Blood, Sweat and Arrogance

Blood, Sweat and Arrogance examines Britain’s military performance in the Second World War and asks why a country that emerged victorious from 1918 entered the next European conflict so poorly prepared for modern land warfare. Corrigan traces interwar policy, training, equipment and doctrine before following the defeats and recoveries that carried British forces from 1939 to final victory.

At the centre is a deliberately critical reassessment of leadership. Corrigan questions Winston Churchill’s interference in operations and challenges the post-war reputations of senior commanders including Bernard Montgomery, while also considering the institutional failures that no individual could explain alone. The result is an argumentative military history of how Britain learned, adapted and survived until Allied industrial power and Soviet victories shifted the balance decisively.