191-684: The Royal Wiltshire Militia was an auxiliary regiment of the British Army from the English county of Wiltshire . From their formal organisation as Trained Bands in 1558 until their final service in the Special Reserve , the Militia regiments of the county carried out internal security and garrison duties at home and overseas in all of Britain's major wars. The Wiltshire Militia was active in suppressing Monmouth's Rebellion in 1685 and
382-779: A 21-year engagement, following which (should he survive so long) he was discharged as a Pensioner. Pensioners were sometimes still employed on garrison duties, as were younger soldiers no longer deemed fit for expeditionary service who were generally organised in invalid units or returned to the regimental depot for home service. The cost of paying pensioners, and the obligation the government was under to continue to employ invalids as well as soldiers deemed by their commanding officers as detriments to their units were motivations to change this system. The long period of engagement also discouraged many potential recruits. The long service enlistments were consequently replaced with short service enlistments, with undesirable soldiers not permitted to re-engage on
573-577: A Catholic) during his brief controversial reign, off the throne and into exile. England then involved itself in the War of the Grand Alliance on the Continent, primarily to prevent a possible French Catholic monarch organizing invasion restoring the exiled James II (Queen Mary's father and still a Roman Catholic ). Later in 1689, William III to solidify his and Mary's hold on the monarchy, expanded
764-409: A Wiltshire contingent participated. When invasion threatened in 1539, Henry VIII held a Great Muster of all the counties, recording the number of armed men available in each hundred and tithing . The detailed list for Wiltshire, including the city of Salisbury , has some 5,900 men. The legal basis of the militia was updated by two acts of 1557 covering musters ( 4 & 5 Ph. & M. c. 3) and
955-683: A compulsory levy of men to be trained in their spare time, and to be incorporated in the Militia in emergency. Wiltshire's additional quota was fixed at 1049 men. The lieutenancies were required to carry out 20 days' initial training as soon as possible. The Wiltshire Regiment of Supplementary Militia was embodied at Salisbury in 1797 under the command of the Duke of Somerset as colonel and Sir William à Court, 1st Baronet , as lieutenant-colonel. The regiment served at Winchester and in South Devon. However,
1146-588: A contingent of fellow Protestant militias from Germany – including 14,000 mercenary reiters led by the Calvinist Duke of Zweibrücken . After the Duke was killed in action, his troops remained under the employ of the Huguenots who had raised a loan from England against the security of Jeanne d'Albret 's crown jewels. Much of the Huguenots' financing came from Queen Elizabeth of England, who
1337-695: A definitive ruling by classifying "Lutherans" as heretical Zwinglians . Calvin, originally from Noyon in Picardy , went into exile in 1535 to escape persecution and settled in Basel , where he published the Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1538. This work contained the key principles of Calvinism , which became immensely popular in France and other European countries. While Lutheranism
1528-707: A deployment in Afghanistan as part of Operation Toral . Following an announcement by the US Government of the end of their operations in the Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence announced in April 2021 that British forces would withdraw from the country by 11 September 2021. It was later reported that all UK troops would be out by early July. Following the collapse of the Afghan Army, and the completion of
1719-613: A detachment at Maker Heights Barracks . By now most of the militiamen were substitutes rather than balloted men: in 1809 the Wiltshires had 50 volunteers, 104 balloted men and 619 substitutes. Those balloted could pay a £10 bounty for a substitute or a smaller annual subscription to the Western Militia Society, with offices in the county's main towns, which guaranteed to find a substitute. Large numbers of trained militiamen then took an additional bounty to transfer to
1910-579: A foot regiment and troop of horse from each of the 'divisions': However, the Militia passed into virtual abeyance during the long peace after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, and few units were called out during the Jacobite Risings of 1715 and 1745 . Under threat of French invasion during the Seven Years' War , a series of Militia Acts from 1757 reorganised the county militia regiments ,
2101-517: A junior officer to replace Lt-Col Northey, who had recently died. The Earl then appointed himself as colonel, and held the command until 1778, during the American War of Independence , when the threat of invasion by the Americans' French and Spanish allies led to the embodiment of the militia on 31 March. Pembroke's kinsman, Henry Herbert , MP, soon to be created Lord Porchester, then took over
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#17327727624332292-606: A large reserve of recently discharged soldiers, ready to be recalled on the outbreak of war to immediately bring the small peacetime regular army up to strength), the Regular Reserve of the British Army was originally created in 1859 by Secretary of State for War Sidney Herbert , and re-organised under the Reserve Force Act 1867 . Prior to this, a soldier was generally enlisted into the British Army for
2483-578: A multinational armoured battlegroup in Estonia under Operation Cabrit and contributes troops to another military battle group in Poland . As part of the NATO plans, Britain has committed a full mechanized infantry brigade to be on a high state of readiness to defend Estonia. Between 2015 and 2022, the British Army deployed Short Term Training Teams (STTTs) to Ukraine under Operation Orbital to help train
2674-501: A peaceful solution led to the Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (8 August 1570), negotiated by Jeanne d'Albret, which once more allowed some concessions to the Huguenots. With the kingdom once more at peace, the crown began seeking a policy of reconciliation to bring the fractured polity back together. One key part of this was to be a marriage between Navarre , the son of Jeanne d'Albret and Antoine of Navarre, and Margaret of Valois ,
2865-626: A prolonged struggle for power between his widow Catherine de' Medici and powerful nobles. These included a fervently Catholic faction led by the Guise and Montmorency families, and Protestants headed by the House of Condé and Jeanne d'Albret . Both sides received assistance from external powers, with Spain and Savoy supporting the Catholics, and England and the Dutch Republic backing
3056-881: A safe distance by aiding the Ottoman Empire ). Like the English Army , the British Army fought the kingdoms of Spain, France (including the First French Empire ) and the Netherlands ( Dutch Republic ) for supremacy in North America and the West Indies . With native and provincial and colonial assistance, the Army conquered New France in the French and Indian War (North American theatre) of
3247-571: A series of civil wars between French Catholics and Protestants (called Huguenots ) from 1562 to 1598. Between two and four million people died from violence, famine or disease directly caused by the conflict, and it severely damaged the power of the French monarchy. One of its most notorious episodes was the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572. The fighting ended with a compromise in 1598, when Henry of Navarre, who had converted to Catholicism in 1593,
3438-873: A series of support vehicles, including six-, nine- and fifteen-tonne MAN trucks, Oshkosh heavy-equipment transporters (HET), close-support tankers, quad bikes and ambulances. Tactical communication uses the Bowman radio system, and operational or strategic communication is controlled by the Royal Corps of Signals . Franco-Spanish War (1595%E2%80%931598) Second; 1567–1568 Saint-Denis ; Chartres Third; 1568–1570 Jarnac ; La Roche-l'Abeille ; Poitiers ; Orthez ; Moncontour ; Saint-Jean d'Angély ; Arney-le-Duc Fourth; 1572–1573 Mons ; Sommières ; Sancerre ; La Rochelle Fifth; 1574–1576 Dormans Sixth; 1577 La Charité-sur-Loire ; Issoire ; Brouage Seventh; 1580 La Fère War of
3629-531: A stand at the bridge, but the militia captured this and dispersed them. The townsfolk were overawed and disarmed, and the constable who had posted Monmouth's proclamation was arrested. One militia musketeer was fatally injured by his own weapon. On the same day Monmouth had crossed the River Avon at Keynsham between Bath and Bristol but was attacked from north and south by bodies of Royal horse. One of these, led by Col Theophilus Oglethorpe with 100 troopers of
3820-551: A suspected Roman Catholic, because he would not take communion with them. When the army marched north, Colonel Sir John Beaumont's regiment of West Countrymen from Wiltshire, Somerset and Bristol marauded through Derbyshire , being encouraged by the local inhabitants to break down the hated enclosures , destroying a mill belonging to the unpopular former Secretary of State , Sir John Coke and threatening to burn down his house. Beaumont and his officers were unable to control them. The Scottish campaign ended in failure. Control of
4011-512: A target strength of 82,000, and just over 30,000 Army Reservists , with a target strength of 30,000. All former Regular Army personnel may also be recalled to duty in exceptional circumstances during the 6-year period following completion of their Regular service, which creates an additional force known as the Regular Reserve . The table below illustrates British Army personnel figures from 1710 to 2024. The British Army's basic weapon
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#17327727624334202-708: A view to religious renewal and reform. Humanist scholars argued interpretation of the Bible required an ability to read the New Testament and Old Testaments in the original Greek and Hebrew , rather than relying on the 4th century Latin translation known as the " Vulgate Bible". In 1495, the Venetian Aldus Manutius began using the newly invented printing press to produce small, inexpensive, pocket editions of Greek, Latin, and vernacular literature, making knowledge in all disciplines available for
4393-660: A volunteer army and threatened to emulate the American colonists if their conditions were not met. Learning from their experience in America, the British government sought a political solution. The British Army fought Irish rebels—Protestant and Catholic—primarily in Ulster and Leinster ( Wolfe Tone's United Irishmen ) in the 1798 rebellion . In addition to battling the armies of other European empires (and its former colonies,
