Editing J. F. C. Fuller

{{Short description|British Army general (1878–1966)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
 | name                 = John Frederick Charles Fuller
 | birth_date           = {{Birth date|1878|9|1|df=y}}
 | death_date           = {{Death date and age|1966|2|10|1878|9|1|df=y}}
 | birth_place          = [[Chichester]], [[West Sussex]], [[England]]
 | death_place          = [[Falmouth, Cornwall]], England
 | image                = JFC Fuller.jpg
 | caption              = 
 | nickname             = "Boney"
 | allegiance           = [[United Kingdom]]
 | branch               = [[British Army]]
 | serviceyears         = 1899–1933
 | servicenumber        = 16
 | rank                 = [[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major-general]]
 | commands             = [[14th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)|14th Infantry Brigade]]
 | unit                 = [[Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry]]
 | battles              = {{plainlist|
*[[Second Boer War]]
*[[World War I|First World War]]}}
 | awards               = {{plainlist|
*[[Order of the Bath|Companion of the Order of the Bath]]
*[[Order of the British Empire|Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
*[[Distinguished Service Order]]}}
 | laterwork            = Military historian, occultist, author
}}
{{Thelema}}
[[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major-General]] '''John Frederick Charles''' "'''Boney'''" '''Fuller''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CB|CBE|DSO}} (1 September 1878 – 10 February 1966) was a senior [[British Army]] [[Officer (armed forces)|officer]], [[military history|military historian]], and [[military strategy|strategist]], known as an early theorist of modern [[armoured warfare]], including categorising [[Principles of Warfare|principles of warfare]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite ODNB|title=Fuller, John Frederick Charles (1878–1966), army officer|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-33290|access-date=2021-06-21|year = 2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/33290|isbn = 978-0-19-861412-8}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Liddell Hart|first=Basil|date=16 February 1966|title=Maj.-Gen. J. F. C. Fuller|page=18|work=[[The Times]]|issue=56557}}</ref> With 45 books and many articles, he was a highly prolific author whose ideas reached army officers and the interested public. He explored the business of fighting, in terms of the relationship between warfare and social, political, and economic factors in the civilian sector. Fuller emphasised the potential of new weapons, especially tanks and aircraft, to stun a surprised enemy psychologically.

==Early life==
Fuller was born in [[Chichester]], [[West Sussex]], the son of Alfred Fuller (1832&ndash;1927), an Anglican clergyman, and Selma Marie Philippine (1847-
&ndash;1940), née de la Chevallerie. of French descent but raised in Germany. Alfred Fuller retired as rector of Itchenor and moved to Chichester, where his son was born.<ref>Friendship in Doubt- Aleister Crowley, J. F. C. Fuller, Victor B. Neuberg, and British Agnosticism, Richard Kaczynski, Oxford University Press, 2024, p. 11</ref><ref>Perdurabo- The Life of Aleister Crowley- The Definitive Biography of the Founder of Modern Magick, Richard Kaczynski, North Atlantic Books, 2002, p. 599</ref><ref>Tucker, Spencer C., ''The European Powers in the First World War: An Encyclopedia'', Routledge, 2013, {{ISBN|1-135-50701-5}}, p. 280</ref> After moving to [[Lausanne]] with his parents as a boy, he returned to England at the age of 11 without them; three years later, at "the somewhat advanced age of 14", he began attending [[Malvern College]]<ref name="Memoirs">Fuller, ''Memoirs of an Unconventional Soldier'', Ivor Nicholson and Watson Ltd., London, 1936, ch. 1</ref> and, later trained for an army career at the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]], from 1897 to 1898.<ref name=":0" /> His nickname of "Boney", which he was to retain, is said to have come either from an admiration for [[Napoleon Bonaparte]],<ref>Brian Holden Reid, ''J. F. C. Fuller: Military Thinker'', Macmillan, 1987, p. 3.</ref> or from an imperious manner combined with military brilliance which resembled Napoleon's.<ref>[[Trevor N. Dupuy]], Curt Johnson, David L. Bongard, ''[[Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography]]'', HarperCollins, 1992, p. 268</ref><ref name=":0" />

