Territorials: A Century of Service

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.