Territorial Wars
The Territorial Army, currently celebrating its centenary, has had a constant struggle to survive – and never more so than today, says Ian Beckett.
The Territorial Force, as it was originally called, owed its origins to the profound shock of early defeats in the South African War. A sweeping series of military reforms was to include the existing auxiliary home defence forces of militia, yeomanry and volunteers. All had contributed to the war effort but, unjustly, criticism had been levelled at their performance. Successive Unionist Secretaries of State for War failed to get reform plans through the House of Commons, and many thought that their Liberal successor, Richard Burdon Haldane, would also fail, despite the large Liberal majority returned in the 1906 election. In the event, Haldane was to succeed. He suggested later that his reforms were driven by the desire to ready Britain for the great continental war he foresaw, but reform was actually determined by the need for economic retrenchment.
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