Carl von Clausewitz
Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz was a Prussian general and military theorist who stressed the moral and political aspects of war. His most notable work, Vom Kriege, was unfinished at his death, Clausewitz was a realist in many different senses and, while in some respects a romantic, drew heavily on the rationalist ideas of the European Enlightenment. He stressed the dialectical interaction of factors, noting how unexpected developments unfolding under the fog of war call for rapid decisions by alert commanders. He saw history as a check on erudite abstractions that did not accord with experience. In contrast to the work of Antoine-Henri Jomini, he argued that war could not be quantified or reduced to mapwork, geometry. Clausewitz had many aphorisms, of which the most famous is War is the continuation of politics by other means, Clausewitzs Christian names are sometimes given in non-German sources as Karl, Carl Philipp Gottlieb, or Carl Maria. He spelled his own name with a C in order to identify with the classical Western tradition.
Carl Philipp Gottfried appears on Clausewitzs tombstone, Clausewitzs family claimed descent from the Barons of Clausewitz in Upper Silesia, though scholars question the connection. His grandfather, the son of a Lutheran pastor, had been a professor of theology, Clausewitzs father, once a lieutenant in the Prussian army of Frederick II of Prussia, held a minor post in the Prussian internal-revenue service. Clausewitz entered the Prussian military service at the age of twelve as a Lance-Corporal, Clausewitz served in the Rhine Campaigns including the Siege of Mainz, when the Prussian army invaded France during the French Revolution, and fought in the Napoleonic Wars from 1806 to 1815. Clausewitz, Hermann von Boyen and Karl von Grolman were among Scharnhorsts primary allies in his efforts to reform the Prussian army between 1807 and 1814, Clausewitz served during the Jena Campaign as aide-de-camp to Prince August. Clausewitz was held prisoner with his prince in France from 1807 to 1808, returning to Prussia, he assisted in the reform of the Prussian army and state.
On December 10,1810 he married the socially prominent Countess Marie von Brühl and she was a member of the noble German von Brühl family originating in Thuringia. The couple moved in the highest circles, socializing with Berlins political, Marie was well-educated and politically well-connected—she played an important role in her husbands career progress and intellectual evolution. She edited and introduced his collected works, like many Prussian officers serving in Russia, he joined the Russian-German Legion in 1813. In 1815 the Russian-German Legion became integrated into the Prussian Army and he was soon appointed chief-of-staff of Johann von Thielmanns III Corps. In that capacity he served at the Battle of Ligny and the Battle of Wavre during the Waterloo Campaign in 1815, Clausewitzs unit fought at Wavre, preventing large reinforcements from reaching Napoleon at Waterloo. After the war Clausewitz served as the director of the Kriegsakademie, in that year he returned to duty with the army
Historiography
Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians have studied that topic using particular sources, beginning in the nineteenth century, with the ascent of academic history, there developed a body of historiographic literature. The extent to which historians are influenced by their own groups, in 2007, of 5,723 faculty in the departments of history at British universities,1,644 identified themselves with social history and 1,425 identified themselves with political history. In the early period, the term historiography meant the writing of history. In that sense certain official historians were given the title Historiographer Royal in Sweden, the Scottish post is still in existence. Understanding the past appears to be a human need. What constitutes history is a philosophical question, the earliest chronologies date back to Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, though no historical writers in these early civilizations were known by name.
For the purposes of article, history is taken to mean written history recorded in a narrative format for the purpose of informing future generations about events. Before writing, there was only oral history or oral tradition, in China, the earliest history was recorded in oracle bone script which was deciphered and may date back to around late 2nd millennium BCE. The Zuo Zhuan, attributed to Zuo Qiuming in the 5th century BCE, is the earliest written of narrative history in the world, the Classic of History is one of the Five Classics of Chinese classic texts and one of the earliest narratives of China. It is traditionally attributed to Confucius, zhan Guo Ce was a renowned ancient Chinese historical compilation of sporadic materials on the Warring States period compiled between the 3rd and 1st centuries BCE. Sima Qian was the first in China to lay the groundwork for professional historical writing and his written work was the Shiji, a monumental lifelong achievement in literature. His work influenced every subsequent author of history in China, including the prestigious Ban family of the Eastern Han Dynasty era, traditional Chinese historiography describes history in terms of dynastic cycles.
