Liddell Hart, Sir Basil

Liddell Hart, Sir Basil (Henry)

(born Oct. 31, 1895, Paris, France—died Jan. 29, 1970, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, Eng.) British military historian and strategist. He left Cambridge University to join the British army at the outbreak of World War I and retired as a captain in 1927. He was an early advocate of air power and mechanized tank warfare. He wrote for London newspapers from 1925 to 1945. His writings on strategy, which emphasized the elements of mobility and surprise, were more influential in Germany than in France or England; his “expanding torrent” theory of attack became the basis for German blitzkrieg warfare in 1939–41. The author of more than 30 books, he was knighted in 1966.