Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!

Create Free Account

British Military Service Tribunals, 1916-18: 'A Very Much Abused Body of Men'

0/5 ( ratings)

Military Service Tribunals were formed following the introduction of conscription in January 1916, to consider applications for exemption from military service. Swiftly, they gained two opposing yet equally unflattering reputations. In the eyes of the military, they were soft, obstructionist "old duffers". To most of the men who came before them, they were the unfeeling civilian arm of a remorseless grinding machine.

This work, utilizing a rare surviving set of Tribunal records, challenges both perspectives. Wielding unprecedented power yet acutely sensitive to the contradictions inherent in their task, the Tribunals were obliged, often at a conveyer belt’s pace, to make decisions that often determined the fate of men. That some of these decisions were capricious or even wrong is indisputable; the sparse historiography of the Tribunals has too often focused upon the idiosyncratic example while ignoring the wider, impact of imprecise legislation, government hand-washing and short-term military exigencies.

Language: English

Pages: 272

Format: Hardcover

Release: September 13, 2011

ISBN 13: 9780719084775

British Military Service Tribunals, 1916-18: 'A Very Much Abused Body of Men'

0/5 ( ratings)

Military Service Tribunals were formed following the introduction of conscription in January 1916, to consider applications for exemption from military service. Swiftly, they gained two opposing yet equally unflattering reputations. In the eyes of the military, they were soft, obstructionist "old duffers". To most of the men who came before them, they were the unfeeling civilian arm of a remorseless grinding machine.

This work, utilizing a rare surviving set of Tribunal records, challenges both perspectives. Wielding unprecedented power yet acutely sensitive to the contradictions inherent in their task, the Tribunals were obliged, often at a conveyer belt’s pace, to make decisions that often determined the fate of men. That some of these decisions were capricious or even wrong is indisputable; the sparse historiography of the Tribunals has too often focused upon the idiosyncratic example while ignoring the wider, impact of imprecise legislation, government hand-washing and short-term military exigencies.

Language: English

Pages: 272

Format: Hardcover

Release: September 13, 2011

ISBN 13: 9780719084775

More books from Jim McDermott

The Peenemunde Deceptions

3.8/5 ( ratings)

The Art of Rick and Morty

4.4/5 ( ratings)

The Deaths of Berlin

3.8/5 ( ratings)

A German Winter

4.1/5 ( ratings)

The Lie Division: The fourth Otto Fischer novel

A Dragging of Chains: The seventh Otto Fischer novel

4.3/5 ( ratings)

All Traitors' Day: The sixth Otto Fischer novel

4.2/5 ( ratings)

Bright New World: The eighth Otto Fischer novel

4.5/5 ( ratings)

A Political Man: The ninth Otto Fischer novel

4.2/5 ( ratings)

Working the Dead: The tenth Otto Fischer novel

4.6/5 ( ratings)

The Third Voyage of Martin Frobisher to Baffin Island, 1578

The Christian Family

Closing Up for Winter

Martin Frobisher: Elizabethan Privateer

Evolutionary and Biologically Inspired Music, Sound, Art and Design: Second International Conference, Evomusart 2013, Vienna, Austria, April 3-5, 2013, Proceedings

Money, Love & Power: A Guide to Understanding Congress

Vincent Price Presents: Gallery, #3

Game of Thrones: Catspaw Collectible Dagger

Anne

Evolutionary and Biologically Inspired Music, Sound, Art and Design: Third European Conference, Evomusart 2014, Granada, Spain, April 23-25, 2014, Revised Selected Papers

Rate this book!

Write a review?