In this view, each new dynasty is founded by a morally righteous founder, over time, the dynasty becomes morally corrupt and dissolute. Eventually, the dynasty becomes so weak as to allow its replacement by a new dynasty, the tradition of Korean historiography was established with the Samguk Sagi, a history of Korea from its allegedly earliest times. It was compiled by Goryeo court historian Kim Busik after its commission by King Injong of Goryeo. It was completed in 1145 and relied not only on earlier Chinese histories for source material, the latter work is now lost. The earliest works of history produced in Japan were the Rikkokushi, the first of these works were the Nihon Shoki, compiled by Prince Toneri in 720
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was the armed wing of the Nazi Partys SS organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with volunteers, the Waffen-SS grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions during World War II, and served alongside the Heer and other security units. Prior to the war, it was under the control of the SS Führungshauptamt beneath Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, initially, in keeping with the racial policy of Nazi Germany, membership was only open to people of Germanic origin. The rules were relaxed in 1940, and the formation of units composed largely or solely of foreign volunteers. These SS units were made up of men mainly from among the nationals of Nazi-occupied Europe, despite relaxation of the rules, the Waffen-SS was still based on the racist ideology of Nazism, and ethnic Poles were barred specifically from the formations. At the post-war Nuremberg trials the Waffen-SS was judged to be a criminal organisation due to its connection to the Nazi Party, former Waffen-SS members were denied many of the rights afforded to the military veterans.
An exception was made for Waffen-SS conscripts, who were exempted because they were not volunteers, about a third of the total membership were conscripts. The origins of the Waffen-SS can be traced back to the selection of a group of 120 SS men in March 1933 by Sepp Dietrich to form the Sonderkommando Berlin. By November 1933 the formation had 800 men, and at a ceremony in Munich for the tenth anniversary of the failed Munich Putsch the regiment swore allegiance to Adolf Hitler. The oaths pledged were Pledging loyalty to him alone and Obedience unto death, the formation was given the title Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. On 13 April 1934, by order of Himmler, the regiment became known as the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, led by one of Hitlers oldest comrades, Ernst Röhm, the SA was seen as a threat by Hitler to his newly gained political power. Hitler wanted to conciliate leaders of the Reichswehr and conservatives of the country, when Hitler decided to act against the SA, the SS was put in charge of eliminating Röhm and the other high-ranking SA officers.
The Night of the Long Knives occurred between 30 June and 2 July 1934 and saw the killing of up to 200 people and this included almost the entire SA leadership, effectively ending its power. This action was carried out by SS personnel, and the Gestapo. In September 1934, Hitler authorized the formation of the wing of the Nazi Party and approved the formation of the SS-Verfügungstruppe. The SS was given the lowest priority for recruits, at the same time Himmler established the SS-Junkerschule Bad Tölz and SS-Junkerschule Braunschweig for military training of SS officers. Both schools used regular army training methods and mainly used former army officers as instructors, Himmler initially in 1934 set stringent requirements for recruits. They were to be German nationals who could prove their Aryan ancestry back to 1800, unmarried, a four-year commitment was required for the SS-VT and LSSAH
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. It is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, the BBC is the worlds oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total,16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting, the total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time and fixed contract staff are included. The BBC is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture and Sport. The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the BBCs radio, TV, britains first live public broadcast from the Marconi factory in Chelmsford took place in June 1920. It was sponsored by the Daily Mails Lord Northcliffe and featured the famous Australian Soprano Dame Nellie Melba, the Melba broadcast caught the peoples imagination and marked a turning point in the British publics attitude to radio. However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications.
By late 1920, pressure from these quarters and uneasiness among the staff of the licensing authority, the General Post Office, was sufficient to lead to a ban on further Chelmsford broadcasts. But by 1922, the GPO had received nearly 100 broadcast licence requests, John Reith, a Scottish Calvinist, was appointed its General Manager in December 1922 a few weeks after the company made its first official broadcast. The company was to be financed by a royalty on the sale of BBC wireless receiving sets from approved manufacturers, to this day, the BBC aims to follow the Reithian directive to inform and entertain. The financial arrangements soon proved inadequate, set sales were disappointing as amateurs made their own receivers and listeners bought rival unlicensed sets. By mid-1923, discussions between the GPO and the BBC had become deadlocked and the Postmaster-General commissioned a review of broadcasting by the Sykes Committee and this was to be followed by a simple 10 shillings licence fee with no royalty once the wireless manufactures protection expired.
