Annual Booklist 2025 : Peter Swabey
Peter read History with Archaeology at the University of Leeds, where his dissertation was on the Zulu War, and has read widely on military history since that time. He considered making archaeology his profession, but opted instead for an indoor job with no heavy lifting and has spent the last forty years as a Chartered Secretary, managing the governance of a variety of listed and unlisted companies. He is currently Policy and Research Director at the Chartered Governance Institute, and has been Hon. Secretary of SAHR since 2024.
Brad Faught - Kitchener: Hero and Anti-Hero
A modern biography of one of the more compelling figures of the late-Victorian British Army.
Donald R. Morris – The Washing of the Spears
One of my University lecturers used to write ‘outdated source’ on my essays with monotonous regularity. I know that this is another such and that the work of John Laband and Ian Knight, among others, has moved our understanding of the Anglo-Zulu War well beyond The Washing of the Spears. However, as I am not allowed a film on the Christmas Book List (although I am hoping that 'Zulu' will make its traditional appearance over the Christmas period) this was what engaged me in the Anglo-Zulu War, so I am grateful to it.
Rory Muir – Wellington
Hopefully I can get away with two volumes … The Path to Victory 1769-1814 and Waterloo And The Fortunes Of Peace 1814–1852. An outstanding biography of one of our outstanding generals.
William Robertson – Private to Field Marshal
Just such an amazing story – from enlistment as a trooper in the 16th Lancers in November 1877 to appointment as Chief of the Imperial General Staff in December 1915. There were always challenges for an officer promoted from the ranks and plenty of pitfalls on the way – Major-General Sir Hector MacDonald was one who fell foul of these – but Robertson negotiated them all.
Julian Symons – Buller’s Campaign
The Peter Principle states that employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another. I had long wondered how Sir Redvers Buller, so inspiring a leader in the Anglo-Zulu War, could have struggled in the Boer War. Was the Peter Principle in action? For me, this book went a long way to answering that question with, perhaps, a more balanced analysis of Buller’s career than some.
And I can’t leave this without a nod to the historical novels that got me interested in the first place: Ronald Welch’s Captain of Foot, C.S. Forester’s Death to the French and, more recently, Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe series.
The book that hasn’t been written, but should be… for me that is an analysis of all the times when military disasters have been down to the Army being unable to solve a problem created by political decisions.