Thesis
The abdication of power: the role of the pacifist public and army theorists in the development of defense policy in the interbellum years, 1920-1939
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2011
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/102772
Abstract
This thesis examines the interactions between the British Army and the British people in the interwar period (1919-1939). It argues that the British Army had held to a tradition of innovation and reform since prior to World War I, a tradition which was initially embraced in the interwar period by two theorists, J.F.C. Fuller and B.H. Liddell Hart. This tradition favored the development of offensive weapons and doctrines, but was renounced in the 1930s in favor of a defensive policy which sought to limit war's potential impact on society, a policy which was motivated and shared by the pacifist movements of Great Britain. This thesis directly challenges the established historiography, which places an emphasis on the role economic considerations and army obstinacy played in curtailing reform, instead suggesting that the reform process merely shifted to actively emphasize defensive arms.
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Details
- Title
- The abdication of power
- Creators
- Nathan James Marr
- Contributors
- Heather Streets-Salter (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- History, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; Pullman, Wash. :
- Identifiers
- 99900524804501842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis