also criticises him for his lack of any realistic appraisal of the state of II Corps after Le Cateau, and "lack of urgency" in advance at the Marne, and writes that French would not have cooperated without the "brutal" intervention of Lord Kitchener. Max Hastings is even less kind, arguing that French used his instructions from Kitchener (to husband the strength of the BEF and to avoid major engagements without French participation unless given Cabinet authority) as an excuse for "pusillanimity". He criticises him for lack of "grip" and for "moral collapse" during the retreat after Le Cateau, and describes him as "a poltroon", although also pointing out that his failings were no worse than those of many French and German generals in that campaign. Richard Holmes argues that French had no consistency in his strategic ideas, as was shown at the War Council in August 1914 when he proposed deploying the BEF to Antwerp. Ian Beckett does not wholly agree with Holmes, arguing that French was consistent in December 1914 – January 1915 in wanting to promote what he saw as Britain's strategic interests by deploying Territorial and New Army Divisions in an offensive along the Belgian Coast to seize Zeebrugge, although he also remarks that such plans were not unique to French, as they continued to find favour with Haig in 1916–17, and that French's hopes for amphibious landings in the Baltic or North Sea had little practicality at this stage. In his memoirs 1914 French wrote "no previous experience ... had led me to anticipate a war of positions. All my thoughts ... were concentrated upon a war of movement." Although French's memoirs are often unreliable this passage is confirmed by what he wrote to Lt-Gen Edward Hutton in December 1914 that the war had become "a siege ... on a gigantic scale". Ian Beckett argues that in this respect, and in his recognition of the importance of artillery as early as the Battle of the Aisne in September 1914, French's tactical views were "marginally more flexible" than those of Haig, who continued to nurse hopes of breakthrough and decisive victory until several years later. Personal life and family First marriage In 1875, French married Isabella Soundy, the daughter of a tradesman. Subalterns of that era were not expected to marry and French's first marriage may well have been kept secret from his regiment: his regiment is