The rise and fall of the British Army, 1975-2025 / Ben Barry.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barry, Ben (Retired brigadier), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Great Britain. Army--History--20th century.

Great Britain.

Great Britain. Army--History--21st century.

Physical Description:

496 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly colour), maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford, UK ; New York, NY : Osprey Publishing, 2025.

Summary:

A new study of a critical period in the history of the British Army. The last half century has seen society, technology, the character of conflict and the British Army itself all change greatly. From a low point in the 1970s, the Army's war fighting capability increased in the 1980s in the face of a prospective war with the Soviet Union. This capability was then tested on operations from Kuwait in 1991 through to Afghanistan in 2001 and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. There followed two decades of descent from this high plateau of military achievement. Mistakes made in Iraq and Afghanistan led to a decline in support for military deployments. Cuts to defence funding and botched equipment procurements also meant the British Army of 2021 was only half the size of that of 1970, and with much key fighting equipment either obsolete or approaching obsolescence. Ben Barry served in the Army from 1975 to 2010, often in key staff appointments, and has worked closely with the Army in the following decade. This new study draws not only on his personal experience, but also on a very wide range of written sources complemented by interviews to provide a new interpretation of this period that challenges the existing narratives.

Contents:

(Subject to confirmation)

Chapter One

The Inheritance

Chapter Two. Counter-Insurgency

Away and at Home

Chapter Three. The War That Never Was (1)

Chapter Four. Surprise and Response (1)

The Falklands War

Chapter Five. The War That Never Was (2)

The Bagnall Revolution

Chapter Six. The Long Haul in Northern Ireland

Chapter Seven

Strategic Surprise and Response (2)

Operation Desert Storm

Chapter Eight

A New World Disorder 1991-2001

Chapter Nine

Surprise and Response (3)

The Aftermath Of 9/11

Chapter Ten

Unpopular Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

Chapter Eleven

Caution, Contraction and New Threats 2010-20

Chapter Twelve

Recessional 2020-21

Chapter Thirteen

Inconvenient Truths and Uncomfortable Conclusions

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781472856340

1472856341

OCLC:

1542819795

Publisher Number:

CIPO000286713