British Army facts for kids

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.
Images for kids
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Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell
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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.
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The Duke of Wellington and Field Marshal von Blücher's triumph over Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo
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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.
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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
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The Blues and Royals Trooping the Colour in 2013
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One of the most recognisable recruiting posters of the British Army; from World War I, with Lord Kitchener
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L85A2 assault rifle
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John Fitzgerald Kennedy, escorted by a Bermuda Militia Artillery officer, inspects a Bermuda Rifles guard in 1961, four years before the units amalgamated
See also
In Spanish: Ejército británico para niños