Government and the armed forces in Britain, 1856-1990 / edited by Paul Smith.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Civil-military relations in a period without major wars, 1855-85 / Edgar Feuchtwanger and William J. Philpott -- Ruling the waves : government, the service and the cost of naval supremacy, 1885-99 / Paul Smith -- Adversarial attitudes : servicemen, politicians and strategic policy, 1899-1914 / John Gooch -- 'A one man show?' : civil-military relations during the First World War / David French -- The campaign for a Ministry of Defence, 1919-36 / William J. Philpott -- Sir Thomas Inskip as Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence, 1936-39 / Sean Greenwood -- Waltzing with Winston : civil-military relations in the Second World War / Alex Danchev -- 'Vested interests and vanished dreams' : Duncan Sandys, the Chiefs of Staff and the 1957 White Paper / Martin S. Navias -- The Ministry of Defence, 1959-70 / Peter Nailor -- Establishing civilian supremacy : influence within Britain's Ministry of Defence / David K. Boren -- Michael Heseltine and the reorganisation of the Ministry of Defence, 1983-84 / Adrian Smith.

Print version record.

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.

eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - Worldwide