Full Description
A pioneering work in British military history, originally published in 1972, this book is both scholarly and entertaining. Although the book concentrates on a single institution, it illuminates a much wider area of social and intellectual change. For the Army the importance of the change was enormous: in 1854 there was neither a Staff College nor a General Staff, and professional education and training were largely despised by the officers: by 1914 the College could justly be described as 'a school of thought' while the officers it had trained were coming to dominate the highest posts in Commands and on the General Staff.
Contents
1. The Development of Military Professionalism and the Rise of General Staffs in the nineteenth century 2. The Decline of the Senior Department and the foundation of the Staff College 1815-1858 3. Growing Pains 1858-1870 4. The Staff College in the Wolseley Era 1870-1890 5. The Staff College 1890-1899 6. The Impact of the South African War on the Staff college and Staff Training 1899-1906 7. The Creation and Development of the General Staff 1904-1914 8. A School of Thought: Henry Wilson and the Staff College 1906-1910 9. The Staff College on the Eve of War 1910-1914 10. The Staff College, the General Staff and the Test of War 1914-1915. Appendices: 1. Principal Events Affecting Army Organization and the Staff College 2. Principal Official Inquiries Concerning Officer Education and the Staff College 1854-1914 3. Manuscript Sources 4. Commandants of the Staff College 1858-1914 5. The Staff College Connections of the Commanders and Chief Staff Officers of the B. E. F. August-November 1914
