Fuller, J F C

Fuller, J(ohn) F(rederick) C(harles)

(born Sept. 1, 1878, Chichester, Sussex, Eng.—died Feb. 10, 1966, Falmouth, Cornwall) British military theoretician and historian. He served as chief of staff of the British tank corps in World War I. He planned the surprise attack of 381 tanks at the Battle of Cambrai (Nov. 20, 1917), the first massed tank assault in history. After the war he launched a crusade for the mechanization and modernization of the British army. His emphasis on the armoured offensive met with resistance among English military tacticians, but his teachings were largely vindicated in World War II. His works include Tanks in the Great War (1920), Machine Warfare (1942), and A Military History of the Western World (1954–56).