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{{Short description|British Army general}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Sir Nigel Bagnall
|image= Nbagnall.jpg
|image_size= 120
|alt=
|caption= Field Marshal Sir Nigel Bagnall, pictured here in 1989.
|birth_date= {{birth date|1927|02|10|df=y}}
|death_date= {{death date and age|2002|04|08|1927|02|10|df=y}}
|birth_place= [[British India|India]]
|death_place=
|placeofburial=
|nickname=
|allegiance= United Kingdom
|branch= [[British Army]]
|serviceyears= 1946–1989
|rank= [[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|Field Marshal]]
|servicenumber=360763
|unit= [[Green Howards]] [[Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)|Parachute Regiment]] [[4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards]]
|commands= [[Chief of the General Staff (United Kingdom)|Chief of the General Staff]] [[British Army of the Rhine]] [[I Corps (United Kingdom)|I Corps]] [[4th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|4th Division]] [[4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards]]
|battles= [[Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine|Palestine Emergency]] [[Malayan Emergency]] [[Cyprus Emergency]] [[Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation]]
|awards= [[Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]] [[Commander of the Royal Victorian Order]] [[Military Cross]] & [[Medal bar|Bar]]
|relations=
|laterwork=
}}
[[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|Field Marshal]] '''Sir Nigel Thomas Bagnall''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|GCB|CVO|MC*}} (10 February 1927 – 8 April 2002) was [[Chief of the General Staff (United Kingdom)|Chief of the General Staff]] (CGS), the professional head of the [[British Army]], from 1985 to 1988. Early in his military career he saw action during the [[Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine|Palestine Emergency]], the [[Malayan Emergency]], the [[Cyprus Emergency]] and the [[Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation]], and later in his career he provided advice to the British Government on the future role of Britain's [[nuclear weapon]]s.

==Army career==
[[File:Curfew in Tel Aviv H ih 039.JPG|thumb|left|Bagnall served in Palestine in the late 1940s]]

Born the son of Lieutenant Colonel Harry Stephen Bagnall and Marjory May Bagnall and educated at [[Wellington College, Berkshire|Wellington College]],<ref name=debrett>Debrett's People of Today 1994</ref> Bagnall undertook [[Conscription in the United Kingdom|National Service]] for a year{{sfn|Heathcote|1999|p=35}} before being commissioned into the [[Green Howards]] on 5 January 1946.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37467|supp=y|page=954|date=12 February 1946}}</ref> Shortly afterwards, however, on 13 February 1946 he transferred to the [[Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)|Parachute Regiment]]<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37517|supp=y|page=1621|date=29 March 1946}}</ref> and was deployed to [[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]] where the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate]] was about to end.{{sfn|Heathcote|1999|p=35}} Promoted to [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|lieutenant]] on 24 September 1949,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=38720|supp=y|page=4552|date=23 September 1949}}</ref> he served in [[Federation of Malaya|Malaya]], where as a platoon commander, he was awarded the [[Military Cross]] in 1950,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=39048|supp=y|page=5292|date=24 October 1950}}</ref> and a [[medal bar|bar]] to the Military Cross in 1952.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=39839|supp=y|page=2406|date=28 April 1953}}</ref>

Promoted to [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] on 10 February 1954,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=40094|supp=y|page=848|date=5 February 1954}}</ref> he returned to the Green Howards in summer 1954 and then took part in counter-insurgency operations against [[EOKA]] units in [[Cyprus]] in 1955.{{sfn|Heathcote|1999|p=35}} He transferred to the [[4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards]] on 24 April 1956.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=40760|supp=y|page=2393|date=20 April 1956}}</ref> He was promoted to [[Major (United Kingdom)|major]] on 10 February 1961{{sfn|Heathcote|1999|p=36}} and appointed Military Assistant to the Vice-Chief of Defence Staff in May 1964 and then became the Senior Staff Officer dealing with intelligence activities for operations in [[Borneo]] in March 1966.{{sfn|Heathcote|1999|p=36}}

Promoted to [[lieutenant colonel]] on 31 December 1966,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=44223|supp=y|page=307|date=6 January 1967}}</ref> he became the [[Commanding Officer]] of the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards in 1967 and served in that capacity in [[Omagh]] in [[Northern Ireland]] and [[Sennelager]] in [[Germany]].{{sfn|Heathcote|1999|p=36}} Promoted to [[Colonel (United Kingdom)|colonel]] on 31 December 1969,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=45013|supp=y|page=215|date=5 January 1970}}</ref> he became Commander [[Royal Armoured Corps]] in [[I Corps (United Kingdom)|1st (British) Corps]] in December 1970,{{sfn|Heathcote|1999|p=36}} before receiving further promotion to [[brigadier]] on 31 December 1970.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=45271|supp=y|page=117|date=1 January 1971}}</ref> He went on to be Secretary of the Chiefs of Staff Committee at the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] in September 1973.{{sfn|Heathcote|1999|p=36}} He was appointed [[General Officer Commanding]] (GOC) of the [[4th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|4th Division]] on 21 September 1975<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=46692|supp=y|page=11931|date=23 September 1975}}</ref> with the substantive rank of [[Major-general (United Kingdom)|major general]] from 1 November 1975<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=46727|supp=y|page=13883|date=4 November 1975}}</ref> and Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Policy) at the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] on 7 January 1978.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=47437|supp=y|page=599|date=16 January 1978}}</ref>

