Timeline of the British Army

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This timeline covers the main wars, battles and engagements and related issues for the Scottish, English and British Army, from 1537 to the present.[1][2][3][4][5][6] See also Timeline of British diplomatic history.

1500–1599

1600–1699

  • 1633 – The Royal Regiment of Foot (later the Royal Scots) is placed on the Scottish Establishment, later becoming the oldest infantry regiment in the British Army.
  • 1642 – Marquis of Argyll's Royal Regiment was raised by Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll for service in Ireland, renamed in 1650 Lyfe Guard of Foot and reformed as the Scottish Regiment of Foot Guards in 1661 (later the Scots Guards).
  • 1650 – George Monck's Regiment is formed (later the Coldstream Guards), becoming the oldest infantry regiment in continuous service in the British Army but not under the monarch.
  • 1656 – Lord Wentworth's Regiment is formed (later the Grenadier Guards), later becoming the most senior infantry regiment in the British Army because of the long serving loyalty to the monarch during the English Civil War.
  • 26 January 1661 – King Charles II issues warrant, becoming the acknowledged beginning of the British Army. This concerned an assemblage of English regiments and Scottish regiments brought south with Charles II. The British Army would not formally exist, however, for another 46 years, as Scotland and England remained two independent states, each with its own Army.
  • 1 October 1661 – The Tangier Regiment is formed, later The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, the most senior English line infantry regiment in the British Army.
  • 1684 – The English withdraw from the Colony of Tangier.
  • 1688 – The
    War of the Grand Alliance
    begins.

1700–1799

1800-1898

1899–1918

Second Boer War

  • 1899
    • 11 October – War is declared.
    • 20 October – The first major battle of the war takes place at Talana Hill.
    • December – "Black Week", in which the Army suffered a series of defeats, takes place.
  • 1900
  • 1902
  • 1905 – The 5th Battalion,
    The Royal Garrison Regiment
    is the last British battalion to leave Canada.
  • 1908 – The Territorial Force (later Army) is formed.
  • 1911
  • 1912 – The Vickers machine gun is introduced into the Army; it remains in service until 1968.
    • 13 May – The Air Battalion Royal Engineers becomes the Royal Flying Corps. It remains part of the Army.

First World War

1918–1945

Interwar Period

Second World War

1945–1990

1990–present

Notes

  1. John William Fortescue
    , History of the British Army (13 vol, 1899-1930), which tells the story to 1870.
  2. ^ David G. Chandler and Ian Frederick William Beckett, eds. The Oxford illustrated history of the British army (Oxford UP, 1994)
  3. ^ David G. Chandler, The Oxford history of the British army. (Oxford UP, 2003).
  4. ^ Eric William Sheppard, A short history of the British army. (Constable, 1950).
  5. ^ Robert Money Barnes, A history of the regiments & uniforms of the British Army (London: Seeley Service, 1950).
  6. ^ Peter Young and James Philip Lawford, History of the British Army (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1970).
  7. ^ Basil Williams and C.H. Stuart, The Whig Supremacy 1714-1760 (1965) pp 231-70
  8. ^ Oliver Warner, With Wolfe to Quebec: the path to glory (1972).
  9. ^ See Jeremy Black, "Could the British Have Won the American War of Independence?." Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research. (Fall 1996), Vol. 74 Issue 299, pp 145-154. online 90-minute video lecture given at Ohio State in 2006; requires Real Player
  10. ^ Richard M. Ketchum, Decisive Day: The Battle for Bunker Hill (1999).
  11. ^ Barnet Schecter, The battle for New York: The city at the heart of the American Revolution (2003).
  12. ^ Bruce Mowday, September 11, 1777: Washington's Defeat at Brandywine Dooms Philadelphia (White Mane Pub, 2002).
  13. ^ Michael O. Logusz, With Musket and Tomahawk: The Saratoga Campaign and the Wilderness War of 1777 (Casemate Publishers, 2010).
  14. ^ Jerome A. Greene, The Guns of Independence: The Siege of Yorktown, 1781 (Casemate Publishers, 2009).
  15. ^ Nikolas Gardner, Trial by fire: Command and the British Expeditionary Force in 1914 (2003).
  16. ^ Ian Beckett, Ypres: The First Battle 1914 (Routledge, 2013).
  17. ^ Basil Henry Liddell Hart, The Tanks: The History of the Royal Tank Regiment and Its Predecessors, Heavy Branch, Machine-Gun Corps, Tank Corps, and Royal Tank Corps, 1914-1945 (1959).
  18. ^ Robert Woollcombe, The First Tank Battle: Cambrai 1917 (Arthur Barker, 1967).
  19. ^ Abigail Jacobson, From Empire to Empire: Jerusalem between Ottoman and British Rule (2011).
  20. ^ "The Corps of Royal Signals celebrates its centenary in Salisbury Cathedral".
  21. ^ "Our Story". Army Air Corps. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  22. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Beyond Today - Deadliest Day: How one patrol in Afghanistan still haunts British soldiers ten years on". BBC. Retrieved 3 November 2023.