==Career==
Fuller was commissioned into the 1st Battalion of the [[Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry|Oxfordshire Light Infantry]] (the old [[43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot|43rd Foot]]) on 3 August 1898. He served in the [[Second Boer War]] in [[South Africa]] from December 1899 to 1902,<ref name=":0" /> and was promoted to [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|lieutenant]] on 24 February 1900 a couple of months after arriving there.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27179 |page=2198 |date=3 April 1900}}</ref> In the spring of 1904 Fuller was sent with his unit to India, where he contracted [[typhoid fever]] in autumn of 1905; he returned to England the next year on sick-leave, where he met the woman he married in December 1906.<ref name="Memoirs"/> Instead of returning to India, he was reassigned to [[Volunteer Force|Volunteer]] units in England, serving as [[adjutant]] to the 2nd South Middlesex Volunteers (amalgamated into the [[Kensington Regiment (Princess Louise's)|Kensingtons]] during the [[Haldane Reforms]]) and helping to form the new [[10th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment|10th Middlesex]]. Fuller later claimed that his position with the 10th Middlesex inspired him to study soldiering seriously.<ref>Ian F.W. Beckett, ''Riflemen Form: A Study of the Rifle Volunteer Movement 1859–1908'', Aldershot: Ogilby Trusts, 1982, {{ISBN|0-85936-271-X}}, p. 202.</ref><ref>Fuller, ''Memoirs of an Unconventional Soldier'', pp. 10-21.</ref> In 1913, he was accepted into the [[Staff College, Camberley]], starting work there in January 1914.<ref>A. J. Trythall,  ''"Boney" Fuller: The Intellectual General'' (1977)</ref>

During the [[World War I|First World War]], Fuller was a staff officer with the Home Forces and with [[VII Corps (United Kingdom)|VII Corps]] in France, and from 1916 in the Headquarters of the [[Machine-Gun Corps]]' Heavy Branch which was later to become the [[Royal Tank Regiment|Tank Corps]].<ref name=":0" /> He helped plan the tank attack at the 20 November 1917 [[Battle of Cambrai (1917)|Battle of Cambrai]] and the tank operations for the autumn offensives of 1918. His [[Plan 1919]] for a fully mechanised offensive against the German army was never implemented. After 1918, in January of which he was promoted to brevet lieutenant colonel,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30450|page=10|date=28 December 1917|supp=y}}</ref> he held various leading positions, notably as a commander of an experimental brigade at [[Aldershot]].<ref name=":1" />

After the war Fuller, who in January 1919 was promoted to brevet colonel in recognition of "valuable services rendered in connection with the War",<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31097|page=87|date=31 December 1918|supp=y}}</ref> collaborated with his colleague [[B. H. Liddell Hart]] in developing new ideas for the [[mechanisation]] of 
armies, launching a crusade for the mechanisation and modernisation of the British Army.<ref name=":0" /> Chief instructor at the [[Staff College, Camberley]] from 1923, he served at the War Office as a GSO1<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33135|page=1339|date=23 February 1926}}</ref> became military assistant to the chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1926. In what came to be known as the "Tidworth Incident", Fuller turned down the command of the [[Experimental Mechanized Force]], which was formed on 27 August 1927. The appointment also carried responsibility for a regular infantry brigade and the garrison of [[Tidworth Camp]] on [[Salisbury Plain]]. Fuller believed he would be unable to devote himself to the Experimental Mechanized Force and the development of mechanized warfare techniques without extra staff to assist him with the additional extraneous duties, which the [[War Office]] refused to allocate. He was promoted to major-general in 1930 and retired three years later to devote himself entirely to writing.<ref>Trythall,  ''"Boney" Fuller: The Intellectual General'' (1977)</ref>

==Retirement==
After retirement, Fuller served as a reporter during the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War|Italian invasion of Ethiopia]] (1935) and the [[Spanish Civil War]] (1936–1939). Impatient with what he considered the inability of democracy to adopt military reforms, Fuller became involved with Sir [[Oswald Mosley]] and the British [[fascist]] movement.<ref name=":1" /> As a member of the [[British Union of Fascists]] (BUF), he sat on the party's Policy Directorate and was considered one of Mosley's closest allies.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.oswaldmosley.com/j-f-c-fuller/| title = J.F.C. Fuller – OswaldMosley.com}}</ref> He was also a member of the clandestine [[far-right]] group the [[Nordic League]].<ref>Richard Thurlow, ''Fascism in Britain: A History, 1918–1985'', (1987), p. 80</ref><ref name=":1" />

