Edmund Allenby, First Viscount Allenby

British military leader

• Born: April 23, 1861
• Birthplace: Brackenhurst, near Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England
• Died: May 14, 1936
• Place of death: London, England

After a career of some note that involved him in the Boer War and the western front of World War I, Allenby achieved signal successes for Allied arms by commanding the military forces that captured Jerusalem, Damascus, and Aleppo during the Middle Eastern campaigns of 1917 and 1918.

Early Life

There was little in his family background to suggest that Lord Allenby (AL-lehn-bee), born Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, would achieve lasting renown as a military commander. Although one of his paternal forebears of the eighteenth century was a direct descendant of Oliver Cromwell, for the most part his ancestors had been given to other pursuits. Hynman Allenby, his father, was known as a country gentleman without much aptitude for business or professional callings; his marriage to Catherine Anne Cane, the daughter of a minister, produced three daughters and three sons, of whom Edmund was the second child, the first son. He was born on April 23, 1861, at Brackenhurst, a family estate near Southwell in Nottinghamshire. As a boy, Edmund was educated at a local vicarage and at a nearby school in Haileybury. In 1878, it was decided that he should take the entrance examinations for the Indian Civil Service; during each of the next two years, however, he failed in the competitive tests that admitted only about one out of every seven candidates. At this stage, then, a military career seemed appropriate as a second choice; after a brief period of preparation, Allenby entered the Royal Military College at Sandhurst as a cadet in 1881. He was graduated from his course with honors, and in 1882, several weeks after his twenty-first birthday, he was granted a commission in the Sixth Inniskilling Dragoons and went on to join British forces in South Africa.

Although during his first assignments Allenby, and other British officers and men, had little more to deal with than minor expeditions into Bechuanaland and Zululand, his initial period of service did acquaint him with imperial military problems in a way that could not be imparted on English parade grounds. He was promoted to captain and then to adjutant. In 1890, his first term of service was completed, and his unit returned home; he subsequently sought entrance to the British Staff College. Allenby failed narrowly the first year he took the examination; on his second attempt, in 1895, he was admitted. He became the first officer from his regiment to enter that institution. Among others who joined the college when he did was Douglas Haig, captain of the Seventh Hussars, with whom he worked during World War I. During this time, Allenby also spent some time in Scotland, where he met Adelaide Mabel Chapman, the third daughter of a landowner from Wiltshire. After about a year’s courtship, during which he had to persuade her father that as a cavalry officer he could support a household, they were married during the college’s winter vacation, on the next to last day of 1896. Theirs was an enduring and happy union, which provided solace from the cares and anxieties of military work; they shared a common love of the outdoors, and both had a passion for travel. In 1897, Allenby was promoted to major, and also qualified as an army interpreter in French. During the first month of 1898, his son and only child, Michael, was born at the home of his wife’s family in Wiltshire.

Allenby cast an imposing figure. He was fairly tall and heavyset; as a young man he weighed at least 185 pounds, though throughout his later life he successfully resisted any tendency to further bulkiness. He had broad squarish regular features with a long straight nose; his eyes, which others regarded as direct and penetrating, were gray-blue. He was clean-shaven, with the exception of a thick bushy mustache he had cultivated since his early days of military work. Photographs from his first assignments show incipient recession of his hairline, which expanded into large-scale baldness during his later years. Allenby was characterized by direct, forceful movements; he had a deep stentorian voice, which when challenging subordinates frequently became a bellow. He was curt, brusque, and regarded as a man of few words. Some considered him shy or lonely, while others were astonished on those occasions when he displayed the breadth of his interests.

Life’s Work

Allenby was assigned to the Third Cavalry Brigade in Ireland and became a brigade major. He then rejoined his original regiment during the Boer War of 1899-1902. He demonstrated himself capable of taking calculated risks without unduly placing his forces in jeopardy. Some of his men testified to the calm lucidity with which he met unexpected threats. His troops took part in the advance to Bloemfrontein early in the conflict and were widely called on to combat guerrilla actions across a wide front. Allenby acquired a high reputation for his skill in protecting convoys, as his men did not suffer defeat in this series of engagements that was undertaken to protect British positions throughout the region.

