Corrigan, Gordon 1942-

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Corrigan, Gordon 1942-

PERSONAL:

Born September 10, 1942. Education: Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, commissioned 1962.

CAREER:

Writer. British Army, 1960-1998. Military service: Served in the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas.

MEMBER:

British Commission for Military History, Royal Asiatic Society (fellow), Liveryman Worshipful Company of Farriers.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, 1996.

WRITINGS:

Sepoys in the Trenches: The Indian Corps on the Western Front, 1914-1915, Spellmount (Staplehurst, England), 1999.

Wellington: A Military Life, Hambledon & London (New York, NY), 2001.

Mud, Blood and Poppycock: Britain and the First World War, Cassell (London, England), 2003.

Loos 1915: The Unwanted Battle, Spellmount (Staplehurst, England), 2005.

Blood, Sweat and Arrogance: And the Myths of Churchill's War, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Gordon Corrigan spent nearly four decades in the military before retiring in 1998 and embarking on a career writing about military history. The following year, his first book was published. Sepoys in the Trenches: The Indian Corps on the Western Front, 1914-1915 focuses on the battles that the British Indian Corps participated in on the Western Front of World War I prior to being sent off to even more treacherous battles in Gallipoli and Mesopotamia. One of the author's main goals in the book is to demonstrate that the Indian soldiers, contrary to longheld beliefs, were actually brave and valorous combatants. "This book fills a gap, since there hasn't been a full-scale assessment of the contribution of the Indian Corps since the official history in 1919 and the commander, General Sir James Willcocks's own account of 1920," wrote a contributor to London's Independent.

For his next book, Corrigan provides a biography of one of Great Britain's most noted military leaders. In Wellington: A Military Life, the author writes about Wellington's early life and his political successes but largely focuses on the military career of the Duke of Wellington, who also served as Great Britain's prime minister. Wellington rose to prominence in the first half of the nineteenth century, gaining military renown during the Napoleonic Wars and going on to reach the rank of field marshal. The author examines Wellington's time in India, his role in the Peninsular War of 1808-1814, and his battles with France, including the battle of Waterloo. "This is a well written and very readable biography of one of Britain's greatest generals," wrote a contributor to the HistoryofWar.org.

As in Sepoys in the Trenches, Corrigan sets out to cast a different light on much maligned combatants in the book Mud, Blood and Poppycock: Britain and the FirstWorld War. This time, the author elaborates on his belief that many myths have grown up around World War I and entered the popular consciousness, especially concerning British Field Marshal Sir Earl Douglas Haig and his generals. According to Corrigan, Haig and the generals have been much maligned as incompetent and that their incompetence led to the virtual sacrifice of many British soldiers. In Corrigan's account of World War I, however, Haig is presented in a heroic light. Commenting in an article on the News. scotsman.com, Corrigan noted: "After the war, the men who fought in it and the public thought the Army had done well and that Earl Haig had done a good job. It was only much later that people started to think war is bad, that it should not have happened." Corrigan added: "They wanted to know who to blame and decided it must be the generals."

Mud, Blood and Poppycock received favorable reviews from the critics. Calling the book "an important contribution to the literature," London Independent contributor Gary Sheffield went on in the same review to write that the author "is a combative, persuasive and very readable historian." A contributor to the Contemporary Review commented that Mud, Blood and Poppycock "should become required reading for any student of the Great War."

Corrigan turns his attention to World War II with Blood, Sweat and Arrogance: And the Myths of Churchill's War. Once again presenting a contrarian's view of history, the author presents his case that the British soldiers were, more often than not, outfought by German soldiers, and that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his British generals were often incompetent strategists. In his scathing view of Churchill's leadership abilities, the author goes back and also recounts mistakes made by Churchill in World War I and in the battle of Gallipoli. Noting that "there is more to Corrigan's book than the establishment of the obvious" faults of Churchill and his generals, Noble Franklin, writing in the Spectator, also commented that the author "peppers his narrative with an engrossing array of military knowledge."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Contemporary Review, January, 2004, review of Mud, Blood and Poppycock: Britain and the First World War, p. 60; winter, 2006, George Wedd, "A New Look at the Second World War," review of Blood, Sweat and Arrogance: And the Myths of Churchill's War, p. 521.

English Historical Review, June, 2004, Peter Simkins, review of Mud, Blood and Poppycock, p. 734.

History Today, November, 2003, review of Mud, Blood and Poppycock, p. 76.

Independent (London, England), February 16, 2000, "An End to the Myth of Indian Troops' Cowardice," review of Sepoys in the Trenches: The Indian Corps on the Western Front, 1914-1915; August 2, 2003, Gary Sheffield, review of Mud, Blood and Poppycock.

Journal of Military History, October, 2002, Jack Allen Meyer, review of Wellington: A Military Life, p. 1204.

Spectator, August 9, 2003, Graham Stewart, "Not Such a Cock-up after All?," review of Mud, Blood and Poppycock, p. 43; May 6, 2006, Noble Frankland, "No Reason to Pull Down the Statue," review of Blood, Sweat and Arrogance.

Times (London, England), April 9, 2006, Andrew Roberts, "How We Nearly Lost the War," review of Blood, Sweat and Arrogance.

Times Literary Supplement, August 22, 2003, Brian Bond, review of Mud, Blood and Poppycock, p. 24; January 12, 2007, John Ramsden, "Different Donkeys," review of Blood, Sweat and Arrogance, p. 24.