British Army Facts for Kids

The Battle of Waterloo one of the greatest victories in British military history, in part due to the sound tactics of their Commander, the Duke of Wellington.

The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with unification of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army included Regiments that had already existed in England and Scotland. It was administered by the War Office from London. Since 1963 it has been managed by the Ministry of Defence.

Under Oliver Cromwell, the English Army was active in the conquest and settlement of Ireland since the 1650s. The Cromwellian campaign was characterised by its uncompromising treatment of Irish towns that had supported the Royalists during the English Civil War.

From roughly 1763 and the Seven Years' War the United Kingdom has been one of the leading military and economic powers of the world. The British Empire expanded in this time to include colonies, protectorates, and Dominions throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australasia. Although the Royal Navy is widely regarded as having been vital for the rise of Empire, and British dominance of the world, the British Army played important roles in colonisation.

The British army was heavily involved in the Napoleonic Wars in which the army served in Spain, across Europe, and in North Africa. The war between the British and French Empires stretched around the world. The British Army finally came to defeat Napoleon at one of Britain's greatest military victories at the battle of Waterloo.

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Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell
Lord General Thomas Fairfax, the first commander of the New Model Army
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, was one of the first generals in the British Army and fought in the War of the Spanish Succession.
The Duke of Wellington and Field Marshal von Blücher's triumph over Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo
In the 1879 Battle of Rorke's Drift, a small British force repelled an attack by overwhelming Zulu forces; eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded for its defence.
British First World War Mark I tank; the guidance wheels behind the main body were later scrapped as unnecessary. Armoured vehicles of the era required considerable infantry and artillery support. (Photo by Ernest Brooks)
Led by their piper, men of the 7th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders (part of the 46th (Highland) Brigade), advance through Normandy during Operation Epsom on 26 June 1944
1945 Order of Precedence of the British Army
Wrecked and abandoned vehicles along the Highway of Death
Royal Anglian Regiment in Helmand Province
British soldiers from the 1st Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers battlegroup engage Iraqi positions with an 81mm mortar south of Basra
The Blues and Royals Trooping the Colour in 2013
1939 Dominion and Colonial Regiments
Royal Bermuda Regiment soldier with an L85A2 at USMC Camp Lejeune in 2018
One of the most recognisable recruiting posters of the British Army; from World War I, with Lord Kitchener
New College buildings at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
Warrior IFV
AS-90
Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS)
AgustaWestland Apache
L85A2 assault rifle
Challenger 2
Falkland Islands Defence Force on parade in June 2013
Detachment of the Falkland Islands Defence Force in ceremonial dress
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, escorted by a Bermuda Militia Artillery officer, inspects a Bermuda Rifles guard in 1961, four years before the units amalgamated
WO1 Herman Eve, RSM of the Royal Bermuda Regiment in 1992
Bandsmen of the Royal Bermuda Regiment
Royal Bermuda Regiment on parade
Changing of the guard, Royal Gibraltar Regiment (2012)
Royal Gibraltar Regiment in London, April 2012
Ensign of the Corps of Royal Engineers

British Army facts for kids

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