Fighting Mac: The Downfall of Major-General Sir Hector Macdonald - Softcover

Royle, Trevor

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1840187891 ISBN 13: 9781840187892

Publisher: Mainstream Publishing, 2003

Synopsis

On a spring morning in 1903, Major-General Sir Hector Macdonald, one of Britain's greatest military heroes, took his life in a hotel room in Paris. A few days later he was buried hastily in an Edinburgh cemetery as his fellow countrymen tried to come to terms with the fact that one of Scotland's most famous soldiers had ended his life rather than face charges against his character. The suicide and its aftermath created a national scandal and one which still reverberates long after those dramatic events—it is now clear that the official files dealing with his case, the papers of the Judge Advocate, have been destroyed. Fighting Mac tells the true story behind his disgrace and sheds new light on the myths and legends which grew up after his death. It also provides a compelling insight into what it was like for a ranker like Macdonald to enter the privileged territory of the officers mess in an elite Highland regiment, The Gordon Highlanders. Finally it examines the political and military background to Queen Victoria's little wars of empire and the conditions facing the ordinary soldier at home and abroad.

About this title

About the Author

Trevor Royle has built up an outstanding reputation as an historian of war and empire. His recent books include bestselling accounts of the end of the empire in Africa and India, a controversial biography of the Chindit leader Orde Wingate and CRIMEA: THE GREAT CRIMEAN WAD 1854-1856, a groundbreaking history of the war in the Crimea. He lives in Edinburgh.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mainstream Publishing
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1840187891
• ISBN 13: 9781840187892
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176