The Committee of Imperial Defence was an important (albeit ad hoc) part of the government of Great Britain and the British Empire from just after the Boer War until the start of World War II. It was responsible for research, and some co-ordination, on issues of military strategy. A database query syntax error has occurred. ... Boer guerrillas during the Second Boer War There were two Boer wars, one in December 16, 1880-March 23, 1881 and the second from October 11, 1899-May 31, 1902 both between the British and the settlers of Dutch origin (called Boere, Afrikaners or Voortrekkers) in South Africa that put... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Military strategy in the Waterloo campaign Military strategy is a collective name for planning the conduct of warfare. ...

Typically, a temporary sub-committee would be set up to investigate and report at length on a specific issue. A large number of such sub-committees were engered over the decades, on topics such as foreign spies (a Committee report in 1909 led to the founding of MI5 and MI6), food rationing, and aerial defence. 1909 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Current MI5 headquarters in Thames House, London MI5—officially called the Security Service—is one of the British secret service agencies. ... The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), more commonly known as MI6 (originally Military Intelligence [section] 6), or Her Majestys Secret Service or just the Secret Service, is the British external security agency. ...

History

It was established in 1904 by Arthur Balfour, then British Prime Minister, as a advisory committee for the Prime Minister, one that would be small and flexible; it replaced the Cabinet's decrepit Defence Committee. 1904 is a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (25 July 1848 - March 19, 1930) was a British statesman and the thirty-third Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. ... In the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister is the head of government, exercising many of the executive functions nominally vested in the Sovereign, who is head of state. ... In British politics, the Cabinet is comprised of the most senior government ministers, most of them heads of government departments with the title Secretary of State. In the British system of government, the Cabinet is the key formal decision making body of the executive. ...

The original concept was for it to create a strategic vision defining the future roles of the two military services after the military reductions in the wake of the Boer War. However, no arrangements were made for it to formally pass on its conclusions to those with the ability to translate them into actions.

This lack soon became obvious enough that a Secretariat was appointed, under Sir George Clarke. However, far from simply acting as a communicator, he expected to actually make policy, and see it implemented. With the fall of the Balfour Government in 1906, and with the military services determined to control their own futures, Clarke's plans fell through, and with no support from the incoming Prime Minister, he left in 1907. 1906 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1907 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

The Secretariat carried on, largely as a forum for communication on lesser matters between those service members who would speak to each other, and with civil servants. In UK politics, the civil service of the United Kingdom is the permanent bureaucracy that administers the United Kingdom. ...

The Committee slowly gained in importance under the leadership of Maurice Hankey. He was appointed Naval Assistant Secretary to the Committee in 1908, and became Secretary to the Committee in 1912; he would hold that position for the next twenty-six years. Maurice Pascal Alers Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey (April 1, 1877-January 26, 1963) was a British civil servant who gained prominence as the first Secretary to the Cabinet and who later made the rare transition from the civil service to ministerial office. ... 1908 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1912 is a leap year starting on Monday. ...

By 1914, the Committee had begun to act as a defence planning agency for the British Empire; it also providing advice to Dominion countries on occasion. It continued to perform these roles into the 1920s. It was effectively a peacetime defence planning system, one which only provided advice; formal authority remained with Ministers and service chiefs (which helped ensure its acceptability to the existing bureaucracy). 1914 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... This is a page about Dominions of the British Empire/Commonwealth. ... Sometimes referred to as the Roaring Twenties. Events and trends Technology John T. Thompson invents Thompson submachine gun, also known as Tommy Gun. ... In sociological theories, bureaucracy is an organizational structure characterized by regularized procedure, division of responsibility, hierarchy, and impersonal relationships. ...

Chaired by the Prime Minister, members were usually cabinet ministers, the heads of the military services, and key civil servants; Prime Ministers from Dominion countries were de facto members of the Committee in peacetime as well. A prime minister is the leading member of the cabinet of the top level government in a parliamentary system of government of a country, alternatively A prime minister is an official in a presidential system or semi-presidential system whose duty is to execute the directives of the President and...

It was shut down on the outbreak of World War II.

Web links

• Sir Maurice Hankey And The Origins Of The Cabinet Office (http://www.sourceuk.net/articles/a00631.html?print)
• How Imperial was the Committee of Imperial Defence? (http://www.psa.ac.uk/publications/psd/1998/catterall.htm)

Further reading

• Arthur Johnson Franklyn, Defence by Committee: The British Committee of Imperial Defence, 1885-1959 (Oxford University Press, London, New York, 1960)