The decline and fall of the British Empire - University of Oregon

of the British Empire 43
returning to read so-called Modern
History, including strategy, at their
University they were not permitted
to study for the B.A. degree any
campaign which could have the
slightest bearing upon modern warfare.*
Questions were set them
upon the disposition of troops at the
battles of Bannockburn or Crecy,
and they were expected to be able
to draw sketch maps to illustrate
the Wars of the Roses, but such books
as Stonewall Jackson and such cam-
paigns as the American Civil War or
the Indian Frontier afforded were con-
sidered to be too near the unpoetical
present to be studied by future
leaders of their country. Can we be
altogether surprised that statesmen
trained under these conditions knew
more about golf-sticks than rifles,
and more about Parliamentary
tactics than the military requirements
of an Empire ? In the same
* See Oxford University Examination Statutes*