4584-843: A war against the Prussian -led German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire ). When the First World War broke out in August 1914 the British Army sent the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), consisting mainly of regular army troops, to France and Belgium . The fighting bogged down into static trench warfare for the remainder of the war. In 1915 the army created the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force to invade
4775-593: Is based on that of the earlier English army. Although technically the Scots Royal Regiment of Foot was raised in 1633 and is the oldest Regiment of the Line, Scottish and Irish regiments were only allowed to take a rank in the English army on the date of their arrival in England (or the date when they were first placed on the English establishment). In 1694, a board of general officers was convened to decide
4966-412: Is generally seen as the spark which led to open hostilities between the two religions. Guyenne was the epicentre of the turn to religious violence in late 16th-century France. Many explanations have been proffered for the rise of violence. Traditional explanations focus on the influence of Jeanne d'Albret and Antoine of Navarre. Other explanations focus on the rise of seigneurialism in the 1550s and see
5157-713: Is provided by L16 81mm mortars . Sniper rifles include the L118A1 7.62 mm, L115A3 and the AW50F , all manufactured by Accuracy International . The British Army utilises the Glock 17 as its side arm. Anti tank guided weapons include the Javelin , the medium range anti-tank guided weapon replacement for Milan , with overfly and direct attack modes of operation, and the NLAW . The Next-generation Light Anti-tank Weapon ( NLAW )
5348-514: Is the 5.56 mm L85A2 or L85A3 assault rifle, with some specialist personnel using the L22A2 carbine variant (pilots and some tank crew). The weapon was traditionally equipped with either iron sights or an optical SUSAT , although other optical sights have been subsequently purchased to supplement these. The weapon can be enhanced further utilising the Picatinny rail with attachments such as
5539-591: Is the first, non-expert, short-range, anti-tank missile that rapidly knocks out any main battle tank in just one shot by striking it from above. The army's main battle tank is the Challenger 2 , which is being upgraded to Challenger 3 . It is supported by the Warrior tracked armoured vehicle as the primary infantry fighting vehicle , (which will soon be replaced by the Boxer 8x8 armoured fighting vehicle ) and
5730-670: Is the official list of which bodies of the British Military (not to be confused with naval ) Forces were to be considered Corps of the British Army for the purposes of the Army Act , the Reserve Forces Act, 1882, and the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act, 1907, had not been updated since 1926 (Army Order 49 of 1926), although amendments had been made up to and including Army Order 67 of 1950. A new Corps Warrant
5921-676: The Americas , Africa , Asia , India and Australasia . British soldiers captured strategically important sites and territories, with the army involved in wars to secure the empire's borders, internal safety and support friendly governments and princes. Among these actions were the French and Indian War / Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War , the Napoleonic Wars , the First and Second Opium Wars ,
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6112-683: The Anglo-Irish War . The increasing demands of imperial expansion and the inadequacy and inefficiency of the underfunded British Army, Militia , Ordnance Military Corps, Yeomanry and Volunteer Force after the Napoleonic Wars led to series of reforms following the failures of the Crimean War . Inspired by the successes of the Prussian Army (which relied on short-term conscription of all eligible young men to maintain
6303-690: The Armed Forces of Ukraine against further Russian aggression. This operation was succeeded by Operation Interflex in July 2022. The British Army has been a volunteer force since national service ended during the 1960s. Since the creation of the part-time, reserve Territorial Force in 1908 (renamed the Army Reserve in 2014), the full-time British Army has been known as the Regular Army. In July 2020 there were just over 78,800 Regulars, with
6494-583: The Battle of Jarnac (16 March 1569), the prince of Condé was killed, forcing Admiral de Coligny to take command of the Protestant forces, nominally on behalf of Condé's 16-year-old son, Henry , and the 15-year-old Henry of Navarre , who were presented by Jeanne d'Albret as the legitimate leaders of the Huguenot cause against royal authority. The Battle of La Roche-l'Abeille was a nominal victory for
6685-411: The Boxer Rebellion , the New Zealand Wars , the Australian frontier wars , the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 , the first and second Boer Wars , the Fenian raids , the Irish War of Independence , interventions in Afghanistan (intended to maintain a buffer state between British India and the Russian Empire ) and the Crimean War (to keep the Russian Empire to the north on the Black Sea at
6876-479: The British Isles ), which the regular Army increasingly saw as a prime source of recruits. They served in coast defences, manning garrisons, guarding prisoners of war, and carried out internal security duty, while their traditional local defence duties were taken over by the Volunteers and mounted Yeomanry . For most of this embodiment the regiment served in Kent , Sussex and Devonshire , once being employed to suppress an insurrection in Exeter . In July 1795 it
7067-416: The Bulldog armoured personnel carrier . Light armoured units often utilise the Supacat "Jackal" MWMIK and Coyote tactical support vehicle for reconnaissance and fire support. The army has three main artillery systems: the M270 multiple launch rocket system (MLRS), the AS-90 and the L118 light gun . The MLRS, first used in Operation Granby , has an 85-kilometre (53 mi) standard range, or with
7258-425: The Council of State . From now on, the term 'Trained Band' began to disappear in most counties. Under the Commonwealth and Protectorate , the militia received pay when called out, and operated alongside the Army to control the country. Many militia regiments were called out in 1651 during the Scottish invasion (the Worcester campaign ) and the Wiltshires were part of a concentration ordered at Gloucester . During
7449-438: The Earl of Dalhousie 's division that had occupied Bordeaux just as the war was ending. The brigade did not form part of the Army of Occupation after the abdication of Napoleon and returned to England in June. Legislation had been passed in 1811 permitting English militia regiments to serve in Ireland for two years. The rest of the Wiltshire Militia embarked for this service on 24 March 1814. It returned in 1816, by which time
7640-580: The Edict of Nantes (13 April 1598) and the Peace of Vervins (2 May 1598) concluded the wars, while the ensuing 1620s Huguenot rebellions lead others to believe the Peace of Alès in 1629 is the actual conclusion. However, the agreed upon beginning of the wars is the Massacre of Wassy in 1562, and the Edict of Nantes at least ended this series of conflicts. During this time, complex diplomatic negotiations and agreements of peace were followed by renewed conflict and power struggles. American military historians Kiser, Drass & Brustein (1994) maintained
7831-416: The Edict of Saint-Maur revoked the freedom of Huguenots to worship. In November, William of Orange led an army into France to support his fellow Protestants, but, the army being poorly paid, he accepted the crown's offer of money and free passage to leave the country. The Huguenots gathered a formidable army under the command of Condé, aided by forces from south-east France, led by Paul de Mouvans, and
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8022-477: The Far East , the British Army rallied against the Japanese in the Burma Campaign and regained the British Far Eastern colonial possessions. After the Second World War the British Army was significantly reduced in size, although National Service continued until 1960. This period saw decolonisation begin with the partition and independence of India and Pakistan, followed by the independence of British colonies in Africa and Asia. The Corps Warrant , which
8213-442: The Islamic State (ISIL). The British Army maintains a standing liability to support the civil authorities in certain circumstances, usually in either niche capabilities (e.g. explosive ordnance removal) or in general support of the civil authorities when their capacity is exceeded. In recent years this has been seen as army personnel supporting the civil authorities in the face of the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak ,
8404-479: The King's Sedgemoor on 4 July. The whole army camped around Westonzoyland on the night of 5/6 July, with the three Wiltshire foot regiments bivouacked at Middlezoy and Othery , while the rebels were billeted in Bridgwater. That night Monmouth attempted a night attack on the Royal camp, but his advance was spotted and the army turned out to repel the attack. Pembroke galloped up to Wyndham's headquarters and ordered him to beat to quarters. Drummer Adam Wheeler of
8595-445: The L17A2 under-barrel grenade launcher. In 2023, the Army Special Operations Brigade , which includes the Ranger Regiment , began using the L403A1 , an AR-pattern rifle also used by the Royal Marines . Some soldiers are equipped with the 7.62mm L129A1 sharpshooter rifle , which in 2018 formally replaced the L86A2 Light Support Weapon. Support fire is provided by the L7 general-purpose machine gun (GPMG), and indirect fire
8786-437: The Netherlands for the War of the Spanish Succession . Although all the regiments were now part of the new British military establishment, they remained under the old operational-command structure and retained much of the institutional ethos, customs and traditions of the standing armies created shortly after the Restoration of the Monarchy 47 years earlier. The order of seniority of the most-senior British Army line regiments
8977-402: The Netherlands . However, the counties usually conscripted the unemployed and criminals rather than the Trained Bandsmen – in 1585 the Privy Council had ordered the impressment of able-bodied unemployed men, and the Queen ordered 'none of her trayned-bands to be pressed'. Replacing the weapons issued to the levies from the militia armouries was a heavy cost on the counties. With the passing of