Fuller's ideas on mechanised warfare continued to be influential in the lead-up to the Second World War, ironically less with his countrymen than with the [[Nazi Germany|Nazis]], notably [[Heinz Guderian]] who spent his own money to have Fuller's ''Provisional Instructions for Tank and Armoured Car Training'' translated.<ref name="atkin1990">{{cite book | title=Pillar of Fire: Dunkirk 1940 | publisher=Birlinn Limited | author=Atkin, Ronald | year=1990 | location=Edinburgh | page=26 | isbn=1-84158-078-3}}</ref> In the 1930s, the German [[Wehrmacht|Army]] implemented tactics similar in many ways to Fuller's analysis, which became known as [[Blitzkrieg]]. Like Fuller, theorists of Blitzkrieg partly based their approach on the theory that areas of large enemy activity should be bypassed to be eventually surrounded and destroyed. Blitzkrieg-style tactics were used by several nations throughout the Second World War, predominantly by the Germans in the invasion of Poland (1939), Western Europe (1940), and the Soviet Union (1941). While Germany and to some degree the Western Allies adopted Blitzkrieg ideas, they were not much used by the [[Red Army]], which developed its armored warfare doctrine based on [[deep operations]], which were developed by Soviet military theorists Marshal [[Tukhachevsky|M. N. Tukhachevsky]] et al. in the 1920s based on their experiences in the First World War and the [[Russian Civil War]].<ref name=":1" />

Fuller was the only foreigner present at Nazi Germany's first armed manoeuvres in 1935. Fuller frequently praised Adolf Hitler in his speeches and articles, once describing him as "that realistic idealist who has awakened the common sense of the British people by setting out to create a new Germany".<ref name="McKinstry">{{cite book|last=McKinstry|first=Leo|title=Operation Sealion|publisher=John Murray|year=2014|isbn=978-1-84854-704-9}} (p. 217)</ref> On 20 April 1939, Fuller was an honoured guest at Hitler's 50th birthday parade, watching as "for three hours a completely mechanised and motorised army roared past the Führer." Afterwards Hitler asked, "I hope you were pleased with your children?" Fuller replied, "Your Excellency, they have grown up so quickly that I no longer recognise them."<ref>{{Cite book
| publisher = Gotham
| isbn = 978-1-59240-222-9
| last = Boot
| first = Max
| title = War made new: technology, warfare, and the course of history, 1500 to today
| year = 2006
| url-access = registration
| url = https://archive.org/details/warmadenewtechno00boot
}}</ref>

During the [[Second World War]], 1939–1945, Fuller was under suspicion for his Nazi sympathies.<ref name=":1" /> At one meeting of the [[Right Club]], which had been set up in May 1939, Fuller, declared the need for "a bloody revolution" in Britain and added "I am ready to start one right away." In a plot organized by [[John Beckett (politician)|John Beckett]], Fuller was named as the Minister of Defense for a [[Quisling]] government.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Tate |first=Tim |date=2019-04-25 |title=Treason, Treachery and Pro-Nazi Activities by the British Ruling Classes During World War Two |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/99w0p17j |journal=CRWS Working Papers |language=en |pages=19–25}}</ref>

Fuller continued to speak out in favour of a peaceful settlement with Germany.<ref name="McKinstry" /> [[Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke|Alan Brooke]] (in his war diaries, p.&nbsp;201) comments that "the Director of Security called on him to discuss Boney Fuller and his Nazi activities", but Brooke commented that he did not think Fuller "had any unpatriotic intentions". Although he was not interned or arrested, he was the only officer of his rank not invited to return to service during the war. There was some suspicion that he was not incarcerated in May 1940 along with other leading officials of the BUF because of his association with General [[Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron Ironside|Edmund Ironside]] and other senior officers. Mosley himself admitted to "a little puzzlement" as to why Fuller had not been imprisoned.<ref name="McKinstry" /><ref name=":1" />

Ironside himself had been implicated as a potential leader of the coup, with Fuller telling retired Admiral [[Barry Domvile]], a fellow Nazi sympathizer, that "Ironside is with us." A fellow conspirator, Samuel Darwin-Fox, told an [[MI5]] agent that:<blockquote>"Italy would declare war almost immediately, that France would then give in and that Britain would follow before the end of the week. There would be a short civil war, the Government would leave first for Bristol and then for the Colonies, General Ironside would become dictator and after things had settled down Germany could do as she liked with Britain."<ref name=":2" /></blockquote>Fuller spent his last years believing that the wrong side had won the Second World War. He most fully announced that thesis in the 1961 edition of ''The Reformation of War''. There, he announced his belief that Hitler was the saviour of the West against the Soviet Union and denounced Churchill and Roosevelt for being too stupid to see so. Fuller died in [[Falmouth, Cornwall|Falmouth]], Cornwall, in 1966.<ref name=":0" />

==Military theories==
Fuller was a vigorous, expressive, and opinionated writer of [[military history]] and of controversial predictions of the future of war, publishing ''On Future Warfare'' in 1928. Seeing his teachings largely vindicated by the Second World War, he published ''Machine Warfare: An Enquiry into the Influence of Mechanics on the Art of War'' in 1942.

