The present volume may be described as an over?ow from the History of the British Army. It owes its existence principally to the Secretary of State for War, who, recognising the importance of the subject at the present time, kindly granted the writer a small subsidy to insure him against loss through its publication. But for this help, for which I desire to express my grateful thanks, the matter here printed must-have been packed into some twenty or thirty pages only. As things stand, the twenty or thirty pages have been expanded into ten times that number; and if, as I fear, the ordinary reader finds them impossible to read, I can only assure him that I have found them maddening to write.