9168-424: The Ottoman Empire via Gallipoli , an unsuccessful attempt to capture Constantinople and secure a sea route to Russia . The First World War was the most devastating in British military history , with nearly 800,000 men killed and over two million wounded. Early in the war, the BEF was virtually destroyed and was replaced first by volunteers and then by a conscript force. Major battles included those at
9359-441: The PrSM , up to 500 km. The AS-90 is a 155 mm self-propelled armoured gun with a 24-kilometre (15 mi) range. The L118 light gun is a 105 mm towed gun, which is typically towed by a Pinzgauer all-terrain vehicle. To identify artillery targets, the army operates the TAIPAN artillery detection radar and utilises artillery sound ranging . For air defence it uses the new Sky Sabre system, which in 2021 replaced
9550-418: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). Under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement , there was a gradual reduction in the number of soldiers deployed. In 2005, after the PIRA declared a ceasefire, the British Army dismantled posts, withdrew many troops and restored troop levels to those of a peacetime garrison. Operation Banner ended at midnight on 31 July 2007 after about 38 years of continuous deployment,
9741-422: The Rapier . It also deploys the Very Short-Range Air Defence (VSHORAD) Starstreak HVM (high-velocity missile) launched by a single soldier or from a Stormer HVM vehicle-mounted launcher. Where armour is not required or mobility and speed are favoured the British Army utilises protected patrol vehicles, such as the Panther variant of the Iveco LMV , the Foxhound , and variants of the Cougar family (such as
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#17327727624339932-432: The Rhine added to these fears, and political discontent grew. After Protestant troops unsuccessfully tried to capture and take control of King Charles IX in the Surprise of Meaux , a number of cities, such as La Rochelle , declared themselves for the Huguenot cause. Protestants attacked and massacred Catholic laymen and clergy the following day in Nîmes , in what became known as the Michelade . This provoked
10123-419: The Rising of the North in 1569. Although the militia obligation was universal, this assembly confirmed that it was impractical to train and equip every able-bodied man. After 1572, the practice was to select a proportion of men for the Trained Bands (TBs), who were mustered for regular training. The threat of invasion during the Spanish War led to an increase in training. From 1584 the government emphasised
10314-437: The Territorial Force as the army's volunteer reserve component, merging and reorganising the Volunteer Force, Militia and Yeomanry. Great Britain was challenged by other powers, primarily the German Empire and Nazi Germany , during the 20th century. A century earlier it vied with Napoleonic France for global pre-eminence, and Hanoverian Britain's natural allies were the kingdoms and principalities of northern Germany . By
10505-417: The United Kingdom , British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies , a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Naval Service and the Royal Air Force . As of 1 July 2024, the British Army comprises 74,296 regular full-time personnel, 4,244 Gurkhas , 25,934 volunteer reserve personnel and 4,612 "other personnel", for a total of 109,086. The British Army traces back to 1707 and
10696-439: The formation of the united Kingdom of Great Britain which joined the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into a single state and, with that, united the English Army and the Scots Army as the British Army . Members of the British Army swear allegiance to the monarch as their commander-in-chief , since both the English Bill of Rights of 1689 and Scottish Claim of Right Act 1689 require parliamentary consent for
10887-411: The 14th century in Italy and arrived in France in the early 16th, coinciding with the rise of Protestantism in France . The movement emphasised the importance of ad fontes , or study of original sources, and initially focused on the reconstruction of secular Greek and Latin texts. It later expanded into the reading, study and translation of works by the Church Fathers and the New Testament , with
11078-465: The 15-year-old Francis II lacked the ability to control. Francis, Duke of Guise , whose niece Mary, Queen of Scots, was married to the king, exploited the situation to establish dominance over their rivals, the House of Montmorency . Within days of the King's accession, the English ambassador reported "the house of Guise ruleth and doth all about the French King". On 10 March 1560, a group of disaffected nobles led by Jean du Barry, attempted to break
11269-434: The 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in Paris , which resulted in Catholic mobs killing between 5,000 and 30,000 Protestants throughout France. The wars threatened the authority of the monarchy and the last Valois kings, Catherine's three sons Francis II , Charles IX , and Henry III . Their Bourbon successor Henry IV responded by creating a strong central state and extending toleration to Huguenots;
11460-431: The 17 'maritime' counties most vulnerable to attack, which included Wiltshire. These were given a smaller quota of men to fill, but were expected to train them better, for which they were supplied with experienced captains. Wiltshire was to supply 1,200 trained men, divided into 700 'shot' (equipped with firearms), 200 bowmen and 300 ' corslets ' (armoured men, signifying pikemen). During the Spanish Armada crisis in 1588,
11651-475: The 1st Wiltshires joined a militia camp at Aylesbeare in Devon under Brigadier-General Gore. During August the regiments in camp participated in a 'flying camp' to Hembury Fort near Honiton . During the summer of 1805, when Napoleon was massing his ' Army of England ' at Boulogne for a projected invasion, the regiment was part of the Plymouth garrison. Its 957 men under Lt-Col Francis Warneford were deployed with 10 companies in Plymouth Dock Barracks and
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#173277276243311842-453: The 2002 firefighters strike, widespread flooding in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013 and 2014, Operation Temperer following the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017 and, most recently, Operation Rescript during the COVID-19 pandemic . Since 2016, the British Army has maintained a presence in the Baltic States in support of the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence strategy which responded to the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea . The British Army leads
12033-608: The 2014 West African Ebola virus epidemic . In November 2001, as part of Operation Enduring Freedom with the United States, the United Kingdom deployed forces in Afghanistan to topple the Taliban in Operation Herrick . The 3rd Division were sent to Kabul to assist in the liberation of the capital and defeat Taliban forces in the mountains. In 2006 the British Army began concentrating on fighting Taliban forces and bringing security to Helmand Province , with about 9,500 British troops (including marines, airmen and sailors) deployed at its peak —the second-largest force after that of
12224-420: The American colonial rebels early in the war). Halifax, Nova Scotia and Bermuda were to become Imperial fortresses (although Bermuda, being safer from attack over water and impervious to attack overland, quickly became the most important in British North America), along with Malta and Gibraltar , providing bases in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea for Royal Navy squadrons to control
12415-440: The Avon, and Lord Churchill harried their rear, there was still a route open for Monmouth's army to move up the main road via Warminster and Devizes, carrying the rebellion into Wiltshire and Berkshire and opening the road to London. However, on 28 June this route was blocked by Pembroke with his Wiltshire Militia (less Talbot's troop and some foot, which he had probably left at Bath) together with some Hampshire Militia. On alarm of
12606-408: The British Army was deployed as a peacekeeping force from 1969 to 2007 in Operation Banner . Initially, this was (in the wake of unionist attacks on nationalist communities in Derry and Belfast ) to prevent further loyalist attacks on Catholic communities; it developed into support of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and its successor, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) against
12797-486: The British and the First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte stretched around the world; at its peak in 1813, the regular army contained over 250,000 men. A coalition of Anglo-Dutch and Prussian armies under the Duke of Wellington and Field Marshal von Blücher finally defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. The English were involved politically and militarily in Ireland. The campaign of English republican Protector Oliver Cromwell involved uncompromising treatment of
12988-439: The British military, mostly civilians. An estimated 100 soldiers committed suicide during Operation Banner or soon afterwards and a similar number died in accidents. A total of 6,116 were wounded. Sierra Leone The British Army deployed to Sierra Leone for Operation Palliser in 1999, under United Nations resolutions, to aid the government in quelling violent uprisings by militiamen. British troops also provided support during
13179-403: The Circle of Meaux , aiming to improve the quality of preaching and religious life in general. They were joined by François Vatable , an expert in Hebrew , along with Guillaume Budé , a classicist and Royal librarian. Lefèvre's Fivefold Psalter and his commentary on the Epistle to the Romans emphasised the literal interpretation of the Bible and the centrality of Jesus Christ . Many of
13370-402: The Colonel's Company beat the alarm and the regiment fell in and marched up to Westonzoyland, where it formed a three-deep line ready to engage. The Wiltshire Militia remained in reserve and took no active part in the Battle of Sedgemoor , which lasted two hours and resulted in the total rout of Monmouth's rebel army. Wyndham refused to allow his men to fall out to pillage the battlefield, in case
13561-432: The Crown to maintain a peacetime standing army . The army is administered by the Ministry of Defence and commanded by the Chief of the General Staff . At its inception, being composed primarily of cavalry and infantry, the British Army was one of two Regular Forces (there were also separate Reserve Forces ) within the British military (those parts of the British Armed Forces tasked with land warfare, as opposed to