The BBCs broadcasting monopoly was made explicit for the duration of its current broadcast licence, the BBC was banned from presenting news bulletins before 19.00, and required to source all news from external wire services. Mid-1925 found the future of broadcasting under further consideration, this time by the Crawford committee, by now the BBC under Reiths leadership had forged a consensus favouring a continuation of the unified broadcasting service, but more money was still required to finance rapid expansion. Wireless manufacturers were anxious to exit the loss making consortium with Reith keen that the BBC be seen as a service rather than a commercial enterprise. The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the 1926 general strike broke out in May. The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production and with restrictions on news bulletins waived the BBC suddenly became the source of news for the duration of the crisis.
The crisis placed the BBC in a delicate position, the Government was divided on how to handle the BBC but ended up trusting Reith, whose opposition to the strike mirrored the PMs own
Military strategy
Military strategy is a set of ideas implemented by military organizations to pursue desired strategic goals. Derived from the Greek word strategos, the strategy, when it appeared in use during the 18th century, was seen in its narrow sense as the art of the general. Military strategy deals with the planning and conduct of campaigns, the movement and disposition of forces, the father of Western modern strategic studies, Carl von Clausewitz, defined military strategy as the employment of battles to gain the end of war. B. H. Liddell Harts definition put less emphasis on battles, both gave the pre-eminence to political aims over military goals. Sun Tzu is often considered as the father of Eastern military strategy and greatly influenced Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese historical, the Art of War by Sun Tzu grew in popularity and saw practical use in Western society as well. It continues to influence many competitive endeavors in Asia and America including culture, the Eastern military strategy differs from the Western by focusing more on asymmetric warfare and deception.
Military strategy is the planning and execution of the contest between groups of armed adversaries, which is a subdiscipline of warfare and of foreign policy, is a principal tool to secure national interests. NATOs definition of strategy is presenting the manner in which military power should be developed and applied to achieve national objectives or those of a group of nations. Strategy may be divided into Grand Strategy, geopolitical in scope and military strategy that converts the geopolitical policy objectives into militarily achievable goals and campaigns. Field-Marshal Montgomery summed it up thus Strategy is the art of distributing and applying military means, such as armed forces and supplies, tactics means the dispositions for, and control of, military forces and techniques in actual fighting. Put more shortly, strategy is the art of the conduct of war, during the French Revolutionary Wars thought it simply involved concentration of troops. Strategy and tactics are closely related and exist on the same continuum, originally strategy was understood to govern the prelude to a battle while tactics controlled its execution.
However, in the wars of the 20th century, the distinction between maneuver and battle and tactics, expanded with the capacity of technology and transit. Tactics that were once the province of a company of cavalry would be applied to a panzer army and it is often said that the art of strategies defines the goals to achieve in a military campaign, while tactics defines the methods to achieve these goals. Strategic goals could be We want to conquer area X, or We want to stop country Ys expansion in trade in commodity Z. Were going to do this by an invasion of the North of country X, Were going to blockade the ports of country Y. In its purest form, strategy dealt solely with military issues, in earlier societies, a king or political leader was often the same person as the military leader. If not, the distance of communication between the political and the leader was small
War
War is a state of armed conflict between societies. It is generally characterized by extreme aggression and mortality, an absence of war is usually called peace. Warfare refers to the activities and characteristics of types of war. Total war is warfare that is not restricted to legitimate military targets. While some scholars see war as a universal and ancestral aspect of human nature, as concerns a belligerents losses in proportion to its prewar population, the most destructive war in modern history may have been the Paraguayan War. In 2013 war resulted in 31,000 deaths, down from 72,000 deaths in 1990, in 2003, Richard Smalley identified war as the sixth biggest problem facing humanity for the next fifty years. Another byproduct of some wars is the prevalence of propaganda by some or all parties in the conflict, the word is related to the Old Saxon werran, Old High German werran, and the German verwirren, meaning “to confuse”, “to perplex”, and “to bring into confusion”. In German, the equivalent is Krieg, the Spanish, the scholarly study of war is sometimes called polemology, from the Greek polemos, meaning war, and -logy, meaning the study of.
Studies of war by military theorists throughout military history have sought to identify the philosophy of war, asymmetric warfare is a conflict between two populations of drastically different levels of military capability or size. Biological warfare, or germ warfare, is the use of weaponized biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, chemical warfare involves the use of weaponized chemicals in combat. Poison gas as a weapon was principally used during World War I. Civil war is a war between forces belonging to the nation or political entity. Conventional warfare is declared war between states in which nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons are not used or see limited deployment, cyberwarfare involves the actions by a nation-state or international organization to attack and attempt to damage another nations information systems. Information warfare is the application of force on a large scale against information assets and systems, against the computers. Nuclear warfare is warfare in which weapons are the primary, or a major.
