The Victorian Army and the Staff College 1854-1914

The Victorian Army and the Staff College 1854-1914 PDF Author: Brian Bond
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317412516
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
A pioneering work in British military history, originally published in 1972, this book is both scholarly and entertaining. Although the book concentrates on a single institution, it illuminates a much wider area of social and intellectual change. For the Army the importance of the change was enormous: in 1854 there was neither a Staff College nor a General Staff, and professional education and training were largely despised by the officers: by 1914 the College could justly be described as ‘a school of thought’ while the officers it had trained were coming to dominate the highest posts in Commands and on the General Staff.

The Victorian Army and the Staff College 1854-1914

The Victorian Army and the Staff College 1854-1914 PDF Author: Brian Bond
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317412516
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 366

Get Book

Book Description
A pioneering work in British military history, originally published in 1972, this book is both scholarly and entertaining. Although the book concentrates on a single institution, it illuminates a much wider area of social and intellectual change. For the Army the importance of the change was enormous: in 1854 there was neither a Staff College nor a General Staff, and professional education and training were largely despised by the officers: by 1914 the College could justly be described as ‘a school of thought’ while the officers it had trained were coming to dominate the highest posts in Commands and on the General Staff.

Military Education and the British Empire, 1815–1949

Military Education and the British Empire, 1815–1949 PDF Author: Douglas E. Delaney
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 077483756X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Military education was the lifeblood of the armies, navies, and air forces of the British Empire and an essential ingredient for success in both war and peace. Military Education and the British Empire is the first major scholarly work to address the role of military education in maintaining the empire throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Bringing together the world’s top scholars on the subject, this book places distinct national narratives – Canadian, Australian, South African, British, and Indian – within a comparative context. Ultimately, this book allows readers to consider the connections between education and empire from a transnational perspective.

The Men Who Planned the War

The Men Who Planned the War PDF Author: Paul Harris
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134808178
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 199

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Book Description
During the Allied victory celebrations there were few who chose to raise a glass to the staff. The high cost of casualties endured by the British army tarnished the reputation of the military planners, which has yet to recover. This book examines the work and development of the staff of the British army during the First World War and its critical role in the military leadership team. Their effectiveness was germane to the outcome of events in the front line but not enough consideration has been paid to this level of command and control, which has largely been overshadowed by the debate over generalship. This has painted an incomplete picture of the command function. Characterised as arrogant, remote and out of touch with the realities of the front line, the staff have been held responsible for the mismanagement of the war effort and profligate loss of lives in futile offensives. This book takes a different view. By using their letters and diaries it reveals fresh insights into their experience of the war. It shows that the staff made frequent visits to the front line and were no strangers to combat or hostile fire. Their work is also compared with their counterparts in the French and German armies, highlighting differences in practice and approach. In so doing, this study throws new light upon the characteristics, careers and working lives of these officers, investigating the ways in which they both embraced and resisted change. This offers evidence both for those who wish to exonerate the British command system on the basis of the learning process but also for those critical of its performance, thus advancing understanding of British military history in the First World War.

British Generalship on the Western Front 1914-1918

British Generalship on the Western Front 1914-1918 PDF Author: Simon Robbins
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134269684
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
This book explores how British Army learnt from the pyrrhic victories of 1915-17 and developed the new tactics, leadership and doctrine of combined arms to overcome the tactical stalemate hitherto bedevilling Allied offensives to defeat the

Educating Air Forces

Educating Air Forces PDF Author: Randall Wakelam
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813180279
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
Compared to armies and navies, which have existed as professional fighting services for centuries, the technology that makes air forces possible is much newer. As a result, these services have had to quickly develop methods of preparing aviators to operate in conditions ranging from peace or routine security to full-scale war. The first book to address the history and scope of air power professionalization through learning programs, Educating Air Forces offers valuable new insight into strategy and tactics worldwide. Here, a group of international experts examine the philosophies, policies, and practices of air service educational efforts in the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, Canada, and the UK. The contributors discuss the founding, successes, and failures of European air force learning programs between the Great War and World War II and explore how the tense Cold War political climate influenced the creation, curriculum, and results of various programs. They also consider how educational programs are adapting to soldiers' needs and the demands of modern warfare. Featuring contributions from eminent scholars in the field, this volume surveys the learning approaches globally employed by air forces in the past century and evaluates their effectiveness. Educating Air Forces reveals how experiential learning and formal education are not only inextricably intertwined, but also necessary to cope with advances in modern warfare.

