Change and Continuity - Changes in organising the military Flashcards
ARMY REFORMS - Duke of York Reforms
-1795- 1809/ 1811-1820
-Made conditions more bearable, reducing the strain of running a large, demoralised force— rations and barracks were improved and the penal code was made less brutal.
-Standard drills and manoeuvres were introduced allowing men to be trained more quickly and soldiers from different units to fight better together.
-Tried to reduce purchasing of commissions- the number of free commissions, based on merit, was increased. Certain ranks could no longer be bought without proven military experience
-Officer training- set up Sandhurst Military Academy to help train new officers in 1801
ARMY REFORMS - CARDWELL’s REFORMS
-1868-74
Flogging and branding discouraged men from joining the army - Flogging was abolished as a punishment during peacetime in 1868. Branding was abolished altogether - Pay was still low. ¾ of their pay would go back to the army as ‘stoppages’
Recruiting sergeants, encouraged by the prospect of bounty money, used dishonest means to get men to join the army. These means often included getting the recruits drunk or lying about their conditions of service - Bounty money was abolished in 1870. (Money paid to a recruiting sergeant for every new recruit they got)
Minimum term of service was 12 years. To get a pension, 21 years. 12 years, especially in a unit abroad would be akin to a death sentence - The Army Enlistment Act (1870) allowed men to serve half of their 12-year term in the reserves.
Man were afraid of long postings overseas- particularly tropical areas (many died of disease or returned severely weakened) - Regulation of the Armed Forces Act (1871) abolished general service and linked regiments to a geographical area. Regiment were now linked to an area. Men could choose their regiment and serve ½ their time abroad
Promotion could only be secured if a man had enough money to pay for his commission. Thus, only wealthy men were able to become senior officers. This enabled talented young men to gain a high rank, but in other cases wealthy mean if lower quality could gain senior positions - The purchasing of commissions was abolished in 1871. After this promotion would be based on merit.
ARMY REFORMS - CARDWELL’s REFORMS - Successes & Failures
New rules were not immersed into the army overnight. The British army of the 1870s, although governed by new rules, behaved in much the same way as the army of the 1860s and before.
The recruitment problem was resolved by the mid 1870s as the British economy began to slow and the prosperity of the mid-19th century came to an end. Further the army was not overstretched in the 1870s- short campaign in South Africa in 1879 and a war in Afghanistan (1878-80).
In the 1890s, bounty money was re-introduced, this time paid to the solider, not the recruiting sergeant, in response to the pressures in Africa and India.
Pay was still low. ¾ of their pay would go back to the army as ‘stoppages’- food, fuel, clothing etc.
ARMY REFORMS - Childers Reforms
-1881
-Difficulties over ensuring regiments had full battalion strength- many only have one, but the Regulation of the Forces Act 1881 meant that they would need two. Many were unable to raise a new battalion and/or refused to merge with another regiment.
-Hugh Childers- General Order 41/1881, the old numbering system was abolished and regiments were given new titles, usually for the area of the country that they were located. For most regiments, this meant amalgamating with another regiment or moving to another part of the country.
-The reform was widely disliked by many regiments who refused to change their regiment name, e.g. ‘Black Watch’ and the ‘Royal’ units.
ARMY REFORMS - Haldane’s Army Reforms
-1905-12
Reformed the army into the Two Line system: - All units that were surplus to this system were disbanded
-Expeditionary force of 3 army corps (150,000- 6 infantry divisions, one heavy cavalry division and two light cavalry brigades)
-Territorial force (1907 Territorial and Reserves Forces Act), made up of volunteers, the militia and the yeomanry, supply, medical, engineer and artillery, which could support and expand the expeditionary force or act independently of it.
IMPERIAL GENERAL STAFF :
-Imperial General Staff was created in 1904 to oversee all strategic matters in the Empire.
-All local units (e.g. South African Army, the Australian and New Zealand army corps, the Indian Army etc.) would need to be reorganised along the lines of the new British Expeditionary Force.
The Officer Traing Corps:
-Supported by the OTC (Officer Training Corps), by March 1915 - 20,000 schoolboys and 5000 undergraduates were enrolled.
NAVY REFORMS - Naval reform following the end of the Napoleonic Wars
-1815
There was no other navy of any significance left in the world to fight, so the protection of Britain itself was no longer a priority so naval squadrons were split up and sent around the world in the use of gunboat diplomacy to use the threat of war in order to pressure countries into agree to British terms e.g. during the wars of independence in Latin America, the mere presence of a British Fleet prevented Spanish and Portuguese ships from operating
Reduction in warships in 1817, only 13 battleships were on active duty- from a navy that had boasted over 100 battleships. The main strength of the navy was its frigates, sloops and brigs which could operate with impunity around the world. The battleship strength was left in European and Mediterranean waters.
