Leadership in the Trenches

Officer-Man Relations, Morale and Discipline in the British Army in the Era of the First World War

G. Sheffield

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2000
• Print ISBN: 9780333654118
• eBook ISBN: 9780230596986
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

Why, despite the appalling conditions in the trenches of the Western Front, was the British army almost untouched by major mutiny during the First World War? Drawing upon an extensive range of sources, including much previously unpublished archival material, G. D. Sheffield seeks to answer this question by examining a crucial but previously neglected factor in the maintenance of the British army's morale in the First World War: the relationship between the regimental officer and the ordinary soldier.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• List of Abbreviations
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Officer–Man Relations and Discipline in the Regular Army, 1902–14
• 2 The Prewar Army: the Auxiliary Forces and Debates on Discipline
• 3 The British Officer Corps, 1914–18
• 4 British Military Leadership, 1914–18: Influences and Training
• 5 Officer–Man Relations: the Disciplinary and Social Context
• 6 Officer–Man Relations: the Officer's Perspective
• 7 Officer–Man Relations: the Other Ranks' Perspective
• 8 Officer–Man Relations: Morale and Discipline
• 9 Comparisons
• 10 Conclusion
• Appendix 1 The Morale of the British Army on the Western Front, 1914–18
• Appendix 2 British Army Conscripts
• Appendix 3 Discipline and Continuity in Small Units
• Appendix 4 Published Guides to Officership
• Notes
• Sources and Select Bibliography
• Index