13752-683: The English Long Parliament realised that the use of county militia organised into regional associations (such as the Eastern Association ), often commanded by local members of Parliament (both from the House of Commons and the House of Lords), while more than able to hold their own in the regions which Parliamentarians ('Roundheads") controlled, were unlikely to win the war. So Parliament initiated two actions. The Self-denying Ordinance forbade members of Parliament (with
13943-460: The English in 1562 as part of the Treaty of Hampton Court between its Huguenot leaders and Elizabeth I of England . That July, the French expelled the English. On 17 August 1563, Charles IX was declared of age at the Parlement of Rouen ending the regency of Catherine de Medici. His mother continued to play a principal role in politics, and she joined her son on a Grand Tour of
14134-578: The French nobility also generally supported the status quo and existing policies. Despite his personal opposition, Francis tolerated Martin Luther ’s ideas when they entered France in the late 1520s, largely because the definition of Catholic orthodoxy was unclear, making it hard to determine precisely what was or was not heresy . He tried to steer a middle course in the developing religious schism, but in January ;1535, Catholic authorities made
14325-685: The Germans and Italians at the Second Battle of El Alamein in North Africa in 1942–1943 and helped drive them from Africa. It then fought through Italy and, with the help of American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, Indian and Free French forces, was the principal organiser and participant in the D-Day invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944; nearly half the Allied soldiers were British. In
14516-723: The Great 's army of Wessex that defeated the Danes at the Battle of Edington at Westbury in 878. The shire levies continued under the Norman kings , and were reorganised under the Assizes of Arms of 1181 and 1252 , and again by King Edward I 's Statute of Winchester of 1285. Shire levies from the whole of England were called out on six occasions between 1322 and 1338 for the Scottish Wars and Flanders campaign , and in each case
14707-594: The Guisard compromise of scaling back persecution but not permitting toleration . For the moment she held to the Guisard line. Before his death, Francis II had called the first Estates General held since 1484, which in December 1560 assembled in Orléans to discuss topics which included taxation and religion. It made little progress on the latter, other than agreeing to pardon those convicted of religious offences in
14898-573: The Horse Guards and Maj Talbot's Troop of Wiltshire Horse Militia, had been operating in the Chew Valley to overawe the population. Oglethorpe launched his regular troopers into Keynsham, causing casualties and great confusion among the rebel army, then withdrew, covered by Talbot's men who had been posted for the purpose. Disheartened, Monmouth turned away from Keynsham. While the bulk of Feversham's army gathered at Bristol and Bath, blocking
15089-513: The Huguenots, but they were unable to seize control of Poitiers and were soundly defeated at the Battle of Moncontour (30 October 1569). Coligny and his troops retreated to the south-west and regrouped with Gabriel, comte de Montgomery , and in spring of 1570, they pillaged Toulouse , cut a path through the south of France, and went up the Rhone valley up to La Charité-sur-Loire . The staggering royal debt and Charles IX's desire to seek
15280-725: The Irish towns (most notably Drogheda and Wexford ) which supported the Royalists during the English Civil War . The English Army (and the subsequent British Army) remained in Ireland primarily to suppress Irish revolts or disorder. In addition to its conflict with Irish nationalists, it was faced with the prospect of battling Anglo-Irish and Ulster Scots in Ireland who were angered by unfavourable taxation of Irish produce imported into Britain. With other Irish groups, they raised
15471-519: The Militia Ballot might be used if the counties failed to meet their quotas). Training was for 56 days on enlistment, then for 21–28 days per year, during which the men received full army pay. Under the Act, Militia units could be embodied by Royal Proclamation for full-time home defence service in three circumstances: British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of
15662-689: The Peace of Amiens was short-lived and Britain declared war on France once more on 18 May 1803. The Wiltshire Militia had already been embodied at Marlborough in April as two regiments, the 2nd being raised by ballot, the commanding officer (CO), Col James Dawkins and many of the officers being carried over from the Supplementaries. The 2nd Wiltshires served in Somerset, the Isle of Wight and Weymouth, Dorset , before being disbanded in 1805. In June 1804
15853-530: The Protestants led by de Bèze and the Catholics by Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine , brother of the Duke of Guise. The two sides initially sought to accommodate Protestant forms of worship within the existing church but this proved impossible. By the time the Colloquy ended on 8 October, it was clear the divide between Catholic and Protestant theology was too wide to be bridged. With their options narrowing,
16044-574: The Protestants. Moderates, also known as Politiques , hoped to maintain order by centralising power and making concessions to Huguenots, rather than the policies of repression pursued by Henry II and his father Francis I . They were initially supported by Catherine de' Medici, whose January 1562 Edict of Saint-Germain was strongly opposed by the Guise faction and led to an outbreak of widespread fighting in March. She later hardened her stance and backed
16235-498: The Red Regiment mounted behind some of the troopers. On arrival he found a large number of rebel recruits who had come in from Warminster and Westbury, some armed with pistols or pikes, others with scythes and clubs. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Pembroke entered the town at the head of his musketeers, followed by the horse. A shot was fired at him, but the rebels soon broke and ran before the advancing militia. The rebels made
16426-527: The Restoration each division provided a regiment of foot and a troop of horse. By 1685 these were as follows: In 1685 there was a rebellion against King James II . Its leader, the exiled Duke of Monmouth , landed with his supporters at Lyme Regis in Dorset on 11 June 1685. As his rebels mustered, the government of James II responded by declaring him a traitor and calling out the militia on 13 June, while
16617-874: The Ridgeback, Husky and Mastiff). For day-to-day utility work the army commonly uses the Land Rover Wolf , which is based on the Land Rover Defender . Specialist engineering vehicles include bomb-disposal robots such as the T7 Multi-Mission Robotic System and the modern variants of the Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers , including the Titan bridge-layer, Trojan armoured engineer vehicle, Terrier armoured digger . Day-to-day utility work uses
16808-476: The Scots Greys was reassessed and based on their June 1685 entry into England. At that time there was only one English regiment of dragoons, and the Scots Greys eventually received the British Army rank of 2nd Dragoons. After 1700, British continental policy was to contain expansion by competing powers such as France and Spain. Although Spain was the dominant global power during the previous two centuries and
16999-654: The Seventh War of Religion to 1579–1580 rather than just 1580. Holt (2005) asserted a rather different periodisation from 1562 to 1629, writing of 'civil wars' rather than wars of religion, dating the Sixth War to March–September 1577, and dating the Eight War from June 1584 (death of Anjou) to April 1598 (Edict of Nantes); finally, although he didn't put a number on it, Holt regarded the 1610–1629 period as 'the last war of religion'. Renaissance humanism began during
17190-720: The Somme and Passchendaele . Advances in technology saw the advent of the tank (and the creation of the Royal Tank Regiment ) and advances in aircraft design (and the creation of the Royal Flying Corps ) which would be decisive in future battles. Trench warfare dominated Western Front strategy for most of the war, and the use of chemical weapons (disabling and poison gases) added to the devastation. The Second World War broke out in September 1939 with
17381-745: The Soviet and German Army 's invasion of Poland . British assurances to the Poles led the British Empire to declare war on Germany . As in the First World War, a relatively small BEF was sent to France but then hastily evacuated from Dunkirk as the German forces swept through the Low Countries and across France in May 1940. After the British Army recovered from its earlier defeats, it defeated
17572-895: The TBs for the Bishops' Wars in Scotland. However, many of those sent on this unpopular service were untrained replacements and conscripts, and many officers were corrupt or inefficient. For the Second Bishops' War of 1640, Wiltshire was ordered to march 1,300 men to Newcastle upon Tyne . Some Wiltshire trained bandsmen protested at having to pay the tax for the levy ('coat-and-conduct money'), arguing that their service gave them exemption. When these protesters were imprisoned at Marlborough their comrades broke them out. A Wiltshire company mustered at Warminster refused to serve under Captain Drury,
17763-579: The TBs was one of the major points of dispute between Charles I and Parliament that led to the First English Civil War . When open warfare broke out, neither side made much use of the TBs beyond securing the county armouries for their own full-time troops who would serve anywhere in the country, many of whom were former trained bandsmen, or using the TBs as auxiliary units for garrisons. Wiltshire generally supported Parliament, which appointed Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke , to organise
17954-601: The Three Henrys (1585–1589) Coutras ; Vimory ; Auneau ; Day of the Barricades Succession of Henry IV of France (1589–1594) Arques ; Ivry ; Paris ; Château-Laudran ; Rouen ; Caudebec ; Craon ; 1st Luxembourg ; Blaye ; Morlaix ; Fort Crozon Franco-Spanish War (1595–1598) 2nd Luxembourg ; Fontaine-Française ; Ham ; Le Catelet ; Doullens ; Cambrai ; Calais ; La Fère ; Ardres ; Amiens The French Wars of Religion were
18145-571: The Troubles . Following the 1994–1996 IRA ceasefires and since 1997, demilitarisation has been part of the peace process and the military presence has been reduced. On 25 June 2007 the 2nd Battalion of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment left the army complex in Bessbrook , County Armagh , ending the longest operation in British Army history. The British Army contributed 50,000 troops to
