British Military Spectacle

Author : Scott Hughes Myerly
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 350 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 1996
Category : History
ISBN : 0674082494

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British Military Spectacle by Scott Hughes Myerly Pdf

In the theater of war, how important is costume? And in peacetime, what purpose does military spectacle serve? This book takes us behind the scenes of the British military at the height of its brilliance to show us how dress and discipline helped to mold the military man and attempted to seduce the hearts and minds of a nation while serving to intimidate civil rioters in peacetime. Often ridiculed for their constrictive splendor, British army uniforms of the early nineteenth century nonetheless played a powerful role in the troops' performance on campaign, in battle, and as dramatic entertainment in peacetime. Plumbing a wide variety of military sources, most tellingly the memoirs and letters of soldiers and civilians, Scott Hughes Myerly reveals how these ornate sartorial creations, combining symbols of solidarity and inspiration, vivid color, and physical restraint, enhanced the managerial effects of rigid discipline, drill, and torturous punishments, but also helped foster regimental esprit de corps. Encouraging recruitment, enforcing discipline within the military, and boosting morale were essential but not the only functions of martial dress. Myerly also explores the role of the resplendent uniform and its associated gaudy trappings and customs during civil peace and disorder--whether employed as public relations through spectacular free entertainment, or imitated by rioters and rebels opposing the status quo. Dress, drills, parades, inspections, pomp, and order: as this richly illustrated book conducts us through the details of the creation, design, functions, and meaning of these aspects of the martial image, it exposes the underpinnings of a mentality--and vision--that extends far beyond the military subculture into the civic and social order that we call modernity.

Author : Hew Strachan
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 238 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2006-09-27
Category : History
ISBN : 9781134233274

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Big Wars and Small Wars by Hew Strachan Pdf

This is a fascinating new insight into the British army and its evolution through both large and small scale conflicts. To prepare for future wars, armies derive lessons from past wars. However, some armies are defeated because they learnt the wrong lessons, fighting new conflicts in ways appropriate to the last. For the British Army in the twentieth century, the challenge has been particularly great. It has never had the luxury of emerging from one major European war with the time to prepare itself for the next. The leading military historians show how ongoing commitments to a range of ‘small wars’ have always been part of the Army’s experience. After 1902 and after 1918 they included colonial campaigns, but they also developed into what we would now call counter-insurgency operations, and these became the norm between 1945 and 1969. During the height of the Cold War, in 1982, the Army was deployed to the Falklands. Since 1990 the dominant tasks of the Army have been peace support operations. This is an excellent resource for all students and scholars of military history, politics and international relations and British history.

Author : John Lewis-Stempel,Jock Haswell
Publisher : Robinson
Page : 208 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2016-05-26
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472136190

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A Brief History of the British Army by John Lewis-Stempel,Jock Haswell Pdf

The story of the British Army has many sides to it, being a tale of heroic successes and tragic failures, of dogged determination and drunken disorder. It involves many of the most vital preoccupations in the history of the island - the struggle against Continental domination by a single power, the battle for Empire - and a cast pf remarkable characters - Marlborough, Wellington and Montgomery among them. Yet the British, relying on their navy, have always neglected their army; from the time of Alfred the Great to the reign of Charles II wars were fought with hired forces disbanded as soon as conflict ended. Even after the stuggles with Louis XIV impelled the formation of a reulgar army, impecunious governments neglected the armed forces except in times of national emergency. In this wide-ranging account, Major Haswell sketches the medieval background before concentrating on the three hundred years of the regular army, leading up to its role in our own time. He presents an informed and probing picture of the organization of the army, the development of weaponry and strategy - and the everyday life of the British soldier through the centuries. John Lewis-Stempel has brought Major Haswell's classic work right up to date by expanding the section on the dissolution of empire to include a full account of Northern Ireland and the Falklands War. He has added a new chapter to cover the Gulf War, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq; also the increasing role of special forces and the amalgamation of regiments.

Author : David Fraser
Publisher : A&C Black
Page : 449 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2011-09-28
Category : History
ISBN : 9781448204823

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And We Shall Shock Them by David Fraser Pdf

First published in 1983 and written by a pre-eminent historian of the British Army, this is the definitive history of the British Army in the Second World War: its campaigns and battles, defeats and victories, across all theatres of operations from the outbreak of war with Germany in 1939 to the final defeat of Japan in 1945. Here the reader will find grand strategy at the highest level, but also the reality of command in the field and the experience of combat for the infantry, gunners and the tankers as the British Army fought its way through the War. But above all this is a full, authoritative and vividly written account of the British Army in the Second World War as it came to grips with, and in the end triumphed over, its enemies in the field.

Author : Major Andrew J. Risio
Publisher : Pickle Partners Publishing
Page : 97 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2014-08-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9781782898856

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Building The Old Contemptibles: British Military Transformation And Tactical Development From The Boer War To The Great War, 1899-1914 by Major Andrew J. Risio Pdf

Impressed with the tactical lessons of the Boer War, the British Army reformed its doctrine and training from 1899 to 1914, deploying a combat ready force, the “Old Contemptibles” of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in 1914. Because of these changes, the BEF played a crucial role in Belgium and France in 1914. The lessons of the Boer War guided the British Army and its interwar reforms. The doctrine and training developed from 1902-1914 was a significant improvement over the pre-Boer War British colonial warfare tactics. With Haldane’s organizational reforms and Robert’s new doctrine, the British Army built the Old Contemptibles of the BEF. The battles of 1914 showed the BEF was the equal of any European contemporary in quality of its tactics and doctrine. The comparison of the BEF to the other combatants in 1914 does not stand in stark contrast. The BEF performed well but no better or worse than comparable German or French units did. What does stand in stark contrast is the BEF in 1914 when compared with the expedition to South Africa in 1899. The years of reform between these two expeditions were truly a crucible that built the Old Contemptibles.

