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The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. In contrast to the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force, the British Army does not include "royal" in its title, because of its roots as a collection of disparate units, many of which themselves do bear the "royal" prefix. Throughout its history the British Army has taken part in many campaigns throughout the world. Today, it is one of the most disciplined, well trained and technologically advanced forces of its kind. The Army is deployed in many of the world's war zones as part of a fighting force, and in United Nations peacekeeping forces. History The British Army came into being with the merger of the Scottish Army and the English Army, following the unification of the two countries' parliaments and the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. Although England had made many earlier claims to sovereignty in Scotland, there had been no unified British state prior to that time (other than a brief period during which the Roman province of Britain had achieved political independence-although even that had failed to establish complete control over the north of the island). The new British Army incorporated existing English and Scottish regiments, and was controlled from London. From around 1763 until at least 1914, the United Kingdom was the dominant military and economic power of the world. The British Empire expanded in this time to include colonies, protectorates, and Dominions throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australasia. Although the Royal Navy is widely regarded as having been vital for the rise of Empire, and British dominance of the world, the British Army played important roles in colonisation. First, the British Army provided garrisons for the colonies, protecting them against foreign powers and hostile natives. Second, the troops also helped capture strategically important territories for the British, allowing the British Empire to expand throughout the globe. The Army also involved itself in numerous wars meant to pacify the borders, or to prop-up friendly governments, and thereby keep other, competitive, empires away from the British Empire's borders. Notable amongst these were its serial interventions into Afghanistan, which were meant to maintain a friendly buffer state between British India and the Russian Empire. Keeping the Russian Empire at a safe distance was also one of Britain's motivations for coming to Turkey's aid in the Crimean War. As had its predecessor, the English Army, in building the Empire, the British Army fought Spain, France, and the Netherlands for supremacy in North America and the West Indies. It also battled many Native American nations and groups, including the many disgruntled former allies who launched Pontiac's War in response to the wave of British settlers that flooded over the Appalachians following the defeat of France in the Seven Years' War. The British Government's attempt to mollify the Natives by delineating the Appalachians as the westward limit for European settlement was the primary motivator of the American colonies in launching the secessionist American War of Independence. The British Army fought American colonists and their Native and French allies in that war. The British army was heavily involved in the Napoleonic Wars in which the army served from Spain across to Europe to North Africa in the South. The British Army finally came to defeat Napoleon at one of Britain's greatest military victories at the battle of Waterloo. Under Oliver Cromwell, the English Army had been active in the re-conquest, and the settlement, of Ireland since the 1650s. It (and subsequently, the British Army) have been almost continuously involved in Ireland ever since, primarily in suppressing numerous native revolts and guerilla and terrorist campaigns. It was faced with the prospect of battling British settlers in Ireland, who had raised their own volunteer army and threatened to emulate the American colonists if their conditions (primarily concerning freedom of trade) were not met, but the British Government acceded to these demands. The British Army still found itself fighting Irish rebels (Wolfe Tone's United Irishmen) in the unrelated, Napoleon-supported 1798 rebellion. In addition to battling the armies of other European Empires' (and of its former colonies, the United States, in the American War of 1812,) in the battle for global supremacy, the British Army fought the Chinese in the First and Second Opium Wars, and the Boxer Rebellion; Māori tribes in the first of the New Zealand Wars; Indian princely forces and British East India Company mutineers in the Indian Mutiny; the Boers in the First and Second Boer Wars; Irish Fenians in Canada during the Fenian raids; and Irish separatists in the Anglo-Irish War. Following William and Mary's accession to the throne, England involved itself in the War of the Grand Alliance primarily to prevent a French invasion restoring Mary's father, James II. Following the 1707 union of England and Scotland, and then the 1801 creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British foreign policy, on the continent, was to contain expansion by its competitor powers such as France and Spain. The territorial ambitions of the French led to the War of the Spanish Succession and the Napoleonic Wars. Russian activity led to the Crimean War. Great Britain's dominance of the world had been challenged by numerous other powers, notably Germany. The UK was allied with France (by the Entente Cordiale) and Russia, and when war broke out in 1914, the British Army sent the British Expeditionary Force to France and Belgium to prevent Germany from occupying these countries. The War would be the most devastating in British military history, with near 800,000 men killed and over 2 million