Organisation of the British army and navy

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What are Lieutenants?
in charge of 25-30 men. knows individual casualties, know soldiers personally, more concerned about the welfare of his soldiers
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Basic facts of the Royal Navy
each ship has HMS in front of it, ships are grouped into fleets which are then named after the area where they are serving.
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What's the difference between a destroyer and a frigate?
a destroyer is bigger and can fire missiles and torpedos, escort and attack submarines. frigates are small and used for speed manoeuvrability, they escort but don't attack.
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What is a sloop?
a smaller frigate used to escort and used for anti submarine warfare. stoop refers to sail shape and they protect too.
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How did battleships change during 1800 and 2000?
became much larger and technologically advanced, more artillery too.
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How was a cruiser different to a battleship?
battleship is bigger and has 12 inch guns whereas a cruiser has 6-9 inch guns
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Army recruitment before 1855
hard to recruit as army seen as unappealing, men put off as they could be put with a bad regiment and fight in the tropics, criminals in the army was now less popular and appealing.
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Army officers before 1855
they had to purchase ranks so they had to be rich, not based off meritocracy so leadership was weak. poor quality officers.
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Army munitions (equipment) before 1855
arm got new weapons but needed more ammunition, Brown Bess muskets was main weapon, ineffective. army produced own bullets but as weapons got better the army couldn't make the right bullets.
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Army food and clothing before 1855
poor uniform and footwear, officers use own equip rather than gov provided ones, purchased local food rather than living off the land, supply chains for food was weak so soldiers were hungry.
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Army expanding the empire before 1855
as empire expanded the army needed to be sent all over the world, so was harder to control the forces.
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What were the main weaknesses of the army before 1855?
lack of resources - gov unwilling to spend more money especially in peace time. poor quality of officers. army new about these issues but uncapable of reforming themselves.
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Why was the McNeill Tulloch report carried out?
Crimean war exposed army weaknesses. winter supply scandal. journalists made public feel sorry for the soldiers. now questioned the gov.
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What were the main findings of the McNeill Tulloch report?
disease caused most casualties, lack of fresh food so poor health, officers cared for men, distributing supplies to the front-line was slow, poor communication so commander Raglan didn't know about supply issues, short of medical supplies.
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What is the commissariat?
What the McNeill Tulloch report was focused on, it was responsible for supplies.
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What were the actual recommendations after the McNeill Tulloch report?
improve army organisation - make it responsible for support services instead of the gov. secretary of state for war was responsible to parliament, improve supply chains, improve diet, replace rum with porter.
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Structure of the army after the report
army was disjointed - to solve the issue, commiserait joined part fo the army. above the entire army was secretary of war and then above that was parliament.
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Impact of McNeill Tulloch's reports
confirmed politicians and public fears of poor conditions, critiqued army leadership so army set up 'Chelsea board' to try whitewash the report.
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Why were Cardwell's army reforms carried out?
Cardwell was secretary of state for war. after Crimean war they changed parties to liberals. poor recruitment, Prussian army getting stronger showed how limited mcneill's report was. if to compete with Prussia then reforms were needed
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Cardwell's reform for flogging and branding
beforehand flogging and branding put people off joining the army. so in 1868 flogging wasn't allowed as a punishment during peacetime and branding was abolished all together.
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Cardwell's reforms on recruiting sergeants
these men were motivated by bounty money, used dishonest ways to get men to join the army eg getting the men drunk or lying about the conditions of service. so, 1870, bounty money was abolished.
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Cardwell's reforms on the time of service in the army
beforehand, min service was 12 yrs and to get a pension you needed 21yrs, people saw this as too long. So, army enlistment act 1870, allowed men to serve half of the 12 years in the reserves.
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Cardwell's reforms on geographical soldier placement
people put off joining due to having to fight in countries eg Africa, soldiers came home weakened or got diseases. so, regulation of the forces act 1871, abolished general service and linked regiments to a certain area, could choose which regiment
