The Last of the Regiments: Their Rise and Fall.

First Edition. 15cm x 23.5cm. XIV, 271 pages. Original hardcover with dustjacket. Excellent condition with only minor signs of external wear. Brigadier Peter Dietz presents a critique of the British military tradition and of the regimental system in particular. Convinced that the time has come for radical steps to be taken to bring the Army more into line with the spirit of the society in which it now lives and which it serves, he calls for the creation of a 'New Model' just as Cromwell did in the English Civil War. Dietz believes that the best of the Army can be preserved without that aura of social exclusiveness which has long been seen in some parts of the Army as an essential ingredient of élitism. The author sees innate conservatism as the fundamental stumbling block to progress and seeks a way forward which will sweep away much of what he now feels to be outdated in the Army's approach. [From publisher's note] Includes for example the following sections: The Origins of the British Army / The Tempering of the Regiments / The Golden Age of the Regiments / The British Army between Waterloo and the Crimea / The Regiments in India / The Great Age of Army Reform / The Long Armistice and the Second World War / The End of the Family.…