ABSTRACT
This chapter explores reasons why nations have armies and examines the roles of the British Army. One of the clearest general guides to what armies are for is in an essay by Professor James Eayrs of Toronto University. Eayrs lists six purposes which a military establishment may serve. During the Second World War the role of the Army was clear, since the whole nation and its resources were geared to military effort, and it remained reasonably so during the twenty years from 1945 to 1965. Put briefly, it has had two main purposes since the war ended, both of which have been sufficiently pressing to allow little time to do much more than get on with the job. The first has been to supervise the closing stages of the Empire, and the second to resist Russian pressure on Europe by active support of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