NAVY REFORMS - Graham’s Reforms
-1832
New Ships and Gunnery:
-Issued an order that all crews at sea or in harbour should perform gunnery exercises and be combat ready.
-Set up a permanent school of gunnery and commissioned a ship, HMS Excellent, based at Portsmouth for that particular purpose.
Promotion:
-Reduction in number of ships meant there were more officers and than ships some could rise up to Admiral without ever going to sea
-Graham introduced a regulation requiring officers to have at least 2 years’ experience at sea as a lieutenant
-This reform did not solve the long Navy List of officers awaiting command or the unfairness of men of influence, but it did ensure a level of professional experience for commanders and captains
Supply:
-Graham abolished the Naval Office and the Victualing Board, putting their responsibilities under the Navy, simplifying the supply and overall administration as it was no longer under bickering government departments
-Under the new system, fiver principal officers would be in charge of a certain area each and worked at the Admiralty, so communication was much quicker: Surveyor of the Navy, Accountant-general of the Navy, Store-keeper general of the Navy, Controller of the victualing, Medical director-general
-Graham also extended Royal Navy control to the dockyards and victualing yards with an admiral appointed to oversee the biggest yards at Plymouth and Portsmouth, with Captains appointed to the others - making them more efficient
NAVY REFORMS - FISHER’S NAVY REFORMS
-1904–1910
-In the Naval Defence Act 1889 Britain had officially adopted the two-power standard, which meant that its size was to be kept up with the combined strength of the next two greatest naval powers. Meant that the RN would out match any rivals. However, In 1898 Germany passed a new law which would double the size of its fleet. and lead to Germany having local naval supremacy
-Fisher undertook a major reforming of the RN from a far flung force of middling ships and turned into a smaller force of powerful ships pointed at the rising German threat, such as selling 90 ships and putting 64 more in reserve that were ‘too weak to fight and too slow to run away’ and back 5 modern battleships from China to Britain
-Developed a new breed of warships called dreadnoughts after the HMS Dreadnought in 1906 which outclassed every ship prior due to having more large guns, heavier armour, and a higher speed. However, as Britain had the largest number of pre-dreadnoughts this wiped out their advantage
Recruitment - Impressment - Press Gangs
-Took place during the French Wars 1793-1815
-Forcing men to join the navy. It was common practice, especially during times of war. Any seafarer could be pressed into service. - was essentially a form of conscription
-Most men taken for service were from merchant ships at sea. This was legal, as long as the men taken were replaced by the navy captain.
-Press gangs had a quota system. Counties had to provide a set number of volunteers. If they couldn’t fill the quota, the offered criminals the possibility of serving their sentences out in the navy.
-The navy didn’t really want the criminals as there were often poor physical specimens and too many in a crew would reduce the warship’s efficiency
Recruitment - Volunteer Campaigns
Impact of BLACK WEEK (December 1899):
-Tens of thousands of men tried to volunteer, and on 18 December the government relented, allowing twelve battalions of militia and 20,000 members of the yeomanry to go to South Africa. Amongst the units formed at this time was the City of London Imperial Volunteers, a unit of 1,550 men raised in under two months. A similar wave of enthusiasm swept Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
-Within months 30,000 new troops from Canada, Australia and New Zealand started arriving in Southern Africa.
Pals Battalions:
-Each town was asked to provide a battalion of men for the war effort (‘Pals Battalions’). As a matter of civic pride larger cities raised several battalions. Schools also raised battalions of former pupils and some sports raised their own battalions made up entirely of sportsmen.
-After the disastrous results of the Battle of the Somme, (80% casualties- Accrington Pals) and seeing the devastating impact on a local area the authorities ended the use of Pals Battalions.
Recruitment - WW1 Conscription
-September 1915, Lord Derby was placed in charge of the recruitment scheme. Every man aged 18-41 was asked to promise to join up if they were needed. It was believed that he would need a British/Commonwealth force of 70 divisions to shore up the Western Front.
-In the end only half of single men and 40 percent of married men were willing to do so. One of the conditions of the scheme was that single men would be called before married men, so there was a flurry of weddings in the first months of 1916. Without the numbers they required, the government introduced conscription.
-The Military Service Act was passed in January 1916, which allowed the calling up of single men. In May, this was extended to married men by the Second Military Act.
-Within months there were 750,000 applications for exemption, most which were upheld (munitions, miners, teachers and clergymen were all exempted). Conscription was also not enforced on Ireland.
-1.1 million were drafted in the first year. By the end of the war 2.5 million had been called up through conscription