The Late Victorian Army, 1868-1902

The Late Victorian Army, 1868-1902 PDF Author: Edward M. Spiers
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 9780719026591
Category : Great Britain
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description


Communications and British Operations on the Western Front, 1914–1918

Communications and British Operations on the Western Front, 1914–1918 PDF Author: Brian N. Hall
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316820122
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
This is an important new study examining the military operations of the British Expeditionary Force in 1914–18 through the lens of its communications system. Brian Hall charts how new communications technology such as wireless, telephone and telegraph were used alongside visual signalling, carrier pigeons and runners as the British army struggled to develop a communication system adequate enough to wage modern warfare. He reveals how tenuous communications added to the difficulties of command and control during the war's early years, and examines their role during the major battles of the Somme, Arras, Ypres and Cambrai. It was only in 1918 that the British army would finally develop a flexible and sophisticated communications system capable of effectively coordinating infantry, artillery, tanks and aeroplanes. This is a major contribution to our understanding of British military operations during the First World War, the learning processes of armies and the revolution in military affairs.

The Indian Army in the Two World Wars

The Indian Army in the Two World Wars PDF Author: Kaushik Roy
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900418550X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 579

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Book Description
This collection of seventeen essays based on archival data breaks new ground as regards the contribution of the Indian Army in British war effort during the two World Wars around various parts of the globe.

War and Peace in Contemporary India

War and Peace in Contemporary India PDF Author: Rudra Chaudhuri
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000486753
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
War and Peace in Contemporary India examines the importance of institutions and the role played by international actors in crucial episodes of India’s strategic history. The contributions trace India’s tryst with war and peace from immediately before the foundation of the contemporary Indian state, to the last military conflict between India and Pakistan in 1999. The focus of the chapters included in this edited volume is as much on India as it is on Pakistan and China, its opponents in war. The chapters offer a fresh take on the creation of India as a regional military power, and her approach to War and Peace in the post-independence period. Importantly, it advances the broader work on Indian strategic history during the Cold War and after, an otherwise under-studied intellectual landscape. The book offers fresh insights based on archival work, as well as a closer conceptual reading of Indian, British and American decision making at times of war and peace in contemporary India. This book will be of great interest to scholars, researchers and students interested in strategic studies, diplomatic and military history, international diplomacy, as well as Indian history and politics. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Strategic Studies.

Imagining Nuclear War in the British Army, 1945-1989

Imagining Nuclear War in the British Army, 1945-1989 PDF Author: Simon J. Moody
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192586343
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
The primary mission assigned to the British Army from the 1950s until the end of the Cold War was deterring Soviet aggression in Europe by demonstrating the will and capability to fight with nuclear weapons in defence of NATO territory. This 'surreal' mission was unlike any other in history, and raised a number of conceptual and practical difficulties. This comprehensive study observes how the British Army imagined nuclear war, and how it planned to fight it. Using new archival sources, Simon J. Moody analyses British thinking about tactical nuclear weapons, the role of the Army within NATO strategy, the development of theories of tactical nuclear warfare, how nuclear war was taught at the Staff College, the role of operational research, and the evolution of the Army's nuclear war-fighting doctrine. He argues that the British Army possessed the intellectual capacity for organisational adaptation, but that it displayed a cognitive dissonance about some of the more uncomfortable realities of nuclear war.