This interview with David Geoffrey Chandler, internationally famous author, former "academic teacher" and head of War Studies at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, England, for over three decades, presents some surprises!

Photo (from left): Gillian Dixon Chandler (David's wife), Roger Chapman (friend), david Chandler (in cap and gown), Carole Chapman (Roger's wife), and Miss Pat Deans (David' cousin and typist for The Campaigns of Napoleon), at the Sovereign Day Parade, 12 April 1991.

"Marlborough and Bonaparte" continues our series of historiographical interviews with outstanding senior historians in the field of French Revolution/Napoleonic Studies. Future issues will feature Col. John Elting (U. S. Military Academy, West Point); Dr. Dorothy Carrington (Frederica Lady Rose), an author who lives in Ajaccio, Corsica; and Dr. Donald Horward (Florida State University); among others. In our last issue we interviewed Harold T. Parker, author of Three Napoleonic Battles and a member of the Duke University faculty until 1977 (see Napoleon #7 for the Parker Interview).

As a whole, the autobiographical series will highlight the variety and richness of teaching, research, and writing in the 1990s. Not all the subjects included will be "academic"; some will talk about their interest in wargames and historical re-enactments.

This series is directed by, and most of the interviews conducted by Dr. June K. Burton, who retired from the Department of History at the University of Akron (Ohio) in 1994. Dr. Burton has written or edited dozens of articles and books on Napoleonic subjects, including contributing twenty-two extensive entries to the Historical Dictionary of Napoleonic France (published in 1985 by Greenwood Press).

Besides offering a great deal of human interest and providing role models, this series aims to promote future scholarship into sources and areas suggested by the interviewees.

Born in 1934, Dr. Chandler received his B.A., Diploma in Education from Keble College, Oxford, and his M.A, (Oxon) in 1960. After military service in Nigeria, he spent his career at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst from 1960 until his early retirement in 1994, which was soon followed by illness.

He has lectured in the United States at Ohio State University, Virginia Military Institute, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the Naval War College and U.S. Marine Corps Staff College at Quantico, Virginia, and at British bases in the Mediterranean, East Asia, and Germany; led battlefield tours to European countries; and participated in military re-enactments at Waterloo.

Besides his D. Litt., which is discussed below, he is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Royal Geographical Society, and Royal Masonic Society and a council member of the Society for Army Historical Research. He has also been a leader of the International Commission for Military History and a trustee of the Royal Armouries at the Tower of London from 1989-95.

David Chandler is a prolific author and editor of numerous books, which have gone through several editions, including his most popular book and one that in a 1996 survey conducted by Greenhill Books (London) was most frequently mentioned among "the best ever military books", The Campaigns of Napoleon (Macmillan, ten editions, 1966-86 [still in print] and Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1995); Marlborough as Military Commander (Scribner, 1973, new edition 1979); the most respected single volume on the topic in English: The Art of War in the Age of Marlborough (Basford, 1976); A Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars (Macmillan, 1979); An Atlas of Military Strategy, 1618-1878 (Free Press, 1980); Waterloo: The Hundred Days (Macmillan, 1980); Sedgemoor--An Account and an Anthology (St. Martin's, 1985); Napoleon's Marshals (Macmillan, 1987); A Traveller's Guide to the Battlefields of Europe: From the Siege of Troy to the Second World War (Stephens, 1989); Battles and Battlescenes of World War II (1990); Austerlitz (Osprey, 1990); Jena (Osprey, 1993); and On the Napoleonic Wars (Greenhill Books, 1994).

Dr. Chandler married his wife, Gillian Dixon, in 1961, and they have three sons and one grandchild of whom he is quite proud. That he cherishes his family and "happy home" comes out in this interview, as does his buoyant sense of humor, enthusiasm for military history, and gentle nature. The Chandlers reside at "Hindford", Yateley, Hampshire, England.

Soon after his retirement, Dr. Chandler suffered a stroke and heart attack, but he is recovering from dysphasia, has started to write articles again, and is tackling some of his pet projects.

In 1990 , he was Founding President of the Union of European Re-enactment Societies based in Zurich, Switzerland, and continues as Honorary President. On 18 June, 1995, he played the role of General de Bourmont (a traitor to Napoleon) in a large-scale re-enactment at the 180th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.

What is your official, principal position today? How long have you held it?

CHANDLER: I retired from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (England) in 1994 after 33-1/3 years service as an "academic teacher" of Military History, 14 of them (1980-1994) as Head of the Department of War Studies. (Most Americans address me as "Honorary Professor", although RMAS did and does not bestow professorships as such.) I am a "Mr. Chips" after all these years. I am also an author, although my output has dwindled since my stroke two years ago.