Author : Harold E. Raugh
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 1025 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2020-03-24
Category : History
ISBN : 9781351147583

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The British Army 1815-1914 by Harold E. Raugh Pdf

This collection of essays examines the evolution of the British Army during the century-long Pax Britannica, from the time Wellington considered its soldiers 'the scum of the earth' to the height of the imperial epoch, when they were highly-respected 'soldiers of the Queen'. The British Army during this period was a microcosm and reflection of the larger British society. As a result, this study of the British Army focuses on its character and composition, its officers and men, efforts to improve its efficiency and effectiveness and its role and performance on active service while an instrument of British Government policy.

Author : Ian Beckett,Timothy Bowman,Mark Connelly
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 485 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2017-05-25
Category : History
ISBN : 9781107005778

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The British Army and the First World War by Ian Beckett,Timothy Bowman,Mark Connelly Pdf

A comprehensive new history of the shaping and performance of the British army during the First World War.

Author : Mr Richard Iron
Publisher : Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Page : 713 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2013-08-28
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472401571

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British Generals in Blair's Wars by Mr Richard Iron Pdf

This is a truly unique and invaluable book. For the first time, we are offered first-hand testimony about Britain's involvement in recent campaigns by senior participants. In addition to touching on themes like civilian-military relations, the operational direction of war and relationships with allies, these eyewitness accounts give a real sense of how the character of a war changes even as it is being fought. It will be essential reading for those in military academies and staff colleges, not only in Britain but throughout NATO, and especially in the USA. It also has profound policy implications, as both the UK and NATO more generally reassess their strategies and the value of intervention operations. It will also become a primary source for historians and students of the wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan in particular.

Author : Simon Anglim
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2015-10-06
Category : History
ISBN : 9781317324270

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Orde Wingate and the British Army, 1922-1944 by Simon Anglim Pdf

Major General Orde Wingate (1903–1944) was the most controversial British military commander of the Second World War, and perhaps of the last hundred years. Anglim's biography fills a significant void in the literature, making extensive use of Wingate's papers to place him firmly in the context of the British army of the time.

Author : George Robert Gleig
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 422 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 1832
Category : Electronic
ISBN : BDM:13020100027461

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Lives of the Most Eminent British Military Commanders by George Robert Gleig Pdf

Author : Jan Morris
Publisher : London ; Boston : Faber and Faber
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 1982
Category : Commonwealth of Nations
ISBN : UOM:39015008223862

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The Spectacle of Empire by Jan Morris Pdf

Author : John Withington
Publisher : The History Press
Page : 295 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2016-09-23
Category : History
ISBN : 9780750981279

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Britain's 20 Worst Military Disasters by John Withington Pdf

Crecy, Agincourt, Blenheim, Trafalgar, Waterloo, El Alamein – the names trip off the tongue and resound through our history. Great British military victories, often won against the odds. But what of the defeats and disasters – from our conquest by Roman armies to the fall of Singapore in 1942, described by Churchill as the 'worst disaster' in our military history. This is the story of those disasters, and the ones in between. From famous battles like Hastings and Yorktown, to those that are less well-known but had far-reaching consequences, such as Castillon. Others, like the Battle of the Medway in 1667, which were deeply shameful – 'a dishonour never to be wiped off' – but had relatively little long term impact. Sometimes, a brilliant retreat helped prevent an even greater calamity, as at Gallipoli and Dunkirk. It is an epic story following British armies and navies across the world to France, Africa, North and South America and the Far East. It is a tale of bungling, miscalculation, unpreparedness and heroism.

Author : Sir John William Fortescue
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 690 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 1976
Category : Great Britain
ISBN : PSU:000049261875

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A History of the British Army: To the close of the seven years' war by Sir John William Fortescue Pdf

Author : Hew Strachan,Professor of the History of War and Fellow Director Oxford Program on the Changing Character of War Hew Strachan
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 311 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : History
ISBN : 0198206704

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The Politics of the British Army by Hew Strachan,Professor of the History of War and Fellow Director Oxford Program on the Changing Character of War Hew Strachan Pdf

The British army, unlike some other armies, has never staged a coup d'etat. As a result it has prided itself on its ready subordination to parliamentary government, portraying its nature as essentially apolitical. The reality is very different. Armies are inherently political entities,embedded in the fabric of the state, and intimately involved in the formation and implementation of policy. Hew Strachan examines the history of the British Army since 1660 and shows that it is no exception. The behaviour of many of its most illustrious commanders, including Marlborough, Wellington,Wolseley, and Roberts, as well of more recent figures like Henry Wilson, William Robertson, and Gerald Templer, gives the lie to any strict demarcation between military and political spheres of responsibility. The Politics of the British Army is a work of history with profound contemporaryrelevance. For if the British army were to become genuinely apolitical - to practise what it preaches - it would be a less effective contributor to the management of Britain's defence.

Author : Kevin Linch,Matthew McCormack
Publisher : Liverpool University Press
Page : 238 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2014-03-07
Category : History
ISBN : 9781781385548

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Britain’s Soldiers by Kevin Linch,Matthew McCormack Pdf

Britain’s Soldiers explores the complex figure of the Georgian soldier and rethinks current approaches to military history.