===''The Foundations of the Science of War'' (1926)===
Fuller is perhaps best known today for his "Nine Principles of War"<ref>''The Foundations of the Science of War'' (1926 ed.); Chapter IX, Section 6</ref> which have formed the foundation of much of modern military theory since the 1930s, and which were originally derived from a convergence of Fuller's mystical and military interests. The Nine Principles went through several iterations; Fuller stated that "the system evolved from six principles in 1912, rose to eight in 1915, to, virtually, nineteen in 1923, and then descended to nine in 1925".<ref name=Foundations>{{cite book|last=Fuller|first=J. F. C.|title=The Foundations of the Science of War|url=https://archive.org/details/foundationsofsci00jfcf|year=1926|publisher=Hutchinson|location=London}}</ref> For example, notice how his analysis of General Ulysses S. Grant was presented in 1929.<ref>{{cite book|author=J. F. C. Fuller|title=The Generalship of Ulysses S. Grant|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IZbfasAL1qUC&pg=PA13|year=1929|page=13ff|publisher=Hachette Books |isbn=978-0-306-80450-2}}</ref>

The United States Army modified Fuller's list and issued its first list of the principles of war in 1921, making it the basis of advanced training for officers into the 1990s, when it finally reconceptualised its training.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kevin Dougherty|title=The United States Military in Limited War: Case Studies in Success and Failure, 1945–1999|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hKbQ8iVzmFUC&pg=PA5|year=2012|publisher=McFarland|page=5|isbn=978-1-4766-0010-9}}</ref>

====The Nine Principles of War====
The '''Nine Principles''' involve the uses of force (combat power). They have been expressed in various ways, but Fuller's 1925 arrangement is as follows:

# '''Direction:''' What is the overall aim? Which objectives must be met to achieve the aim?
# '''Concentration:''' Where will the commander focus the most effort?
# '''Distribution:''' Where and how will the commander position their force?
# '''Determination:''' The will to fight, the will to persevere, and the will to win must be maintained.
# '''Surprise (Demoralisation of Force):''' The commander's ability to veil their intentions while discovering those of their enemy. Properly executed ''Surprise'' unbalances the enemy – causing Demoralisation of Force.
# '''Endurance:''' The force's resistance to pressure. This is measured by the force's ability to anticipate complications and threats. This is enhanced by planning on how best to avoid, overcome, or negate them and then properly educating and training the force in these methods.
# '''Mobility:''' The commander's ability to manoeuvre their force while outmanoeuvring the enemy's forces.
# '''Offensive Action (Disorganisation of Force):''' The ability to gain and maintain the initiative in combat. Properly executed ''Offensive Action'' disrupts the enemy - causing Disorganisation of Force.
# '''Security:''' The ability to protect the force from threats.

====Triads and Trichotomies====
Cabalistic influences on his theories can be shown by his use of the "[[Trichotomy (philosophy)|Law of Threes]]" throughout his work.<ref name="ReferenceA">''Foundations of the Science of War'' (1926 ed.); Chapter IX, Section 6</ref> Fuller did not believe the Principles stood alone as is thought today,<ref>''Foundations of the Science of War'' (1926 ed.); Chapter IX, Section 6; Diagrams 17, 18 & 19</ref> but that they complemented and overlapped each other as part of a whole, forming the [[Economy of force|Law of Economy of Force]].<ref>Foundations of the Science of War (1926 ed.); "be reduced to three groups, namely, principles of control, resistance, and pressure, and finally to one law – the law of economy of force".</ref>

====Organisation of Force====
These Principles were further grouped into the categories of ''Control'' (command / co-operation), ''Pressure'' (attack / activity) and ''Resistance'' (protection / stability). The Principles of Control guides the dual Principles of Pressure and of Resistance, which in turn create the Principles of Control.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
* '''Principles of Control (1, 4, & 7):''' Direction, Determination, & Mobility.
* '''Principles of Pressure (2, 5, & 8):''' Concentration, Surprise, & Offensive Action.
* '''Principles of Resistance (3, 6, & 9):''' Distribution, Endurance, & Security.

