| Abstract |
"This new history brings together in a single volume past scholarship and the most recent research on the British army and its relationship with state and society from its origins to the present. The constitutional, administrative, political, and military development of the army is set within its international, imperial, national, regional, and local contexts. Such themes as military professionalism, civil-military relations, the army's largely unrepresentative social composition, contrasting strategic views, and the army's image and identity all find their place alongside wars and campaigns. The story is followed from the origins of the first standing army in the seventeenth century, to the national army of the eighteenth century, the imperial army of the nineteenth century, the people's army of the twentieth century, through to the contemporary aspiration for a continuing global role for the army amid the challenges of changing strategic priorities, changing social and cultural environments, and continuing financial pressures"-- Provided by publisher. |
