Model of resilience

At a time when the British Army is going through something of a crisis — plucked from the frying pan of Iraq only to be plunged into the fire of Afghanistan, with inadequate equipment, a lack of clear objectives, mounting casualties and dwindling public support — it might not appear to be the best moment to publish a history of the Second Service’s achievements since the days of Cromwell. 

At a time when the British Army is going through something of a crisis — plucked from the frying pan of Iraq only to be plunged into the fire of Afghanistan, with inadequate equipment, a lack of clear object- ives, mounting casualties and dwindling public support — it might not appear to be the best moment to publish a history of the Second Service’s achievements since the days of Cromwell. 

Yet Allan Mallinson, a former soldier best known for his Matthew Hervey series of historical novels, has approached this book with a purpose: to explain how and why ‘his’ army has become what it is today — ‘extraordinarily capable in spite of its small size’ — by looking at the people and events that have shaped its past.