====The Unity of the Principles of War====
They were also grouped into Cosmic (''Spiritual''), Mental (''Mind / Thought / Reason''), Moral (''Soul / Sensations / Emotions''), and Physical (''Body / Musculature / Action'') Spheres, in which two Principles (like the double-edged point of an arrowhead) combine to create or manifest a third, which in turn guides the first and second Principles (like the fletches on an arrow's tail). Each Sphere leads to the creation of the next until it returns to the beginning and repeats the circular cycle with reassessments of the ''Object'' and ''Objective'' to redefine the uses of ''Force''. The Cosmic Sphere is seen as outside the other three Spheres, like the Heavens are outside the Realm of Man. They influence it indirectly in ways that cannot be controlled by the commander, but they are a factor in the use of Force. Force resides in the center of the pattern, as all of these elements revolve around it.<ref>''Foundations of the Science of War'' (1926 ed.); Chapter IX, Section 6; Diagram 17.</ref>
* '''Cosmic Sphere:''' Goal (''Object'') & Desire (''Objective'') = Method (''Economy of Force'')
** ''Goal'' is the overall purpose or aim of the mission (what Goals must the mission complete or achieve?).
** ''Desire'' concerns the priority of the achievement or acquisition of the Goal (how important and essential is the Goal to the overall mission effort?). 
** ''Method'' is how the forces available will carry out the mission (How much of the mission's force will be assigned - or are available – to accomplish the Goal?). 
* '''Mental Sphere (1, 2, & 3):''' Reason (''Direction'') & Imagination (''Concentration'') = Will (''Distribution'')
* '''Moral Sphere (4, 5, & 6):''' Fear (''Determination'') & Morale (''Surprise'') = Courage (''Endurance'')
* '''Physical Sphere (7, 8, & 9):''' Attack (''Offensive Action'') & Protection (''Security'') = Movement (''Mobility'')

These [[Principles of War]] have been adopted and further refined by the military forces of several nations, most notably within NATO, and continue to be applied widely to modern strategic thinking. Recently they have also been applied to business tactics<ref>
{{Citation
| publisher = Tactica
| last = McNeil
| first = Paul
| title = How to Apply Military Principles to High Value Sales Campaigns
| year = 2008
}}</ref> and hobby [[wargaming]].<ref>{{cite web
| last = Bigred
| title = 40K Tactics: Nine Principles of War
| work = Bell of Lost Souls
| access-date =21 December 2009
| date = 7 October 2009
| url = http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2009/10/40k-tactics-nine-principles-of-war-pt-1.html
}}</ref>

===''Lectures on Field Service Regulations III'' (1932)===
Fuller also had a knack for [[aphorisms]], witness: "To attack the nerves of an army, and through its nerves the will of its commander, is more profitable than battering to pieces the bodies of its men."<ref name=mwimw>{{Cite web |publisher=Modern War Institute |first=Paul |last=Barnes |url=https://mwi.usma.edu/maneuver-warfare-reports-of-my-death-have-been-greatly-exaggerated/ | title=Maneuver Warfare: "Reports of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated" | date=9 March 2021 }}</ref> His ''Lectures'' have attracted much attention over the course of decades, with one staff writer even going so far as to extend his vision of the tank as "master-weapon" to say that the helicopter not the tank would be the chief determinant of success on the battlefield from the late 20th century.<ref name="coroalles88">{{cite news |last1=Coroalles |first1=Anthony M. |title=Lectures on FSR III Revisited: The Tactical Thought of J.F.C. Fuller Applied to Future War |work=Fort Leavenworth, Kansas |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA191435.pdf |publisher=School of Advanced Military Studies U.S. Army Command and General Staff College |date=4 January 1988}}</ref>

The book was carefully read by General [[Heinz Guderian]] of later [[Blitzkrieg]] fame and at the time Germany's foremost tank expert. The [[Soviet Army]] initially issued 30,000 copies of it and designated it as a table book for all Red Army officers. Later, the Soviets increased publication to 100,000 volumes. In Czechoslovakia, it became the standard reference for the teaching of mechanized warfare at their staff college. Ironically, in Britain only 500 copies were sold by 1935 while in the United States, the [[Infantry Journal]] received a copy at the time of publishing but failed to review it.<ref name=coroalles88/>

===''Armament and History (1945)''===
Fuller also developed the idea of the ''Constant Tactical Factor''. This states that every improvement in warfare is checked by a counter-improvement, causing the advantage to shift back and forth between the offensive and the defensive. Fuller's firsthand experience in the First World War saw a shift from the defensive power of the machine gun to the offensive power of the tank.<ref name=":1" />

