Cyril Falls [Capt.]

Life
1888-1971 [Cyril Bentham Falls]; b. 2 March, Dublin, ed. Portora Royal College, Bradfield College, and London University; served in WWI as capt. on the General Staff of 36th (Ulster) Division; continued on as regular soldier, 1923-39; worked on the team preparing the official history of World War I; appt. military correspondent for The Times 1939-53; Chichele Professor of the History of War and Fellow of All Souls, Oxford, 1946–53; his Irish books inc. The History of the 36th (Ulster) Division (1922); Elizabeth’s Irish Wars (1950), and Mountjoy, Elizabethan General; (1955); regular contributor to Illustrated London News; he contributed a piece on contribute piece on Gen. [Sir] John Maxwell to Leaders and Men of the Easter Rising, ed. F. X. Martin; latter years marked by softening attitude towards Stuart monarchy; contrib. prefaces and intro. to num. other works; d. Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, 23 April; an obit. appeared in Irish Book Lover on 12 Aug. 1972. DIW DIB DUB RIA

[ There is an entry on Cyril Falls by Patrick Maume in Dictionary of Irlsh Biography - online; accessed 04.10.2024. ]

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Works
  • The History of the 36th (Ulster) Division (1922; facs. rep. 1998).
  • The Critic’s Armoury (1924), 224pp.[review-essay collection].
  • War Books: A Critical Guide (1930); Do., rep. as War Books: An Annotated Bibliography of Books about the Great War, with a new introduction and additional entries by R. J. Wyatt.(London: Greenhill, 1989) [condemning the ‘dehumanised’ tendency in common view of WWI soldiers].
  • The Birth of Ulster (London: Methuen 1936); Do., [rep. of 1963 edn.] (London: Methuen; NY: Barnes & Noble 1973), xv, 271pp.; Do. [rep.] (London: Constable 1996), 271pp.; and Do. [rep. edn.] (London: Constable 1997), 304pp.
  • Elizabeth’s Irish Wars (London: Methuen 1950), 362pp. [7 ills.], and Do. [rep. edn.] (London: Constable 1997), 378pp
  • and Mountjoy, Elizabethan General (London: Odhams 1955), 256pp.
  • The Great War, 1914–1918 (London: Capricorn Books 1959), 447pp.
  • The First World War (London: Longmans [1960]), xxiv, 421pp., ill. [ports., maps; incls. Book List. pp.404-08].
  • The Art of War: from the Age of Napoleon to the Present Say (Oxford: OUP 1961), 240pp.
  • A Hundred Years of War, 1850-1950, with 20 maps by B. G. Lewis (NY:: Collier Books [1962]), 480pp.
  • Armageddon 1918 (London: Lippincott 1966), 200pp. [concerns so-named battle fought at Megiddo in Palestine, 1918].
See also:
  • The History of the First Seven Battalions, the Royal Irish Rifles, (now the Royal Ulster Rifles) in the Great War (1925) [being Volume 2] by Captain Cyril Falls [other vols. by Lt. Col. G. B. Laurie and Charles Graves].
  • ed., Great Military Battles (London & NY: Spring Books 1969), 304pp., ill. [facs., maps, plans, ports. - some col.]; 33cm. [see details].

Bbiliographical details
ed., Great Military Battles (London & NY: Spring Books 1969), 304pp., ill. [facs., maps, plans, ports. - some col.]; 33cm. [orig. 1964; 4th impression 1972]. CONTENTS - Introduction; Rocroi, 1643; Blenheim, 1704; Poltava, 1709; Fontenoy, 1745; Rossbach, 1757; Quebec, 1759; Bunker Hill, 1775; Saratoga, 1777; Yorktown, 1781; Jena, 1806; Borodino, 1812; Waterloo, 1815; Balaclava, 1854; First Bull Run, 1861; Gettysburg, 1863; Gravelotte; Saint-Prevat, 1870; Port Arthur, 1904; Tannenberg, 1914; The Marne, 1914; Suvla Bay, 1915; Caporetto, 1917; The crossing of the Meuse, 1940; Stalingrad, 1942; Alamein, 1942; Guadalcanal, 1942; Saint-Lô; Falaise, 1944; The Ardennes, 1944. [New section:] David Chandler, The development of fortifications; A.E. Haswell Miller, The development of uniforms; Peter Young, The development of tactics; O.F.G. Hogg, The development of artillery; H. L. Blackmore, The development of small arms.

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Criticism
Review of Elizabeth’s Irish Wars, in The Irish Book Lover, Vol. XXXI, (Nov. 1951), p.135; Rory Brennan, review of Birth of Ulster and Elizabeth’s Irish Wars, in Books Ireland (Sept. 1997, p.217 [both characterised in terms of the relentless sneer of paternalistic colonialism.]; Ian Paisley Jr., ‘A Vision of Ulster’, review of The Birth of Ulster in Irish News (13 April 1998) [available online].

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References
Emerald Isle Books (Cat. 95) lists Birth of Ulster (London 1956) [sic]; Elizabeth’s Irish Wars (London 1950). Cathach Bks, (Cat. 12) lists Elizabeth’s Irish Wars (London Methuen 1950), 362pp.

Belfast Public Library holds The Birth of Ulster (1936) [err?]; Elizabeth’s Irish Wars (1950); History of the 36th Ulster Division (1922); History of the Royal Irish Rifles (1925); Mountjoy, Elizabethan General (1955).

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