Manpower and the Armies of the British Empire in the Two World Wars

Published by Cornell University Press 2021

Manpower and the Armies of the British Empire in the Two World Wars

Edited by: Douglas E. Delaney, Mark Frost and Andrew L. Brown

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501755866

Overview
Contents

About this book

In the first and only examination of how the British Empire and Commonwealth sustained its soldiers before, during, and after both World Wars, a cast of leading military historians explores how the empire mobilized manpower to recruit workers, care for veterans, and transform factory workers and farmers into riflemen.

Raising armies is more than counting people, putting them into uniform, and assigning them to formations. It demands efficient measures for recruitment, registration, and assignment. It requires processes for transforming common people into soldiers, and then producing officers, staffs, and commanders to lead them. It necessitates balancing the needs of the armed services with industry and agriculture. And, often overlooked but illuminated incisively here, raising armies relies upon medical services for mending wounded soldiers, and programs and pensions to look after them when demobilized.

Manpower and the Armies of the British Empire in the Two World Wars is a transnational look at how the empire did not always get these things right. But through trial, error, analysis, and introspection, it levied the large armies needed to prosecute both wars.

Author information

Douglas E. Delaney holds the Canada Research Chair in War Studies, Mark Frost is a Postdoctoral Fellow in War Studies

Andrew L. Brown is Assistant Professor of History and an officer in the Canadian Intelligence Corps—all at the Royal Military College of Canada.

Reviews

Andrew Stewart, Australian National University, author of The First Victory:

"An engaging examination of how the British Empire responded to military manpower challenges throughout the first half of the twentieth century. This is a compelling collection, written by an impressive range of scholars."

John C. Mitcham, University, author of Race and Imperial Defense in the British World:

"Insightful, imaginative, and original. The authors are amongst the primary experts in the field and they provide a series of fascinating transnational case studies based on diligent, multi-archival research."

Matthew Hughes, Brunel University London, author of Britain's Pacification of Palestine:

"A high-quality volume, with broad appeal. Those interested in social, imperial, political, and even economic history will want to read this book."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Introduction: Britain and the Military Manpower Problems of the Empire, 1900–1945 Douglas E. Delaney and Mark Frost Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. The Government That Could Not Say No and Australia’s Military Effort, 1914–1918 Jean Bou Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
2. Irish Identities in the British Army during the First World War Richard S. Grayson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	28
3. Conserving British Manpower during and after the First World War Jessica Meyer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	43
4. The Canadian Garrison Artillery Goes to War, 1914–1918 Roger Sarty Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	56
5. “Returning Home to Fight”: Bristolians in the Dominion Armies, 1914–1918 Kent Fedorowich and Charles Booth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	72
6. Martial Race Theory and Recruitment in the Indian Army during Two World Wars Kaushik Roy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	86
7. Manpower, Training, and the Battlefield Leadership of British Army Officers in the Era of the Two World Wars Gary Sheffield Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
8. Legitimacy, Consent, and the Mobilization of the British and Commonwealth Armies during the Second World War Jonathan Fennell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	116
9. “Enemy Aliens” and the Formation of Australia’s 8th Employment Company Paul R. Bartrop Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	134
10. The Body and Becoming a Soldier in Britain during the Second World War Emma Newlands Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	144
11. Canada and the Mobilization of Manpower during the Second World War Daniel Byers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	160
12. South African Manpower and the Second World War Ian van der Waag Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	174
13. Manpower Mobilization and Rehabilitation in New Zealand’s Second World War Ian McGibbon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
14. Caring for British Commonwealth Soldiers in the Aftermath of the Second World War Meghan Fitzpatrick Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
Conclusion: The Many Dimensions of Mobilizing Military Manpower Douglas E. Delaney and Andrew L. Brown Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	214
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
Select Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	277
Notes on Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	283
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 318
Illustrations
- Images: 15
- Other: 15 b&w halftones, 2 graphs
Keywords: Manpower in the imperial armies; Social history of the dominions and India; history of britian

eBook

Published: June 21, 2021
ISBN: 9781501755866