War of aggression is a war for conquest or gain rather than self-defense, the earliest recorded evidence of war belongs to the Mesolithic cemetery Site 117, which has been determined to be approximately 14,000 years old. About forty-five percent of the skeletons there displayed signs of violent death, since the rise of the state some 5,000 years ago, military activity has occurred over much of the globe. The advent of gunpowder and the acceleration of technological advances led to modern warfare
NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia was the North Atlantic Treaty Organisations military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from March 24,1999 to June 10,1999, NATO claimed that the Albanian population in Kosovo were being persecuted by FRY forces, Serbian police, and Serb paramilitary forces, and that military action was needed to force the FRY to stop. NATO countries attempted to gain authorization from the United Nations Security Council for military action, NATO launched a campaign without UN authorization, which it described as a humanitarian intervention. The FRY described the NATO campaign as a war of aggression against a sovereign country that was in violation of international law because it did not have UN Security Council support. The bombing killed between 489 and 528 civilians, and destroyed bridges, industrial plants, public buildings, private businesses, as well as barracks, the NATO bombing marked the second major combat operation in its history, following the 1995 NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It was the first time that NATO had used military force without the approval of the UN Security Council, after its autonomy was quashed, Kosovo was faced with state organized oppression, from the early 1990s, Albanian language radio and television were restricted and newspapers shut down. Kosovar Albanians were fired in large numbers from public enterprises and institutions, including banks, hospitals, in June 1991 the University of Priština assembly and several faculty councils were dissolved and replaced by Serbs. Kosovar Albanian teachers were prevented from entering school premises for the new year beginning in September 1991. Later, Kosovar Albanians started an insurgency against Belgrade when the Kosovo Liberation Army was founded in 1996, armed clashes between two sides broke out in early 1998. A NATO-facilitated ceasefire was signed on 15 October, but both sides broke it two months and fighting resumed, after the Rambouillet Accords broke down on 23 March with Yugoslav rejection of an external peacekeeping force, NATO prepared to install the peacekeepers by force.
Operation Allied Force predominantly used an air campaign to destroy Yugoslav military infrastructure from high altitudes. After the third day of bombing, NATO had destroyed almost all of its strategic military targets in Yugoslavia. Despite this, the Yugoslav Army continued to function and to attack Kosovo Liberation Army insurgents inside Kosovo, mostly in the regions of Northern and Southwest Kosovo. The NATO air forces targeted infrastructure, such as plants, water-processing plants. Commentators have debated whether the capitulation of Yugoslavia in the Kosovo War of 1999 resulted solely from the use of air power, the Rand Corporation examined the issue in a study. According to John Keegan, the capitulation of Yugoslavia in the Kosovo War marked a point in the history of warfare. It proved that a war can be won by air power alone, by comparison, diplomacy had failed before the war, and the deployment of a large NATO ground force was still weeks away when Slobodan Milošević agreed to a peace deal.
As for why air power should have been capable of acting alone and these normally come together only rarely, but all occurred during the Kosovo War, Bombardment needs to be capable of causing destruction while minimising casualties
Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters is an academic degree, a higher doctorate which, in some countries, may be considered to be beyond the Ph. D. and equal to the Doctor of Science. It is awarded in many countries by universities and learned bodies in recognition of achievement in the humanities, original contribution to the arts or scholarship. When awarded without an application by the conferee, it is awarded as an honorary degree, the Litt. D. degree is awarded to candidates whose record of published work and research shows conspicuous ability and originality and constitutes a distinguished and sustained achievement. University committee and board approval is required, and candidates must provide documented mastery of an area or field. The degree may be awarded honoris causa to such individuals as the university or the body in question deems worthy of this highest academic award. At the University of Oxford, the degree was established in 1900 as part of the development of research degrees that began with the introduction of the B.