18336-595: The US. In December 2012 Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the combat mission would end in 2014, and troop numbers gradually fell as the Afghan National Army took over the brunt of the fighting. Between 2001 and 26 April 2014 a total of 453 British military personnel died in Afghan operations. Operation Herrick ended with the handover of Camp Bastion on 26 October 2014, but the British Army maintained
18527-966: The United States, in the American War of 1812 ), the British Army fought the Chinese in the First and Second Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion , Māori tribes in the first of the New Zealand Wars, Nawab Shiraj-ud-Daula's forces and British East India Company mutineers in the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 , the Boers in the first and second Boer Wars, Irish Fenians in Canada during the Fenian raids and Irish separatists in
18718-535: The West Country in 1688 he was virtually unopposed by the army or the militia, and deposed James II in the Glorious Revolution . The militia organisation continued unchanged under William, though a few officers were changed. In Wiltshire John Wyndham, a High Tory , was replaced as colonel of the Red Regiment by Sir Thomas Mompesson , a Whig . Mompesson, MP for Old Sarum , was a former colonel in
18909-702: The Wiltshire Militia and a member of the Honourable Artillery Company of London. After the naval defeat at the Battle of Beachy Head in 1690, when the king was absent with most of the regular army campaigning in Ireland , the whole of the militia was called out, and the Wiltshire regiments formed part of a camp of 20,000 men near Portsmouth until the crisis was over. In 1697 the counties were required to submit detailed lists of their militia. The Wiltshire militia still comprised
19100-488: The Wiltshire Militia was distributed across southern England, at Hastings , Winchester (2 companies), Rye (1 company), Dungeness (1 company), Hythe , Folkestone (1 company), Dover Town (1 company) and Hythe Battery. The French Revolutionary Wars saw a new phase for the English militia: they were embodied for a whole generation, and became regiments of full-time professional soldiers (though restricted to service in
19291-596: The Wiltshire TBs. However, the Royalists quickly overran the county, capturing Marlborough in 1642 and raising the siege of Devizes in 1643 by winning the Battle of Roundway Down . The New Model Army did not capture Devizes until 1645. As Parliament tightened its grip on the country after the Second English Civil War , it passed new Militia Acts in 1648 and 1650 that replaced lords lieutenant with county commissioners appointed by Parliament or
19482-715: The aftermath of the plot, the term " Huguenot " for France's Protestants came into widespread usage. Shortly afterwards, the first instances of Protestant iconoclasm or the destruction of images and statues in Catholic churches, occurred in Rouen and La Rochelle . This continued throughout 1561 in more than 20 cities and towns, sparking attacks on Protestants by Catholic mobs in Sens , Cahors , Carcassonne , Tours and elsewhere. When Francis II died on 5 December 1560, his mother Catherine de' Medici became regent for her second son,
19673-578: The army saw the introduction of new weapons systems. Despite the decline of the British Empire, the army was engaged in Aden , Indonesia , Cyprus , Kenya and Malaya . In 1982, the British Army and the Royal Marines helped liberate the Falkland Islands during the conflict with Argentina after that country's invasion of the British territory. In the three decades following 1969,
19864-699: The army was heavily deployed in Northern Ireland 's Operation Banner to support the Royal Ulster Constabulary (later the Police Service of Northern Ireland ) in their conflict with republican paramilitary groups. The locally recruited Ulster Defence Regiment was formed, becoming home-service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment in 1992 before it was disbanded in 2006. Over 700 soldiers were killed during
20055-427: The chief threat to England's early trans-Atlantic colonial ambitions, its influence was now waning. The territorial ambitions of the French, however, led to the War of the Spanish Succession and the later Napoleonic Wars . Although the Royal Navy is widely regarded as vital to the rise of the British Empire , the British Army played an important role in the formation of colonies, protectorates and dominions in
20246-443: The city of Orléans to the siege, led Catherine de' Medici to mediate a truce, resulting in the Edict of Amboise on 19 March 1563. The Edict of Amboise was generally regarded as unsatisfactory by all concerned, and the Guise faction was particularly opposed to what they saw as dangerous concessions to heretics . The crown tried to re-unite the two factions in its efforts to re-capture Le Havre , which had been occupied by
20437-442: The coalition which fought Iraq in the Persian Gulf War , and British forces controlled Kuwait after its liberation. Forty-seven British military personnel died during the war. The army was deployed to former Yugoslavia in 1992. Initially part of the United Nations Protection Force , in 1995 its command was transferred to the Implementation Force (IFOR) and then to the Stabilisation Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR);
20628-458: The colonelcy on 27 March. Several militia colonels had their men inoculated against smallpox during 1779, but this required them to be isolated for three weeks. The Corporation of Devizes objected to the regiment setting up an isolation hospital nearby and the regiment was prevented from hiring a house for the purpose. During this embodiment the regiment served mostly in Lancashire , Yorkshire , and as far north as Berwick upon Tweed , until it
20819-417: The colours and the remainder in the Regular Reserve, remaining liable for recall to the colours if required. Among the other benefits, this thereby enabled the British Army to have a ready pool of recently trained men to draw upon in an emergency. The name of the Regular Reserve (which for a time was divided into a First Class and a Second Class ) has resulted in confusion with the Reserve Forces , which were
21010-403: The commitment rose to over 10,000 troops. In 1999, British forces under SFOR command were sent to Kosovo and the contingent increased to 19,000 troops. Between early 1993 and June 2010, 72 British military personnel died during operations in the former Yugoslavian countries of Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia. Although there have been permanent garrisons in Northern Ireland throughout its history,
21201-438: The completion of their first engagement. The size of the army also fluctuated greatly, increasing in war time, and drastically shrinking with peace. Battalions posted on garrison duty overseas were allowed an increase on their normal peacetime establishment, which resulted in their having surplus men on their return to a Home station. Consequently, soldiers engaging on short term enlistments were enabled to serve several years with
21392-407: The conflict escalated, the Crown revoked the Edict under pressure from the Guise faction. The major engagements of the war occurred at Rouen , Dreux , and Orléans . At the Siege of Rouen (May–October 1562), the crown regained the city, but Antoine of Navarre died of his wounds. In the Battle of Dreux (December 1562), Condé was captured by the crown, and the constable Montmorency
21583-427: The conversion to Calvinism of large sections of the nobility. Historians estimate that by the outbreak of war in 1562, there were around two million French Calvinists, including more than half of the nobility, backed by 1,200–1,250 churches. This constituted a substantial threat to the monarchy. The death of Henry II in July 1559 created a political vacuum and an internal struggle for power between rival factions, which
21774-402: The county had secured 60 per cent of its quota of recruits. Wiltshire was given a quota of 800 men to raise. The Lord Lieutenant, Henry Herbert, 10th Earl of Pembroke , held his meetings with his DLs in the Old Town Hall at Devizes and organised the parish ballots. The process went smoothly and Wiltshire was the third county to have its arms issued, on 8 November 1758. Lord Bruce of Tottenham
21965-436: The county supplied its 1,200 trained men, formed into companies of 100, together with 25 lancers and 100 light horsemen, and a further 1,200 untrained men who would have acted as pioneers . In the 16th century, little distinction was made between the militia and the troops levied by the counties for overseas expeditions. Between 1585 and 1601 Wiltshire supplied 795 levies for service in Ireland , 350 for France , and 560 for
22156-450: The county. The Wiltshire Militia was soon active in hunting down 'fanaticks' from the previous regime. When the Dutch carried out a Raid on the Medway in June 1667, Wiltshire was ordered to send three foot companies and a troop of horse to bolster the defences of the Isle of Wight . The hundreds of Wiltshire were traditionally organised into four 'divisions' centred on Salisbury (or ' Sarum '), Marlborough, Devizes and Warminster, and after
22347-411: The declining numbers of Volunteers, and if their ranks could not be filled voluntarily the militia ballot was employed. The various units of Wiltshire Volunteers were disbanded and incorporated into five regiments of Local Militia: At the annual training at Devizes in 1810, there was a mutiny in the 2nd Wiltshire Local Militia after the CO put a sergeant in the guardroom. The ringleaders persuaded many of
22538-450: The disbanded New Model Army , were formed between November 1660 and January 1661 and became a standing military force for England (financed by Parliament ). The Royal Scots and Irish Armies were financed by the parliaments of Scotland and Ireland . Parliamentary control was established by the Bill of Rights 1689 and Claim of Right Act 1689 , although the monarch continued to influence aspects of army administration until at least
22729-462: The door of his bedchamber. Having been severely criticised for his initial tolerance, he was now encouraged to punish those responsible. On 21 February 1535, a number of those implicated in the Affair were executed in front of Notre-Dame de Paris , an event attended by Francis and members of the Ottoman embassy to France . The fight against heresy intensified in the 1540s, forcing Protestants to worship in secret. In October 1545, Francis ordered
