Roxy Posted 10 August , 2008 Share Posted 10 August , 2008 I saw 6 volumes of the memoirs of Lloyd-George in a local bookshop for £3.50 each. Are they worth £21? Roxy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithmroberts Posted 10 August , 2008 Share Posted 10 August , 2008 Debatable. I am not sure whether the 6 volume set had more than one edition. The two volume set was published in more than one edition and can be picked up easily for a fiver or so. I don't know how much more there is in the 6 volume set. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 10 August , 2008 Share Posted 10 August , 2008 If you want the definitive version of what Ll-G thought and said then the original memoirs are necessary. I struggled to read the 2 volume set. Trouble is that his memoirs, in all versions, are even more self serving than politicians' memoirs usually are. Probably only Churchill saw the world reflected in his mirror to anything like the same extent. WSC may be excused to some extent by his ability. There is a contemporary quote along the lines of, ' Winston has written a biography and called it World in Crisis'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 10 August , 2008 Share Posted 10 August , 2008 I picked at the 2 volume set. You will never read the 6 volumes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenwoodman Posted 10 August , 2008 Share Posted 10 August , 2008 You can buy a hell of a lot more pulp fiction for £21 - and more believable too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roxy Posted 10 August , 2008 Author Share Posted 10 August , 2008 All, That's was about what I expected to hear! The 6 volumes are still in the shop at the moment. Roxy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwin astill Posted 10 August , 2008 Share Posted 10 August , 2008 Never read them, although they are common (not worth shelf space in seconf hand bookshops). They are roundly condemned today, but what were the contemporary reviews like? There must have been lots of people around who knew it was rubbish (as they did Sir John French's autobiog.) Edwin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 10 August , 2008 Share Posted 10 August , 2008 Roughly contemporary, Duff Cooper's biography of Haig is very critical of Ll G and his coterie. A lot of the content was known before the memoirs were published. I believe his memoirs gave valuable support to the 1930s butchers and bunglers movement. This was a facet of the peace at any price movement to which he would not have given support but they were quite happy to use his criticism of the General Staff to further their ends. The battle between Ll G and the Generals was of very long standing and was openly being waged during the war. Food for another thread probably but this gives the lie to the suggestion sometimes made that the Press was closely controlled in the Great War. Controlled it was but by its proprietors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armourersergeant Posted 10 August , 2008 Share Posted 10 August , 2008 The two volume set is much better. They make cracking door stops! regards Arm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 10 August , 2008 Share Posted 10 August , 2008 Roxy, some of the replies above conform to what one has learnt to expect from the usual suspects re LG However, while this forum is the child of The Long, Long Trail which "cuts through myth and misinformation to present the facts of the British Army in the First World War " it is nevertheless The Great War Forum (and not the British Army Forum) so, if you want the complete picture, including the opinions of politicians who were responsible to the British electorate for the conduct of a World War in all its aspects (not just those covered by the War Office, eg; Naval, Trade, Employment, Colonial, Indian Empire etc etc etc) then it would seem to be good sense to have some input from one of the principle politicians of the period. with best regards Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armourersergeant Posted 10 August , 2008 Share Posted 10 August , 2008 then it would seem to be good sense to have some input from one of the principle politicians of the period. Agreed. Though I would just caution the reader to research around the obvious agenda that exists with in the pages of this work. Until I began to study the Great war I had a very high opinion of LG. That does not mean I believe he was completely ineffective and did no good. But yes I can see that my words may give the impression that I would not recommend reading it, or at least attempting to. I have not been able to do so, only reading extracts. So I would agree if you do not have a copy then get one. Do not take my cynical words as advice not to purchase a copy. I own a copy, so why should you not also. regards Arm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roxy Posted 10 August , 2008 Author Share Posted 10 August , 2008 Michael, You make a very good point. Thanks. Still not convinced that I will spend £21 on the books though. Roxy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 10 August , 2008 Share Posted 10 August , 2008 I completely agree Michael. I knew of Lloyd George as a politician long before I was interested in WW1. I was very sympathetic to him and still am from a political and social, not to say socialist, point of view. When I became aware of the antipathy to him from the military in WW1, I started to read about him from a specifically political point of view. I also became interested in the politicians of his era, 1900 to 1920 ish. I have to say that the weight of evidence against him from a ' Westerner ' point of view is fairly comprehensive. I can empathise with why he adopted the stance that he did but I do think he was wrong. I also can point to a great discrepancy between Ll-G's version of events and many different contemporaries, including fellow politicians. One of the most sympathetic views of his actions comes, strangely enough, from the biography of Haig by Duff Cooper. He disagrees strongly with him, as we would expect, but accepts that Lloyd George's duties were much wider than the military's and his sympathies more closely aligned with the men who were the casualties. Duff Coopper sums up LL-G as genuinely seeking victory but unwilling to see the country suffer the casualties which were necessary and who came close to fataly interfering with the course of the war in his desperate attempts to keep the toll low. I am much closer to Lloyd George's political views than Haig or Duff Cooper but I am forced to agree with them when I look at the course of the war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenwoodman Posted 10 August , 2008 Share Posted 10 August , 2008 While I have Vol 2 of the shorter version (bought only as a reference for my thesis for 50p), I do have Hankey's "The Supreme Command" and Roskill's biography of Hankey. IIRC, Hankey comes across as admiring LG, but there are elements of surprise at some of his methods. His comment re the Calais Conference was “It fairly took my breath away”. Roskill pointed to “the dangers to the Allied cause which were implicit in his intention”. Even Wilson, acknowledged as probably the most political of generals, wrote “I thought them [Lloyd George’s manoeuvres] stupid”. From research conducted then, specifically about the Allied command and manpower, if I needed to know about Lloyd George, I would read fully around the subject, rather than read his memoirs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 11 August , 2008 Share Posted 11 August , 2008 quote: what were the contemporary reviews like? An example of a contemporary review Vol Year Page Article 21 1933 796 WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE. VOL. 1. see http://www.naval-review.org/issues/1933-4.pdf 22 1934 154 WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE. VOL.II see http://www.naval-review.org/issues/1934-1.pdf 22 1934 773 WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE. VOL.III see http://www.naval-review.org/issues/1934-4.pdf 23 1935 154 WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE. VOL. IV see http://www.naval-review.org/issues/1935-1.pdf 24 1936 705 WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE --VOL. V see http://www.naval-review.org/issues/1936-4.pdf 25 1937 163 WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE. VOL. see http://www.naval-review.org/issues/1937-1.pdf regards Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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