) Haig from the justifiable charge of being an incompetent butcher" and "launder" his reputation in an "eccentric and cocksure work" that was "an insult to the memory of the soldiers who had died in droves under his command on the Western Front." In a book review in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', historian
David Horspool says Sheffield "sets out the arguments for an interpretation not exclusively based on the war poets, Alan Clark and Blackadder" in his compassionate, clearly argued book". David Filsell, reviewing it for the
Western Front Association in 2002, said "That it has been a great publishing success - with a paperback edition imminent - should be cause for particular pleasure for all that have taken study beyond the bigoted blatherings of the Butchers and Bunglers nursery school", and says that it is "amongst the most important books to have been published on the Great War for some years. Whether it will change public opinion is another matter, but when (in the distant future) the ruler of history - and not weight of emotion - measures the Great War, I feel sure that Gary Sheffield's views will be firmly amongst those which predominate".
In 2013 he was appointed professor of War Studies at the
University of Wolverhampton.
In 2011 he published his second book on Field Marshal the Earl
Douglas Haig
Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig (; 19 June 1861 – 29 January 1928) was a senior Officer (armed forces), officer of the British Army. During the First World War he commanded the British Expeditionary F ...
, ''The Chief: Douglas Haig and the British Army'' (Aurum Press, 2011). Reviewing the book in ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' the historian
Nigel Jones commented on its 'solid scholarship and admirable advocacy', yet added that (with reference to Sheffield's thesis that the extremely high casualties of the British Army can be partly explained by Haig's understandable lack of experience in such matters in the years 1914 to 1917): 'the nagging thought remains: what a terrible shame it was that Haig's progress along his learning curve had to be greased by such deep floods of blood.'
Sheffield is a member of the Advisory Board of the ''Journal of the Royal United Service Institution'', Visiting Professor at the Humanities Research Institute of the
University of Buckingham, member of the academic Advisory Panel of the
National Army Museum and a member of the Academic Advisory Board of the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Trust.
He became the Honorary President of The Western Front Association in 2019.
Honors
*Named a
Society for Army Historical Research The Society for Army Historical Research is a learned society, founded in 1921 to foster "interest in the history and traditions of British and Commonwealth armies, and to encourage research in these fields." It is one of the oldest societies of it ...
Fellow, 2023
Publications
* ''The Redcaps: History of the Royal Military Police and Its Antecedents from the Middle Ages to the Gulf War'' (Brassey's, 1994)
* Ed., ''Leadership and Command: The Anglo-American Military Experience Since 1861'' (Brassey's, 1996; New Edition, 2002)
* Leadership in the Trenches: Officer-Man Relations, Morale and Discipline in the British Army in the era of the First World War'' (Macmillan, 2000)
* ''Forgotten Victory: The First World War - Myths and Realities'' (Headline, 2001; Review, 2002)
* Ed. with D. Todman, ''Command and Control on the Western Front: The British Army's Experience, 1914–19'' (Spellmount, 2004)
* ''The Somme: A New History'' (Cassell Military Paperbacks, 2004)
* Ed. with J. Bourne, ''Douglas Haig: War Diaries and Letters 1914–1918'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005; Phoenix, 2006)
* Ed., ''War on the Western Front: In the Trenches of World War I'' (Osprey, 2007)
* ''Imperial War Museum's 1914–1918 The Western Front Experience'' (Carlton Books, 2008)
* ''The War Studies Reader: From the Seventeenth century to the Present Day & Beyond'' (Continuum, 2010)
* ''The Chief: Douglas Haig and the British Army'' (Aurum Press, 2011. ).
* Ed. with Peter W. Gray, ''Changing War'' (Continuum, 2013)
*
* ''Command and Morale: The British Army on the Western Front 1914–18'' (Praetorian Press, 2014).
* ''A Short History of the First World War'' (Oneworld Publications, 2014).
* ''Douglas Haig: From Somme to Victory'' (Aurum Press, 2016).
* ''Wellington'' (Pocket Giants series) (The History Press, 2017).
Sources and references
External links
BBC History ''Lions led by Donkeys?'' by Dr Gary Sheffield
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheffield, Gary
Historians of World War I
Academics of the University of Birmingham
Living people
Alumni of King's College London
Academics of King's College London
British military historians
Academics of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
1961 births