22920-457: The effectiveness of Talbot's men at Keynsham was questioned. Both officers drew their swords and Talbot was killed. Afterwards, Wyndham's Regiment was tasked with guarding the Royal army's artillery and baggage back to Devizes, where the regiment was disembodied and the men sent home. James distrusted the militia under its county landed gentry, and neglected it in favour of a greatly increased regular army. However, when William of Orange landed in
23111-451: The end of the 19th century. After the Restoration, King Charles II pulled together four regiments of infantry and cavalry, calling them his guards, at a cost of £122,000 from his general budget. This became the foundation of the permanent English Army. By 1685, it had grown to number 7,500 soldiers in marching regiments, and 1,400 men permanently stationed in garrisons. A Monmouth Rebellion in 1685 allowed successor King James II to raise
23302-464: The first time to a wide audience. Cheap pamphlets and broadsides allowed theological and religious ideas to be disseminated at an unprecedented pace. In 1519, John Froben published a collection of works by Martin Luther and noted in his correspondence that 600 copies were being shipped to France and Spain and sold in Paris . In 1521, a group of reformers including Jacques Lefèvre and Guillaume Briçonnet , recently appointed bishop of Meaux , formed
23493-424: The following divisions, periodisations and locations: Both Kohn (2013) and Clodfelter (2017) followed the same counting and periodisation and noted that " War of the Three Henrys " was another name for the Eighth War of Religion, with Kohn adding "Lovers' War" as another name for the Seventh War. In her Michel de Montaigne biography (2014), Elizabeth Guild concurred with this chronology as well, except for dating
23684-410: The forces to 20,000 men. There were 37,000 in 1678, when England played a role in the closing stage of the cross-channel Franco-Dutch War . After Protestant dual Monarchs William III , formerly William of the Dutch House of Orange , and his wife Mary II's joint accession to the throne after a short constitutional crisis with Parliament sending Mary's father, predecessor King James II, (who remained
23875-435: The government attempted to quell escalating disorder in the provinces by passing the Edict of Saint-Germain , which allowed Protestants to worship in public outside towns and in private inside them. On 1 March, Guise family retainers attacked a Calvinist service in Champagne , leading to what became known as the massacre of Vassy . This seemed to confirm Huguenot fears that the Guisards had no intention of compromising and
24066-454: The growth of true faith. The Italian revival of classical learning appealed to Francis I (1494-1547), who set up royal professorships in Paris to better understand ancient literature. However, this did not extend to religion, especially after the 1516 Concordat of Bologna when Pope Leo X increased royal control of the Gallican church , allowing Francis to nominate French clergy and levy taxes on church property. Unlike Germany,
24257-463: The influence of the Marquess of Ailesbury who lived nearby at Tottenham House . He paid for the old Corn Exchange in the High Street to be converted into a militia headquarters and stores. The regiment mustered for training at Marlborough in 1820, 1821 and 1825, but not again until 1831, the last time the Militia Ballot was employed. In 1835, in common with other militia regiments, the Wiltshires returned all their weapons to Ordnance Stores except those of
24448-420: The invasion threat having passed, the supplementary militia was disbanded in 1799, the discharged men being encouraged to volunteer for the regular army. The 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot was stationed at Poole at the time and was raising a second battalion; many of the Wiltshire supplementaries volunteered for that unit. The Treaty of Amiens led to the regular militia being disembodied in 1802. However,
24639-427: The king's sister. Albret was hesitant, worried it might lead to the abjuration of her son, and it took until March 1572 for the contract to be signed. Coligny , who had a price on his head during the third civil war, was restored to favour through the peace, and received lavishly at court in August 1571. He firmly believed that France should invade the Spanish Netherlands to unify the Catholics and Huguenots behind
24830-489: The king. Charles, however, was unwilling to provide more than covert support to this project, not wanting open war with Spain. The council was unanimous in rejecting Coligny's policy and he left court, not finding it welcoming. In August, the wedding was finally held, and all the most powerful Huguenot aristocracy had entered Paris for the occasion. A few days after the wedding, Coligny was shot on his way home from council. The outraged Huguenot nobility demanded justice which
25021-414: The kingdom between 1564 and 1566, designed to reinstate crown authority. During this time, Jeanne d'Albret met and held talks with Catherine at Mâcon and Nérac. Reports of iconoclasm in Flanders led Charles IX to lend support to the Catholics there; French Huguenots feared a Catholic re-mobilisation against them. Philip II of Spain 's reinforcement of the strategic corridor from Italy north along
25212-418: The latter policy would last until 1685, when Henry's grandson Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes . Along with "French Wars of Religion" and "Huguenot Wars", the wars have also been variously described as the "Eight Wars of Religion", or simply the "Wars of Religion" (only within France). The exact number of wars and their respective dates are subject to continued debate by historians: some assert that
25403-442: The longest in British Army history. According to an internal document released in 2007, the British Army had failed to defeat the IRA but made it impossible for them to win by violence. Operation Helvetic replaced Operation Banner in 2007, maintaining fewer service personnel in a more-benign environment. Of the 300,000 troops who served in Northern Ireland since 1969, there were 763 British military personnel killed and 306 killed by
25594-402: The maintenance of horses and armour ( 4 & 5 Ph. & M. c. 2). The county militia was now under the Lord Lieutenant , assisted by the deputy lieutenants (DLs) and justices of the peace (JPs). The entry into force of these acts in 1558 is seen as the starting date for the organised county militia in England. Wiltshire was one of the southern counties called upon to send troops to suppress
25785-413: The men being conscripted by means of parish ballots (paid substitutes were permitted) to serve for three years. In peacetime they assembled for 28 days' annual training. There was a property qualification for officers, who were commissioned by the lord lieutenant. An adjutant and drill sergeants were to be provided to each regiment from the regular Army , and arms and accoutrements would be supplied when
25976-467: The men that they were too harshly disciplined, and they broke the sergeant out after evening parade. The mutineers then attempted to force their way into the Bear Inn where many of the officers were staying, but were prevented by the Light Company, which remained loyal. The Wiltshire Yeomanry were also in town, and after being called out by the mayor they quickly quelled the mutiny. The ringleaders were tried on Devizes Green and punished. From November 1813
26167-410: The middle of the 19th century, Britain and France were allies in preventing Russia's appropriation of the Ottoman Empire , although the fear of French invasion led shortly afterwards to the creation of the Volunteer Force. By the first decade of the 20th century, the United Kingdom was allied with France (by the Entente Cordiale ) and Russia (which had a secret agreement with France for mutual support in
26358-399: The naval forces), with the other having been the Ordnance Military Corps (made up of the Royal Artillery , Royal Engineers , and the Royal Sappers and Miners ) of the Board of Ordnance , which along with the originally civilian Commissariat Department , stores and supply departments, as well as barracks and other departments, were absorbed into the British Army when the Board of Ordnance
26549-440: The new English army to 74,000, and then a few years later to 94,000 in 1694. Parliament was very nervous and reduced the cadre to 70,000 in 1697. Scotland and Ireland had theoretically separate military establishments, but they were unofficially merged with the English Crown force. By the time of the 1707 Acts of Union , many regiments of the English and Scottish armies were combined under one operational command and stationed in
26740-425: The nine year old Charles IX . With the state financially exhausted by the Italian Wars, Catherine had to preserve the independence of the monarchy from a range of competing factions led by powerful nobles, each of whom controlled what were essentially private armies. To offset the Guise or "Guisard", she agreed a deal in which Antoine of Navarre renounced any claim to the regency in return for Condé's release and
26931-409: The nobility, or on hired mercenaries from Europe. From the later Middle Ages until the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, when a foreign expeditionary force was needed, such as the one that Henry V of England took to France and that fought at the Battle of Agincourt (1415), the army, a professional one, was raised for the duration of the expedition. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the members of
27122-424: The notable exception of Oliver Cromwell , then a member of parliament and future Lord Protector) from serving as officers in the Parliamentary armies. This created a distinction between the civilians in Parliament, who tended to be Presbyterian and conciliatory to the Royalists ("Cavaliers") in nature, and a corps of professional officers, who tended to be Independent ( Congregational ) in theology. The second action
27313-458: The oceans and trade routes, and heavily garrisoned by the British Army both for defence of the bases and to provide mobile military forces to work with the Navy in amphibious operations throughout their regions. The British Army was heavily involved in the Napoleonic Wars , participating in a number of campaigns in Europe (including continuous deployment in the Peninsular War ), the Caribbean , North Africa and North America . The war between
27504-436: The parallel Seven Years' War and suppressed a Native / Indian North Americans uprising in Pontiac's War around the Great Lakes . The British Army was defeated in the American Revolutionary War , losing the Thirteen Colonies but retaining The Canadas and The Maritimes as in British North America , including Bermuda (originally part of the Colony of Virginia , and which had been originally strongly sympathetic to
