Abstract
The First World War presented Britain with military challenges unique in its history. It is the only time Britain has ever played in the ‘premier league’, fielding as part of a coalition a Continental scale army that took on the main enemy force. In the years 1916–18 Britain was, in a way that was not true before those years and has not been true since, a military superpower. The first challenge of high command was to develop, from scratch, effective administrative machinery for conducting a total war. There was little in the way of informal doctrine and next to nothing in recent British history to guide the soldiers and statesmen of 1914. Not surprisingly, the relationship between the politicians and the military was to cause major problems throughout the war.
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Notes
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© 2003 Gary Sheffield
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Sheffield, G. (2003). British High Command in the First World War: An Overview. In: Sheffield, G., Till, G. (eds) The Challenges of High Command. Cormorant Security Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230505353_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230505353_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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