Acknowledgements

I am indebted to Lieutenant Colonel W.W.T. Gowans who reviewed the text, suggested corrections, posed me some interesting questions and considered, in particular, my judgments. Similarly, I was fortunate that Professor Peter Liddle, who having read the text, challenged elements of my approach; I enjoyed our debate. Even though they did not necessarily entirely agree with me on all the issues I am enormously grateful to them both. Any errors or omissions are entirely mine.

At Pen and Sword, Brigadier Henry Wilson, my commissioning editor, for the fourth time, eased my path and encouraged my endeavours. Matt Jones was his usual helpful self with all matters technical. My text editor Linne Matthews was not only very skilled and professional but a delight to work with.

Where possible the attribution has been given to photographs and maps but those taken from the Internet do not always identify the original source.