[[File:The Warrior of British Forces in Germany.jpg|thumb|left|Bagnall commanded the [[British Army of the Rhine]] in the mid 1980s]]

He became commander of [[I Corps (United Kingdom)|1st (British) Corps]] on 1 November 1980 with the rank of [[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|lieutenant general]]<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=48386|supp=y|page=16704|date=1 December 1980}}</ref> and, having been appointed a [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] in the [[New Year Honours]] 1981,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=48467|supp=y|page=2|date=30 December 1980}}</ref> went on to be [[Commander-in-Chief]] of the [[British Army of the Rhine]] and Commander of [[NATO]]'s [[Northern Army Group]] with the rank of [[General (United Kingdom)|general]] on 1 July 1983.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=49412|supp=y|page=9145|date=11 July 1983}}</ref> As Commander of the Northern Army Group he grappled with NATO's strategy of forward defence, when he persuaded the Germans that some ground would have to be surrendered to withstand a massive [[Soviet Army]] attack.<ref name=GingeManoeuvre>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/apr/11/guardianobituaries.davidfairhall |title=Obituary: Field Marshal Sir Nigel Bagnall|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=11 April 2002|access-date=18 December 2011}} and see also {{cite book|title=The British Army and the operational level of war|editor1=Brian Holden Reid|editor2=[[Jeremy Mackenzie]]|year=1989|publisher=Tri-Service|isbn=978-1854880093}}</ref>

After being advanced to a [[Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]] in the [[Queen's Birthday Honours]] 1985<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=50154|supp=y|page=2|date=15 June 1985}}</ref> and also becoming [[ADC General|ADC]] to [[Elizabeth II|the Queen]] on 30 July 1985,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=50226|supp=y|page=11147|date=12 August 1985}}</ref> he was appointed [[Chief of the General Staff (United Kingdom)|Chief of the General Staff]] in August 1985{{sfn|Heathcote|1999|p=37}} in which capacity he was closely involved in the debate about the future role of Britain's [[nuclear weapon]]s.<ref name=ObitBagnallGuardian>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/apr/11/guardianobituaries.davidfairhall |title=Obituary: Field Marshal Sir Nigel Bagnall|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=11 April 2002|access-date=18 December 2011}}</ref> He was promoted to [[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|field marshal]] on 9 September 1988 on his retirement from the British Army.{{sfn|Heathcote|1999|p=37}}

He was also appointed Colonel Commandant of the [[Army Physical Training Corps]] on 5 February 1981<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=48614|supp=y|page=6937|date=19 May 1981}}</ref> and Colonel Commandant of the [[Royal Armoured Corps]] on 1 August 1985.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=50233|supp=y|page=11483|date=19 August 1985}}</ref>

In retirement he became a military historian and fellow of [[Balliol College]], [[Oxford]]. He wrote a history of the [[Punic wars]] published in 1990<ref>[http://worldcat.org/isbn/9780312342142 Bagnall, Nigel ''The Punic Wars''] Thomas Dunne Books, 1990, {{ISBN|978-0-312-34214-2}}</ref> and, two years after his death, he had a history of the [[Peloponnesian War]] published.<ref>[http://worldcat.org/isbn/9780312342159 Bagnall, Nigel ''The Peloponnesian War''] Thomas Dunne Books, 2004, {{ISBN|978-0-312-34215-9}}</ref>

He died on 8 April 2002.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/apr/11/guardianobituaries.davidfairhall|title=Obituary: Field Marshal Sir Nigel Bagnall|newspaper=The Guardian|date=11 April 2002|access-date=2 January 2012}}</ref>

==Family==
In 1959 he married Anna Caroline Church; they had two daughters.<ref name=debrett/>

==Historiographical works==
* Bagnall, Nigel, ''The Punic Wars: Rome, Carthage and the Struggle for the Mediterranean'', London: Hutchinson, 1990, {{ISBN|0-091-74421-0}}.
* Bagnall, Nigel, ''The Peloponnesian War: Athens, Sparta and the Struggle for Greece'', London: Pimlico, 2004, {{ISBN|978-0-712-69881-8}}.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book| title=The British Field Marshals 1736–1997| first=Tony| last=Heathcote| publisher=Pen & Sword| location=Barnsley (UK)| year=1999| isbn=0-85052-696-5}}

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{{s-bef|before=[[Peter Leng|Sir Peter Leng]]}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[Commander-in-chief]] of the [[British Army of the Rhine]]|years=1983–1985}}
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{{s-bef|before=[[John Stanier (British Army officer)|Sir John Stanier]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Chief of the General Staff (United Kingdom)|Chief of the General Staff]]|years=1985–1988}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Chapple (British Army officer)|Sir John Chapple]]}}
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{{Chief of the General Staff}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bagnall, Nigel}}
[[Category:British field marshals]]
[[Category:People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Military Cross]]
[[Category:1927 births]]
[[Category:2002 deaths]]
[[Category:Green Howards officers]]
[[Category:4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards officers]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Palestine Emergency]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of the Malayan Emergency]]
[[Category:Chiefs of the General Staff (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:British Parachute Regiment officers]]
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Cyprus Emergency]]

Nigel Bagnall - Revision history

Bot at 16:49, 19 August 2022