Please describe your major areas of research.

CHANDLER: Marlborough and Napoleon; to teach (and write); and also to work on World Wars I and II.

We understand that you were in the U.S. as a "visiting professor"?

CHANDLER: Yes. I was a visiting professor at the Ohio State University in the early '70s, when the student demonstrations over Vietnam took place. Luckily, nobody was killed, although there was some rioting. At one stage, I was asked to give a speech in place of a real general who refused to attend because of the troubles!

As the "Certificate of Achievement" that the U.S. Army Instructor Corps at the OSU awarded me states, I assisted in commissioning 176 second lieutenants on 11 June 1970. I don't think this has ever been "done" before by an Englishman since your first President George Washington!! I was proud of my speech at one day's notice, in which I presented an overview of the history of an army officer [see sidebar on page 15].

Do you regard yourself as an "academic historian"?

CHANDLER: At heart, I am more of a story-teller than a philosopher, more of a Homer than an Ovid. I like to encourage not only fellow professional historians, but also ordinary people who take pleasure in reading about military history. I have been told that I am more of an enthusiast than an academic, and I regard that as a compliment.

Have you received any special awards, titles, medals, or honorary degrees for your work?

CHANDLER: I received a Doctorate of Letters (D. Litt.) from Oxford University in 1991 for my books and lecturing. According to Dr. Robert O'Neil, an Australian who is the present Professor of War, mine is one of only four "earned" D. Litt. degrees [as opposed to several more "honorary" ones that exist] awarded by Oxford for military history since the First World War.

Of the four recipients, I am the only one not to have been knighted! [Ed. note: These three "Sirs" are: Charles Oman (ca. 1920s), Liddel Hart (ca. 1955) and Michael Howard (ca. 1980)].

My book On the Napoleonic Wars won an award from the Napoleonic Society of America in 1994, and I also won the International Napoleonic Society's 1995 Literary Award for The Campaigns of Napoleon .

I received the "Gold Medal" from Poland in 1979 for services to military history, and have in my possession a letter from Charles de Gaulle of France thanking me for my interest in Napoleon. I am also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society--that's the meaning of the "F. R. Hist. S." title after my name.

Did your father, a clergyman, get you interested in writing military history?

CHANDLER: It was not my father who set me on the track to becoming a military historian, but a teacher at school. At one stage, I thought about following my father's vocation and becoming a clergyman, but I did not feel "called." It can, however, not be said that I rebelled against my father by turning to military history--I am not what could be termed a militarist. For me, military history does not lead to militarism any more than the study of medicine propagates disease. I would like to stress that we always hope to avoid wars--but it is vital for us to win if we are drawn into a war. (NB: there has only been one British serious defeat--namely The American Independence. It is the record for Great Britain--since 1066 A.D.!)

What is your personal philosophy of history?

CHANDLER: Perhaps I am "rather gloomy"--I would prefer to call myself a realistic historian on the world. As I wrote in my first book, in 1965, A Travellers' Guide to the Battlefields of Europe (London: Evelyn Ltd.):

"No one would deny that all wars and battles are regrettable acts of human folly, causing unjustifiable agony and distress to combatants and non-combatants alike--but these considerations should not preclude their serious study, if only to avoid the mistakes of the past which made such tragedies inevitable. If battles can be described as the punctuation marks on the pages of history then the study of their causes, course and results must be vital to any understanding of our common European heritage."

Do you regard military history as an ART or a SCIENCE?

CHANDLER: I answered this question in the Foreword I wrote for Phil Grabsley's The Great Commanders (TV Books Inc., 1993): "It is common practice to speak of the 'art and science of war'. The scientific elements of warfare change constantly as new weaponry, methods of communication and transportation become available. Many aspects of the art of war--which includes generalship--remain much the same, generation after generation, or at least retain clearly discernible characteristics in common...."

Why is it that you are famous as a Marlburian and Napoleonic scholar?

CHANDLER: I first studied Marlborough and then later, Napoleon. Certainly, I like both men. It is only for myself, but I find it better to rest by switching from one to the other, and thus not become stale or dull. In other words, I play from one to the other. In fact, you may be surprised that I honestly prefer Marlborough to Napoleon! I am happier, therefore, in the early 18th Century rather than in the 19th. But, of course, I have always been fascinated by Napoleon from my teens. It is just that I prefer Marlborough.

Photo: Chandler and actor George Waring at Theater Royal, 1967.