During routine peacetime preparations in England, Allenby took part in cavalry exercises designed to anticipate possible contingencies in Europe. Although some of the plans devised by the British general staff took into account the actual needs that subsequently arose in Belgium and France, such measures were later criticized for lack of thoroughness. This failing was traced in part to financial limitations imposed on such maneuvers. For his part, Allenby’s insistence on strict adherence to discipline and dress regulations was unpopular with some subordinates and enlisted men. On the other hand, his human concerns were demonstrated when, in the summer of 1905, he supported another man and a woman in the water after a yachting accident, and kept them afloat for twenty minutes until help came. For this action, he received a formal testimonial from the Royal Humane Society.

In August, 1914, when Great Britain entered World War I, Allenby commanded the cavalry division of the British Expeditionary Force; his first efforts on the western front required providing cover for retreating infantry on the routes from Mons to the Marne. Although he and other British commanders eventually were able to establish a stable front, some criticism was directed at Allenby’s handling of his part of this difficult operation: For a period of five days, communications had broken off among units under his command. In September, Allied forces began to counterattack; there was later some speculation whether British cavalry could have accomplished more at this time. In 1915, Allenby became commander of the Fifth Corps, on the Ypres salient in Flanders, and then of the Third Army in France. During a difficult period of warfare from fixed positions, relatively little could be accomplished against determined German resistance; moreover, relations between Allenby and Sir Douglas Haig, the British commander in chief, became markedly strained. Offensive operations were commenced at Arras in April, 1917, but gradually ground to a halt, in part owing to lack of support from French forces in the area. Although early in this engagement his men had scored some gains against the Germans, Allenby was notably displeased with the outcome of action in this sector, and there was continuing friction with Haig over the appointment of subordinate officers and various tactical matters. After some pronounced misgivings (he believed, for a time, that he was being shuffled away from the main front) in June Allenby accepted an assignment in an entirely different theater.

When the Ottoman Empire had entered the war on the side of the Central Powers, defense of the Suez Canal had become a pressing concern for the British Empire. Moreover, it was thought subsequently in some quarters that resolute action in the western Arab lands, or in the Balkans, might assist in bringing the war as a whole to a more rapid, and victorious, conclusion. Previous ventures, however, from the Allies’ standpoint had proved disappointing or of limited utility: In 1915, a landing alongside the Dardanelles failed ignominiously, and some headway, but decidedly mixed results had been gained in Iraq. The Russian Revolutions of 1917 called into question the gains czarist forces had achieved in eastern Anatolia. Sir Archibald Murray, Allenby’s predecessor, had led forces across the Sinai peninsula, but they had been halted before the fortifications about Gaza. On this front, each side had drawn on other national armies. German commanders, as well as troops, formed a particularly prominent contingent fighting alongside the Ottoman army; the most important contributions to British forces in the area had come from Australia and New Zealand.

Soon after he arrived in Egypt, Allenby learned that his son, Michael, who had earned the Military Cross after entering the armed forces, had been killed by a shell splinter during the action in France. This great shock was suffered with much quiet courage; plans went forward for an assault on the inland city of Beersheba, in Palestine. At the end of October, a partial success was achieved: Imperial cavalry rolled up opposing forces without enveloping them. On the left flank, however, Allenby’s men broke through to Gaza. He immediately shifted many of his forces to this sector, and they advanced beyond Jaffa. It then became possible to menace Ottoman positions from the west and the south. Although for a time progress was blocked on both fronts, and it was necessary to contend with a bitter and bloody counterattack around Nablus, men and supplies were moved up the plains in sufficient numbers to invest Jerusalem; unharmed and intact, the holy city was surrendered on December 9, 1917. As one of the few positive accomplishments achieved by that time, this striking achievement was received with great acclamation in Allied countries. On the other hand, as additional plans were considered, storms and unusually inclement weather complicated further preparations in Palestine. Furthermore, as German forces on the western front began to take the offensive, in March and April, 1918, two full divisions and some other units were transferred from Allenby’s army to the European theater. Indian troops that were sent out to replace them in many cases were inexperienced and took some time to adjust to desert warfare.