wounded. In the early part of the war, the professional force of the BEF was decimated and, by turns, a volunteer (and then conscripted) force replaced it. Major battles included the Battle of the Somme. Advances in technology saw British advent of the tank and advances in aircraft design which were to be decisive in future battles. Trench warfare dominated strategy, and the use of chemical and poison gases added to the devastation. In 1939, World War II broke out with the German invasion of Poland. British assurances to the Polish led the British Empire to declare war on Germany. Again an Expeditionary Force was sent to France, only to be hastily evacuated as the German forces swept through the Low Countries and across France in 1940. Only the Dunkirk evacuations saved the entire Expeditionary Force from capture. Later, however, the British would have success defeating the Italians and Germans at the Battle of El Alamein in North Africa, and in the D-Day invasions of Normandy. In the Far East, the British Army battled the Japanese in Burma. World War II saw the British army develop its Commando units including the Special Air Service. During the war the British army was one of the major fighting forces on the side of the allies. After the end of World War II, the British Empire declined with the independence of India, and other colonies in Africa and Asia. Accordingly the strength of the British military was reduced, in recognition of Britain's reduced role in world affairs. However, a large deployment of British troops remained in Germany, facing the threat of Soviet invasion. The Cold War saw massive technological advances in warfare, and the Army saw more technological advanced weapons systems installed. Despite the decline of the British Empire, the Army was still deployed around the world, fighting in the Korean War, the Suez crisis of 1956, and colonial wars in Oman and Malaysia. In 1982 the British Army, alongside the Royal Marines, helped to recapture the Falkland Islands during the Falklands War against Argentina. In the three decades following 1969, the Army was heavily deployed in Northern Ireland, to support the Royal Ulster Constabulary (later the Police Service of Northern Ireland) in their conflict with loyalist and republican paramilitary groups. This is called Operation Banner. The locally-recruited Ulster Defence Regiment was formed, later becoming the Royal Irish Regiment in 1992. Over 700 soldiers were killed during the Troubles. Following the IRA ceasefires between 1994 and 1996 and since 1997, demilitarisation has taken place as part of the peace process, much reducing the military presence in the area. Gulf War The ending of the Cold War saw a 40% cut in manpower. Despite this, the Army has been deployed in an increasingly global role. In 1991, the United Kingdom was the second largest contributor to the coalition force that fought Iraq in the Gulf War. The nation supplied just under 50,000 personnel and was the nation put in control of Kuwait after it was liberated. Balkans conflicts The British Army was deployed to Yugoslavia in 1992. Initially this force formed part of the United Nations Protection Force. In 1995 command was transferred to IFOR and then to SFOR. Currently troops are under the command of EUFOR. Over 10,000 troops were sent. In 1999 British forces under the command of SFOR were sent to Kosovo during the conflict there. Command was subsequently transferred to KFOR. Afghanistan In 2001 The Parachute Regiment were deployed in Kabul, Afghanistan to assist in the liberation of the troubled capital. Royal Marines Commandos also swept the Afghan mountains but this force is part of the Royal Navy. The British Armed forces are currently in charge of UN forces in the nation. The British Army is today concentrating on fighting Taliban forces and bringing security to Helmand province under NATO control Iraq War In 2003, the United Kingdom was the only other major contributor to the United States-led invasion of Iraq. There was great disagreement amongst the populace but the government voted for the war, with the result of sending over 10,000 army personnel to the region. The British Army is still the major coalition presence in the city of Basra and the Southern regions of Iraq. Northern Ireland The British Army has been deployed in Ulster under Operation Banner since 1969 in support of the RUC and now the PSNI. There has been a reduction in the number of troops deployed in Northern Ireland since the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998. In 2005, after the IRA announced an end to armed conflict in Northern Ireland, it was revealed that the British Army would dismantle posts in the province and withdraw many troops. The Army today
Statistics High Intensity Operations Low Intensity Operations Training Operations Equipment A summary of the major equipment currently in service with the British Army. For a more comprehensive list with details, see Modern equipment and uniform of the British Army. For a list of historic and obsolete equipment that has been used by the British Army, see Historic equipment and uniform of the British Army. Formation and structure See main article: Structure of the British Army The structure of the British Army is complex, due to the different origins of its various constituent parts. It is broadly split into the Regular Army (full-time soldiers and units) and the Territorial Army (part-time soldiers and units). In terms of its military structure it has two parallel organisations, one administrative and one operational. Administrative: Corps, which is a grouping by common function, such as Royal Corps of Signals. Operational: The three major commands are Land Command, Headquarters Adjutant General, and Headquarters Northern Ireland. Corps made up of two or more Divisions (now unlikely to be used due to the size of the British Army.) A