Litt. and B. Sc. degrees in 1895. Up until that point, Oxford had focused on teaching, with the doctorates, such as those in divinity. Degree, Oxford eventually created its doctor of philosophy degree in 1915, deliberately using a distinctive English, rather than a Latin, the D. Phil. became an accelerated, lower-status degree to the D. Litt. When it was established in 1900, the Oxford doctor of letters, the length of the required number of terms changed over the years, depending on the prior Oxford degree that a candidate held, and the requirements became more specific. By 2015, The Oxford University Examination Regulations called for a faculty board at Oxford to appoint judges to consider the evidence submitted by any candidate, between 1923 and 2016, Oxford awarded 219 D. Litt. Degrees, of which 196 were awarded to men and 23 to women, among the six higher doctoral degrees at Oxford, the D. Litt. Comprised 27. 5% of the doctorates awarded during this 93-year period. As of June 2016, the Oxford D.
Litt. has been suspended, in the United States, the degree is often an honorary degree conferred on those who have contributed to the humanities or society. There is, however, at least one earned D. Litt, programme at Drew University, where the degree requires 36 graduate credit hours post-Masters and a successfully prepared and defended nine-credit doctoral dissertation. In France the doctorat is awarded with a speciality, but there is no official list of these, candidates for a doctorat in literature are awarded a Doctorat ès lettres, abbreviated Dr ès l. There is a degree, the Habilitation à diriger des recherches. In literature, the candidates must present a new and unpublished work, the habilitation allows to apply for a position of professor in French universities. Before the 1950s, the now-abolished Doctorat dÉtat degree was called Doctorat ès lettres
The Christian Science Monitor
It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2011, the print circulation was 75,052, the Monitor is a newspaper that covers international and United States current events. The paper includes a daily feature on The Home Forum page. In 2008 the Monitor discontinued its print version to focus on web-based publishing, replacing its daily print edition with a weekly news magazine with an international focus. Since late 2013, the Editor-in-chief has been Marshall Ingwerson, despite its name, the Monitor does not claim to be a religious-themed paper, and says it does not promote the doctrine of its patron church. However, at its founder Eddys request, a religious article has appeared in every issue of the Monitor. Eddy required the inclusion of Christian Science in the papers name, in addition, Joseph Pulitzers New York World was consistently critical of Eddy, and this, along with a derogatory article in McClures, furthered Eddys decision to found her own media outlet.
These descriptions carry fears to many minds, to be depicted in some time upon the body. Eddy declared that the Monitors mission should be to no man. The Monitor was for several decades published in form but in 1975 switched to tabloid format. The papers overall circulation has ranged widely, from a peak of over 223,000 in 1970 and these developments presaged administrative moves to scale back the print newspaper in favor of expansions into radio, a magazine, shortwave broadcasting, and television. Expenses, rapidly outpaced revenues, contradicting predictions by church directors, on the brink of bankruptcy, the board was forced to close the broadcast programs in 1992. The paper has been known for avoiding sensationalism, producing a brand of nonhysterical journalism. Monitor staff have been the recipients of seven Pulitzer Prizes, the most recent in 2002,1950, Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, Edmund Stevens, for his series of 43 articles written over a three-year residence in Moscow entitled, This Is Russia Uncensored.
1967, Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, R. John Hughes, For his thorough reporting of Indonesias attempted Transition to the New Order in 1965,1968, Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, Howard James, for his series of articles, Crisis in the Courts. 1969, Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, Robert Cahn, for his inquiry into the future of the United States national parks and the methods that may help to preserve them. 1996, Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, David Rohde, for his persistent on-site reporting of the slaughter of thousands of Bosnian Muslims in the Srebrenica Genocide. S, senate Committee led by Norm Coleman of personally profiting from corruption within the United Nations Oil-for-Food program. The Monitor investigated the matter, concluding that the documents were almost certainly forgeries, in 2006, Jill Carroll, a freelance reporter for the Monitor, was kidnapped in Baghdad, and released safely after 82 days
Military history
On the other hand, Just War Theory explores the moral dimensions of warfare, and to better limit the destructive reality caused by war, seeks to establish a doctrine of military ethics. The discipline of history is dynamic, changing with development as much of the subject area as the societies. An important recent concept is the Revolution in Military Affairs which attempts to explain how warfare has been shaped by emerging technologies and it highlights the short outbursts of rapid change followed by periods of relative stability. In terms of the profession in major countries, military history is an orphan. William H. McNeill points out, This branch of our discipline flourishes in an intellectual ghetto, the study of military history in universities remains seriously underdeveloped. Indeed, lack of interest in and disdain for military history probably constitute one of the strangest prejudices of the profession, historiography is the study of the history and method of the discipline of history or the study of a specialised topic.