During the spring and summer, Allenby was concerned largely with the training and reorganization of his forces. On another level, he allowed full scope for British officers to direct irregular operations against the Hijaz Railway and other lines of communications within the Ottoman lands. Curiously enough, for all of his rigidity where matters of ceremony, dress, and discipline were concerned, a bemused Allenby was entirely willing to authorize Colonel T. E. Lawrence’s efforts among Arab guerrillas who steadily harassed their opponents. Indeed, after the war Allenby was unsparing in his tribute to the other man’s courage and resourcefulness. After some small-scale engagements on the part of the regular army, by September a vast cavalry and infantry offensive, supported by the Royal Air Force, was launched on the Plain of Megiddo. At Nazareth, British forces came close to capturing the opposing commander in chief. Control of the entire area west of the Jordan River was assured; to the east, major thrusts were launched as well, notably against Amman. By the end of September, Damascus, which had no fortifications of consequence, lay open, and Arab nationalist factions began to take control of the city. By October 1, a brigade of Australian Light Horse and other elements of the Desert Mounted Corps had arrived. Homs and Tripoli, cities farther north in Syria, were captured during the next week. Allenby then accepted one of his general’s proposals for an advance to Aleppo; this objective was realized in a bold stroke on October 26, 1918. Four days later, after further inconclusive action in this area, the Ottoman government bowed to Allied pressure in Macedonia and in the Arab provinces and requested an armistice. According to official British records, during the last six weeks of the campaign Allenby’s men had taken seventy-five thousand prisoners and had suffered 5,666 casualties in battle. During this time, the Fifth Cavalry Division, in the vanguard, had traversed about 550 miles.

Allenby had been knighted during the middle of the war and thereafter received other awards for his accomplishments in the Middle East. During the first year of peace, he was made a viscount. He also received honorary degrees from Oxford, Cambridge, and other universities. His achievements were further recognized by his appointment in March, 1919, as special High Commissioner for Egypt; his exercise of this office, however, involved administrative and diplomatic functions with which he was distinctly ill at ease. Nevertheless, his work in that country did much to assist in the development of Egypt’s political institutions. He arrived in the middle of a short-lived revolution that had broken out following protests at the exile of prominent national leaders; Allenby insisted that they be allowed to return. Negotiations over Egypt’s political relationship with Great Britain were a difficult, protracted affair. In his impatience with what he regarded as London’s delaying tactics, Allenby issued a virtual ultimatum to Prime MinisterDavid Lloyd George and threatened to resign if his terms were not met. The conditions, which were granted in February, 1922, included the termination of Great Britain’s protectorate and its unilateral recognition of Egypt as an independent and sovereign state. Great Britain did retain particular rights where imperial communications and defense, as well as other matters of mutual interest, were concerned. Allenby also encouraged the promulgation of Egypt’s constitution of 1923, which was important for the development of parliamentary politics in that country. However progressive and forward-looking he may have been in dealing with political concerns in Egypt, the severity of his reaction to a single incident brought about the termination of Allenby’s administrative career. In November, 1924, one of Allenby’s personal friends, Sir Lee Stack, the governor-general of the Sudan and commander of the Egyptian army, was murdered in Cairo. Without waiting for instructions from his government, Allenby imposed an indemnity on the Egyptian treasury at large and ordered other punitive measures. In the wake of widespread protests against his high-handedness, he summarily resigned his position in Egypt and left the country in June, 1925.

Allenby in effect retired from active service. While he established a home in the British capital, during his later years he and his wife traveled widely. They visited Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, and also many parts of Asia and Africa. Allenby also found ample time to pursue fishing and ornithology. He also sought to promote public consciousness of military concerns and acted as president of organizations to assist cadets and to provide for the needs of older veterans. On certain occasions he delivered public lectures. He died rather suddenly, and evidently rather peacefully, on May 14, 1936: He had suffered a fatal brain hemorrhage and was found lying across his desk in his study at his home in London.

Significance

The great renown that Lord Allenby received was largely a result of a single series of campaigns in the western Arab lands. His previous career had been distinguished but not extraordinary. His actions during the Boer War and on the western front brought him to the forefront of British commanders, but in and of themselves they would not have assured him such a notable place in modern history. He neither sought nor shunned fame or advancement; his efforts in the Middle Eastern theater represented the use of forces at his disposal to maximum advantage. In 1917 and 1918, he took some risks in difficult terrain and under demanding climatic conditions. Nevertheless, he acted when he was assured that his forces had a clear superiority over their opponents. It has sometimes been maintained that his victories were achieved against uninspired leadership on the other side, and it probably was so that the Ottoman general staff was riven by rivalries and disagreements between Turkish and German commanders.

