The First World War continues to cast its long shadow over British culture and ‘modern memory’ at the beginning of the twenty-first century, and remains more controversial than the Second. Myths prevail over historical reality and today the earlier conflict is assumed to constitute ‘the prime example of war as horror and futility’. Yet, without claiming for it the accolade of ‘a good war’, as A. J. P. Taylor rather surprisingly did for the struggle against Nazi Germany, it was, for Britain, a necessary and successful war, and an outstanding achievement for a democratic nation in arms.

The following, I shall argue, are the main features in a positive interpretation of the British war effort. The Liberal government did not stumble heedlessly into war in 1914 but made a deliberate decision to prevent German domination of Europe. The tiny regular army of 1914 was transformed, with remarkable success, first into a predominantly citizens' volunteer body and then into the mass conscript force of 1917–18. The learning process was unavoidably painful and costly, but the British Army's performance compared well with that of both allies and opponents. In such a hectic expansion there were bound to be some ‘duds’ in higher command and staff appointments, but it would be difficult to name many ‘butchers and bunglers’ in the latter part of the war: popular notions about this are based on ignorance. Military morale, although brittle at times, held firm through all the setbacks and heavy casualties.