1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910784906803321

Titolo

Government and the armed forces in Britain, 1856-1990 [[electronic resource] /] / edited by Paul Smith

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London ; ; Rio Grande, Ohio, : Hambledon Press, c1996

ISBN

1-282-70980-1

9786612709807

0-8264-1894-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (343 p.)

Altri autori (Persone)

SmithPaul <1937->

Disciplina

355/.00941

Soggetti

Civil-military relations - Great Britain - History - 20th century

Civil-military relations - Great Britain - History - 19th century

Great Britain Politics and government 20th century

Great Britain Politics and government 1837-1901

Great Britain Armed Forces Political activity

Great Britain History, Military 20th century

Great Britain History, Military 19th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; Preface; Contributors; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1 Civil-Military Relations in a Period without Major Wars, 1855-85; 2 Ruling the Waves: Government, the Service and the Cost of Naval Supremacy, 1885-99; 3 Adversarial Attitudes: Servicemen, Politicians and Strategic Policy, 1899-1914; 4 'A One-Man Show'? Civil-Military Relations during the First World War; 5 The Campaign for a Ministry of Defence, 1919-36; 6 Sir Thomas Inskip as Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence, 1936-39; 7 Waltzing with Winston: Civil-Military Relations in the Second World War

8 'Vested Interests and Vanished Dreams': Duncan Sandys, the Chiefs of Staff and the 1957 White Paper9 The Ministry of Defence, 1959-70; 10 Establishing Civilian Supremacy: Influence within Britain's Ministry of Defence; 11 Michael Heseltine and the Reorganisation of the Ministry of Defence, 1983-84; 12 Conclusion; Index



Sommario/riassunto

In a period that began with Britain controlling a world-wide empire and included two world wars, followed by the Cold War and massive expenditure on nuclear armaments, the relationship between the politicians and the generals has been central to British history. While it is correctly assumed that the Armed Forces have never threatened British political stability in modern times, the relationship between the military and their political masters is a major, if under-emphasised, theme of British history. While in theory the politicians decided strategy and the military implemented it, in practice