Militarism and the British Left, 1902-1914

Militarism has traditionally been regarded as a phenomenon of the political right. As this book demonstrates, however, various groups on the political left in Britain during the years before the Great War were able to accommodate, and even assimilate, militaristic ideas, sentiments, and policies to a remarkable degree.

'An analytically rigorous and thoroughly researched challenge to the influential and simplistic identification of early twentieth century British militarism with the Radical Right. The insistence on grounding the analysis of British militarism in context liberates assessment of claims for British exceptionalism from constricting comparisons with a paradigmatic Prussianism.'

• Professor David Howell, University of York

  Autorentext
  MATTHEW JOHNSON is the Stevenson Junior Research Fellow in History at University College, Oxford, UK. This is his first book.

  Inhalt
  List of Illustrations Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction: Militarism and the Left: Conceptual Problems and the Case of Britain Ideological Context: War, Martial Values, and Military Prestige Civil-Military Relations under the Pre-War Liberal Governments The Militarization of the State: Armaments, Popular Navalism, and the Liberal Party The Militarization of Society: Compulsory Service, the National Service League, and Progressive Politics Alternatives to Conscription: Richard Burdon Haldane and a 'Liberal' Nation-in-Arms Conclusion and Epilogue: Militarism and the Left by 1914, the Great War, and the Coming of Conscription Appendix I: Liberal MPs with military or naval experience sitting in the House of Commons between 1900 and 1914 Appendix II: Liberal MPs affiliated to the Navy League before 1914 Appendix III: Members of the Liberal War Committee by December 1916 Bibliography Index