I only became "famous" for really the wrong reasons when Peter V. Ritner (then Executive Editor, who sadly died in the 1970s) "discovered me" in 1962 by seeing an article (in fact my first) on the British Army in Egypt in 1801. A telegram came in asking me to write a book on Napoleon. I was very pleased, but I wrote back that I would prefer a book on Marlborough. I remember the answer: "Who is this Marlborough fellow? WE WANT NAPOLEON!"--and so I had to agree: I was not in a position to argue.

But I am afraid that it did not begin with a great flash and loud thunder from Heaven: "The Good Lord inspires me to write on Napoleon!" No, it wasn't like that--but I really wanted a large, good book to write. So it was just the opposite of inspiration! Fortunately, it has run pretty well, considering. Goodness, I was lucky! I actually dared to write at double-length for Macmillan! I wouldn't expect a British publisher to do such a long one by me as a new writer. So I was fortunate.

Please don't get me wrong. I am fascinated about Napoleon (and let's face it--there are quite a few million people who are), but my point of view has been for 30 years that the Emperor is (to me) "a great, bad man" (as Clarendon commented about Oliver Cromwell, about 1660). Marlborough was also in some ways a "bad man", too--but not on the scale of "Boney." I think we forget that many countries in Europe hated Napoleon long after his death; certainly the British did. "Here comes the Boney-man...", they said, [instead of bogey-man] to scare children who were naughty.

Actually, I am completely "central" in the argument--and I am often accused of being "too-admiring" while others attack me for showing "over-dislike" for Napoleon. No, I'm in the middle--and that is right for a historian over such an argument. It will never be proven--but I think I am right to the best of my mind.

What about your mother? Was she interested in history too?

CHANDLER: I loved her for her life--as many boys feel very close to their mothers. However, my mother, Joyce Mary Chandler, nee Ridsdale (1904-88), who was from a Yorkshire family, was not an intellectual girl. She was never interested in history (but certainly proud of me). My father, Rev. Geoffrey Edmund Chandler (1895-1967), was from London (earlier from Suffolk) and had a schoolmaster father. He had been an officer in the First World War, having left from Oxford in 1914, after having studied history there. He became a Lieutenant to lose his right leg in battle in France in 1918. He became a clergyman by 1920 and moved to Beverley, then Hull, and lastly to Withernsea [all Yorkshire] before he retired. My mother was married at Beverley in 1926, and I was an only child, as my father had been.

My mother was a loyal, lovely person--who helped my father with the local church at Owthorne near Withernsea. I would only say that in England in the 1960s men were the "bosses". Quite so, naturally, in those days....

However, my mother is probably responsible (unwillingly for her!) for me becoming fascinated by military matters. Aged 4, I was given by a friend a toy tank that flashed for its gun. My mother demanded to call my tank a "sparky!" No fool I, for I realized the row going around me caused by my parents--so, of course, I naturally was morefascinated by tanks.

What major changes have occurred in the historical profession during the course of your career?

CHANDLER: Gill, now, my very dear wife, gained a degree at Bangor University (Wales) in Zoology. However, after marrying in 1961, as our first son was born at once she gave up her post as a Librarian at RMA Sandhurst--not that she did not like the job (the opposite) but in the early 1960s most people wanted to have babies and for the rest of her life she was quite happy to look after the three boys (Paul, John and Mark)--and, but of course, OF ME! Interestingly, a natural change occurred by 1965. As new lecturers joined our Department, all their new wives wanted posts (as well as babies). So all that has now changed dramatically. How our beloved little Joanna Elizabeth (our first, and, so far, only grand-daughter) will be thinking about this by 2010, well I just won't know!

However, I am a very modern historian. Two years before retiring I wished to appoint a "lady" (no, still not a "woman") to our Department--but she only held out for 1-1/2 years at Sandhurst. So far, therefore, all members at War Studies remain still and solidly, ALL MEN! The point is that the attitudes have changed for women--possibly.

Have you had any pets?

CHANDLER: Two much-loved Cairns, both died, one in 1986 and the other in 1989, and we have decided: no more dogs. Other pets? Originally two small, but beloved, tortoises, now one: "Desdemona" (who will live longer than any of us, I expect) but "George", her male companion and the fastest moving tortoise in the world, escaped and disappeared in a gallop past the house and away! We have no idea how old she is, having been bought from a pet shop in 1970 after we returned to England. It is no longer legal to import them because tortoises are now an endangered species, so Desdemona is one of a dwindling number of tortoises in the U.K.

To refocus on military history, have you served in the armed forces?

CHANDLER: I was volunteered to the British Army for four years as an officer (but at that period all young men had to go for "National Service" (comparable to the U.S. draft), so I volunteered from 1956-1960. Consequently, I am eligible for the Royal British Legion medal for National Service. I was in the Royal Army Educational Corps, then seconded to West Africa (1958-1960). Then I was chosen for a civilian post at RMA Sandhurst. Ultimately, military service helped my main career.

