The desire to avoid war

Armed forces never exist in isolation, but always operate against a background of political, economic, social, cultural, intellectual and ideological conditions and attitudes, as well as in relation to diplomatic and strategic factors. Some governments regards their military forces especially their armies, more as instruments for maintaining internal order than as a means of attaining external security. In some instances armed forces may even represent more of a threat to a government than a support. Britain has been fortunate in that civilian and parliamentary supremacy has been accepted since the end of the seventeenth century, and the political reliability of the armed forces has not normally been in question....