Was there a ‘Boney’ Fuller after the Second World War? Major-General J.F.C. Fuller as Military Theorist and Commentator,1945-1966

Abstract

The historiography to date on Major-General J.F.C. Fuller has created the impression that his career as a military theorist gradually petered out in the latter half of the 1930s, and that after the Second World War the former enfant terrible devoted himself to the writing of military history. This article argues that such an interpretation is open to question, showing the extent to which he continued to write and reflect as both military theorist and commentator in the post- 1945 period. While his views on the new strategic situation, the Cold War, nuclear weapons and the redefinition of military concepts appeared in too many diverse places to enjoy the same influence as his interwar theories, their existence and remarkable coherence demand that his achievements as a theorist be re-evaluated in the light of this hitherto ignored body of work.