Overview

The death penalty was considered vital for the maintenance of discipline by all the major armies of the First World War. Gerard Oram approaches this emotive and controversial subject from a broad legal and cultural perspective to challenge the notion that executions were merely a reflection of a distant, uncaring command structure of which Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig was a paradigm. Whilst the focus is clearly on the British army, comparisons are made with developments in other countries to illustrate how commanders in the British army had relatively few alternatives and often opted for the death penalty as the only effective means of maintaining discipline. However, in an extended discussion of ideas surrounding the twin concepts of discipline and morale Dr Oram shows that the British army was modernising before 1914 and that, despite its continuing reliance on deterrence, there is much evidence of more progressive practices emerging.

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9781283181266

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