27695-480: The permanent staff, which had been reduced to an adjutant, sergeant-major, 12 sergeants and 6 drummers. Vacancies were filled by able-bodied Chelsea out-pensioners from the district. The NCOs lived in Militia Court off Marlborough High Street. The Marquess of Ailesbury stepped down from the colonelcy in 1827 and was replaced by Thomas Howard, 16th Earl of Suffolk . He resigned in 1840 and Sir John Cam Hobhouse, 2nd Baronet (later Lord Broughton), MP, became colonel of
27886-436: The position of Lieutenant-General of France. Catherine had several options for dealing with "heresy", including continuing Henry's II's failed policy of eradication, an approach backed by Catholic ultras such as François de Tournon , or converting the monarchy to Calvinism, as preferred by de Bèze. A middle path between these two extremes was allowing both religions to be openly practised in France at least temporarily, or
28077-401: The power of the Guise by abducting the young king. Their plans were discovered before being carried out and hundreds of suspected plotters executed, including du Barry. The Guise suspected Condé of involvement in the plot, and he was arrested and sentenced to death before being freed in the political chaos that followed the sudden death of Francis II, adding to the tensions of the period. In
28268-481: The pre-existing part-time, local-service home-defence forces that were auxiliary to the British Army (or Regular Force ), but not originally part of it: the Yeomanry , Militia (or Constitutional Force ) and Volunteer Force . These were consequently also referred to as Auxiliary Forces or Local Forces . The late-19th-century Cardwell and Childers Reforms gave the army its modern shape and redefined its regimental system . The 1907 Haldane Reforms created
28459-430: The prior year. Since this was clearly unacceptable to Condé and his followers, Catherine bypassed the Estates and enacted conciliatory measures such as the Edict of 19 April 1561 and the Edict of July . This recognised Catholicism as the state religion but confirmed previous measures reducing penalties for "heresy". The Estates then approved the Colloquy of Poissy , which began its session on 8 September 1561, with
28650-426: The property of 'heretics' seizable by the crown. From his base in Geneva, Calvin provided leadership and organisational structures for the Reformed Church of France . Calvinism proved attractive to people from across the social hierarchy and occupational divides and was highly regionalised, with no coherent pattern of geographical spread. Despite persecution, their numbers and power increased markedly, driven by
28841-530: The punishment of Waldensians based in the south-eastern village of Mérindol . A long-standing Proto-Protestantism tradition dating back to the 13th century, the Waldensians had recently affiliated with the Reformed church and became increasingly militant in their activities. In what became known as the Massacre of Mérindol , Provençal troops killed numerous residents and destroyed another 22 to 28 nearby villages, while hundreds of men were forced to become Galley slaves . Francis I died on 31 March 1547 and
29032-410: The rank of English, Irish and Scots regiments serving in the Netherlands; the regiment which became known as the Scots Greys were designated the 4th Dragoons because there were three English regiments raised prior to 1688 when the Scots Greys were first placed in the English establishment. In 1713, when a new board of general officers was convened to decide the rank of several regiments, the seniority of
29223-456: The rebels rallied. The fresh militia were used to pursue the rebels after the battle. Wyndham's regiment was assigned to guarding prisoners in Westonzoyland church, with Drummer Wheeler taking down the numbers as they were brought in from the moor. The regiment then marched back to Glastonbury, where six rebels were hanged. At the White Hart at Glastonbury, Maj Talbot fell into a dispute with a Capt Love over whose soldiers had done best; apparently
29414-404: The rebels' advance, the Red and Blue Wiltshire Regiments and the Yellow Hampshire Regiment formed up at Bratton Lane near Westbury, though no attack came. Feversham now moved his army to Westbury to join Pembroke, and began a pursuit of the disheartened rebels, who were retreating into Somerset. The Wiltshire Red Regiment marched via Frome, Shepton Mallet , Glastonbury and Somerton , reaching
29605-445: The regiment on 13 February 1840. The regiment was redesignated the Royal Wiltshire Militia on 29 June 1841, said to be in recognition of its part at the Battle of Sedgemoor. The Militia of the United Kingdom was revived by the Militia Act 1852 , enacted during a renewed period of international tension. As before, units were raised and administered on a county basis, and filled by voluntary enlistment (although conscription by means of
29796-478: The regiment was in camp, and Wiltshire landowner William Beckford complained to the government that a man a day was falling sick as the weather deteriorated. The regiment was part of a militia camp formed at Winchester in June 1760, and under the command of Lt-Col Northey it guarded French prisoners of war at Charles II's abandoned palace at Winchester (later Peninsula Barracks ). The regiment sought to avoid being stationed at Hilsea Barracks in Portsmouth, where
29987-441: The regiments lodged there the previous year had suffered severe casualties from Smallpox , Dysentery and Typhus . With the Seven Years War drawing to an end, orders to disembody the militia were issued on 15 December 1762. Thereafter the regiment did its 28 days' peacetime training at Devizes nearly every year. In 1770 Lord Bruce resigned, along with many of his officers, in protest at the Earl of Pembroke's decision to promote
30178-420: The regular army at a later date. Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Marquess of Ailesbury , son of the regiment's former colonel, Lord Bruce, took over the command in 1811. While the Regular Militia were the mainstay of national defence during the Napoleonic Wars , they were supplemented from 1808 by the Local Militia, which were part-time and only to be used within their own districts. These were raised to counter
30369-424: The regular militia were invited to volunteer for limited overseas service, primarily for garrison duties in Europe. A contingent of four officers and 130 other ranks from the Wiltshire Militia joined the 2nd Provisional Battalion, assembling at Chelmsford under the command of Lt-Col Bayly of the Royal West Middlesex Militia . It then marched to Portsmouth where the Militia Brigade embarked on 10 March 1814 and joined
30560-534: The regulars of the Royal army were assembled. The Wiltshire Militia mustered at Salisbury on 17 June under the command of Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke , Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire . The whole Wiltshire contingent probably totalled some 2000 foot and 200 horse. After mustering and organising, the Wiltshire Militia moved out to Wilton to meet the ammunition wagons and supplies on 20 June. Under Pembroke's command it then marched 49 miles (79 km) in three days via Market Lavington and Chippenham (where it
30751-404: The religious debate until the Affair of the Placards in October 1534, when Protestant radicals put up posters in Paris and other provincial towns that rejected the Catholic doctrine of the " Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist ". This allowed Protestantism to be clearly defined as heresy, while Francis was furious at the breach of security which had allowed one of the posters to be placed on
30942-491: The return of a king. The militia acts of 1661 and 1662 prevented local authorities from calling up militia and oppressing their own local opponents. Calling up the militia was possible only if the king and local elites agreed to do so. King Charles II and his " Cavalier " / Royalist supporters favoured a new army under royal control, and immediately after the Restoration of 1660 to 1661 began working on its establishment. The first English Army regiments, including elements of
31133-421: The second war and its main military engagement, the Battle of Saint-Denis , where the crown's commander-in-chief and lieutenant general, the 74-year-old Anne de Montmorency, died. The war was brief, ending in another truce, the Peace of Longjumeau (March 1568), which was a reiteration of the Peace of Amboise of 1563 and once again granted significant religious freedoms and privileges to Protestants. News of
31324-536: The tenets behind Lutheranism first appeared in Luther's lectures, which in turn contained many of the ideas expressed in the works of Lefèvre. Other members of the Circle included Marguerite de Navarre , sister of Francis I and mother of Jeanne d'Albret , as well as Guillaume Farel , who was exiled to Geneva in 1530 due to his reformist views and persuaded John Calvin to join him there. Both men were banished from Geneva in 1538 for opposing what they viewed as government interference with religious affairs; although
31515-444: The threat of invasion, the trained bands declined in the early 17th century. Later, Charles I attempted to reform them into a national force or 'Perfect Militia', answering to the king rather than local control. In 1638 the Wiltshire TBs (including the Salisbury Trained Band) consisted of 1,285 musketeers and 1,115 corslets; in addition the TB Horse comprised 30 lancers and 126 light horse. In 1639 and 1640, Charles attempted to employ
31706-505: The truce reached Toulouse in April, but such was the antagonism between the two sides that 6,000 Catholics continued their siege of Puylaurens , a notorious Protestant stronghold in the Lauragais , for another week. In reaction to the Peace, Catholic confraternities and leagues sprang up across the country in defiance of the law throughout the summer of 1568. Huguenot leaders such as Condé and Coligny fled court in fear for their lives, many of their followers were murdered, and in September,
31897-402: The turmoil over the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1661, the Wiltshire Militia were deployed to seize arms and secure suspected persons, with two companies of foot at Malmesbury and a troop of horse at Devizes. The English Militia was re-established in 1662 under the Militia Act of 1661 . It was once again under the control of the king's lords-lieutenant, the men to be selected by ballot. This
32088-476: The turn to violence as a response of the peasant class. The murder of the baron of Château de Fumel [ fr ] by a Protestant mob in 1561 is often cited as an example. Recent analyses, on the other hand, have turned the focus on religious explanations. Denis Crouzet fingers the fiery eschatological preaching of the Franciscan Thomas Illyricus , who toured the region in the 1510s and 1520s. Stuart Carroll, however, argues for politicization: "the violence