In this case, military history with an eye to gaining an accurate assessment of conflicts using all available sources, Military historians use Historiographical analysis in an effort to allow an unbiased, contemporary view of records. Historians utilize their knowledge of government regulation and military organization, and employing a targeted, despite these limits, wars are some of the most studied and detailed periods of human history. Military historians have often compared organization and strategic ideas, leadership, in the early 1980s, historian Jeffrey Kimball surveyed the ideological preferences of 109 active diplomatic historians in the United States as well as 54 active military historians. He reports that, Of historians in the field of history, 7% are Socialist, 19% are Other, 53% are Liberal, 11% are None. Of military historians, 0% are Socialist, 8% are Other, 35% are Liberal, 18% are None, the documentation of military history begins with the confrontation between Sumer and Elam c.2700 BC near the modern Basra, and includes such enduring records as the Hebrew Bible.
Other prominent records in history are the Trojan War in Homers Iliad. An approach centered on the analysis of a leader was taken by Xenophon in Anabasis, the records of the Roman Julius Caesar enable a comparative approach for campaigns such as Commentarii de Bello Gallico and Commentarii de Bello Civili. New weapons development can dramatically alter the face of war, the cost of warfare, the preparations, a rule of thumb is that if your enemy has a potentially war winning weapon, you have to either match it or neutralize it. The chariot was an effective, fast weapon, while one man controlled the maneuvering of the chariot and these became crucial to the maintenance of several governments, including the New Egyptian Kingdom and the Shang Dynasty and the nation states of early to mid Zhou dynasty. The infantry started as opposing armed groups of soldiers underneath commanders, the Greeks and early Romans used rigid, heavily armed phalanxes. The Macedonians and Hellenistic states would adopt phalanx formations with sarissa pikemen, the Romans would adopt more flexible maniples from their neighbors which made them extremely successful in the field of battle.
The kingdoms of the Warring States in East Asia adopted infantry combat, in the Sicilian Expedition, led by Athens in an attempt to subdue Syracuse, the well-trained Syracusan cavalry became crucial to the success of the Syracusans
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom. As of 2017 the British Army comprises just over 80,000 trained Regular, or full-time and just over 26,500 trained Reserve, or part-time personnel. Therefore, the UK Parliament approves the continued existence of the Army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years, day to day the Army comes under administration of the Ministry of Defence and is commanded by the Chief of the General Staff. Repeatedly emerging victorious from these decisive wars allowed Britain to influence world events with its policies and establish itself as one of the leading military. In 1660 the English and Irish monarchies were restored under Charles II, Charles favoured the foundation of a new army under royal control and began work towards its establishment by August 1660. The Royal Scots Army and the Irish Army were financed by the Parliament of Scotland, the order of seniority of the most senior line regiments in the British Army is based on the order of seniority in the English army.
At that time there was only one English regiment of dragoons, after William and Marys accession to the throne, England involved itself in the War of the Grand Alliance, primarily to prevent a French invasion restoring Marys father, James II. Spain, in the two centuries, had been the dominant global power, and the chief threat to Englands early transatlantic ambitions. The territorial ambitions of the French, led to the War of the Spanish Succession and the Napoleonic Wars. From the time of the end of the Seven Years War in 1763, Great Britain was the naval power. As had its predecessor, the English Army, the British Army fought the Kingdoms of Spain and the Netherlands for supremacy in North America and the West Indies. With native and provincial assistance, the Army conquered New France in the North American theatre of the Seven Years War, the British Army suffered defeat in the American War of Independence, losing the Thirteen Colonies but holding on to Canada. The British Army was heavily involved in the Napoleonic Wars and served in campaigns across Europe.
The war between the British and the First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte stretched around the world and at its peak, in 1813, the regular army contained over 250,000 men. A Coalition of Anglo-Dutch and Prussian Armies under the Duke of Wellington, the English had been involved, both politically and militarily, in Ireland since being given the Lordship of Ireland by the Pope in 1171. The campaign of the English republican Protector, Oliver Cromwell, involved uncompromising treatment of the Irish towns that had supported the Royalists during the English Civil War, the English Army stayed in Ireland primarily to suppress numerous Irish revolts and campaigns for independence. Having learnt from their experience in America, the British government sought a political solution, the British Army found itself fighting Irish rebels, both Protestant and Catholic, primarily in Ulster and Leinster in the 1798 rebellion. The Haldane Reforms of 1907 formally created the Territorial Force as the Armys volunteer reserve component by merging and reorganising the Volunteer Force, Great Britains dominance of the world had been challenged by numerous other powers, in the 20th century, most notably Germany
