Victory to Defeat

The British Army 1918–40

By: Richard Dannatt, Robert Lyman

Narrated by: Richard Dannatt

Bloomsbury presents Victory to Defeat by Richard Dannatt and Robert Lyman, read by Richard Dannatt.

‘A compelling history.’ – The Sunday Times
‘Thought-provoking.’ – The Spectator
‘Interesting and well-researched.’ – The Sunday Telegraph

A compelling history of the decline of an army from the triumph of victory in 1918 to defeat in 1940 and why this happened. A salutary warning for modern Britain.

The British Army won a convincing series of victories between 1916 and 1918. But by 1939 the British Army was an entirely different animal. The hard-won knowledge, experience and strategic vision that delivered victory after victory in the closing stages of the First World War had been lost. In the inter-war years there was plenty of talking, but very little focus on who Britain might have to fight, and how. Victory to Defeat clearly illustrates how the British Army wasn’t prepared to fight a first-class European Army in 1939 for the simple reason that as a country Britain hadn’t prepared itself to do so. The failure of the army’s leadership led directly to its abysmal performance in Norway and France in 1940.

Victory to Defeat is a captivating history of the mismanagement of a war-winning army. It is also a stark warning that we neglect to understand who our enemy might be, and how to defeat him, at the peril of our country. The British Army is now to be cut to its smallest size since 1714. Are we, this book asks, repeating the same mistakes again?

©2023 Richard Dannatt and Robert Lyman (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

General History rather than Tactical and Strategic

For a book which sets out to examine the how of the British Army losing it's way over the course of a generation it seems to quickly lose focus and instead covers very well known ground in a general sense. The books also makes a strange panacea of the British Army tactics at the end of the of the great war. The reader has to wonder what tactics did the British settle on in 1940? What was the concept of fighting the new western front. This title will not answer that question at the tactical, grand tactical or strategic level save in the most general of terms. The topic while a fascinating choice leaves the listener in a dissatisfied state having felt as though little new was really imparted save the reorganization of already documented history.

Fascinating analysis

This is a surprisingly well narrated analysis of how the British Imperial Armies forgot the hard won lessons of the Great War, and allowed what was probably the most effective, and well-led army of the time to descend into confusion and mediocrity. Well worth reading if you want to understand military approaches during the interwar period.
While clearly not the direct topic of the book it would be interesting to learn about the parallel approaches to doctrine in the French army at the time.

Could be an account of current naivety and bevior of West

Careful exposition of changes in tactics and above all strategies toward the end of The Great War, and lack of comprehension by allies of what they'd actually done

Technological advances and their influence (or lack of) on strategy not addressed

Like history itself, the book was a little repetitive and might have benefited from Abridging, but not Too Far