FULLER, JOHN FREDERICK CHARLES (1878 ), British soldier, was born on Sept. 1, 1878, entered the army in 1898, and served in the South African War. In the World War, after holding a variety of staff appointments, he became chief general staff officer of the Tank Corps in April 1917. He had a responsible share in the project for the great tank surprise at Cambrai in Nov. 1917, and in the tank successes later, until in July 1918, he was brought back to the War Office to organize the vast tank expansion then contemplated for 1919, had the war continued. Colonel Fuller was for a time criticized as a tank extremist, an unpractical visionary. Abroad, however, his views were acclaimed, by the French general staff, who translated and circulated them throughout their army, as "an exact vision of the future." Gradually, however, his teaching permeated the army. He became in 1922 chief instructor at the Staff College, and in 1926, was appointed military assistant to the new chief of the Imperial General Staff. He was promoted Major-general in 1930.
The result of his researches into the science of war is incorpo rated in his Foundations of a Science of War (1926), and among numerous other books, his Tanks in the Great War (1920), The Reformation of War (1923), Sir John Moore's System of Train ing (1925) and Imperial Defence 1588-1914 (1926) attracted wide attention (see STRATEGY).