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Victoria's Generals. Edited by Steven J. Corvi and Ian FW. Beckett. Barnsley, S. Yorkshire, U.K.: Pen and Sword Military, 2009. ISBN 978-1-84415-918-5. Maps. Plates. Appendix. Index. Pp. x, 226. £19.99.
By the height of the "Pax Britannica," the last three decades of the nineteenth century, and of Queen Victoria's long reign, the soldiers of the British Army had been transformed from being disparaged as "scum of the earth" to the acclaimed "Soldiers of the Queen." Similarly, their successful generals were lauded as heroes by the public and the press in Great Britain. After the passage of more than a century, this book, edited by Steven J. Corvi and Ian FW Beckett, ably reexamines the military careers and leadership skills of eight prominent late Victorian generals in order "to illustrate each personality within the broader spectrum of the social and political environment of the late Victorian period" (p. 1).
Military affairs and the senior leadership of the British Army during this period were dominated by two generals: Field Marshal Viscount Garnet J. Wolseley and Field Marshal Earl Frederick S. Roberts. Indeed, Wolseley was frequently hailed by supporters as "our only general," while Roberts was later dubbed "our only other general." Wolseley commanded British troops in the successful Red River Expedition (1870), the Second Ashanti War (1873-1874), the concluding phase of the Zulu War (1879), and the 1882 campaign in Egypt, although he was unable to rescue his friend, Major General Charles G. Gordon, who was besieged in Khartoum and killed...