==Magic and mysticism==
Fuller had an [[occultist]] side that oddly mixed with his military side. He was an early disciple of English poet and magician [[Aleister Crowley]], and was very familiar with his and other forms of [[magick (Aleister Crowley)|magick]] and [[Great Work (Thelema)|mysticism]]. While serving in the [[Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry#Operations across the Empire (1881–1914)|First Oxfordshire Light Infantry]] he had entered and won a contest to write the best review of Crowley's poetic works, after which it turned out that he was the only entrant. This essay was later published in book form in 1907 as ''The Star in the West''. After this he became an enthusiastic supporter of Crowley, joining his magical order, the [[A∴A∴]]., within which he became a leading member, editing order documents and its journal, ''[[The Equinox]]''. During this period he wrote ''The Treasure House of Images'', edited early sections of Crowley's magical autobiography ''The Temple of Solomon the King'' and produced highly regarded paintings dealing with A∴A∴ teachings: these paintings have been used in recent years as the covers of the journal's revival, ''The Equinox, Volume IV''.<ref>{{Cite book
| publisher = Red Wheel/Weiser
| isbn = 978-0-87728-888-6
| last = Crowley
| first = Aleister
| others = Hymenaeus. Beta (ed.)
| title = Commentaries on the Holy Books and Other Papers: The Equinox v.4, No.1
| date = October 1996
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book
| publisher = Red Wheel/Weiser
| isbn = 978-0-87728-906-7
| last = Crowley
| first = Aleister
| others = Hymenaeus. Beta (ed.)
| title = The Vision and the Voice - With Commentary and Other Papers: The Equinox v.4, No.2
| date = December 1999
| title-link = The Vision and the Voice
}}</ref>

After the April 1911<ref>{{cite book |last1=Churton |first1=Tobias |title=Aleister Crowley in America: Art, Espionage, and Sex Magick in the New World |year=2017 |publisher=Inner Traditions |isbn=978-1-62055-630-6}}</ref> ''Jones vs. The Looking Glass'' case, in which a great deal was made of Aleister Crowley's [[bisexuality]] (although Crowley himself was not a party to the case), Fuller became worried that his association with Crowley might be a hindrance to his career. Crowley writes in chapter 67 of his book, ''[[The Confessions of Aleister Crowley]]'':

{{blockquote|
...to my breathless amazement he fired pointblank at my head a document in which he agreed to continue his co-operation on condition that I refrain from mentioning his name in public or private under penalty of paying him a hundred pounds for each such offence. I sat down and poured in a broadside at close quarters.

"My dear man," I said in effect, "do recover your sense of proportion, to say nothing of your sense of humour. Your contribution, indeed! I can do in two days what takes you six months, and my real reason for ever printing your work at all is my friendship for you. I wanted to give you a leg up the literary ladder. I have taken endless pain to teach you the first principles of writing. When I met you, you were not so much as a fifth-rate journalist, and now you can write quite good prose with no more than my blue pencil through two out of every three adjectives, and five out of every six commas. Another three years with me and I will make you a master, but please don't think that either I or the Work depend on you, any more than [[J.P. Morgan]] depends on his favourite clerk."<ref>{{Cite book
| publisher = Arkana
| isbn = 978-0-14-019189-9
| last = Crowley
| first = Aleister
| title = The Confessions of Aleister Crowley
| location = London
| year = 1989
| title-link = The Confessions of Aleister Crowley
}}</ref>
}}

After this, contact between the two men faded rapidly. The front pages of the 1913 issues of the ''Equinox'' (Volume 1, nos. 9 and 10), which gave general directions to A∴A∴ members, included a notice on the subject of Fuller, who was described as a "former Probationer";<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.the-equinox.org/vol1/no9/eqi09000.html |title=Sun in Aries: Frontpages |journal=The Equinox |volume=1 |number=9 |date=March 1913 |access-date=2014-06-30}}</ref> the notice disparaged Fuller's magical accomplishments and warned A∴A∴ members to accept no magical training from him. However, Fuller continued to be fascinated with [[occult]] subjects and in later years he would write about topics such as the [[Qabalah]] and [[yoga]]. During the mid-1940s, Charles Richard Cammell (author of ''Aleister Crowley: The Man, The Mage, The Poet'') met with Fuller and reported his views about Crowley: "I have heard an eminent personage, General J.F.C. Fuller, a man famous in arms and letters, one who has known the greatest statesmen, warriors, dictators, of our age, declare solemnly that the most extraordinary genius he ever knew was Crowley." After the Second World War and Crowley's death, Fuller wrote a letter to Edward Noel FitzGerald stating: "Crowley was a genuine avatar, but I don't think he knew it, but I do think he senses it in an emotional way." (17 September 1949)<ref>Marco Pasi. (2014). ''Aleister Crowley and the Temptation of Politics'', Acumen Publishing Limited, Durham, p.71</ref>

