Tedder: Quietly in Command: 8 (Studies in Air Power) - Softcover

Orange, Vincent

Softcover

ISBN 10: 071464367X ISBN 13: 9780714643670

Publisher: Routledge, 2006

Synopsis

Arthur Tedder became one of the most eminent figures of the Second World War: first as head of Anglo-American air forces in the Middle East, the Mediterranean and North Africa; then as Deputy Supreme Commander to General Eisenhower for the Allied campaign that began in Normandy and ended in Berlin. During those anxious, exhilarating years, he was, as The Times of London wrote, 'the most unstuffy of great commanders, who could be found sitting cross-legged, jacketless, pipe smoldering, answering questions on a desert airstrip.'

After the war, promoted to five-star rank and elevated to the peerage as Lord Tedder, he was made Chief of the Air Staff, holding this appointment for longer than anyone since his time: four critical years (from 1946 to 1949) that saw the tragic start of the Cold War and the inspiring achievement of the Berlin Airlift. In 1950, he became Britain's NATO representative in Washington: a year that saw the start of a hot war in Korea that threatened to spread around the globe.

This book provides the first comprehensive account of a great commander's public career and uses hundreds of family letters to portray a private life, both joyful and tragic.

About this title

Review

'In some ways Tedder was the most important leader you never heard of. Vincent Orange has ably filled a need for a comprehansive biography of Tedder, for surprisingly none has existed until now.'

Dean Calcott, The Press, Christchurch.

'Vincent Orange has done his subject full justice in this magnificent biography. It is written with authority, is eminently readable and will have wide appeal to general readers of non-fiction, not just to those interested in war history.'

Dean Calcott, The Press, Christchurch.

'Vincent Orange's eagerly awaited study - Tedder: Quietly in Command - will ... be welcomed throughout the military history community, and particularly by students of air power history.'

Sebastian Ritchie, RAF Air Power Review, vol. 7, no. 4 (Winter 2004)

'In this very important and highly readable biography, Vincent Orange sets himself the difficult task of portrayin g tedder ther amn - childhood, character, and private life - as well as Teddr the commander ... the result is an eminently balanced narrative which succeeds in its principal objective.'

Sebastian Ritchie, RAF Air Power Review, vol. 7, no. 4 (Winter 2004)

'The lessons that it contains on joint and coalition warfare remain supremely relevant to today's commanders.'

Sebastian Ritchie, RAF Air Power Review, vol. 7, no. 4 (Winter 2004)

'Adds much to our understanding of the British and Allied High Commands in the Second World War, of relations between Allied high commanders, and of the top-level direction of operations.'

Sebastian Ritchie, RAF Air Power Review, vol. 7, no. 4 (Winter 2004)

'Vincent Orange's biography deserves to be widely read both as a fresh accountt of Tedder's career in the Royal Air Force, and as a superbly written portrait of one of the war's most remarkable and underappreciated men.'

Carlo D'Este, Journal of Military History     

'Vincent Orange, whose previous biographies of Arthur Coningham and Keith Park established him as a major authority on the Royal Air Force in World War II. has produced a masterly biography of a complex individual who rose to the highest command.'

Carlo D'Este, Journal of Military History    

  

 

About the Author

Orange was born in 1935, in Shildon, County Durham and was educated at St. Mary's Grammar School, in Darlington, and at Hull University. Orange served in the Royal Air Force from 1953 to 1956. In 1962 he went to live in New Zealand and taught History at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch until he retired in 2002. His influence as an air power scholar is well known. His former students include prominent United Kingdom scholars Dr Joel Hayward and Dr Christina Goulter as well as Dr Adam Claasen of Massey University and Dr Andrew Conway of King's College London. Orange is married to Sandra, and has a stepdaughter Sarah.

Williamson Murray is Professor Emeritus in the Department of History at Ohio State University and the Ambassador Anthony D. Marshall Chair of Strategic Studies at Marine Corps University, as well as a defense consultant and commentator on historical and military subjects in Washington, DC. His most recent books are Successful Strategies (edited with Richard Hart Sinnreich) and The Iran-Iraq War (written with Kevin Woods), both published by Cambridge in 2014, and War, Strategy, and Military Effectiveness and Military Adaptation in War, both published by Cambridge in 2011. He is co-editor of numerous books of military and international history, including Hybrid Warfare (with Peter Mansoor, Cambridge, 2012), The Shaping of Grand Strategy (with Richard Hart Sinnreich and James Lacey, Cambridge, 2011), The Making of Peace (with James Lacey, Cambridge, 2008), The Past as Prologue (with Richard Hart Sinnreich, Cambridge, 2006), The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300 2050 (with MacGregor Knox, Cambridge, 2001), Military Innovation in the Interwar Period (with Allan R. Millett, Cambridge, 1996), and The Making of Strategy (with Alvin Bernstein and MacGregor Knox, Cambridge, 1994).

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 071464367X
• ISBN 13: 9780714643670
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 484