At 12 Mr. Byng was Shot

Rating:
Summary: Pour Encourager Les Autres
Review: The execution (or, as Dudley Pope argues, judicial murder) of Admiral Byng, is one of the most famous firing-squad executions of all time. In the opening rounds of the Seven Years' War, Byng's fleet was sent out to defend Port Mahon on the Mediterranean island of Minorca, then a British colony. Not only was he too late to prevent the forces of the Duke de Richelieu from invading; he was also unable to engage fully the French fleet sailing off the island. For supposed cowardice during this supposedly failed naval engagement, he was court-martialled for cowwardice and shot. As one of Voltaire's characters remarked ironically in Candide, "There is no doubt of that; but in this country it is found requisite, now and then, to put an admiral to death, in order to encourage the others to fight."

In a painstaking reconstruction of both the battle and the judicial proceedings, Pope argues conviningly that Byng ought never to have been charged with cowardice, and that his fleet's engagement was, at worst, inconclusive and that even the French side was highly complimentary of Byng's courage during the battle. More than that, the subsequent trial was orchestrated by Byng's enemies (and the bench packed) in such a way that Byng stood no chance. Finally, the cantankerous King George II was highly vindictive in his determination not to grant clemency and commute Byng's punishment after sentence of death was passed. A gripping retelling of one of British naval history's most infamous chapters - and a passionate defense of a man wrongly accused.

Rating:
Summary: Pour Encourager Les Autres
Review: The execution (or, as Dudley Pope argues, judicial murder) of Admiral Byng, is one of the most famous firing-squad executions of all time. In the opening rounds of the Seven Years' War, Byng's fleet was sent out to defend Port Mahon on the Mediterranean island of Minorca, then a British colony. Not only was he too late to prevent the forces of the Duke de Richelieu from invading; he was also unable to engage fully the French fleet sailing off the island. For supposed cowardice during this supposedly failed naval engagement, he was court-martialled for cowwardice and shot. As one of Voltaire's characters remarked ironically in Candide, "There is no doubt of that; but in this country it is found requisite, now and then, to put an admiral to death, in order to encourage the others to fight."

In a painstaking reconstruction of both the battle and the judicial proceedings, Pope argues conviningly that Byng ought never to have been charged with cowardice, and that his fleet's engagement was, at worst, inconclusive and that even the French side was highly complimentary of Byng's courage during the battle. More than that, the subsequent trial was orchestrated by Byng's enemies (and the bench packed) in such a way that Byng stood no chance. Finally, the cantankerous King George II was highly vindictive in his determination not to grant clemency and commute Byng's punishment after sentence of death was passed. A gripping retelling of one of British naval history's most infamous chapters - and a passionate defense of a man wrongly accused.