==Works==
Fuller was a prolific writer and published more than 45 books.<ref name=Trythall>{{cite book|last=Trythall|first=A.J.|title="Boney" Fuller: The Intellectual General|url=https://archive.org/details/boneyfullerintel0000tryt|url-access=registration|year=1977|publisher=Cassell|location=London|isbn=978-0-933852-98-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/boneyfullerintel0000tryt/page/314 314]}}</ref>

'''Books on Warfare'''
* ''Tanks in the Great War, 1914-1918'' (New York: [[E.P. Dutton and Company]], 1920) [https://archive.org/details/cu31924027835168 read online]
* ''The Reformation of War'' (London: Hutchinson and Company, 1923) [https://archive.org/details/reformationofwar00fulluoft/mode/2up read online]
* ''The Foundations of the Science of War''. (London: Hutchinson and Company, 1926) [https://archive.org/details/foundationsofsci00jfcf read online]
* ''On Future Warfare'' (London: Sifton, Praed & Company, 1928)
* ''India in Revolt'' (London: Eyre & Spottiswood, 1931) [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.54575 read online]
* ''The Dragon's Teeth: A Study of War and Peace'' (London: Constable and Company, 1932) [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.284259 read online]
* ''Lectures on Field Service Regulations III'' (1932) [https://web.archive.org/web/20150924041115/http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA191435 analysis]
* ''The First of the [[League of Nations|League]] Wars: A Study of the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War|Abyssinian War]], Its Lessons and Omens'' (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1936) [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000173811 read online]
* ''Generalship: Its Diseases and Their Cure: A Study of the Personal Factor in Command'' (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Military Service Publishing Company, 1936) [https://archive.org/details/GeneralshipItsDiseasesAndTheirCure read online]
* ''Decisive Battles: Their Influence upon History and Civilisation'' (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940, 1060 p.)
* ''Machine Warfare: An Enquiry into the Influence of Mechanics on the Art of War'' (London: Hutchinson, 1942)
* ''Warfare Today; How Modern Battles are Planned and Fought on Land, at Sea, and in the Air'' - joint editors: J.F.C. Fuller, Admiral Sir [[Reginald Bacon]], and Air Marshal Sir [[Patrick Playfair]] (London: Odham's Press Ltd., 1944) [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006194086?type%5B%5D=author&lookfor%5B%5D=%22Fuller%2C%20J.%20F.%20C.%201878-1966.%22 read online]
* ''Armament and History: The Influence of Armament on History from the Dawn of Classical Warfare to the End of the Second World War'' (London: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1945) 
* ''The Second World War, 1939-1945: A Strategical and Tactical History'' (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1948) 
* ''The Decisive Battles of the Western World and Their Influence upon History'' (3 vols.) (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1954–1956); it is - as described in its preface - a substantial revision of the 1940 edition. The U.S. ed. is ''A Military History of the Western World'' (3 vols.) (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1954–1957; republished by New York: Da Capo Press, 1987–8). A 2-volume edition, abridged by [[John Terraine]] to omit battles outside the European continent, was published in 1970 by Picador.
** ''Volume 1: From the Earliest Times to the [[Battle of Lepanto]]''
** ''Volume 2: From the Defeat of the [[Spanish Armada]] to the [[Battle of Waterloo]]
** ''Volume 3: From the American Civil War to the End of the Second World War''
* ''The Conduct of War, 1789-1961: A Study of the Impact of the French, Industrial, and Russian Revolutions on War and Its Conduct'' ([[Rutgers University Press]], 1961) 
** v. 1; {{ISBN|0-306-80304-6}}.
** v. 2; {{ISBN|0-306-80305-4}}.
** v. 3; {{ISBN|0-306-80306-2}}.
'''Biography'''
* ''The Generalship of [[Ulysses S. Grant]]'' (London: John Murray, 1929)
* ''[[Ulysses S. Grant|Grant]] & [[Robert E. Lee|Lee]]: A Study in Personality and Generalship'' (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1933) [https://archive.org/details/grantleestudyinp00full read online]
* ''Memoirs of an Unconventional Soldier'' (London: Nicholson & Watson, 1936) [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.77218 read online]
* [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000573486?type%5B%5D=author&lookfor%5B%5D=%22Fuller%2C%20J.%20F.%20C.%201878-1966.%22 ''The Generalship of Alexander the Great''] (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1958).
* ''[[Julius Caesar]]: Man, Soldier and Tyrant'' (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1965) 
* {{Cite book
| publisher = New Falcon Publications, U.S.
| isbn = 978-1-56184-074-8
| last = Fuller
| first = J. F. C.
|author2=Aleister Crowley
| others = James Wasserman (ed.)
| title = The Pathworkings of Aleister Crowley: The Treasure House of Images
| year = 1994
}}