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Cardwell's reforms on promotions
beforehand, promotion could only be done if they had enough money, so low quality soldiers could get senior positions. so, purchase of commissions was abolished in 1871, promotion now warded by merit
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Impact of Cardwell's reforms
made the army more attractive to join but didn't tackle the supply chain or technology issues. reforms were hard to put into place so Childers reforms were introduced. still hard to get pension but manpower was needed
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Why were Childer's reforms introduced?
regulation of the forces act hard to put into place, regiments usually had one battalion so had to join with others or create one from scratch (reluctant as each battalion had own pride)
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What were Childer's reforms?(1880)
Childer was new secretary of state for war, general order 41 (1881) old numbering system abolished and regiments given new titles, battalions joined together, sometimes had to relocate.
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What was the reaction like to Childer's reforms?
sense of unease, regiments wanted to keep traditional names instead of new geographical ones, some regiments protested as they wanted traditional values to stay.
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Why were Haldane's reforms carried out?
new specialists needed for new technology. Boer war showed British army as weak as could barely fight against dutch farmers, showed supply, equipment, leadership and fitness of soldiers issues.
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Expeditionary and territorial forces (Haldane's reforms)
reorganised army, fully professional force, deploy overseas in wartime, £28m budget so limited size, territorial provides home defence, part time volunteers. 1913 - 236,000
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Officer training corps (Haldane's reforms)
set up at uni's after Boer war, taught skills needed to be an officer, organised by the war office, funded by gov, standard army regulations applied, 1914 - 20,000 schoolboys and 5000 undergraduates.
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Imperial general staff (Haldane's reforms)
set up to improve coordination and get everyone working together, responsible for all strategic matters in empire, solved the issue of disunity.
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What was so good about Haldane's reforms?
army now had a purpose! they are now training to fight their main enemy, Germany.
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What is the significance of Haldane's reforms?
tackled poor leadership as program designed to train them well, better recruitment as men now certain where they would be fighting (better direction), politicians and gov now heavily involved, standardisation so everyone works better together.
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What is the drawback of Haldane's reforms?
the army was still too small!! BEF had 160,000 men, other armies had a lot more. however, in ww1 BEF performed better than any other previous British army.
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Royal Navy facts
commission a ship; ship in active duty. 1815; boats powered by wind and sails. main ship; battleship. broadside; when all the ships guns on one side are fired at the same time.
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What was the role of the navy after 1815?
protection of Britain was no longer a priority, had to protect trade routes instead and ensure security of British empire. enforce the slave trade ban, 1817 only 13 ships on active duty. strength was in other ships eg frigates.
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What were Grahams reforms to the role of the navy?
all crews in harbour do gun related exercises, he abolished the naval office so departments under navy control. 5 officers in charge of area to help supply chains, gunboat diplomacy.
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Size of the navy and grahams reforms
1817 only 13 battleships on active duty. introduced a program to reform existing ships and build new battleships. end of French wars there was loads of officers but not enough ships
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Graham - set up permanent school of gunnery
set up school and also commissioned HMS Excellent to be built at Portsmouth, Hastings in charge of this ship. believe everyone should be able to operate the same guns
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Technological developments in the navy
boats first powered by sails but this then changed to steam. some people weary as steam less reliable. Graham built two steam ships and in the event of a war, another 10 would be built.
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What were some peoples concerns with steam ships?
only suitable for moving supplies, more vulnerable to enemy fire and couldnt be full broadside.
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When did the navy begin the program of building steam ships?
1850's - used a screw propeller and had quick firing cannons which fired at a greater range. added steam ships to frigates
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What was the issue with steam ships?
they were very heavy engines and coal was heavy to fire them too. so wood hulls changed to iron ones. as wooden hulls could only carry their equivalent weight so small engines had to be used.
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What were peoples attitudes to the navy?
