Sir James Eric Sydney Cable (15 November 1920 – 27 September 2001) was a British diplomat and naval strategic thinker. As an author, he became well known for a series of his works published between 1971 and 1994 about

gunboat diplomacy Gunboat diplomacy is the pursuit of foreign policy objectives with the aid of conspicuous displays of naval power, implying or constituting a direct threat of warfare should terms not be agreeable to the superior force. The term originated in ...

. ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'' described him as "one of the most influential naval strategic thinkers of the last half-century". During the Second World War he served as an officer in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

Career

Born in November 1920, Cable was the son of a member of the Consular Service. He was educated at

Stowe School The Stowe School is a public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13–18 in the countryside of Stowe, England. It was opened on 11 May, 1923 at Stowe House, a Grade I Heritage Estate belonging to the British Crown. ...

in Stowe, Buckinghamshire. After Stowe, Cable went to

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...

to read

modern languages A modern language is any human language that is currently in use as a native language. The term is used in language education to distinguish between languages which are used for day-to-day communication (such as French and German) and dead clas ...

. After graduating he was called up to the

in 1941 to serve in the Second World War. Following officer training he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications an ...

on 18 October 1942, and rose to the rank of

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

before joining the

Diplomatic Service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtain diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...

in 1947, his appointment was confirmed with effect from 18 November 1948, although he did not relinquish his army commission until 28 October 1953, when he was granted the honorary rank of major. His position took him to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

during the Independence War. Then, Cable went to

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

where he met his wife

Viveca Hollmerus Viveca Hollmerus, Lady Cable (1920–2004) was a Finnish-Swedish author. In 1951 she was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Literature Prize, shared with Willy Kyrklund, Staffan Larsson and Per Anders Fogelstrom. In 1954 she married the Britis ...

(1920–2004). After that, he left Helsinki for

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, he was expelled in 1959, as a reprisal for the expulsion of a Hungarian diplomat from London. Cable was then appointed Consul in

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, on 28 July 1959. He subsequently served in the

Middle-East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and as head of the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...

South-East Asia Department for two years. In the 1967

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

he was appointed

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George I ...

for his work as Counsellor at the British Embassy in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, Lebanon. In late 1960s, he published his maiden work, ''British foreign policy and international relations''. Then Cable took a year's

sabbatical A sabbatical (from the Hebrew: (i.e., Sabbath); in Latin ; Greek: ) is a rest or break from work; "an extended period of time intentionally spent on something that’s not your routine job." The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Bi ...

, during which he finished his second work, ''Gunboat Diplomacy''. He also received a doctorate that year. Cable became the head of the FCO's Planning Staff from 1971 to 1975, and was then briefly Assistant Under-Secretary of State, before returning to Helsinki as Ambassador from 1 October 1975 until his retirement in 1980. He was appointed

Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the m ...

on 28 May 1976. He continued to write after quitting the FCO, and published several works, including ''The Political Influence of Naval Force in History'' (1998), ''The Royal Navy and the Siege of Bilbao'' (1979), ''Britain's Naval Future'' (1983), ''Diplomacy at Sea'' (1985) and ''Navies in Violent Peace'' (1989). Cable died on 27 September 2001, aged 80. He is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. Cable and his wife, Viveca had a son, Charles.

Gunboat diplomacy

Cable defined gunboat diplomacy as "the use or threat of limited naval force, otherwise than as an act of war, in order to secure advantage or to avert loss, either in the furtherance of an international dispute or else against foreign nationals within the territory or the jurisdiction of their own state". He divided the examples of gunboat diplomacy into four categories: definitive, purposeful, catalytic and expressive. All of them are tools of diplomacy. Cable start a revival of naval strategic thought, and had a great influence on Post-Cold War naval thinking, especially in United Kingdom and United States.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cable, James 20th-century British writers 1920 births 2001 deaths People educated at Stowe School Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Royal Corps of Signals officers British Army personnel of World War II Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Finland 20th-century British diplomats British expatriates in Indonesia British expatriates in Hungary British expatriates in Ecuador British expatriates in Lebanon