On the other hand, the German commanders in chief, Erich von Falkenhayn and Otto Liman von Sanders, were serious and determined warriors; the former was one of the war’s most highly regarded generals. Some Turkish leaders of note were also posted on this front. Two of them later won recognition as Atatürk and İsmet Paşa. The Turkish War of Independence (1919-1922) in particular demonstrated their capacities for leadership. Allenby’s efforts have been considered as among the last major cavalry actions in modern warfare. The scope and extent of advances in this theater compared favorably with other epic operations of past wars, and on a tactical level, there was a curious juxtaposition of the old to the modern. During the desert campaigns, Allenby’s forces employed one of the earlier uses of airpower, and with nearly complete command of the skies, Allenby’s troops were able to pursue their opponents more readily.

Because of the evolution of military technology, this peculiar combination of mounted and mechanized operations could not easily be emulated by subsequent tacticians in the area. On the political level, the Arab campaigns opened the way for a new and turbulent era in Middle Eastern politics. Allenby had little to do with the division of much of the area into British and French mandatory states; while he attempted to remain evenhanded when conflicting claims of Arab nationalists and Zionists arose, his mission in the Levant did not much involve him in this controversy. Although it ended badly, his work in Egypt did much to advance the political development of that country. Moreover, in a much wider gyre, the consequences of war and upheaval in the Middle East were to change permanently the political landscape of the region; while he certainly could not have anticipated many of the results, Allenby’s mark in history will invariably be associated with the passing of Ottoman rule during new phases in the historical destinies of the Arab lands.

Bibliography

Falls, Cyril. Armageddon: 1918. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1964. A brisk, concise account of the Arab campaigns that also assesses the relative importance of these operations in the larger context of World War I. The author concludes with some reflections on the subsequent course of events in the Middle East.

Gardner, Brian. Allenby of Arabia, Lawrence’s General. New York: Coward-McCann, 1966. This crisp popular narrative, which seeks to reclaim a place of honor for Allenby alongside T. E. Lawrence, is rather objective and has some convincing passages about the commander’s development as a tactician. In many places, the author has drawn on the vast corpus of manuscript letters, mainly to his mother and wife, that Allenby left behind him. A British version, under the title Allenby, was published one year before the American edition.

Hughes, Matthew. Allenby and British Strategy in the Middle East, 1917-1919. Portland, Oreg.: F. Cass, 1999. An account of the Palestinian campaign fought by the British-led Egyptian Expeditionary Force from 1917 until its withdrawal from Syria in 1919, including a reassessment of Allenby’s role as campaign commander.

Long, C. W. R. British Pro-Consuls in Egypt, 1914-1929: The Challenge of Nationalism. New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2005. Describes the activities of Allenby and three other pro-consuls in Egypt and their major opponent, Sa’ad Zaghul, leader of the nationalist WAFD party who fought for Egyptian independence.

MacMunn, George Fletcher, and Cyril Falls. Military Operations, Egypt and Palestine. 2 vols. London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1928-1930. Vast comprehensive official history; indispensable source for the operations discussed here. Numerous materials concerning the Arab campaigns were consulted during the preparation of this work.

Massey, William Thomas. Allenby’s Final Triumph. London: Constable, 1920. The last of several works on the Middle Eastern theater by an accredited correspondent from London newspapers. The author’s observations of desert fighting up to the armistice with the Ottoman Empire are recorded in vivid terms.

Savage, Raymond. Allenby of Armageddon: A Record of the Career and Campaigns of Field-Marshall Viscount Allenby. Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs-Merrill, 1926. A favorable early account written by a member of Allenby’s campaign staff, this work has some interesting impressions of its subject’s character. Savage at one time was also a literary agent for T. E. Lawrence.

Wavell, Archibald Percival. Allenby A Study in Greatness: The Biography of Field-Marshal Viscount Allenby of Megiddo and Felixstowe. 2 vols. London: George G. Harrap, 1940-1943. A wide-ranging and sympathetic portrait of Allenby as a soldier and statesman. In addition to considering previous military work outside the Middle East, the author in his second volume discusses at length the positive aspects of his subject’s administrative work in Egypt. To substantiate certain points, some of Allenby’s letters are quoted in places.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. The Palestine Campaigns. 1928. 3d ed. London: Constable, 1941. Systematic, officially sponsored history dealing with the operations of 1917 and 1918 from a tactical point of view; the author abundantly acknowledges Allenby’s inspired judgment in this theater. Wavell served on this front, rising to the rank of brigadier general in 1918. Later, during World War II, he had a checkered career as a commander in his own right.