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Territorials: A Century of Service

Beckett, Ian F. W. (2008) Territorials: A Century of Service. DRA Publishing, 288 pp. ISBN 978-0-9557813-1-5. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:40716)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.

Abstract

The Territorial Army proudly celebrated its centenary in 2008. Originally formed to modernise the volunteer system which had defended Britain in the Napoleonic Wars, the Terriers soon found themselves used as an active and very necessary reserve to the tiny regular army on the battlefields of the Great War. Territorial battalions were added to regular regiments and the Terriers soon became indistinguishable from their comrades in courage, and sheer battle experience. They performed a similar role in the Second World War and since the 1990s the British Army has become entirely dependent on the Territorials to maintain its far stretched commitments in the Balkans, Iraq, and Afghanistan. This richly illustrated history of the TA is not just a story of military campaigns or organisational development, but also captures the continuity of the TA s many roles.

Item Type: Book
Additional information: questionable eprint id: 31088; 'Territorials: A Century of Service' was commissioned as an official publication by the Ministry of Defence to mark the centenary of the Territorial Army (1 April 2008). Beckett was invited to be author and joined the TA100 sub-committee tasked with its publication. This accepted his recommendation for a combination of chronological and thematic chapters. The volume was designed to be accessible and visually attractive, and for this reason the Committee opted not to include notes or full sources. While Beckett was familiar with the pre-1945 history of the TA, there were no published accounts dealing with the post-1945 period. Accordingly, new research was undertaken in the National Archives; in addition, Beckett was given access to material not yet in the public domain, and conducted interviews with senior members of the Territorial Army including the Deputy Inspector General. Of eight chronological chapters, three dealt with the post-1945 period. Professor Beckett was allowed full freedom of interpretation, particularly with respect to controversial legislative changes in service conditions in 1996, and to the often-detrimental impact of overseas service in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.;
Subjects: D History General and Old World
D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D501 World War I (1914-1918)
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of History
Depositing User: Stewart Brownrigg
Date Deposited: 07 Mar 2014 00:05 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:15 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/40716 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Beckett, Ian F. W..

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