The armed forces

The loyalty of the leaders of the British armed forces to the government has not been in doubt since the Civil War. In addition, and with the exception of Northern Ireland, the army has only rarely been used to keep order within Great Britain in the last 100 years.'National Service' (a period of compulsory military service for all men) was abolished in 1957. It had never been very popular. It was contrary to the traditional view that Britain should not have a large standing army in peacetime. Moreover, the end of empire, together with the increasing mechanization of the military, meant that it was more important to have small, professional forces staffed by specialists. The most obviously specialist area of the modern military is nuclear weapons. Since the 1950s, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) has argued, on both moral and economic grounds, that Britain should cease to be a nuclear power. At certain periods the CND has had a lot of popular support . However, this support has not been consistent. Britain still has a nuclear force, although it is tiny compared to that of the USA.

The end of “The Cold War” between the west and the Soviet Union at the end of 1980s caused the British government to look for the “peace dividend” and to reduce further the size of the armed forces. This caused protest from politicians and military professionals who were afraid that Britain would not be able to meet its 'commitments' in the world. These commitments, of course, are now mostly on behalf of the United Nations or the European Union. There is still a feeling in Britain that the country should be able to make significant contributions to international peacekeeping efforts. The reduction also caused bad feeling within sections of the armed forces themselves. Its three branches (the Army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force) have distinct traditions and histories that it was felt were being threatened. The army in particular was unhappy when several famous old regiments, each with their own distinct traditions, were forced to merge with others

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