War and the Past

'War', wrote Paddy Griffith in an earlier article in this series, 'generates the written word on a grandiose scale.' Military leaders, be they emperors, kings or generals, have attracted at least their fair share of this considerable literary effort. Military biography spans a broad arc both in time – from Arrian's life of Alexander and Tacitus's Agricola to Ronald Lewin's Slim and Nigel Hamilton's Monty – and in approach, running the whole gamut from unrelieved censure to unstinted approval. Most military biographies are though, balanced, if not overtly favourable to their subjects. This is understandable enough, for an author is presumably far more likely to embark upon a biography of somebody he is at least sympathetic with rather than of someone he detests.