The Chiefs of Staff play a little publicised but crucial part in the higher machinery of government. At times mocked by a Press that knows they are duty bound to avoid the political arena, the Chiefs' vital importance is only revealed to the world in time of war, and then only in part. For the first time this book tells the story of the British Chiefs of Staff from the mid-19th Century up to the present day. It recounts their successes and failures in managing the services through the two World Wars, the Korean War, Suez, the withdrawal from Empire and finally the Falklands campaign.The British failures of the Crimean War compared so unfavourably with the professionalism of the German General Staff in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, that the pressures of public outcry rather than any political motivation drove Prime Minister Gladstone to initiate a programme of military reform. That programme finally led to the creation of the Chiefs of Staff Committee system in 1923, as the nation emerged from the toils of the First World War. The system was emulated in toto by the United States in 1942 and is still the means by which the higher direction of war is exercised in both countries.Revealing pen-portraits are drawn of the principal personalities - both military and political - who have had to grapple with the controversial issues of defence throughout this war-torn 20th Century. With the benefit of their vast experience, the authors achieve a balance between an appreciation of the individual chiefs (and their often colourful personalities) and the collective contribution they have made to Britain's military operations. The whole provides an incisive account of contemporary British military history. Read Less