Book description
On a spring morning in 1903, Major-General Sir Hector Macdonald, one of
Britain's greatest military heroes, took his life in a hotel room in
Paris. A few days later he was buried hastily in an Edinburgh cemetary
as his fellow countrymen tried to come to terms with the fact that one
of Scotland's most famous soldiers had ended his life rather than face
charges against his character. The suicide and its aftermath created a
national scandal and one which still reverberates long after those
dramatic events - it is now clear that the official files dealing with
his case, the papers of the Judge Advocate have been destroyed.
Macdonald or 'Fighting Mac' as he was known to an adoring public, was no
ordinary soldier. A crofter's son who had risen from the ranks in the
Victorian army, he covered himself with glory during a long and
successful military career and in 1898 was widely acknowledged as the
true hero of the Battle of Omdurman, which cemented British Imperial
rule in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Everything lay at his feet - a knighthood,
honours, the respect of fellow generals such as Roberts and Kitchener -
but Macdonald's career came to a shocking full stop when he stood
accused of homosexuality and was ordered to face a court martial. Unable
to come to terms with the disgrace, he committed suicide. That should
have been the end of his story but so powerful was the myth created by
Fighting Mac that people refused to believe he was dead. Soon rumours
were circulating that Macdonald had faked his death and had adopted the
persona of a prominent Prussian officer, the future Field Marshal August
con Mackensen, one of Germany's great leaders during the First World
War. FIGHTING MAC tells the true story behind his disgrace and sheds new
light on the myths.... Trevor Royle has built up an outstanding
reputation as an historian of war and empire. His recent books include
bestselling accounts of the end of the empire in Africa and India, a
controversial biography of the Chindit leader Orde Wingate and CRIMEA:
THE GREAT CRIMEAN WAR 1854-6, a groundbreaking history of the war in the
Crimea. He lives in Edinburgh.