took a while for people to accept steam boats. Graham introduced a regulation that stated a minimum amount of service an officer had to do before they moved up the ranks. eg before commander they had to be a lieutenant for 2 years.
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Summary of the navy after Graham's reforms
naval arms race began. French were ahead in the arms race. budget meant only 13 battleships, more were needed. empire expanded but wasn't enough ships to cover the area
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What were the new pressures facing the navy?
higher GB population so more dependant on food imports, dependant upon trade but could be stopped by navy in wartime. Navy's power was equal to rivals. kaiser of Germany wants to match our navy. seapower essential for an empire.
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1846 Corn laws
these were cancelled - allowed for import of cheap food which were then paid for by exporting expensive manufactured goods.
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Did Graham's reforms prepare the navy for the new pressures?
no - navy still to small, not enough ships, not prepared for new challenges.
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Who was Jackie Fisher?
trained at HMS excellent, responsible for building first modern destroyers, hated war, made first sea lord in 1904. reformed officer training, bought officers closer together by making them work with each other.
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How did Fisher balance the budget?
cut defence spending - sold 90 ships and reserved 64. created Royal Navy reserve so Britain had a larger reserve in wartime. royal fleet auxiliary - created to supply fighting ships with coal etc and supplies. fleets re organised.
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What affect did the Russo - Japanese war have on navies?
became paramount to have a good navy with big guns and lots of guns. fisher thought submarines needed for naval supremacy so began a building programme; involved submarines, battlecruisers and battleships.
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HMS Dreadnought
first modern battleships, had 12 inch guns which could fire shells 18,000 yards, powered by steam turbines so was the fastest ship, technical features to calculate gunnery etc, made shooting more accurate. observer stations created.
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Naval arms race after the HMS dreadnought
impacted the world. G built 9 dreadnoughts so Britain built more. 1912 - order for new queen Elizabeth class battleship - 15 inch guns and displaced 27,000 tons. Germany gave up and focused on land instead.
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By 1914, how many dreadnoughts did each country have?
Germany - 17. Britain - 29. French - 10.
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How effective were Fishers reforms?
meant Britain was in a perfect position for war as hard largest number of ships. submarines brought a new dynamic, used different styles of warfare. high reserve numbers good for a war, developing new strategies constantly to get ahead of enemies.
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Key facts involved fishers reforms
dreadnought replaced with Orien class dreadnought which could fire 22,000 yards. reducing the fleet meant using allies more so less ships needed. submarines 25% cheaper to build than dreadnoughts
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What were the weaknesses of Fisher's reforms?
small fleet size, provoked an arms race, over reliant on auxiliary fleet.
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Carronades - 1970 (technological advancement)
quick fire and quick to reload, short range advantage to ships, caused confusion to the enemy. short lived impact as longer barrelled guns developed, bigger guns were more effective.
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Congreve Rocket's - 1806 (technological advancement)
minimal physical damage but high psychological one. noisy, smoky and unpredictable. need to fire a lot of them to be effective. ineffective against well trained soldiers, never took off fully, inaccurate.
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William Armstrong's new artillery - 1859-60 (technological advancement)
simple and quick to use, rapid fire, used during Boer war, but hard to maintain, needed highly trained crews to use them, expensive ammunition. impact; longer and deeper battlefields, could now fire beyond line of sight so let to plane spotting etc
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Vickers machine gun - 1897 (technological advancement)
each battalion had two, machine gun corps created to maximise effectiveness. lewis gun then developed in 1915. led to tactical changes such as trench warfare. defences now needed less men, attacking armies needed to grow = conscription, specialists.
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Tank - 1915 to 18 (technological advancement)
huge psychological impact, process to rapidly improve the tank. heavy, slow, hot, loud, hard to communicate in the tanks. mechanical failures an germans had counter measures against them. led to some tactic changes, full potential realised in ww1.
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Card 2

Front

Basic facts of the Royal Navy

Back

each ship has HMS in front of it, ships are grouped into fleets which are then named after the area where they are serving.

Card 3

Front

What's the difference between a destroyer and a frigate?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What is a sloop?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

How did battleships change during 1800 and 2000?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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