number of element of the British Army use alternative terms for Battalion, Company and Platoon. These include the Royal Armoured Corps,Royal Corps of Engineers, Royal Logistics Corps, and the Royal Corps of Signals who use Regiment, Squadron and Troop. The Royal Regiment of Artillery are unique in using the term Regiment in place of both Corps and Battalion, they also replace Company with Battery and Platoon with Troop. Aerial components The British Army is heavily in co-operation with the Royal Air Force for air support but the army also has its own Army Air Corps. The AAC has in its arsenal: Special forces The British army contributes two of the three special forces formations within the United Kingdom Special Forces Command; the Special Air Service Regiment and the Special Reconnaissance Regiment. The largest and most famous formation is the The Special Air Service Regiment. Formed in 1941, the SAS is seen by many as the role model for every other special force in the world. The SAS comprises one regular Regiment and two Territorial Army Regiments and is headquartered at Duke of York Barracks, London. The regular regiment, 22 SAS Regiment has its headquarters and depot are located in Hereford and consists of five squadrons: A, B, D, G and Reserve and a training wing. The regiment has battlespace roles in deep reconnaissance, target identification and indication and target destruction and denial. In its Counter Terrorism role it is seen as one of the prime anti-terrorist, hostage rescue and target capture units in the world The two reserve SAS regiments; 21 SAS Regiment and 23 SAS Regiment have a more limited role, focusing on the battlespace rather than Counter Terrorism. The Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) which was formed in 2005, from existing assets, to undertake close reconnaissance and surveillance tasks. Formed around 1st Battalion the Parachute Regiment, with attached Royal Marines and Royal Air Force asssets, the Special Forces Support Group are under the Operational Control of Director Special Forces to provide Infantry support to the elements of United Kingdom Special Forces Recruitment The Army mainly recruits within the United Kingdom, and normally has a recruitment target of around 25,000 soldiers per year. Low unemployment in Britain has resulted in the Army having difficulty in meeting its target, and in the early years of the 21st century there has been a marked increase in the number of recruits from other (mostly Commonwealth) countries, who as of mid-2004 comprised approximately 7.5% of the Army's total strength. By 2005 this number had risen to almost 10%. There were 6,460 foreign soldiers from 54 countries in the Army (not counting over 3,000 Nepalese Gurkhas). After Nepal, the nation with most citizens in the British Army is Fiji, with 1,965, followed by Jamaica with 975; soldiers also come from more prosperous countries such as Australia and South Africa (650) (However, recent proposals by the South African government may in future bar South African citizens from serving within the militaries of foreign states. The British government has appealed against this move). The Caribbean island of St Lucia, which has a population of just over 150,000, provides 220 soldiers. There has been a strong and continuing tradition of recruiting from Ireland including what is now the Republic of Ireland. Almost 150,000 Irish soldiers fought in the First World War; 49,000 died. More than 60,000 Irishmen, more than from Northern Ireland, also saw action in the Second World War; like their compatriots in the Great War, all were volunteers. There were more than 400 men serving from the Republic in 2003. In 2003, nearly 10,000 teenagers joined the army, including more than 3000 16-year-olds. Oath of allegiance All soldiers must take an oath of allegiance upon joining the Army: this is known as "attestation". Those who believe in God use the following words: Others replace the words "swear by Almighty God" with "solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm". Flags and ensigns The British Army does not have its own specific ensign, unlike the Royal Navy, which uses the White Ensign, and the RAF, which uses the Royal Air Force Ensign. Instead, the Army has different flags and ensigns, for the entire army and the different regiments and corps. The official flag of the Army as a whole is the Union Flag, flown in ratio 3:5. A non-ceremonial flag also exists, which is used at recruiting events, military events and exhibitions. Whilst at war, the Union Flag is always used, and this flag represents the Army on the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London (the UK's memorial to war dead). A British Army ensign also exists for vessels commanded by a commissioned officer, the Blue Ensign defaced with the Army badge. However, there are currently no commissioned vessels in the Army. Each line regiment (except the Rifle Regiments) also has its own flags, known as the Colours - the Regimental Colour and the Queen's Colour. These colours have been taken into battle in the past and serve as a great sense of pride to the regiment. There is great variation in the different regimental colours. Typically the colour has the regiment's badge in the centre. Ranks, specialisms and insignia Every regiment and corps has its own distinctive insignia, such as cap badge, beret and stable belt. Throughout the army there are many official specialisms. They do not affect rank, but they do affect pay bands. Royal Navy and RAF infantry units The other services have their own infantry-like units which are not part of the British Army. The Royal Marines are amphibious light infantry forming part of the Royal Navy, and the Royal Air Force has the RAF Regiment used for airfield defence and force protection duties. See also Footnotes | |||||||||
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