The BEF: The 'Final Verdict'

Now that the Great War is more than a hundred years behind us, and after five years of centenaries, it is perhaps a good time to reflect on the overall performance of the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front. The BEF, especially its generals, still has a bleak reputation. Those seeking examples of military ineptitude often look no further.

But the BEF grew in a short space of time from a small colonial police force, equipped for counter-insurgency operations, into a mighty army capable of delivering efficiently organised violence against a major military power.

Does this amount to a national triumph or was it a painful example of learning how to drive by having a series of expensive car wrecks?

This lecture will consider the evidence.