32279-468: The two fell out over the nature of the Eucharist , Calvin's return to Geneva in 1541 allowed him to forge the doctrine of Calvinism . A key driver behind the Reform movement was corruption among the clergy which Luther and others attacked and sought to change. Such criticisms were not new but the printing press allowed them to be widely shared, such as the Heptameron by Marguerite, a collection of stories about clerical immorality. Another complaint
32470-420: The war had been ended by the Battle of Waterloo . The Wiltshire Militia was disembodied after more than two decades of almost continuous service. After Waterloo there was another long peace. Although officers continued to be commissioned into the militia and ballots were still held, the regiments were rarely assembled for training. The permanent staff of the Wiltshires were housed in Marlborough, probably through
32661-611: The withdrawal of civilians, all British troops had left by the end of August 2021. In 2003, the United Kingdom was a major contributor to the invasion of Iraq , sending a force of over 46,000 military personnel. The British Army controlled southern Iraq, and maintained a peace-keeping presence in Basra . All British troops were withdrawn from Iraq by 30 April 2009, after the Iraqi government refused to extend their mandate. One hundred and seventy-nine British military personnel died in Iraqi operations. The British Armed Forces returned to Iraq in 2014 as part of Operation Shader to counter
32852-519: The world's leading military and economic powers. Since the end of the Cold War , the British Army has been deployed to a number of conflict zones, often as part of an expeditionary force , a coalition force or part of a United Nations peacekeeping operation. Until the Wars of the Three Kingdoms , neither England or Scotland had had a standing army with professional officers and career corporals and sergeants. England relied on militia organised by local officials or private forces mobilised by
33043-464: Was abolished in 1855. Various other civilian departments of the board were absorbed into the War Office . The British Army has seen action in major wars between the world's great powers , including the Seven Years' War , the American Revolutionary War , the Napoleonic Wars , the Crimean War and the First and Second World Wars . Britain's victories in most of these decisive wars allowed it to influence world events and establish itself as one of
33234-538: Was appointed colonel with William Northey as lieutenant-colonel. The 10 companies were based at: The regiment was embodied for permanent service on 21 June 1759. Major Young, a former colonel of colonial militia, complained about the lack of standard training among the militia: he argued that the regular army had a new drill book and the Wiltshire Militia should adopt that, rather than devise its own, as some militia regiments were doing. The regiment served in Southern England throughout its embodiment. By September
33425-401: Was captured by those opposing the crown. In February 1563, at the Siege of Orléans, Francis, Duke of Guise , was shot and killed by the Huguenot Jean de Poltrot de Méré . As he was killed outside of direct combat, the Guise considered this an assassination on the orders of the duke's enemy, Admiral Coligny . The popular unrest caused by the assassination, coupled with the resistance by
33616-420: Was declared in 1951. Although the British Army was a major participant in Korea in the early 1950s and Suez in 1956, during this period Britain's role in world events was reduced and the army was downsized. The British Army of the Rhine , consisting of I (BR) Corps , remained in Germany as a bulwark against Soviet invasion. The Cold War continued, with significant technological advances in warfare, and
33807-474: Was directly caused by politicized factions and was not the result of a spontaneous intercommunal eruption." Although the Huguenots had begun mobilising for war before the Vassy massacre , many claimed that the massacre confirmed claims that they could not rely on the Edict of Saint Germain . In response, a group of nobles led by Condé proclaimed their intention of "liberating" the king from "evil" councillors and seized Orléans on 2 April 1562. This example
33998-414: Was in camp at Danbury, Essex , under Major-General Morshead. The outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 led to legislation that allowed English militia regiments to volunteer for service there, and the Wiltshires were one of those that did so. In an attempt to have as many men as possible under arms for home defence in order to release regulars, the Government created the Supplementary Militia in 1796,
34189-409: Was legislation for the creation of a Parliamentary-funded army, commanded by Lord General Thomas Fairfax , which became known as the New Model Army (originally phrased "new-modelled Army"). While this proved to be a war-winning formula, the New Model Army, being organised and politically active, went on to dominate the politics of the Interregnum and by 1660 was widely disliked. The New Model Army
34380-423: Was likely influenced in the matter by Sir Francis Walsingham . The Catholics were commanded by the Duke d'Anjou – later King Henry III – and assisted by troops from Spain, the Papal States , and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany . The Protestant army laid siege to several cities in the Poitou and Saintonge regions (to protect La Rochelle ), and then Angoulême and Cognac . At
34571-399: Was met by the King's commander-in-chief, the Earl of Feversham with a detachment of the Horse Guards ) to Bath , where the Royal army was concentrating. On 24 June, Wyndham's Red Regiment was sent to Bradford-on-Avon . That night there was an alarm, and believing it was being attacked by the whole rebel army, the regiment retreated 4 miles (6.4 km) to Trowbridge . Although the retreat
34762-432: Was paid off and disbanded at the later Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 with the accession of King Charles II . For many decades the alleged excesses of the New Model Army under the Protectorate / Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell were used as propaganda (and still feature in Irish folklore) and the Whig Party element recoiled from allowing a standing army to continue with the agreed-upon rights and privileges under
34953-541: Was popularly seen as the 'constitutional force' to counterbalance a 'standing army' tainted by association with the New Model Army that had supported Cromwell 's military dictatorship, and almost the whole burden of home defence and internal security was entrusted to the militia under politically reliable local landowners. In 1661 the deputy lieutenants of Wiltshire were urged to organise their militia quickly and asked for additional DLs to be appointed, because so many of them were officeholders in London and frequently absent from
35144-437: Was present at the Battle of Sedgemoor . It became a battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment in 1881 and trained thousands of reservists and recruits during World War I . It maintained a shadowy existence until final disbandment in 1953. The English militia was descended from the Anglo-Saxon Fyrd , the military force raised from the freemen of the shires under command of their Sheriffs . Wiltshire levies served in Alfred
35335-474: Was proclaimed King Henry IV of France and issued the Edict of Nantes , which granted substantial rights and freedoms to the Huguenots. However, Catholics continued to disapprove of Protestants and of Henry, and his assassination in 1610 triggered a fresh round of Huguenot rebellions in the 1620s. Tensions between the two religions had been building since the 1530s, exacerbating existing regional divisions. The death of Henry II of France in July 1559 initiated
35526-605: Was quickly followed by Protestant groups around France, who seized and garrisoned Angers , Blois and Tours along the Loire and assaulted Valence in the Rhône River . After capturing Lyon on 30 April, the attackers first sacked, then demolished all Catholic institutions in the city. Hoping to turn Toulouse over to Condé, local Huguenots seized the Hôtel de ville but met resistance from angry Catholic mobs which resulted in street battles and over 3,000 deaths, mostly Huguenots. On 12 April 1562, there were massacres of Huguenots at Sens, as well as at Tours in July. As
35717-416: Was rapid, and it took some time to rally the regiment afterwards in the darkness, it was not a complete rout, the regiment having time to pack and harness up the wagons and officers' carriages and take them to Trowbridge. Hearing that Frome had declared for Monmouth, Pembroke marched out from Trowbridge on 25 June with Penruddocke's, Willoughby's, and Maskelyn's troops of Militia Horse, with 36 musketeers of
35908-465: Was stood down in 1783. From 1784 to 1792 the militia were supposed to assemble for 28 days' annual training, even though to save money only two-thirds of the men were called out each year. In 1786 the number of permanent non-commissioned officers (NCOs) was reduced. Colonel Lord Porchester was created Earl of Carnarvon in 1793. The militia had already been called out before Revolutionary France declared war on Britain on 1 February 1793. By 8 August 1793
36099-400: Was succeeded by his son Henry II , who continued the religious repression pursued by his father in the last years of his reign. His policies were even more severe since he sincerely believed all Protestants were heretics; on 27 June 1551, the Edict of Châteaubriant sharply curtailed their right to worship. Prohibitions were placed upon the distribution of 'heretical' literature, with
36290-410: Was the reduction of Salvation to a business scheme based on the sale of Indulgences , which added to general unrest and increased the popularity of works such as Farel's translation of the Lord's Prayer, The True and Perfect Prayer . This focused on Sola fide , or the idea salvation was a free gift from God, emphasised the importance of understanding in prayer and criticised the clergy for hampering
36481-539: Was widespread within the French commercial class, the rapid growth of Calvinism was driven by the nobility. It is believed to have started when Condé passed through Geneva while returning home from a military campaign and heard a Calvinist sermon. Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, converted to Calvinism in 1560, possibly due to the influence of Theodore de Beze . Along with Condé and her husband Antoine of Navarre , she and their son Henry of Navarre became Huguenot leaders. The crown continued efforts to remain neutral in
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