'''Books on Occultism'''
* ''The Star in The West: A Critical Essay Upon the Works of [[Aleister Crowley]]'' (London: Walter Scott Publishing Co., 1907) [https://archive.org/details/cu31924013603455 read online]
* ''[[Yoga]]: A Study of the Mystical Philosophy of the [[Brahmin]]s and [[Buddhist]]s'' (London: W. Rider, 1925)
* ''[[Atlantis]], America and the Future''. (London: Kegan Paul, 1925)
* ''Pegasus'' (New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, 1926)
* ''The Secret Wisdom of the [[Qabalah]]: A Study in Jewish Mystical Thought'' (London: W. Rider & Co., 1937) [https://web.archive.org/web/20180819100026/http://www.hermetics.org/pdf/Qabalah.pdf read online]

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{Reflist}}

'''Further reading'''
* Gat, Azar. ''Fascist and Liberal Visions of War: Fuller, Liddell Hart, Douhet, and Other Modernists'' (1998)
* Harris, J. P. ''Men, Ideas, and Tanks: British Military Thought and Armoured Forces, 1903-1939'' (Manchester University Press, 1995).
* Higham, Robin D. ''The military intellectuals in Britain, 1918-1939'' (Rutgers University Press, 1966).
* Holden Reid, Brian. ''J.F.C. Fuller: Military Thinker'' (1987) 
* Larson, Robert H. ''The British Army and the Theory of Armored Warfare, 1918-1940'' (U of Delaware Press, 1984).
* Luvaas, Jay. ''The Education of an Army: British Military Thought, 1815–1940'' (U of Chicago Press. 1964) Pp. xi, 454.
* Messenger, Charles, ed. ''Reader's Guide to Military History'' (2001), pp 182–84; Historiography
* {{citation |last=Searle |first=Alaric |title=Was there a 'Boney' Fuller after the Second World War? Major-General J. F. C. Fuller as Military Theorist and Commentator, 1945-1966 |journal=War in History | volume=11 |number=3 |date=July 2004 |pages=327–357 |doi=10.1191/0968344504wh303oa |s2cid=162738505 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1191/0968344504wh303oa}} 
* Searle, D. A. "Churchill-By a highly critical contemporary: JFC Fuller's assessment of Winston Churchill as grand strategist, 1939-1945." ''Global War Studies'' 12.2 (2015).
* Trythall, A.J. ''"Boney" Fuller: The Intellectual General'' (London, 1977)
* {{citation |last=Urban |first= Mark |title=Generals; Ten British Commanders Who Shaped The World |location= London |date=2005 |isbn=9780571224852 |publisher= Faber and Faber }} the chapter on Fuller is available as a [https://web.archive.org/web/20070621144641/http://faber.lateral.net/media/files/medialibrary_34184.pdf downloadable PDF]
*{{cite thesis |last= Watson |first= Mason W. |title='Not Italian or German, but British in Character': JFC Fuller and the Fascist Movement in Britain. | publisher= William and Mary College |type=BA |series=Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 485 |url= 
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/485 |date=2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200709085333/https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1494&context=honorstheses |archive-date=2020-07-09 |url-status=live }}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* {{PM20|FID=pe/005719}}
* {{Gutenberg author|id=45551}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=J. F. C. Fuller}}

For examples of the use of Fuller's campaign theories in the business world see:
* [http://www.tactica.org.uk/10.html "How to Apply Military Principles to High Value Sales Campaigns,"]
For examples of Fuller's occult books and pamphlets see:
* [http://www.astrumargenteum.org/en/library/j-f-c-fuller/ "A.'.A.'. The J.F.C Fuller Collection,"]
For examples of Fuller's fascist essays and pamphlets see:
* [https://www.stevenbooks.co.uk/publications/fascism-and-war/ "Fascism and War"]
* [https://www.stevenbooks.co.uk/publications/march-to-sanity/ "March to Sanity"]
* [https://www.sanctuarypress.com/bookshop/fascist-voices-vol-1/ "The Fascist Attitude to War"]

{{UK far right}}
{{Thelema series}}

{{Authority control}}

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