Have you produced graduate students?

CHANDLER: I have helped several graduate students; more importantly, I have "trained-up" some 25 young lecturers at Sandhurst. I am proud of them.

Do you have plans for future research?

CHANDLER: That will depend on my illness. I hope to write more books on Marlborough; but honestly, I don't know; the same about lecturing. (I have many offers for both of them.) We shall have to see.

Who do you think are today's leading Napoleonic scholars/writers in the U.S. and abroad?

CHANDLER: USA: Today, I admire Harold T. Parker (as a special teacher and a speaker); I like very much Donald Horward; Col. John R. Elting (but his was the only "bad" review for Campaigns of Napoleon from 1966!!); and also Alan Schom. They are all good writers and friends as well.

[Letter: Additional Scholars/writers (Napoleon #9)],

England: I admire Dr. Alistaire Horne as a noble writer and as a friend; at RAMAS, Dr. C. J. Duffy was a friend for over thirty years. There is another good friend and writer, Paul Austin Britten; his three volumes on 1812 are superb to my mind. A very promising young man is Andrew Uffindell; I'll be surprised if he does not reach to the "dizzy heights". France: I greatly admire Professor Andre Corvisier.

Looking back over your education, preparation and career, would you change anything if you could relive it?

CHANDLER: Looking back, I have one slight sorrow: namely, that the French have still ignored me completely--doubtless as being regarded as a "perfidious Englishman". In a more perfect world, therefore, I would hope for the French to consider my writing on Napoleon and Marlborough. After all, I've read many, many copies of their books! Frankly. I don't know what I achieved (but surprisingly 400+ sent me cards when I was ill!).

Do you have any advice for young scholars just entering the field?

CHANDLER: To WORK HARD; be LOYAL; be SERIOUS but with FUN. I admire "IF ..." by Kipling.

Despite the fact that so much has already been written on the subject, what opportunities for research and popularization exist today?

CHANDLER: Endless opportunities--if people are willing to take their chances. Military History has NEVER been so popular for both academics and "buffs". The teaching of military history has flourished in both the United Kingdom and the U.S. since the war--long may it continue! Perhaps there has been some "lead" or "brass," but there is definitely some of definite "gold." All subjects have to be re-considered.

There are also some new aspects, for instance, the new 2,500 Napoleonic documents [becoming available from Norman Ross Publishing Inc., on microfiche] that have been discovered in Russia from the 1830s. This has been in the London press (See: The Sunday Times, 20 October 1996). The trouble is that "Boney's" writing is appalling! There may be a great deal of hard work for younger Napoleonic historians. It is really very interesting--and tempting!

Would you care to comment on the effect specialized professional organizations have had on French Revolutionary studies?

CHANDLER:The Consortium on Revolutionary Europe, 1750-1850 is very worthwhile. To my mind, the International Commission of Military History (of which I was Vice-President from 1980-94) is the most significant military history body at the moment, incorporating as it does members from over 35 nations, including the Chinese!

Would you like to talk about the re-enactment societies in which you are active?

CHANDLER: I am one of the oldest still-surviving founder members of "The Sealed Knot," a re-enactment society for the English Civil War period (roundheads and cavaliers). I am Honorary President of The Napoleonic Association in the U.K. (my personal favorite society), and of SOSKAN.

I am also a member of several other societies, including The Ermine Street Guard (ancient Romans), but I don't dress up for that one--I haven't got the legs for it! People often join historical re-enactment societies, or go to see them, for a bit of fun, but a fair proportion take things further, and become buffs in their chosen field, or even serious academics. It really can be a matter of bringing a horse to water and getting it to drink as well.

Are you familiar with any "wargames", on-line or off?

CHANDLER: I have enjoyed wargaming for many years, but don't play as much any more, partly because the rules have got so complicated these days that I just can't get to grips with them!

My old and revered friend Brigadier Peter Young (who alas, died ten years ago) taught me wargames in the 1960s. Then in 1970, I was invited to be Napoleon at a 48-hour wargame with over 5,000 figures and twelve players. I thought for a while, gave my orders, and then sat down, put my feet on a drum, pulled my Napoleon hat over my eyes, and fell asleep! And we won! Obviously, the key to successful command is using others carefully chosen for delegation!

Are you ready for me to conclude this interview?

CHANDLER: "PUBLISH AND BE DAMNED!" (as Wellington declared).

More Chandler:

Chandler's Napoleon The Man
Chandler's ROTC Speech (excerpt), 11 June 1970
Caricatures of Chandler
Nursemaid's Cautionary Song (1830)

Related Interviews:

Harold T. Parker

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