The Decline of the British Army Between the Wars

Have I urged you to subscribe to Aspects of History magazine? Well, here’s another reminder.

Issue 18, published yesterday, carries an article by yours truly explaining the yawning gap in doctrine and capability in the British Army between the wars. Its the subject of a new book book I’ve written with General Lord Dannatt. The tragedy was that this was the same army which had, with its allies, resoundingly defeated the armies of the Central Powers in France in 1918. Much of what had been learned at such high cost in blood and treasure between 1914 and 1918 was quickly forgotten. This failure to institutionalise doctrinal memory provides a warning for our modern Army that once it goes, the ability to fight intensively at campaign level is incredibly hard to recover.