This book explores the relationship between the army and British society in the century between Waterloo and the First World War. It deals not only with the changing recruitment, social composition, life-style can living conditions of the army itself - both officers and rank and file - but also with the role of the army in society, and society's attitude to it. Dr. Spiers concludes that a military career had a relatively limited appeal in Victorian Britain. But he does not accept that the army, as an institution, languished throughout these years neglected and ignored by the rest of society. He shows how popular attitudes changed for the better as the role of the army expanded during the latter half of the century. The widely-reported exploits of the army during the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny, and its continued successes in the considerable number of small colonial wars, transformed the image of the service. Hand in hand with this developed the movement, significantly civilian-based, for army reform. The notions of what needed to be done varied greatly: some wished to ensure that the practices and punishments of the army conformed with civilian standards; some tried to dilute the exclusiveness of the army by broadening the basis of its social composition; some tried to reorganise its structure. Dr. Spiers illuminates the background to the demands for reform and shows how the Victorian army was transformed into the professional body which formed the British Expeditionary Force to France in 1914. This is a book which will engross the ever-increasing number of readers fascinated by Victorian and Edwardian military life. But it has a much wider significance as a serious contribution to our understanding of nineteenth-century society as a whole. - Dust jacket.